Darkness.
Liu Tan couldn't feel his legs anymore.
He didn't know if they had broken again, or if the pain had simply numbed everything.
Blood—his own—dripped slowly down from the corner of his lips, and though his eyes were swollen, crusted with dried tears and spit, he still glared at them.
"Senior Brother… Yan," he croaked, "I—I treated you as kin… why…?"
The man before him—Senior Brother Yan—smiled.
"Because, Liu Tan," he said, sweeping his sleeve with disdain while stepping on Tan's fingers, grinding them into the gravel of the Sect's punishment cliff, "your light was too bright, and your name was too clean, and your talent was too monstrous, and your heart was too righteous, and the heavens—ha!—they favored you too much, and we simply couldn't allow that, and do you know why?"
Liu Tan coughed, spat blood. "Tell me… then kill me."
"Because the Dao is cruel, and the path to immortality is soaked in betrayal, and if you're not willing to become the butcher, then you'll always be the pig beneath the blade."
"And… the Sect?" Liu Tan gasped. "Master… surely Master—"
Another voice interrupted.
"Your Master gave the order, Liu Tan," said Junior Sister Bai.
"You were always too perfect, too flawless, too untouchable, and too unwilling to scheme, and such naivety doesn't belong in the Azure Serpent Sect, for even snakes devour their own kind."
Liu Tan's face twisted, not from pain but heartbreak. "He raised me… since I was seven… taught me the first sword forms… how could he—how could he throw me away… like this…?"
"Because," Yan whispered, "he found a more promising disciple, and he saw your use expire, and a tool without edge is nothing but trash, and trash deserves to be discarded, don't you agree?"
They all laughed.
And then they threw him.
From the cliff of judgment, past the Sect's protective array, down through rending winds, through swirling spiritstorms.
Into the Mortal Dust Realm.
The weakest realm.
---
Darkness.
It clung to his flesh.
The pain never left.
But through it—through the haze of shattered nerves and betrayal—he dreamed.
---
In his dream, there was light.
Brilliant, golden, searing.
And he stood atop the Azure Serpent Sect's Heavenly Sword Platform.
"Liu Tan, the youngest Core Disciple in three centuries, and the only one to cultivate the Azure Nine-Serpent Sword Arts to the seventh coil," said Grand Elder Mo.
"At merely twenty, you comprehend sword intent, you suppress your peers with only one finger, and you carry the hope of our Sect upon your shoulders—how can Heaven not smile upon you?"
The crowd roared.
But one voice… remained silent.
Senior Brother Yan.
He stood behind Liu Tan, hands clasped, head lowered, lips smiling.
But his gaze—oh, his gaze burned with a flame colder than ice.
And Master Han Yufeng, his own master—his guiding star since the orphaned days of his youth—placed a hand on Liu Tan's shoulder.
"You are like a jade carved by Heaven," he said, gently. "And yet even jade… can crack if struck from the right angle."
Liu Tan had smiled, oblivious. "Master, I will never fall. Even if I must bear the heavens themselves."
---
He woke up.
Air dry as bone.
He lay on a broken wooden floor, covered in ash and torn red cloth.
Moonlight filtered in through shattered beams. A lantern dangled, swinging slowly from a cracked ceiling.
Bodies.
Women in torn robes. Men with faces frozen in horror. Blood soaked into every plank.
"Wh-Where...?" Liu Tan muttered, eyes barely able to adjust.
He pushed himself up—barely. His arms shook like branches in the storm.
And then… he remembered.
---
He stood at the Sect's inner gate.
A dozen rogue cultivators stood before him—Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, even a Nascent Soul among them.
And yet he stood alone.
"You dare attack my Sect? You dare breach our gates, thinking I will not stand before them?!" he thundered.
One bandit laughed. "You're just a pup, full of fire and titles—what can you do alone?"
Liu Tan stepped forward. "Heaven sees me, earth witnesses me, and the sword in my hand bears the wrath of the Azure Serpent Sect! Come, if you wish to die!"
And he struck.
One slash. The Nascent Soul fled.
"He's a monster!" one had screamed.
He had smiled then—not out of pride, but out of purpose. He fought for the Sect.
He never imagined the same hands he bled for would one day push him off a cliff like a dog too old to bark.
---
Now…
He crawled over corpses in a ruined brothel.
But his heart… oh, his heart beat with a rhythm he'd never known before.
Liu Tan dragged himself forward.
His arms felt like they were filled with sand, and his fingers barely had strength to curl around the wooden frame of a fallen table.
It was slow. But he kept crawling anyway, because staying still felt worse than death.
That's when the footsteps came again.
Soft, deliberate, and close enough that the floorboards creaked gently under each step.
