"Gah!"
The gasp tore from his throat, a desperate, greedy intake of air that filled lungs which hadn't known a deep breath in centuries.
His body jerked upright, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. He wasn't in the obsidian tomb. He wasn't kneeling in his own blood.
He was in a cramped, subterranean chamber beneath the ruins of a collapsed temple. The air was cool and damp, thick with the smell of mildew, wet earth, and the oppressive silence of the underground. A single, sputtering glow-stone on the floor cast long, dancing shadows against the crumbling brickwork.
"I... I am alive?"
The voice cracked. It wasn't the gravelly, commanding rasp of the Blood-Hand Grandmaster. It was the high, reedy voice of a youth.
He tried to sit up, but a searing pain shot through his head, doubling him over. He clutched his head, his hands scrabbling against soaked robes.
Hands.
He froze. He held his hands up to the dim gray light of the glow-stone. They were not the withered, skeletal claws of a dying old man. They were young, pale, and calloused.
Before he could revel in this miracle, a blinding pain split his skull. It wasn't physical; it was the violent synchronization of two souls. The memories of the body's original owner didn't trickle in; they crashed into his mind like a tidal wave.
The pain was absolute. His eyes rolled back, and consciousness slipped away.
Half an hour later.
Grandmaster Xu, or rather, Shen Yu, opened his eyes.
He didn't scream. He didn't panic. He started to laugh.
"Hah... hahahaha..."
The sound started low, bubbling up from his chest, before erupting into a manic cackle that echoed off the damp cave walls.
"Third life," he whispered, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. His eyes, though set in a young face, held the terrifying depth of an ancient predator. "I have been given a third life."
He dragged his aching body toward a small, stagnant pool of groundwater near the dungeon wall. He ignored the damp chill seeping into his bones. He needed to see. He needed to know if the Heavens had cursed him with mediocrity again.
He leaned over, his breath disturbing the stillness of the water.
There was dirt on him, a smear of dark grime across his high cheekbone, dust matting the ends of his hair, but it couldn't hide the devastation that lay beneath. In fact, the grit only made the perfection more startling, like a rough stone cracking open to reveal a peerless gem.
"Damn," he breathed, a slow, predatory smirk curling lips that were naturally red and full, lips that looked soft enough to bruise, yet were set in a line of cruel, masculine confidence. "I am... a calamity."
The face staring back at him was a paradox of the highest order, a lethal synthesis of Yin and Yang.
He possessed the sharp, aggressive jawline and commanding brow of a war god, exuding a dangerous virility. Yet, this was tempered by the delicate, high cheekbones and long, sweeping eyelashes of a peerless beauty. His skin was flawless porcelain, the dirt unable to dull its inner luster.
But the most arresting features were his hair, cascading locks of pure, shimmering silver, and his eyes, which glowed like molten gold in the darkness. It was a face that would drive women to madness with lust and men to despair with envy, a beauty so transcendent it felt like a weapon.
This body, Shen Yu, was the fallen Young Master of the Shen Clan.
The memories painted a tragic picture. His family had been massacred by the ruthless Liu Clan during the Mid-Autumn Festival. For five years, he had been hiding far away in the Crimson Lotus Kingdom, away from the influence of the Liu Clan, living under the alias "Tang Wei." He had been protected by his mother's sworn sister, Mei Yilan, and her daughter, his fiancée Mei Lixue.
But behind that beautiful face was a cauldron of rage. Shen Yu wanted revenge on the Liu Clan, but Fate was blind.
He was born with Broken Meridians.
They were not just clogged; they were snapped, like dried twigs stepped on by a giant. The Dantian, the vessel for energy, was punctured. In the cultivation world, Shen Yu was less than a mortal. He was a leaking bucket that could never hold water.
Desperate to heal himself so he could exact vengeance, the boy had run away from home, following rumors of these ancient ruins. He had found the core, found the altar... and the moment he touched it, the spiritual pressure stopped his heart.
