The chamber filled quickly. Chu Tianming arrived from the eastern passage, looking weakened but still radiating righteous qi. Blood Princess Yue emerged from below, her robes soaked in actual blood. Three Azure Cloud disciples followed their senior brother. Four Thousand Beast cultivators came seeking their missing leader.
Everyone saw the destiny spring simultaneously. The liquid starlight swirled hypnotically, promising infinite power to whoever claimed it.
"Nobody move."
Wei Lin and Li Haoran entered from above, having somehow found each other. Wei Lin's eyes were fixed on the spring with naked greed.
"That spring belongs to Evernight Sect. We found it first."
Chu Tianming stepped forward. "The ruins belong to no sect. First to claim, first to keep."
"Then I claim it."
Blood Princess Yue walked toward the spring. The Thousand Beast cultivators blocked her path.
"Our senior brother Mo Chen was here. Where is he?"
"Dead, probably. He was weak."
That started the fight. The beast cultivators attacked Yue. The Azure Cloud disciples moved to help their orthodox ally. Wei Lin ordered Li Haoran to secure the spring while everyone was distracted.
Lin Xiao sat on a broken pillar, watching the chaos. Liu Ruyan had hidden Xiao Fan behind another pillar and stood guard over him.
"You're not fighting for the spring?"
"Why would I? Let them exhaust themselves."
"But it's concentrated destiny. One drop could advance your cultivation by years."
"One drop could also overwhelm your soul and turn you into a destiny puppet. That spring isn't a treasure. It's a trap."
Liu Ruyan studied the spring more carefully. Her eyes widened. "There are formation lines underneath. They're so faint I almost missed them."
"The Demon Emperor loved his ironies. Create something everyone would fight over, make it genuinely valuable, but add a twist that makes victory defeat."
"What's the twist?"
"The spring feeds on conflict. Every drop of blood spilled in this chamber makes it stronger. When someone finally claims it, they'll absorb not just destiny but all the negative karma generated by the fighting."
"That would destroy their mind."
"Or transform them into something else. Something the Demon Emperor could use."
A scream interrupted them. Li Haoran had reached the spring but was caught in a formation array. His body was being drained, his life force flowing into the liquid starlight.
"Li Haoran!" Wei Lin rushed to save his follower but was blocked by Chu Tianming.
"This is your fault, Gu Changye! You should have fought for our sect!"
Lin Xiao didn't respond. Li Haoran's body crumbled to dust, fully absorbed by the spring. The liquid starlight grew brighter.
"It's feeding on us."
Everyone stopped fighting, finally realizing the danger. But it was too late. The formation lines activated, sealing all exits.
"We're trapped."
The spring began boiling. Something was rising from its depths. A figure made of condensed destiny and death, wearing Li Haoran's face but with empty star-filled eyes.
"Finally... after so long... fresh vessels..."
The destiny puppet spoke with layered voices - thousands of consumed cultivators over millennia.
"The Demon Emperor promised us transcendence... we became this instead... now you'll join us..."
It moved faster than Nascent Soul level, striking three cultivators simultaneously. They aged decades in seconds, their life force absorbed.
"Run!"
But there was nowhere to run. The chamber was sealed.
Chu Tianming organized a defensive formation. "Everyone work together or we all die!"
Even Wei Lin cooperated, fear overriding pride. They fought the destiny puppet with everything they had, but conventional attacks passed through it like water.
"Physical attacks don't work! It's made of pure energy!"
Blood Princess Yue tried blood techniques. They were absorbed. The beast cultivators summoned their remaining spirits. They were consumed.
Lin Xiao watched from his pillar, calculating. The puppet was strong but mindless, operating on instinct rather than intelligence. It could be manipulated.
"Xiao Fan, wake up."
The servant was still unconscious from the ring's trial. Lin Xiao slapped him.
"Wake up. I need the emperor."
Xiao Fan's eyes opened, but they were golden instead of brown. The emperor was partially in control.
'You dare strike my descendant?'
"I need your power. Can you fight that thing?"
The emperor looked at the destiny puppet. 'Abomination. The Demon Emperor's failed experiment. It cannot be killed, only contained or controlled.'
"How do we control it?"
