All Chapters of The Ashen Healer : Chapter 1
- Chapter 10
10 chapters
Chapter 1
The air in the Judgment Hall was hot and thick. It smelled of old wood, burning incense, and the sweat of a thousand people.The hall was usually big enough for everyone, but today, it felt small. It was overcrowded. Every disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect was there. They stood shoulder to shoulder. They filled the back of the room. They squeezed into the corners. They hung over the railings of the upper balconies.Everyone wanted to see the show.High above the crowd, on a raised platform made of black stone, sat the Elders. There were twelve of them. They wore robes of dark blue and silver. Their faces were like stone masks. They did not smile. They did not frown. They simply looked down, like gods looking at an insect.In the center of the room, far below the Elders, was Evans.Evans was on his knees. The floor was made of cold, grey stone, but under his knees, a red circle glowed. It was the Sigil of Judgment. It was a magic circle used for criminals.Evans was not a criminal. He w
Last Updated : 2026-01-20
Chapter 2
Li Wei, who had a broken arm. He claimed Evans broke it again to fix it wrong, just to sell him more pain pills.The truth: The bone had set poorly, and Evans had to re-break it to save Li Wei’s arm from being useless forever.Fatima, who had run out of energy during training. She claimed Evans gave her a pill that made her addicted.The truth: It was a standard energy pill, but she had taken too many against Evans’s advice.Each story was a weapon. Each word was a knife.Evans stopped shouting. His voice was hoarse. He realized something terrifying.They weren't listening.The Elders exchanged glances. They nodded slightly to each other. They didn't need to hear the witnesses. They didn't care about the truth. The verdict was already decided before Evans even walked into the room.This wasn't a trial. It was a play. It was a performance to justify getting rid of him.Evans slumped forward. The chains felt heavier now. He was alone. In a room of a thousand people, he was completely, u
Last Updated : 2026-01-20
Chapter 3
Elder Blackwood waved his hand again. "Bring the Jade Slate."Two disciples carried a large, heavy stone slab into the hall. It was made of green jade. It glowed with a soft internal light.The surface of the slate was covered in thousands of names. These were the names of every member of the Azure Cloud Sect. It was the registry. As long as your name was on the slate, you were protected. You were family. You had access to the library, the dining hall, the dormitories.One of the disciples held a special brush. It tipped with red energy."Find the name," Elder Blackwood ordered.The disciple searched the slate. "Here it is. Row 40, column 12. Evans.""Erase it."The disciple pressed the brush against the stone.Evans watched from the floor. He couldn't take his eyes off it.Where his name was written in gold light, the red brush touched it.Hiss.Smoke rose from the stone. The gold light flickered. Then, it turned black. Then, it vanished.The spot where "Evans" had been was now blank
Last Updated : 2026-01-20
Chapter 4
The world was a blur of spinning colors. Yellow light. Grey stone. Blue sky.Evans did not know where he was. He only knew pain. His head throbbed. It felt like a drum was beating inside his skull. Boom. Boom. Boom.He tried to move his hands. He could not. Rough ropes bit into his wrists. He tried to move his legs. They were heavy, like lead. He looked down. His ankles were tied together with a glowing blue rope. It was a Spirit Bind. It stopped him from moving. It stopped him from fighting.He was not walking. He was floating. Beneath him, a flat, wooden board hummed with energy. It was a transport talisman, a flying stretcher used for cargo or prisoners. Evans was the cargo."Are we there yet?" a voice grumbled. It came from the front.Evans turned his head. The movement made him dizzy. He saw two backs. Two men in the grey and green uniforms of the Clan Enforcers.The man on the left was tall. He controlled the floating talisman with one hand. The man on the right was shorter, wit
Last Updated : 2026-01-20
Chapter 5
Silence. The silence of the Red Wastes was heavier than the noise of the city. There were no birds. No crickets. Only the wind, whispering over the sharp rocks.Evans lay against the boulder. He counted his breaths. In. Out. In. Out. He had to stay calm. Panic was a killer. He knew this. He had studied medicine. He had studied survival. He was smart."Assess," he whispered to himself. "Assess the damage."He tried to sit up. A sharp pain stabbed his left side. Broken rib? Maybe just bruised. He pressed his hand against his side. He flinched. Bruised, definitely. Maybe a hairline fracture.He looked at his legs. His pants were torn. Blood oozed from a long cut on his shin. The blood looked bright red against the dusty ground."Stop the bleeding," he thought.He reached for his inner power. He reached for his Qi.For years, it had been as natural as breathing. He would focus his mind, and a warm current would flow from his belly to his hands. He could use that energy to seal wounds, to
