Xueyan Huo Sect
The marketplace had erupted into chaos. A newborn child....just delivered by a weary mother...had vanished without a trace. Search patrols swept every alley, every corner of the bustling bazaar, their shouts echoing like broken prayers.
Far away, within the Hei Lin San Sect, Master Lee Wen had already sensed the approaching calamity. His protective barriers trembled, whispering warnings of unseen peril. Above the heavens, the twin phoenixes circled restlessly, their cries resounding like divine trumpets. Lee Wen could only guess what kind of disaster such an omen heralded, yet he was bound.....by oath and soul....to the words of High King Yu Sui.
But the heavens never warn only one. In the distant Council Hall, both Yu Sui and Wuzu felt it too. The air itself grew heavy. Dark clouds surged across the sky, swallowing the light of dawn. A bolt of lightning split the earth, shaking the foundations beneath their feet, and terror spread through every heart. Rain came crashing down in a violent torrent.
Wuzu rushed to Yu Sui, her face pale, her breath trembling. She too had sensed it....an omen of disaster. The shifting crown upon Yu Sui's head flickered with an otherworldly glow, as if the heavens themselves were speaking through it. Without hesitation, Yu Sui's voice roared across the hall like thunder:
"Depart for the Xueyan Huo Sect...at once!"
Mo Yan, watching Yu Sui's grim expression, felt unease claw at his chest. What could frighten Yu Sui so deeply? Wuzu's breaths hitched, and Yu Sui's steps carried a weight none dared question. Without answering a single query, Yu Sui strode straight toward the stables, Wuzu at his side. One by one, the others followed.
Though it was morning, the world outside was cloaked in darkness. Wind howled, rain slashed across their faces, lightning struck again and again. It was as if the heavens themselves had turned against them.
And then.....without a word.....Yu Sui summoned his flute. Mo Yan's heart sank. He understood. Something was terribly, irreversibly wrong.
The horses galloped at breakneck speed, their hooves splashing through storm-soaked mud. Yet Yu Sui's mind was elsewhere. For the first time, his focus was not on Mo Yan… but on something far beyond.
Then it happened.
Yu Sui's living crown blazed with light....and in the very next heartbeat, it transformed into a colossal, obsidian-scaled, serpentine dragon. Its roar tore through the heavens, shaking the storm itself. The crown had revealed its true form. Yu Sui's long hair whipped loose in the storm winds, his aura shifting into something vast, divine, terrifying.
Beside him, Wuzu too released her demonic essence, her form dissolving into a black, formless shadow that twisted with raw, unrestrained power.
The others could only gape, hearts pounding in dread. What… what were they witnessing?
Perhaps only Lady Duan Shou knew. Riding at full speed, she slit her palm and let her blood draw a burning sigil in the air. From it bloomed a radiant pink scroll, glowing with sacred power. She seized it, fastening it at her waist.
And then...every eye lifted to the sky.
For what they beheld was beyond mortal expectation.
Slowly, inexorably… the Gates of Black Heaven began to open.