'You don't. But I might, if I had full access to this body.'
"Not happening. What else?"
'The seal on that door. It's connected to the puppet. Break the seal, the puppet loses its anchor and dissipates. But breaking the seal releases whatever's in the core region.'
Lin Xiao looked at the door behind the spring. The Demon Emperor's personal seal glowed with malevolent energy.
"What's behind it?"
'Something worse than the puppet. The Demon Emperor's attempt to create artificial life. It's been feeding on death qi for ten thousand years. It's probably insane and immeasurably powerful.'
"Perfect."
Lin Xiao stood and walked toward the chaos. The puppet had killed half the cultivators present. Chu Tianming was wounded. Yue was running low on blood qi. Wei Lin was hiding behind rapidly failing defensive talismans.
"Everyone, follow my lead or die."
He pulled out a talisman he'd prepared weeks ago - not from the system, but from his own experimentation combining Earth knowledge with cultivation principles.
"What is that?"
"Resonance disruptor. It'll destabilize the puppet for thirty seconds. In that window, we break the seal on that door."
Chu Tianming looked horrified. "That seal is there for a reason!"
"Yes. To keep us from the real treasures. Trust me or die here."
He activated the talisman. The puppet froze, its energy pattern disrupted. Everyone rushed toward the door.
"Channel everything into breaking the seal!"
They combined their attacks. The seal cracked but held.
"It's too strong!"
Lin Xiao placed his hand on the seal and whispered in demon script. Words the original Gu Changye had learned but never understood. Words that meant "I offer tribute to the abandoned one."
The seal shattered.
The door exploded outward. Beyond was darkness so complete it seemed solid. Then something moved in that darkness. Something vast.
'Foolish... children... you've freed... me...'
The voice was different from the puppet. Ancient, intelligent, and utterly inhuman.
A hand emerged from the darkness. Not flesh but condensed death qi given form. It grabbed the destiny puppet and crushed it like paper. The spring evaporated. The formation trapping them collapsed.
'Ten thousand years... I've waited... feeding on scraps... growing... learning... transcending...'
The thing pulled itself from the doorway. It had a vaguely humanoid shape but was made entirely of writhing shadows and screaming faces - every cultivator who'd died in the ruins over millennia.
[System Alert: Unnamed Abomination Detected]
[Threat Level: Catastrophic]
[Fortune Value: -99,999 (Anti-Destiny Entity)]
[Recommendation: Flee immediately]
But Lin Xiao smiled. This was what he'd come for.
"Great one, we've freed you from your prison. Surely you won't kill your liberators?"
The abomination focused on him. Its attention felt like drowning in ice.
'You... you're different... you smell of... calculation rather than fear...'
"I'm someone who recognizes opportunity. You've been trapped for ten thousand years. The world has changed. You need information, resources, allies."
'I need nothing but death to feed on...'
"Then you'll remain what you are. Powerful but purposeless. Or..." Lin Xiao pulled out the mask he'd bought from the system shop. "You could have more."
The Mask of the Deceiver gleamed with supernatural power. The abomination's attention fixed on it.
'That mask... it hides truth itself... where did you obtain such a thing?'
"I have my sources. Work with me, and I'll show you wonders beyond death qi. The world has evolved while you were trapped. There are paths to power the Demon Emperor never imagined."
The abomination was silent for long moments. Everyone else was frozen in terror except Lin Xiao.
'You would bargain with me? I could consume you all without effort.'
"You could. But then you'd be alone again, in a world you don't understand, hunted by every orthodox sect once they learn you're free. Or you could have a guide. Someone who understands both ancient and modern power."
'And what would you want in return?'
"Simple. You help me once, at a time of my choosing. After that, you're free to do whatever you want."
Chu Tianming found his voice. "You can't make deals with that thing! It's pure evil!"
"Evil is perspective. It's been trapped for ten thousand years. I'd be angry too."
The abomination laughed. The sound made several cultivators vomit blood.
'I like this one. Very well, little schemer. One task, at your choosing. But know this - if you betray me, I'll wear your skin while keeping you conscious for centuries.'
"Noted. Do we have a deal?"