Last Updated : 2026-01-20
Chapter 6
"Weak," another voice whispered. It sounded like Baret, the enforcer. "Look at him crawl. Like a worm.""No," Evans whimpered. He covered his ears. "Go away.""You are nothing without your power," a third voice said. It was his own voice. "You are just meat."Evans squeezed his eyes shut. "Shut up! Shut up!"He scrambled forward, crawling blindly. His hand slipped over the edge of a drop.He tumbled.He fell into a shallow ravine—a dried-up riverbed cut into the rock. He landed in the soft, silty dirt at the bottom. The walls of the ravine blocked the wind. It was slightly warmer here.But Evans didn't care. He was done.He curled into a ball. He pulled his knees to his chest. He shivered so hard his muscles cramped.The voices were gone, replaced by a high-pitched ringing in his ears.He stared at the dirt in front of his face. He saw a tiny pebble. It was white, perfectly round. It looked like a pearl.He focused on the pebble. It was the only thing in the world that made sense."I'
Last Updated : 2026-01-20
Chapter 7
Thump. Thump. The sound was slow. It was too slow.Evans lay on his back. The ground beneath him was hard and uneven. Sharp rocks dug into his skin, but he could barely feel them. The pain was distant now. It felt like a heavy blanket covering his body.He tried to take a deep breath. He failed. His chest felt like it was filled with water. A wet, gurgling sound came from his throat.My lung, Evans thought. His mind was surprisingly clear. It was the clarity of a doctor looking at a patient. Punctured left lung. Internal hemorrhage. Rib fractures—at least three. Probable rupture of the spleen.He analyzed his own death. He knew the timeline. He had minutes, maybe less.Above him, the sky was a dull, angry gray. Clouds moved slowly, indifferent to the man dying below. The edges of his vision began to blur. Darkness crept in from the sides, making the world look like a tunnel.He tried to move his hand. His fingers twitched. That was all. He could not lift his arm. He could not wipe the
Last Updated : 2026-01-20
Chapter 8
Snap. The cold wind vanished. The hard rocks vanished. The gray sky vanished.Evans was standing. He looked down. He was not wearing his torn, bloody robes. He was naked, but he felt no shame. His body looked clean. There were no bruises. No blood.He looked around. Everything was white. It was an endless, bright space. There were no walls, no ceiling, and no floor. Just infinite whiteness. It was sterile. It smelled like rubbing alcohol and ozone.It was quiet. Not the lonely silence of the cliff, but the heavy silence of an operating room before the surgery begins."Am I dead?" Evans asked.His voice was strong. It echoed, though there were no walls to echo off of."Is this the afterlife?"No angel appeared. No demon appeared.Instead, the air in front of him shimmered.Text appeared.It didn't fade in. It snapped into existence. The letters were black, sharp, and blocky. They floated in the air, motionless.[MEDICAL HEALING SYSTEM ACTIVATED]Evans blinked. He reached out to touch t
Last Updated : 2026-01-20
CHAPTER 9
Evans floated in a dark ocean. The water was warm. It was soft. There was no noise here. There was no pain. He felt heavy, sinking deeper and deeper into the black water. It felt good to sink. It felt like sleeping after a very long day.He wanted to stay here forever. The darkness was kind. It did not ask for anything. “Just let go,” he thought. “Just sleep.” But the darkness cracked.It was not a sound. It was a feeling. A sharp, electric buzz went through his mind. It was like biting on a piece of tin foil, but a thousand times worse.[WARNING: HOST VITALITY CRITICAL.]The words were not spoken. They appeared inside his head. They were bright red letters burning against the back of his eyelids.Evans tried to push them away. He wanted the warm water back. He tried to keep his eyes closed.[SYSTEM ALERT: UNCONSCIOUSNESS UNAUTHORIZED.]Go away, Evans thought. Let me sleep.[INITIATING PAIN PROTOCOL.]The warm water turned to ice. Then, it turned to fire.A spike of pure agony shot
Last Updated : 2026-01-20
Chapter 10
The sound was the worst part. Crunch.It was a wet, grinding pop. It vibrated through his chest cavity. It echoed in his ears.Evans’s back arched off the ground. His mouth opened wide, stretching his jaw until it popped too. He screamed, but no sound came out. His lungs were empty. The pain had stolen his air.He collapsed back into the dirt. He lay there, gasping like a fish on a dock. Gray spots danced in his eyes.[RIB REALIGNED.][EFFICIENCY: 68%. ACCEPTABLE.]"Acceptable..." Evans wheezed. He felt like laughing, but that would hurt too much. The System called that torture "acceptable."The sharp, stabbing pain was gone. Now, it was just a deep, throbbing ache. Every time his heart beat, his side throbbed. Thump-throb. Thump-throb.[STEP 1 COMPLETE.][STEP 2: CAUTERIZATION.]Evans looked at the text. He knew that word. Cauterize. It meant to burn. It meant sealing a wound with heat."No," Evans whispered. "No fire. I don't have fire."He looked around. He was in a small clearing.
Last Updated : 2026-01-20