The Ascension of the suppressed Dragon

chapter 2:the hermit's cruelty and the sealed root

Pain woke me.

Not the kind that stings and fades. Not the sharp, clean pain of a wound.

This was crushing.

Total.

Like every cell in my body was being ground down and rebuilt by something cold and merciless.

I tried to breathe.

I choked.

My lungs felt packed with wet sand.

“Stop struggling, brat,” a voice rasped. “You’re only making the internal bleeding worse.”

I forced my eyes open.

Firelight flickered against jagged stone walls. Orange. Weak. The smell of damp rock and old smoke filled my nose.

I turned my head.

Agony detonated down my spine.

A man sat by the fire, back to me, poking at the embers with a stick. His robes were gray and tattered, nearly blending into the shadows of the cave.

“Where…” I coughed. “Where am I?”

“In a hole,” he said flatly. “In the ground. More specifically—my hole.”

He didn’t look at me.

“I am Yue Xuān,” he added. “Not that a corpse needs introductions.”

“I’m not…” I gasped. “A corpse.”

I tried to push myself up.

My arms buckled instantly.

My face hit the stone.

Cold.

Pain exploded again.

Yue Xuān finally turned around.

His face was a mess of scars, old and ugly, cutting through weathered skin. His eyes were dead—no curiosity, no sympathy. Just indifference.

“Look at you,” he said. “Broken ribs. Shattered meridians. A hollowed-out dantian. And you fell from the Cliff of Exiles.”

He leaned forward slightly.

“If you’re not a walking corpse,” he continued, “then words have lost all meaning.”

I clenched my teeth.

“Why…” I coughed. “Why did you save me?”

Yue Xuān snorted. “Save you? Don’t flatter yourself.”

“Then why?”

“Because I was curious,” he said. “And because you haven’t died yet.”

I laughed weakly. It came out bloody.

“You should’ve let me.”

“Why?” he asked. “So you could die quietly like trash?”

The image hit me without warning.

Zhaoyang’s smile.

The needle.

My father collapsing.

My mother’s blood on the floor.

“Revenge,” I spat, coughing up dark fluid. “I need to kill him.”

Yue Xuān laughed.

It was dry. Broken.

“You?” he said. “Kill someone?”

He stood and walked over, towering above me.

“A crippled slave,” he continued, “wants revenge on the head of the Ling Clan?”

He nudged my side with his foot.

Not hard.

Just enough.

Pain screamed through me.

“You can’t even crawl to the cave entrance,” he said. “Ling Feng.”

I froze.

“…How do you know my name?”

He crouched.

“I know the scent of Phoenix blood,” he said. “Or what’s left of it.”

He leaned closer.

“It smells like failure.”

I snarled and tried to move.

He kicked me again.

“Get up,” he ordered. “If you want to talk about revenge, stand.”

“I can’t!” I shouted. “He destroyed my dantian! He took my root! I’m crippled!”

Yue Xuān grabbed my hair and yanked my head up.

“He took what?” he hissed. “The Phoenix Root?”

“Yes!”

“That flashy bird spark?” he sneered.

“It was the pride of my clan!”

“It was a lie,” he snapped.

I froze.

“…What?”

He shoved me back down.

“He stole a shell,” Yue Xuān said. “A polished decoy.”

My mind reeled.

“A… decoy?”

“You felt it leave you, didn’t you?” he demanded. “You felt the emptiness.”

“Yes.”

“That wasn’t loss,” he said. “That was awakening.”

I stared at my hands. They were shaking.

“The Phoenix Root,” he continued, pacing, “was a seal. A golden cage your clan spent ten years polishing until everyone believed it was real.”

My chest throbbed—cold, rhythmic.

“Zhaoyang didn’t ruin you,” Yue Xuān said. “He broke the lock.”

“…Then what did he unlock?”

He stopped.

Turned.

“The Void Shadow Root.”

The words made the air feel heavier.

“A power ancient cultivators feared so much,” Yue Xuān said slowly, “they erased it from history.”

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“Of course you haven’t!” he snapped. “It manipulates nothingness. Space. Absence.”

My heart—no, the hollow where it should be—pulsed.

“That’s why he couldn’t sense it,” Yue Xuān continued. “To cultivators like him, it looks broken. Empty.”

“So he thinks…”

“He thinks he left you with nothing,” Yue Xuān said. “Instead, he left you with the only thing that can devour the world.”

“Then why do I feel like I’m dying?”

“Because it’s sealed,” he said. “Suppressed.”

He stepped closer.

“If you don’t control it,” he added quietly, “it will erase you completely.”

“…Teach me.”

Yue Xuān laughed again.

“I don’t teach children,” he said. “I forge weapons.”

I grabbed his boot.

“I’ll do anything,” I said. “Anything.”

He looked down at me.

“You have hatred,” he said. “But do you have the soul?”

“Try me.”

He grabbed my tunic and yanked me upright.

“Close your eyes,” he ordered. “Don’t resist.”

I obeyed.

His energy poured into me—heavy, scorching, invasive.

I felt him pass the ruins of my Phoenix Root.

Then—

He stiffened.

Pressure crushed down.

A roar echoed in my mind.

Something ancient stirred.

A seal appeared—golden-black, bleeding darkness.

“What is that?” I gasped.

Yue Xuān’s hand trembled.

I opened my eyes.

His face was pale.

Terrified.

“No,” he whispered. “Impossible…”

He tried to pull away.

Couldn’t.

Black light crawled over his fingers.

“Get off me!” I yelled.

He tore free and stumbled back, clutching his hand.

A black mark shimmered on his palm.

“You didn’t just awaken the Root,” he breathed. “You carry the Void Emperor’s Soul Seal.”

“…Tell me.”

He swallowed.

“You’re a monster,” he said hoarsely.

The cave trembled.

Shadows leaned in.

Yue Xuān straightened, eyes burning.

“The world thinks you’re dead,” he said. “Good.”

He smiled—sharp and cruel.

“Because from now on, we break you.”

He stepped closer.

“Stand up, brat,” he said. “Your first lesson begins with your first death.”

The wind howled outside.

And for the first time—

I didn’t fear the dark.

I was the dark.