He looked up.
She stood with one hand on her hip, watching him.
She wore a crimson robe that clung to her figure without trying to hide anything, and round spectacles rested low on her nose, even though her eyes didn't need them to see him clearly.
Her hair was tied up in a loose knot, though a few strands dangled over her cheek like they refused to be tamed.
She looked strong.
Not in the way that men did, with flexed muscles or brute presence, but in a way that said she could end someone and still have time to pour herself tea afterward.
And she was smiling.
"You really shouldn't be moving like that," she said. Her voice was soft.
"But I suppose watching a man crawl has its charm, doesn't it?"
Liu Tan didn't answer. He just glared.
She crouched beside him without losing an ounce of grace, and when she reached forward, she didn't touch him—but her fingers hovered just above his chest.
"Shattered dantian and torn meridians. And yet, you're still trying to get up," she murmured. "Men really are stubborn when they've got something left to prove."
He tried to speak, but she raised a finger and tapped it lightly against his lips.
"No need to explain yourself, little thing," she said.
"I've brought in a lot of men to this place—powerful men, broken men, desperate men. But you're the first one who looks like he's been abandoned by the heavens and spat on by hell."
She stood up and dusted her robes with a single sweep of her hand.
"I'm Xue Yin. Brothel Master of the Crimson Veil."
He frowned. "What do you want from me?"
Her smile didn't fade, but her eyes narrowed slightly,.
"You came crawling into my house, drenched in blood and death, and you ask what I want?" she said.
"I should be asking what you want. Do you want to die? Do you want to rot here until your body stiffens and your soul gets dragged into some low-grade hell by hungry ghosts?"
He didn't answer, and she didn't wait for one.
"If you want to stay useless, I can leave you right here, and maybe I'll find another man who still has both balls and brains tomorrow," she said as she turned to walk away.
"But if you want to stand again—if you actually want revenge or survival or something equally predictable—then you'd better say something, because I don't hand out help for free."
Liu Tan clenched his jaw. His breath was shallow. His body wouldn't stop shaking.
"...What's the price?"
She stopped in the doorway, glancing back over her shoulder.
"Oh, I don't know yet," she said. "But I promise you this—I never invest in something that won't yield results."
And then she smiled again, but it was slower this time—warmer, more dangerous.
"If you want, I can assist you," she said. "I can help you rebuild your body, your cultivation, and even your identity. But the path I'll offer isn't righteous, and it sure as hell won't be clean. So if you're still clinging to honor, leave it at the door."
Her eyes gleamed behind the glasses.
"And if you're smart, then crawl toward me instead of the exit."
Then she disappeared into the hallway, leaving the door open behind her.
---
The room was warm.
It wasn't just the steam rising from the floor vents or the incense that filled the air with sweet haze—it was the way the girl looked at him.
She closed the door behind her with a soft click.
She didn't wear much. Just a sheer silk robe the color of wine and nothing underneath it, and when she leaned forward to place a jade basin beside the bed, he could see everything.
Xue Yin had said this girl was "gifted in dual techniques" and "very good with first-timers."
Liu Tan hadn't responded at the time. He still wasn't sure if he was ready.
But now she was here.
And she was smiling.
"You're cuter than I expected," she said.
"I thought the Brothel Master was exaggerating. But she was right—your body's been torn to shreds… and yet, you're still trying to hide that reaction down there."
He flinched. His hands immediately tried to pull the thin blanket up higher, but it was too late—she'd already seen everything.
She chuckled. "A man's meridians run through every part of his body, you know. And if we want to repair them… I'll have to touch every part."
He opened his mouth to protest, but nothing came out.
She stepped closer. Her fingers lightly brushed his collarbone first, then trailed down across his chest, following the cracks in his Qi flow that pulsed faintly beneath the skin.
"You're so tense," she whispered. "Relax. This is healing. And besides… doesn't it feel good?"
Her hand slid lower.
Liu Tan's breath caught.
His body reacted before his mind could form a single proper thought.
She's touching me.
She's really—
He couldn't stop the heat crawling across his face. It reached his ears, and then flooded down his neck.
"I-I don't think this is the right… method," he muttered.
"Oh?" she said, tilting her head. "But you're getting harder by the second. Should I stop?"
He shook his head. Then nodded. Then immediately regretted doing either.
She laughed again. This time, it was louder—and far more satisfied.
"Men always say no with their mouth but yes with their bodies," she whispered. "So I'll ask a simpler question—do you want to be healed, or do you want to suffer in silence while pretending you're still a noble cultivator?"
He bit his lower lip. His hands trembled.
"…Help me," he finally said. "Do it."
She smiled.
"Good boy."