The abomination extended one shadow finger. Lin Xiao touched it without hesitation. Cold beyond description flooded through him, but also knowledge. Fragments of the Demon Emperor's true techniques.
[Hidden Quest Completed: Free the Unnamed]
[Reward: 10,000 Villain Points]
[Bonus Achieved: Formed Pact with Abomination]
[Bonus Reward: Death Commandment Technique Unlocked]
The abomination pulled back into the darkness beyond the door.
'I'll watch your progress, little schemer. Call when you need me. But make it interesting.'
The doorway collapsed, sealing again but differently. Lin Xiao now had a key made of shadow on his palm - invisible to everyone else.
Everyone stared at him. Some in horror, some in awe, some in disgust.
"You made a deal with that monster."
"I prevented it from killing us all. You're welcome."
Wei Lin was shaking with rage. "You're insane! When the sect master hears about this—"
"He'll hear that I saved everyone from an ancient evil that you helped release by breaking the seal."
"That was your idea!"
"Prove it."
Xiao Fan stirred, the emperor retreating and letting him have control again. "What happened? Why does everything smell like death?"
Liu Ruyan helped him stand. "Your master made a deal with a demon."
"Wouldn't be the first time."
She looked shocked. Lin Xiao was pleased. Xiao Fan was learning to play along without being told.
"We should leave. The ruins are destabilizing without the spring maintaining them."
Indeed, cracks were spreading through the chamber. The surviving cultivators ran for the exits, previous conflicts forgotten in the face of collapse.
As they fled, Chu Tianming moved beside Lin Xiao.
"I know what you are now."
"Oh?"
"You're not a reformed villain. You're something worse. You're a villain pretending to be reformed."
"And?"
"And I'm going to expose you."
"Good luck with that. Who'll believe the man who helped release an ancient abomination?"
"I didn't—"
"Your qi signature is all over the broken seal. I made sure of it when we combined our attacks. As far as anyone can prove, you're equally responsible."
Chu Tianming's righteous aura flickered with genuine anger. "You planned this from the beginning."
"I plan everything from the beginning. That's why I win."
They reached the exit as the ruins collapsed behind them. Of the hundred disciples who'd entered, less than thirty survived. But those thirty had seen things that would reshape the cultivation world's understanding of power.
And Lin Xiao had gained something far more valuable than treasures or techniques.
He'd gained a weapon that could destroy heaven itself.
The sun was setting as they emerged. In the distance, sect elders were arriving, having sensed the catastrophic energies released.
Lin Xiao felt the shadow mark on his palm pulse once, a reminder of the pact he'd made.
'One task, at the time of my choosing.'
He already knew exactly when he'd call in that favor.
The day he challenged heaven's will itself.
But first, he had smaller prey to hunt. The surviving Children of Destiny were weakened, traumatized, and ripe for manipulation.
The ruins were closed, but the real game had just opened.
Blood Princess Yue caught his eye and nodded slightly. She'd found the blood pool and gained significant power from it. She owed him now.
Liu Ruyan carried Xiao Fan toward the Jade Valley Sect elders, but kept glancing back at Lin Xiao with troubled eyes. She suspected something but couldn't prove it.
Su Mei ran toward them from the Jade Valley group. "You're alive! When the ruins started collapsing, I thought—"
"I'm hard to kill."
She hugged him, then pulled back embarrassed. "Sorry. I was worried."
"Don't apologize for caring. It's a useful emotion when properly directed."
She laughed. "You really don't know how to accept affection normally, do you?"
"I'm learning."
Wei Lin was already talking to the Evernight Sect elders, undoubtedly trying to spin the story against Lin Xiao. But several Azure Cloud disciples were also talking, and their version implicated Wei Lin in the seal breaking.
'Let the stories spread. Let them conflict. Truth becomes meaningless when there are enough versions of it.'
Old Feng appeared at the edge of the gathering, having somehow traveled here despite supposedly being unable to enter the ruins area. His eyes found Xiao Fan, noted the golden markings on his arm from the ring's integration, and nodded slowly.
The first phase was complete. The protagonists were identified, infiltrated, and in several cases, corrupted. The ancient abomination was freed but bound. The ruins' treasures were claimed.
But this was just the foundation.
The real construction could now begin.