The sun burned high in the heavens, its rays fierce and unyielding, pouring heat upon the land like molten gold. Yet despite the intensity of the light, the air remained astonishingly fresh—pure, untainted, carrying the subtle fragrance of damp earth, ancient trees, and wild blossoms hidden beyond sight. It was a sacred place, untouched by human greed, where nature breathed freely.
Birds sang softly in the distance, their melodies light and unintrusive, while insects hummed faintly among the foliage. None of the sounds were overwhelming. Instead, they blended into a gentle harmony that soothed the soul, a quiet reassurance that life continued in perfect balance. There was a strange calm here, an overwhelming sense of unity—as though heaven and earth briefly overlapped.
The entire land shimmered faintly, cloaked in an almost ethereal glow.
Hidden deep within this holy expanse, concealed behind thick vines and jagged stone, lay a cave.
Inside it sat a woman.
She was slumped against the cold stone wall, her body drenched in blood—soaked to the point where the color of her robes was no longer discernible. Dark rivulets streaked down her chin as she coughed violently, each spasm forcing thick, blackened blood from her lips. Her breathing was ragged, uneven, each inhale a battle, each exhale laced with pain.
Yet even in such a state, she was radiant.
A divine white light erupted from within her body, surrounding her in a translucent dome that pulsed rhythmically like a living thing. The glow was majestic, sacred—proof of immense cultivation and power. But the dome was no longer whole.
Cracks marred its surface.
One by one, thin fractures spread like spiderwebs across the glowing barrier, emitting sharp, discordant tremors. The light flickered violently, unstable and chaotic.
A cultivation deviation.
Her internal mana had gone berserk.
Gritting her teeth, the woman struggled to straighten her posture. Blood dripped from her fingertips as she pressed her trembling hands together, forcing herself into a meditative stance despite the agony tearing through her meridians. Inside her body, mana surged wildly, slamming against her channels like raging tides, threatening to tear her apart from the inside.
She reached shakily into her spatial pouch.
Her fingers closed around a familiar container.
A pill bottle.
With a trembling hand, she uncorked it, spilling a single jade-colored pill into her palm. The pill gleamed faintly, radiating medicinal energy. Without hesitation—without the luxury of doubt—she swallowed it whole.
For a split second, hope flickered.
Then—
Pain exploded.
Her vision blurred as a violent force slammed into her core. Her face drained of color at an alarming rate, lips turning ashen as she convulsed violently. A massive mouthful of black blood spewed forth, splattering across the stone floor.
The dome of divine light cracked further, fragments of white radiance shattering like broken glass.
"No—!"
Her body shook uncontrollably as she gasped for breath, agony beyond comprehension wracking her entire being. She clawed weakly at the ground, her fingers scraping stone as her consciousness threatened to slip away.
With immense effort, she forced herself to focus.
Her shaking hand reached again for the pill container. Vision blurred, she lifted it close, examining it carefully—desperately.
Everything looked… normal.
The seals were intact. The markings correct. The pill formula unchanged.
"…What happened?" she whispered hoarsely, disbelief trembling in her voice.
Slowly, painfully, she took out another pill.
She crushed it between her fingers.
The moment it broke apart, a foul stench erupted into the air—thick, acrid, revolting. Black smoke seeped from the crushed fragments, curling unnaturally like living poison before dispersing.
Her pupils shrank.
Poison.
A bitter laugh tore from her throat, sharp and broken.
"So that's how it is," she muttered, blood dripping from the corner of her lips. "I was… eliminated."
The laughter that followed was hollow, laced with madness and disbelief.
"So easily," she whispered, her voice cracking. "Hahaha…"
Her chest tightened—not with fear, but with bitter clarity. There was no need to question who had done it. In her world, betrayal was as common as breathing. Only the winner survived. Only the living spoke truth.
Since she was already dying—
Then no one would profit from her death.
Her eyes hardened.
With shaking resolve, she scooped the remaining pills from the container and shoved them into her mouth, swallowing them without hesitation. Poison surged instantly through her body, tearing through her meridians with ruthless efficiency.
She forced herself to focus, drawing all the toxins inward.
Toward one place.
Her mana core.
If she was to die, she would take everything with her.
She concentrated fiercely, guiding the poison with iron will, forcing it into her core to destabilize it. If her mana core exploded, nothing—not even her enemies—would be able to salvage her cultivation, her treasures, or her soul remnants.
But just as her mana spiraled toward violent collapse—
Time stopped.
The air froze.
The flickering white dome around her halted mid-shatter, suspended as though reality itself had been paused.
Then—
Space tore open.
A rift split the air above her, jagged and unnatural, as though the fabric of existence had been forcibly ripped apart. From within the rift poured divine hymns—ancient, incomprehensible melodies that resonated deep within the soul.
The sound grew louder, grander, filling the cave with overwhelming pressure.
A silvery glow descended, wrapping around the woman's body like gentle hands. The chaotic mana stilled, frozen under the authority of something far beyond mortal comprehension.
And then—
Something was pulled out.
A soul.
Weak. Flickering.
It hovered above her body, translucent and fragile, its light wavering like a candle on the verge of being extinguished. One gentle breeze would have been enough to scatter it into nothingness.
The hymns intensified.
A golden radiance burst from the rift, cascading downward like liquid sunlight. It enveloped her battered, blood-soaked body, seeping into her flesh, her bones, her shattered meridians.
The extracted soul trembled.
Slowly, it drifted closer to the body below.
It knelt.
With a tenderness that defied words, the soul leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the woman's bloodied forehead.
An apology.
A farewell.
Then it straightened, gazing silently at the body for a long moment—an eternity compressed into a heartbeat.
Without resistance, the soul was drawn backward, pulled irresistibly into the rift.
The hymns reached a crescendo.
The rift snapped shut.
Time resumed.
BOOM!
The woman's mana core detonated violently.
A deafening explosion tore through the cave as blood sprayed in every direction, coating the walls, the ground, the very air itself. The body that was already drenched in crimson became unrecognizable, submerged in a growing pool of blood.
Her cultivated mana—years, decades of painstaking effort—erupted outward, dispersing wildly like a storm unleashed.
The wind howled.
Trees outside shuddered violently, leaves shaking as if in terror.
A single droplet of blood slid down her hand and touched the blood-red ring adorning her finger.
The ring pulsed.
Like an afterimage, in a distant world, another blood-red ring vanished from the finger of a dead woman.
Across space.
Across time.
It reappeared.
The ring materialized on the dying woman's finger, merging seamlessly with its twin. The two rings fused, glowing fiercely as ancient runes ignited along their surface.
Suddenly—
A vortex formed.
Like a whirlpool, the ring began to pull.
All the dispersing mana halted midair, reversing direction as it was violently sucked back. The spilled blood lifted from the ground, drawn into the swirling force, spiraling inward.
Mana and blood twisted together, compressed, refined.
Condensed.
Until—
A single crimson gem formed.
The gem pulsed once… twice… before being absorbed into the ring.
Silence followed.
The wind stilled.
The trees calmed.
Within the cave lay a motionless body, broken and bloodied.
And yet—
Nobody knows in a well hidden cave deep in the forest, a new fate had already begun to turn.