They say the blood of a phoenix burns brighter than any star.They lied.It didn’t burn bright.It burned everything away.“Breathe, Feng’er.”My uncle’s voice came to me through the roar in my ears, steady and patient, like a hand pressed gently against my back.“Slowly,” Ling Zhaoyang said. “In. Then out.”I tried. The stone altar beneath me was freezing, the chill seeping straight into my bones, yet inside me, heat raged unchecked. It felt like molten metal being poured through my veins, searching for somewhere to escape.“I am breathing,” I said, my voice strained. “It doesn’t stop the pain.”Zhaoyang leaned closer. I could smell the faint bitterness of incense on his robes.“It’s not supposed to,” he replied calmly. “Pain is part of awakening. You’re enduring something generations before you failed to survive.”My fingers trembled as they dug into the jade edge of the altar.“It feels like it’s tearing me apart,” I whispered. “Like my body can’t hold it.”“That means the Phoenix

“Again!”Yue Xuān’s voice cracked like a whip across the frozen valley floor.I slammed my fists into the snow and forced myself upright. My knuckles were split open, black ichor staining the ice beneath me. “I’ve punched the air ten thousand times today, Old Man,” I snapped. “The air isn’t fighting back.”“That’s because you’re still trying to hit air, you idiot,” Yue Xuān barked. He stood atop a jagged obsidian pillar, arms folded, eyes sharp with disdain. “The Void is not something you strike. It is the absence of things. Break the distance. Strike what isn’t there.”“There is no distance!” I roared and lunged.I threw a punch, hatred for Zhaoyang surging through my arm. I didn’t aim at the stone wall. I aimed at the space between us, at the invisible gap reality pretended didn’t exist.CRACK.The wall didn’t shatter.It vanished.A perfect circular hole appeared in the granite, edges smooth, reality eaten clean away.Yue Xuān dropped down beside me. “Better,” he grunted. “Still sl

“Gold buys loyalty,” I said, letting the purse fall from my hand, “but silence buys the truth.” The Blind Vulture tavern didn’t just quiet—it stiffened. The heavy purse slammed onto the grease-stained counter, silver clinking loud enough to turn heads. The wood groaned. A man at the far table paused mid-sip. Another slowly set his cup down. The barkeep’s scarred fingers hovered over the coins, his eye flicking from the gold-leafed edges to my face. “That’s high-tier coin,” he wheezed, lips peeling back from broken teeth. “Too clean. Too heavy. Not something a rookie walks around with. What do you want, Mo Ying? Beast routes? Forbidden Peaks maps?” “I’m looking for a ghost,” I said. “An old man. Worked the kitchens inside the Ling Clan estate. Old Han.” His hand froze. He didn’t touch the purse. He didn’t even breathe for a moment. Then his gaze darted across the tavern—left, right, back to me. “Old Han?” he whispered. “You want a shallow grave with your name on it?” “I want ans

Lin Mengyao was still staring at the crumbling Power Stone when I turned the corner and let the shadows swallow me. I didn’t slow. I didn’t hesitate. Whatever fracture had just opened in her world wasn’t my concern. I had already spent ten years buried beneath other people’s grief. I wasn’t interested in carrying hers.Footsteps echoed behind me, but I didn’t look back. The corridors of the sect bent inward as I moved, lantern light thinning, stone walls breathing cold. The closer I got to the Great Hall, the thicker the air became—perfume, incense, roasted meat, wine. Celebration. Excess. The sound of laughter drifted toward me like rot disguised as sweetness.“Mo Ying! Get your worthless hide over here!”The Head Steward’s voice cracked through the corridor like a lash. I stopped just short of colliding with him. He stood at the entrance to the Great Hall, robe immaculate, posture rigid, clutching a silver tray of crystal carafes like a weapon. His eyes skimmed over me with open dis

The Academy Master’s guards were closing in. I could hear it—the scrape of armored boots, the tremor in their breathing, the barely restrained fear in their grips. Spear tips shook as they tightened the circle.Too slow.I didn’t wait.I stepped backward, not into the hall, but straight into the shadow cast by the towering marble pillar behind me.Void Heart Path: Shadow Slip.Reality folded. Sound died. Color drained. For a heartbeat, the world became nothing but pressure and absence. Then my feet hit stone again, and the smell hit me first—old paper, sealed dust, magic that hadn’t been disturbed in centuries.The Forbidden Library.“I knew you’d come here.”The voice slid across my spine like silk drawn over steel.I spun instantly, fingers already curled into a killing claw, void energy coiled and ready. Lin Mengyao stood between two endless rows of towering shelves, spirit lamps hovering above her shoulders. Pale blue robes. Calm posture. Sharp eyes that missed nothing.“You’re fa