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Chapter Two: Embers of a Life Left Behind
The jade mountains of **Cloud Crystal Sect** shimmered with serenity, but Lin Yu—now cloaked in a mortal illusion—saw only the scars.
He had returned, not as a beast, not as a mount, but as a man in shadow. Hidden. Watching.
The courtyard buzzed with recovery efforts. The Abyss Sea Cult had been pushed back, barely. Structures were being rebuilt. Disciples whispered about the dragon who died protecting one of their own. Few knew his name. None truly mourned him.
Except her.**Xue'er**.She sat quietly beneath a plum blossom tree, her sword leaning against her shoulder, eyes blank with grief. The wind tousled her white robe as her fingers traced a cracked dragon scale—one that had fallen during the final clash.
She didn't know who it belonged to.
Didn't know it was her father's last piece.
Lin Yu's throat tightened. The girl had inherited the Sect Mistress's beauty—silver eyes like blades—but her aura felt gentler… burdened.
"She mourns the beast," he whispered. "Without knowing why."
Behind her, the **Sect Mistress**, **Mu Yuelan**, descended like a blade wrapped in ice.
Cold. Immaculate. Eyes unreadable.
She glanced once at her daughter, then at the scale.
"You're still thinking about it," she said, voice smooth as falling snow.
Xue'er didn't rise. "He saved me."
Mu Yuelan's gaze darkened. "He was a mount. Nothing more."
"He was more than that."
"A tool that fulfilled its purpose."
Those words struck harder than a blade. Lin Yu's fists trembled.
She knew. She knew Long Tian was more. Maybe even guessed the truth. And still, she buried it with pride.
Xue'er stood. "You despised him, but he never hesitated for me."
Mu Yuelan's eyes softened for just a flicker—a ghost of guilt? Regret? Then she turned and walked away without another word.
Lin Yu watched the exchange from the shadow of a pine tree, heart thundering.
"She'll never admit it," he muttered. "She used him, bore his child, buried the truth. No… there's no place for me here."
He cast one last glance at his daughter.
Then turned away. He would return.
But not as a shadow.
Next time, he would return as a force strong enough to shatter heavens.
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Later That Night – Outside Demonbone Sect
Storm clouds rumbled across the Bloodstone Peaks. Demonic qi surged like a living thing, thick and hungry.
Lin Yu stepped onto the cursed steps that led to the Demonbone Sect.
Here, cultivators did not pray—they devoured.
A horned elder emerged from the shadows, eyes burning like coals. "You seek to join the unforgiven?" "I seek power," Lin Yu said, his voice unwavering. "And I offer rage, blood, and a past that deserves to burn."
The elder grinned. "Then come, beast of thunder. Let the demons show you how to rise."
Behind him, the gates of the Demonbone Sect creaked open.
And Lin Yu—reborn dragon, abandoned father, wrathful soul—took his first step into the world that would make him unstoppable.
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Demonbone Sect – Blood Trial Grounds
The moon hung low, red as an open wound, casting a hellish glow across the obsidian arena. Cracked bones paved the floor, and the air tasted of iron and death.
Lin Yu stood shirtless, surrounded by a dozen initiates—most barely human anymore. Some had fangs, others had stitched arms, all wore madness like a crown.
Above, a horned woman in black robes raised her hand. "First trial of the Demonbone Sect—**Devour or Die.** Only five may pass. The rest feed the altar."
A beast roared from the cages. A multi-eyed chimera was released into the center, and chaos exploded.
The initiates charged blindly, tearing at each other, weapons clashing with desperate screams.
Lin Yu didn't move.
Not until a blade grazed his cheek—then he *wished*.
> *\[Wish System activated. Temporary enhancement: Lightning Veins – Duration: 2 minutes.]*
Crackling power surged through his limbs.
He blurred across the battlefield.
A man's neck snapped. Another initiate flew backward, spine shattered.
He met the chimera head-on, eyes glowing like stormfire.
"Sorry, buddy," Lin Yu muttered—and drove his fist into its throat. The beast screamed, but he climbed its neck, tearing into its skull with his bare hands. Black blood exploded across the arena.
The chimera fell. Silence followed.
Only four other initiates stood.
The horned elder above grinned, clapping slowly. "You have bathed in blood… but will you drown in it?"
Lin Yu breathed hard, heart pounding, but he didn't falter. He was alive. Stronger. Hungrier.
He was becoming a demon—and part of him liked it.
---
Meanwhile – Cloud Crystal Sect, Mu Yuelan's Quarters**
The chambers were empty, save for the cold moonlight and the Sect Mistress herself.
Mu Yuelan stood alone, her robes loosened, revealing a star-shaped scar near her shoulder—a mark from a ritual long past.
In her hand was a letter. Unsigned. Glowing faintly with suppressive formation sigils.
> The price has been paid, Mu Yuelan. The beast is dead. The child will be spared."*
She let the scroll burn in her palm, turning to ash.
Her expression never changed.But her hands trembled.
"Forgive me, Long Tian…" she whispered, her voice no longer steel but sorrow. "I had no choice."
She walked to a small altar in the back of her chamber. Upon it sat an obsidian jade—the only surviving memory of her true bloodline. **Mu Yuelan** was not born in the middle plane.
She was an exile—from the **Upper Planes**, the **Starfall Family**. Once a daughter of destiny.
Until she broke their sacred vow and bore a child with a beast.
The family gave her a choice:
> *"Sacrifice the beast. Or lose the girl."*
She chose Xue'er.
And orchestrated Long Tian's last mission.
And yet… as she stared at the dragon scale on her desk, tears she never allowed slid down her cheek.
"He didn't even resist," she murmured. "Even when I sent him to die… he still protected her."
A crack split through the jade altar.
And the air whispered of consequences yet to come. (If she could just tell him')