The rift between worlds tore open with a crack sound,it spat him out like a disposable garbadge.
One moment he was in,Grave of chosen ones, the next moment he—
Li Ming awoke to the taste of mud and iron.
Rain lashed his face, needling his skin with icy precision. His body once a vessel of godlike power.now, lay broken in the filth, muscles screaming as he dragged himself upright. The forest around him was a tomb of shadows, the air thick with the stench of damp earth and rotting leaves.
A glitchy hum pulsed in his skull.
[System Reinitialized: 12% Operational Capacity.]
[Alert: Host's Cultivation – None.]
[Temporal Discrepancy: 300 Years Since Sealing.]
Li Ming's lips peeled back in a grin. Three centuries.Long enough for the world to forget the being who was ones a hero and long enough for that being to forget about me.
Then—a snap of twigs.
A figure crashed through the undergrowth, gasping. A boy, no older than sixteen, his robes torn and splattered with blood. His left arm hung limp, fingers clutching a wound that wept crimson onto the forest floor.
Disciples' robes. The White Serpent Sect.*
The boy's head jerked up, eyes wide with desperation. "Y-You! Help me! There's a demonic beast—" His voice died as he met Li Ming's gaze.
Something in those eyes—empty, yet infinitely hungry—made the boy stagger back.
[Mission Prompt: Eliminate Target. Reward: Qi + System Fragment.]
Li Ming moved.
No grand technique. No flourish. Just predatory efficiency.
His hand closed around the boy's throat, thumb pressing into the fluttering pulse. The disciple choked, hands scrabbling at Li Ming's wrist,useless.
[Energy Drain Engaged.]
The boy's scream strangled into a wet gurgle as his skin grayed, veins bulging black beneath the surface. His Qi—his very life—ripped free in a torrent of shimmering light, pouring into Li Ming's starving meridians.
The disciple collapsed, a withered husk.
[+15 Qi Units Absorbed.]
[Cultivation Restored: Qi Gathering (Early Stage).]
Power—true power—ignited in Li Ming's veins for the first time in centuries. He flexed his fingers, watching shadows coil around them like serpents.
The System's voice crackled:
[Warning: It will attract attention of sect this disciple was part of.]
Li Ming stepped over the corpse, his smile a blade in the dark.
Let them come.
Key Clarifications
1. No "Creature" Confusion**: Removed the earlier ambiguous "twisted humanoid" to focus on the disciple's brutal death.
2. Clearer Power Dynamics: Emphasized Li Ming's predatory stillness vs. the boy's panic.
3. System's Role: Made the energy drain more visceral (Qi visibly torn out).
---
Chapter 2 End Hook:
-The Disciple's Sigil: A jade token slips from his robes, engraved with "Third Son of the Zhao Clan."
- System's Secret: It absorbed more than Qi**—why did it *whisper a name* during the drain?
- The Beast Approaches: Something far worse than the boy's fear stalks the trees