The heat at the bottom of the abyss wasn't the bright warmth of sunlight; it was a viscous, suffocating swelter thick with the stench of sulfur. Bubbles burst in the lava pools, splashing crimson waves meters high, painting the surrounding stone walls in a hue that looked like dripping blood.
Li An stood on a jagged outcrop, his tattered white robes snapping in the scorching updraft. His remolded bloodline had stripped away his fear of this heat; instead, his demonic qi felt as though it had finally come home, thrumming with a sick, rhythmic excitement. He calmly brushed a stray lock of hair behind his ear a gesture of chilling elegance while his fingertips still bore the drying blood of Wu Kui.
[Host, high-energy signature detected ahead. That's a Crimson Fire Drake, a Golden Core-level beast. Its vitals are erratic... its core frequency is flatlining.]
"Of course it is," Li An said, staring into the center of the lake with a gaze as cold as ice.
In the churning magma, four obsidian chains, each thicker than a man's torso, extended from pillars to pin something deep beneath the surface. With the screech of grinding metal, a massive shadow broke through the liquid fire.
The Crimson Fire Drake. The so-called "Guardian Beast" of the sect. But there was no glory here only scars. Its back was a mess of raw, charred flesh where scales had been forcibly ripped away. Worst of all, a specialized siphoning device was embedded in its chest, greedily draining its primal essence to nourish the Thousand-Year Fire Lotus blooming on the pedestal above.
This wasn't protection. This was a slow-motion execution.
"ROAR—!"
The Drake caught the scent of a living soul, its lone eye erupting with homicidal rage. It opened its massive maw and unleashed a torrent of dragon fire straight at Li An.
Li An didn't flinch. He just stood there. As the flames rushed him, his demonic aura flared into a violet-black shield. The fire shattered against it, illuminating his pale, aristocratic face and the butterfly shaped marks glowing at the corners of his eyes.
"Take it easy, big guy. Don't waste your breath on me," Li An said. His voice was soft, yet it cut through the roar of the lava, echoing directly in the beast's consciousness.
He stepped forward, the rock beneath his feet cracking under the sheer weight of his presence.
"Look at you. Now look at me," Li An said, reaching out to ghost his hand over the beast's scarred snout. "We're the same. To those 'immortal' bastards up there, we're just ingredients. Sacrifices. Anything... but alive."
The Drake's roar died down to a low, confused rumble. It sensed something in this boy something hotter than lava and colder than the abyss. It felt a century's worth of repressed fury and a madness that would rather burn the world down than submit.
"Leng Heng taught me to be obedient. Yun Song taught me to endure. They told me that's just the hand you're dealt," Li An whispered, his fingers tracing the runes on one of the black chains. A cruel smile touched his lips. "But today, I'm going to show them that my fate is mine to command."
Li An's eyes snapped wide, the violet light within them exploding. He channeled his demonic qi into the silver shards in his hand. The metal groaned, lengthening and thickening into a jet-black blade that seemed to swallow the surrounding light.
"Cut."
CLANG—!!!
The first chain snapped like a dry twig. The shockwave sent a pillar of lava fifty feet into the air. The Drake let out a low, guttural groan of relief.
Then the second. The third.
Li An moved like a black blur, leaping between pillars and chains with predatory grace. With the final chain severed, the beast carrying a hundred years of pent-up rage finally broke loose.
"ROAR!!!"
The Drake lunged out of the magma, its massive form eclipsing the light. It gave Li An one long, lingering look a silent acknowledgment before turning its gaze upward. Up there, the Disciplinary Hall disciples were still hunting for Li An.
"Go," Li An said, waving a hand as if dismissing an old friend. "Turn that sanctuary of theirs into a literal hell."
A streak of crimson light bolted toward the surface, followed by jagged screams and the thunderous sound of the Disciplinary Hall's formations being torn to shreds. Li An stood by the now-quiet pool, listening to the beautiful music of the chaos above, savoring the moment of peace.
He turned toward the Thousand-Year Fire Lotus swaying in the embers.
The flower radiated a pure, life-giving essence that promised to soothe the agony in his veins and heal his broken frame. Once, Li An would have been pathetically grateful for it, playing the part of the "healthy" and "obedient" sacrifice.
Now, he watched the holy light and let a strand of ink-black demonic energy bleed from his fingertip, seeping into the petals like a parasite.
"Since Senior Brother Leng is so obsessed with this flower, it would be ungrateful of me not to pay him back for all his... kindness."
He whispered with a chilling indifference. Beneath the ruby-red petals, a network of dark, sickly purple veins began to throb. It was still breathtakingly beautiful perhaps even more so with that hint of shadow but it was no longer a miracle. It was a ticking time bomb. The moment Leng Heng swallowed it, the demonic rot hidden beneath the solar energy would detonate his core, turning him into a cloud of red mist.
Li An pocketed the tainted lotus with a casual shrug. He didn't even look up at the screams of terror to him, they were just background noise. His focus was fixed on the stone wall behind the lava pool.
The surface was too smooth to be natural. Behind it lay a presence that was maddeningly contradictory the stench of ancient rot clashing with a vitality as powerful as the earth itself.
This was the heart of the sect. The place even Leng Heng feared to tread: The Resting Place of the Grand Apothecary.
"The stage is set, and the lead actor is just getting warmed up," Li An whispered, his movements as meticulous as a nobleman preparing for a gala. His snow-white tiger ears stood sharp and alert, catching the heartbeat from behind the wall. It was a slow, heavy thrum a sound so ancient it seemed to drain the very magic from the air with every pulse.
With a cold, effortless smirk, he took a step forward.
The solid stone rippled like dark water under his touch, and Li An's slender silhouette vanished silently into the suffocating darkness behind the wall.
Deep in the shadows, the truths buried by the sect for a thousand years were about to be dragged into the light.