"You died," Xu whispered, realizing the truth. "And the Inheritance didn't want to let go."
The Jade Tablet had dragged Xu's powerful soul across the void and stuffed it into this fresh, compatible vessel. It wasn't Xu's choice; it was the artifact's instinct.
"Hmm... but is this unique?" Xu mused, rubbing his chin. "Are there many inheritances of the Primal Desire Immortal scattered about? Or was it just these two locations?"
Just as the thought formed, a warmth bloomed in the center of his consciousness. It wasn't the warmth of body heat. It was the thrumming, rhythmic pulse of pure desire.
He closed his eyes and looked into his mental sphere.
There, floating in the center of his sea of consciousness, was not a Nascent Soul, but the Jade Tablet. It had followed him, binding itself to his very essence.
As he focused on it, the tablet hummed. A projection of golden light exploded in his mind, forming a message written in an archaic, untamed script that seemed to dance with arrogance.
[ A MESSAGE FROM THE PRIMAL DESIRE IMMORTAL ]
"To the Lucky Bastard who found this:
If you are reading this, I have either ascended to the Realm of Infinite Bliss or I am dust in the wind. It matters not.
Listen closely. I left behind many false tombs and scrap legacies to fool the stiff, self-righteous hypocrites of the Orthodox Sects. But you... you hold the Source. The Master Key.
There are no other heirs. You are the sole Sovereign of my Legacy.
My advice? Do not waste this life meditating in a cave like a stone statue. That is for fools! The world is filled with Jade Beauties, Ice Empresses, and Seductive Demonesses. They are the flowers; you are the gardener.
Hunt them. Conquer them. Taste them.
Turn the Heavens into your bedchamber and the Earth into your playground. Remember: If you aren't having fun, you aren't cultivating correctly."
Xu's eyes widened, and his smirk deepened into a grin. "Turn the Heavens into my bedchamber... I like your style, Old Man."
As he finished reading, a fresh wave of information flooded his mind, instantly unlocking the first layer of a cultivation technique.
[ The Primordial Yin-Yang Scripture ]
Origin: Created by the Primal Desire Immortal during his mortal tribulations.
Prerequisite: A Broken Vessel.
Shen Yu digested the information. Then, he started to chuckle. The chuckle turned into a full-blown, wheezing laugh that filled the small chamber.
"A broken vessel," he gasped, staring at the stone ceiling. "The requirement isn't high talent. It isn't a pure body. The requirement is to be broken."
The Orthodox Dao required a perfect vessel to hoard Qi.
This Demonic Dao required a leaking vessel to cycle Qi.
He wasn't a cripple; he was the ideal candidate.
The scripture proposed a dangerous theory. Rather than bypassing his broken meridians, he was to drive Qi directly against the breaks. The fractures would act as vents, compressing the flow and turning his dantian into a living, high-velocity turbine.
To prevent the friction from destroying him, however, he needed a coolant: Yin Essence.
This required the Union of Yin and Yang. Through the act of copulation, he would siphon the Yin Qi from his partner, channeling it directly into the vortex. As the Yin spun through his broken meridians at blinding speeds, it would generate a unique phenomenon, Spiritual Friction.
This friction was the key. It would grind away impurities and solder his meridians back together, constructing a Foundation of unprecedented density.
The information didn't just sit in his mind; it burned itself into his very soul. He hadn't even begun to cultivate yet, but the technique was already taking root, demanding fuel. A dark, throbbing heat spread through his gut, a blend of starvation and primal lust.
"I don't need to meditate," Shen Yu whispered. His eyes snapped open, golden irises glowing with a dangerous, predatory light. "I need to hunt. I need women."
He stood up, dusting off his robes. The despair of the previous Shen Yu was gone, replaced by the ambition of Grandmaster Xu.
"Lixue... Aunt Mei..."
He looked toward the dark tunnel leading back to the surface.
"I'm coming home."