In the endless void between life and death, Meng Meng's soul floated — broken, reforged, tempered by ruin. His Golden Core spun quietly: two stars blazing, a dim third orbiting like the ghost of what was lost.
His body was gone. His world burned.
But his will endured.
From the darkness came the figure — cloaked in shadows deeper than night, wrapped in runes older than creation itself. Its presence silenced the stars. No face could be seen — only an aura vast beyond imagining.
Meng Meng raised his gaze, fearless despite the void.
"Give me a body," he said, his voice steady, steel forged in despair.
"I'll give you anything."
The figure paused — the boy's resolve stirring even the laws of fate.
"Anything…?"
"Then listen well. The price is woven by destiny itself."
Without warning, the figure turned, stepping before the heavens.
The heavens raged.
Storms of law howled.
Chains of judgment descended, roaring like dragons.
The sky burned with divine wrath.
But the figure stood unmoved.
It raised a hand — spoke in a tongue lost to time — words that made existence tremble.
The heavens froze.
The chains crumbled into dust.
The storm faded, as if swallowed by the void.
Teng Xuwan, watching from above, felt his heart stop. His eyes widened in disbelief, his breath caught.
"Meng Meng… dead… no… this cannot be…" he whispered, shaken as never before.
And Meng Meng himself, for the first time, felt the hollow shock of truth — that his body was no more. His fate, hanging by a thread.
The figure turned back, its unseen eyes gleaming.
"You shall have your body — your original form. And I grant you this:
Until you save Meng Ping, and give her a peaceful, unbroken life, you shall retain all your emotions.
But when her future is secured — when your vow is fulfilled — your price comes due.
You shall lose all feeling.
And I shall cast you into the past — a hundred years between the rise of the ancient cultivators and their doomsday. A time of chaos, blood, and ruin."
Meng Meng clenched his spectral fists.
"I accept."
The figure's smile could not be seen, but the amusement echoed in its voice.
"So be it."
It snapped its fingers.
The void shattered in light and shadow. Storms of Nirvana energy surged. Meng Meng's body reformed — bone from will, flesh from defiance, blood from ruin. His heart beat again — fierce. His eyes opened — alive.
Then, space cracked — and together, they vanished.
The Deserted Land
Above a desolate land — barren, dead — they appeared. Stone stretched to the horizon, wind howling like the cries of forgotten souls.
Without a word, the figure hurled Meng Meng down. He struck the earth, rising from dust and ruin.
The figure's voice echoed one last time:
"Go. Fulfill your vow. Save her. And when it is done… your path to the past shall begin."
It turned, and as it faded into the void, it whispered:
"It will be fun to watch."
And Meng Meng was left beneath a silent sky — the only sound, the wind over endless stone.