Part 1: The Weight of Silence
The Zhao Jade Hall, once impregnable, was now an altar defiled by the red moon. Rubble, blood, and a dense climate of fear filled the air. The destroyed ceiling let in the night's cold and the distant cries of crows.
Samael Morningstar, wrapped in his worn but dignified black robe, stood at the center. His eyes, violet and bloody abysses, did not look at his enemies, but at his own sins. The air vibrated around him; each breath was a reminder of who now set the rhythm of this place.
"Protect the Young Master!" roared Great Elder Zhao, his voice trembling more than he would admit. He wielded two curved jade-green swords, venomous Qi crackling and leaving smoking grooves in the marble.
Samael barely inclined his head. "Kael," his voice a cutting whisper, "clear out the trash. If anyone touches Seraphina, cut their breath."
Part 2: The Awakening of the Sword (Kael vs. Great Elder)
Kael didn't answer. The red aura of Qi Sea Stage 2 enveloped him like an open wound. He knew the Great Elder was a monster among mortals… but rage and hunger made him invincible for a second.
The Elder lunged at Seraphina, confident. "Die, dog!" The jade swords whistled, launching corrosive toxins with each slash.
Kael leapt at him, the rusty sword shining with unexpected fierceness. In his mind, there was only the line, the cut, the promise.
For an instant, the world slowed—the poison floated in the air like mist, the sound of footsteps was a muffled drum. Kael stopped the first strike with such force that he splintered the Elder's blade; the rust mixed with green crackles and the scream of dying metal.
[Martial Epiphany Detected!] [Subordinate Kael has awakened: Sword Intent Trace (Level 1 – Seed).]
Kael spun under the next slash, his rusty sword leaving an arc of bloody Qi. He cut the Elder's thigh, blood and poison splattering the marble. Without hesitation, Kael went in for the kill: he broke the Elder's nose with a punch, smashed his knee with a kick, then, with a savage cry, slid the old sword under the Elder's armpit, slicing tendons and arteries.
The Elder roared, blood and poison pouring, eyes wide with fear. "Sword Intent?! You…?!" Kael silenced him by slashing his throat; the blood bubbled, staining his clenched fist red.
"I'm a Morningstar," Kael panted, trembling with fury and triumph. "Today, the trash cleans the hall."
Part 3: The Patriarch and the Void
While Kael was destroying the Elder, Samael approached the throne. His mere presence seemed to suck the air from the room: every enemy felt the world was being absorbed, their hearts beating out of sync, their blood thickening.
"Kill him! He's just a man!" shrieked Zhao Feng, crawling among the rubble.
Patriarch Zhao, Stage 5, stood up. His saber shone with golden Qi, so heavy the floor cracked beneath his feet.
"You should be dead!" he roared. "I saw the tower burn, I saw your end!"
Samael didn't blink. "Fire can't consume one who is already ash."
The Patriarch swung his saber with the force of a mountain: "Meteor Slash!"
The air split, pressure bursting blood vessels in some guards' eyes. Samael activated Void Step: he vanished, the attack devastated the floor and raised a cloud of marble and blood.
"Slow," whispered Samael, appearing at his side.
He touched the saber's hilt. "Void: Erasure Touch."
The spiritual-grade metal disintegrated. All color, all matter, dissolved into dust between the Patriarch's fingers.
"My… my saber…" Zhao stammered, frozen.
Samael answered only with steel: the Obsidian Fang pierced the Patriarch's chest. Blood and vital Qi were absorbed. Black veins climbed over the Zhao leader's body, stealing his life as his flesh withered.
"I am the consequence of your actions," whispered Samael, cold and lethal.
Part 4: The Echo of the Tower (Flashback)
The ground trembled. BOOOOM!
The spiritual pressure of Ancestor Zhao (Stage 7) swept through the mansion like an invisible wave. The debris vibrated, Kael fell to his knees coughing blood, Seraphina covered her ears; the air turned solid, every breath burned.
Samael felt an invisible hand crush his lungs, and his mind collapsed into a memory: Morningstar Plaza's marble covered in corpses, the enemies' taunts, Aunt Lilith wounded, the twins bleeding. Alaric's Protector breaking his core with a blow.
Darkness. [FLASHBACK: The Fall of the Plaza] "Weakness is the only sin," whispered an inner voice.
In that darkness, the system was born.
[Primordial Patriarch System: Initiated]
Part 5: The Extinction of the Ancestor
The Ancestor's pressure was the same as the terror from that Protector: a bottomless abyss. "NOT AGAIN!" roared Samael, blood gushing from his nose and ears, forcing his bloodline to the limit.
Ancestor Zhao, a floating golden mummy, raised his palm: "Golden Sky Palm!"
A giant hand of pure Qi descended, ready to erase every trace of rebellion.
Samael dug his feet into the cracked ground and raised his hand: "If the sky crushes me, I will devour the sky!" "Void: Black Heart."
A dense sphere of darkness, minuscule but with infinite gravity, was born in his palm. The golden hand descended… and was sucked in. The Ancestor's Qi, his energy, life itself, all were consumed by the void.
"What is this?! My soul…!" howled the Ancestor, his body dragged, flesh crumbling like old cloth.
Samael leapt, wrapped in the Void's roar. "Say hello to my ancestors in hell."
The Obsidian Fang traced an arc, beheading the Ancestor. At the same time, the black sphere collapsed, swallowing body and soul, erasing every trace, every scream.
Silence fell, heavy, broken only by Kael's gasps and Seraphina's choked sob.
[MISSION COMPLETE: HARVEST OF DEBTS] [Objective: Extermination of the main Zhao bloodline – SUCCESS.] [REWARDS GRANTED:] +2,000 Family Luck Points Sky-Grade (Medium) Treasure Chest: High-level random resources [NEW CLAN MISSION ACTIVATED] "The Sovereign's Rebirth" Objective: 10,000 Family Luck Points
Samael landed, staggering. Black blood ran from his lips, but in his eyes there was no defeat: only a promise fulfilled.
He approached Seraphina and, with trembling hands, broke her chains.
"Kael, take everything that shines in the treasury," he ordered, his voice a sword still drawn. "Tomorrow, the other families will know the Morningstars haven't just returned… they've come to collect interest."