*Chapter 2: Awakening in the Abyss*
Shen Li sat in silence, deep in the heart of the Abyssal Ravine. There was no sky here, no stars, no wind — only darkness that clung to his skin like wet cloth. And yet, within that silence, his soul stirred with purpose.
The jade shard embedded in his spirit pulsed gently, like a heartbeat. Every thrum sent a ripple through his broken meridians, slowly knitting them together with threads of unknown energy. It was not Qi — not as he had known it — but something older, denser, rawer.
*"What… is this power?"* he whispered.
He closed his eyes. The images from the shard replayed in his mind — an ancient battlefield under twin moons, cultivators wrapped in starlight, and the sigil of a long-lost sect: the Heavenbreaker Sect, one that had defied the heavens themselves and vanished without a trace.
From the void, a voice echoed — not from around him, but from within.
*"You are the last spark of the broken stars. Rise… or be consumed."*
Shen Li's hands trembled. "The Heavenbreaker Sect… it lives in me?"
The jade shard, now fusing completely with his soul, responded with a brilliant flash. A hidden technique unfolded in his mind — *Starforged Foundation*, a method to rebuild one's cultivation from ruin by drawing energy not from spiritual veins… but from celestial forces.
No sect in the current world knew of such things. They cultivated Qi from the earth and skies. But this… this drew power from the cosmos itself.
He bit his lip, sat cross-legged, and began the process.
Pain hit first — a thousand needles piercing every nerve. His body convulsed, bones cracked, and his ruined dantian was torn open once more — only to be filled with a swirling core of starlight.
Seconds passed. Minutes. Hours.
When Shen Li opened his eyes again, they shimmered faintly with silver.
His wounds were gone.
His aura had changed — no longer the clear signature of a Heaven's Gate disciple, but something colder, ancient, and untamed.
"I was thrown here to die," he muttered, rising to his feet. "But the abyss has given me a second life."
In the far corner of the ravine, something stirred.
A creature — skeletal, cloaked in mist, with glowing red eyes — emerged, drawn by the energy he had just released. Its body rippled with Yin Qi, and its claws could tear iron apart.
This would be his first test.
He focused, and the *Starforged Core* within him pulsed. He moved — faster than he ever had before — dodging the beast's lunge and striking its ribcage with a palm glowing in starlight.
*Boom!*
The beast shrieked as the celestial energy burned through it. After several more strikes, it collapsed into dust — leaving behind a glowing crystal.
Shen Li picked it up, sensing raw Yin essence inside.
"Abyssal Spirit Core," he said. "Even the monsters here are cultivation resources."
He smiled.
"What tried to bury me has become my training ground."
He turned deeper into the abyss, eyes filled with fire.
"I will climb out of this pit. And when I do — every lie, every betrayal, every blade in my back will be repaid in full."