Shattered Jade: Ascending soul

The Sovereign Curse

The Ghost of the Sect

Li Xuan vaults onto the stone altar. His shadow cuts across the pulsing crimson flower. The Blood-Forging Lotus thumps like a heavy heart, spraying a fine mist of copper-tasting vapor into his face. Xuan drops to his knees. He jams his right hand forward, his fingers locking around the fleshy, thorn-covered stem.

The crimson waves freeze solid instantly, turning into a vast plain of jagged red glass. A thick, oily black sludge leaks from the pores of the altar stones. It snakes up his leather boots, binding his ankles and locking his knees like heavy iron cords.

[System Warning: Ancient Sovereign Curse Activated]

A psychic shockwave slams into his forehead. Xuan’s vision cuts to black, then snaps into a hyper-realistic illusion. The ruined grand courtyard of his old sect appears around him. The phantoms of Mo Fan and Ning'er step out from the rolling black smoke. Mo Fan raises a fully reconstructed right arm, laughing wildly as he channels a massive sphere of stolen flame. Ning'er lunges forward from his flank, driving a silver dagger toward Xuan's throat with blinding speed.

"Die in the dirt where you belong!" she screams.

Xuan does not dodge the phantom blade. He steps directly into the strike, letting the silver dagger slide against his collarbone. He drives his bare fist straight into her illusionary face. His knuckles explode with dark, jagged sword intent. The impact shatters her skull into a cloud of black dust, her body dissolving into gray ash before she can hit the ground.

Mo Fan roars, throwing the sphere of flame directly at Xuan's chest. Xuan moves like a crack of thunder, sliding under the fire wave. He turns violently, swinging his elbow upward into Mo Fan’s ribs. The phantom chest caves in with a loud, wet crack. Xuan grabs the back of Mo Fan's neck and slams his face into the stone tiles, grinding the phantom's features into powder.

The entire false courtyard splits apart like broken glass. The sky cracks open, revealing the void. Xuan snaps his eyes open, returning instantly to the real altar on the Asura Blood Sea.

Consuming the Cosmos

The black sludge binding his legs turns to ash under the sudden flare of his aura. Xuan yanks his arm back, tearing the Blood-Forging Lotus from the stone base. He rams the whole glowing flower into his mouth. He bites down hard, crushing the raw, fleshy petals between his teeth. A volcanic wave of liquid life force scalds his throat, tasting of molten gold and raw thunder.

The crimson energy tears through his meridians like a pack of starved beasts. His muscles expand, hardening instantly into primordial iron. The remaining internal fractures in his bones stitch together with loud, popping sounds. Inside his chest, his jade dantian inflates to twice its original size, turning from a cracked green to a deep, radiant royal purple. The power inside him stabilizes, vibrating at a frequency that shakes the surrounding frozen sea.

Suddenly, a golden tear rips open in the purple sky above.

A celestial figure descends at supersonic speed, riding a silver cloud that leaves a trail of white fire. It is an elite Higher-Realm Envoy clad in interlocking white armor. The envoy thrusts a heavy golden spear downward, aiming directly for Xuan's head. The air friction ignites the spear tip, turning it into a falling star.

"Earthly insect!" the deity roars, his voice crushing the air pressure. "You dare touch the heavenly tribute!"

Xuan does not kneel. He does not even blink. He leaps straight off the stone altar, launching himself into the sky like a cannonball. He coats his right fist in the pitch-black, heavy aura of the Asura Ring. He smashes his bare knuckles directly against the descending golden spear tip.

The sky shatters. A ring of white and black shockwaves expands for three miles, obliterating the frozen red waves below into fine crimson powder.

Shattering the Divine

The golden spear tip shudders under Xuan's fist. Web-like cracks spread down the divine weapon's shaft. The Higher-Realm Envoy’s eyes widen in absolute shock beneath his visor.

"Impossible! A mortal body cannot withstand celestial iron!" the envoy gasps, his silver cloud dissipating from the sheer kinetic impact.

"Your iron is weak," Xuan sneers in mid-air.

Xuan uses his left hand to grab the burning shaft of the golden spear. The celestial heat chars his skin, but his newly forged iron muscles do not yield. He pulls himself forward, closing the distance between him and the deity. He drives his knee straight into the envoy’s armored stomach.

The white chest plate implodes. Golden spirit blood sprays from the envoy’s mouth, painting his pristine armor in divine gore. The deity flies backward through the sky, but Xuan does not let go of the spear. He yanks the weapon out of the envoy's grip, spins violently in mid-air, and hurls the golden spear back at its owner.

The spear streaks through the air, piercing the envoy's right shoulder and pinning him to a floating chunk of a shattered mountain ridge above the sea. The deity screams, a high-pitched sound of pure agony that echoes across the wasteland.

Xuan drops through the air, landing heavily on a floating fragment of red ice. He looks up at the pinned god, his fingers clawing into a fist as the Asura Devouring Matrix flares to life on his hand. The hunt is not over.