Immortal Asura: Crushing the Heavenly Dao

Secrets of the Bloodline

"If you cannot survive the truth of your own blood, Lin Feng, then Elder Mo will be the least of your worries," the ancient voice whispered inside his skull, breaking the deep quiet of the midnight hour.

Lin Feng sat cross-legged on the cold, hard floor of his isolated wooden shack. The faint moonlight spilled through the cracks in the ceiling, illuminating the tiny glowing shards of green jade that still rested near his chest. He breathed slowly, steering the newly captured energy through his golden pathways.

"The old man has a lifetime of cultivation behind him," Lin Feng said aloud, his voice strained from the effort of his training. "I can feel the power inside me growing, but I need something more if I am going to tear him down in three days. The cosmic paths are strong, but I need a technique."

"Look closer at the center of your heart," the voice urged him. "The jade pendant was not just a container for my spirit. It was a lock. Your blood has finally melted the outer seal, but the core of your family legacy is waiting to be opened."

Lin Feng closed his eyes and focused his mind entirely on the warmth radiating from his chest. He pushed a small stream of his golden spiritual energy directly into the melted remnants of the heirloom. Suddenly, a bright flare of emerald and gold light erupted into the dark room.

The light did not destroy the shack. Instead, it expanded outward, forming a swirling cloud of glowing particles in the middle of the floor. The particles slowly came together, building the shape of a tall, broad-shouldered man wearing majestic robes. The face of the man was older, lined with deep sorrow, but his eyes looked exactly like Lin Feng's.

"Father?" Lin Feng gasped, his breath catching in his throat as he tried to stand up. He reached out a trembling hand, but his fingers passed straight through the glowing light.

"Do not speak, my boy, for this is only a memory trapped in the jade," the holographic projection of his father said, his voice sounding hollow and distant, like an echo from a deep canyon. "If you are seeing this, it means our clan has fallen, your roots have awakened, and you are seeking the truth behind our destruction."

"Who did it?" Lin Feng asked, tears stinging his eyes even though he knew the image could not hear his plea. "Tell me who murdered our family."

"We trusted the wrong allies," his father's projection continued, looking out into the empty room with a heavy sigh. "The true enemy is closer than you think, Lin Feng. Our clan was not destroyed by random bandits or a rival family from the outside. We were systematically hunted down and betrayed from within by the very man who rules the mountain you currently walk upon. The Sect Leader of the Mystic Sword Sect orchestrated everything."

Lin Feng felt his blood run cold, his fists clenching so hard his knuckles turned white. "The Sect Leader? The master of the entire mountain?"

"He did not do it out of hatred," the projection said, its spectral hands tightening as if remembering a great battle. "He did it for greed. Our family guarded the ancient map leading to the Prehistoric Primordial Treasure, a source of power that can rewrite the laws of the universe. The Sect Leader coveted that power. He butchered our kin to steal the map, but he never found the final piece. The key is hidden inside the very jade you wear. It is bound to your cosmic bloodline."

The holographic image began to flicker violently, the emerald light turning dim as the energy of the pendant started to fade away.

"Grow strong in secret, my son," his father's final words echoed through the damp shack as the projection crumbled back into tiny particles of light. "Do not reveal your true name until you are powerful enough to cut the head off the serpent. Beware the shadows around you."

The room plunged back into complete darkness, leaving Lin Feng alone with his racing thoughts and a heart full of burning fury. "The Sect Leader himself. I am living right under the roof of the man who slaughtered my entire bloodline."

"Now you understand the weight of your path," the ancient voice inside his mind said quietly. "You are not just fighting an outer elder anymore. You are fighting the masters of this world."

"Then I will build a mountain of corpses until I reach his throne," Lin Feng whispered, closing his eyes to sink back into his meditative state to process the shock.

A shadow assassin sneaks into Lin Feng's room mid-meditation, a poisoned dagger inches from his throat.

The dark blade caught the faint moonlight, its edge dripping with a thick, green liquid that hissed faintly as it cut through the silent air. The intruder moved with absolute silence, his black cloth mask hiding everything but his cold, murderous eyes.

"Die, trash," the assassin whispered, his voice barely a breath as he drove the weapon downward with blinding speed.

Lin Feng's eyes snapped open, the gold light within his pupils exploding outward in the dark. He did not have time to stand. Relying on pure instinct, he threw his upper body backward, the tip of the poisoned blade slicing through his gray robes, missing his bare skin by less than a millimeter.

"You are fast for a dead man," the assassin hissed, instantly recovering his balance and spinning around to launch a second, low strike aimed directly at Lin Feng's stomach.

"Who sent you?" Lin Feng shouted, using his palms to push himself off the floor, flipping backward into the dark corner of the room to avoid the flashing steel. "Was it Elder Mo, or did the Sect Leader already find out about me?"

"Dead men do not need names!" the intruder barked, his body suddenly shifting as he unleashed a high grade movement technique, creating three blurry afterimages in the small space of the shack.

"You think these cheap tricks work on me?" Lin Feng yelled, his new golden pathways lighting up fiercely beneath his skin.

He could see right through the illusions. The ancient cosmic energy filled his eyes, allowing him to pinpoint the real attacker instantly among the shadows. He reached out through the dark, his bare hand coiling with black smoke as he prepared to turn the hunter into the prey.