The Hallof Flame loomed like a suicidal cliff of a mountain. Massive vermilion doors towered overhead, carved with ancient sigils meant to suppress demons and cleanse impure souls. Heat shimmered in the air—not from fire, but from the accumulated spiritual pressure of the fourteen esteemed Masters waiting inside, except one.
Outside those doors, amidst a group of excited newcomers of all ages, stood a small boy—barely nine years old and the youngest of them all.
ShaYuanjing.
He looked fragile: slim shoulders, pale skin, a face still holding traces of childish softness. In his hands, he clutched a small cloth bundle that contained everything he was allowed to carry before crossing the borders of QianYouSect, forced to leave behind the servants, guards, and carriage full of luxuries that had made his life so easy in YanshiCity up until then.
The boy was glaring daggers at the two senior disciples who had him firmly by the arms.
They paid him no heed.
Within only a few hours of arriving at Qian You Sect, Sha Yuanjing had already made a name for himself—tripping other newcomers, stealing talismans, shouting obscenities, and attempting to escape three separate times. In the end, the seniors had no choice but to seize him and drag him here by force.
Everyone had assumed he was simply a badly tempered child.
They did not know that behind that scowling little face lived a mind far older, colder, and far more vengeful than any nine-year-old should possess. His glare alone was enough to make the other newcomers instinctively keep their distance.
"I told you I won't go inside! I don't need any of them! Let me go!"
The two senior disciples said nothing.
"Are you deaf? Should I write it down for you instead? Don't tell me you're blind too—!"
Silence.
"In any case, I fucking won't go to any of those useless so-called masters! Let me go!"
Still nothing.
"You—!"
He was in the middle of another furious outburst when the massive vermilion doors suddenly creaked open.
A wave of spiritual pressure rolled outward like a tide.
Two ceremonial disciples stepped forward, one on each side, bowing deeply as they gestured for the newcomers to ascend the long stone stairs and enter the Hall of Flame.
The children began to move, some nervous, some brimming with excitement.
Only one refused violently.
Sha Yuanjing dug his heels into the ground, twisting violently, his small body radiating a terrifying stubbornness that didn't belong to his age.
The seniors exchanged glances.
Using force on a child on the first day would stain the sect's reputation. But letting him continue this chaos was equally impossible.
From within the hall, several figures began to approach the entrance.
The Masters.
One by one, they emerged, dignified and imposing, each cloaked in the aura of a powerful cultivator. Some tried to placate him gently.
"Child, choose a master and you will be given the finest resources."
"Come with me, I will give you spiritual pills and rare techniques."
"I can make you strong."
Yuanjing's lips curled. They all sound the same. Professional liars. Every single one of them deserved nothing but brutal death.
He spat curses at them with no restraint, eyes blazing.
Their expressions darkened—angered, yet restrained by their own pride.
Finally, the boy lifted his chin and declared coldly, "You're wasting your time. I won't choose any of you. If I don't choose, you can't keep me here, right? So just let me go."
For a moment, silence fell. Then the sect leader, JaiMinlong, stepped forward. His expressions filled with displeasure as held a sealed letter, showing to the 9 year old boy,
"Sha Yuanjing," he said gravely, "your parents have already written to us."
The boy's heart sank.
The sect leader continued, "They have described your… troublesome temperament, your dangerous behavior, and your refusal to listen to anyone. They even have requested that we place you under the most strict master—to prevent you from straying down a disastrous path."
Yuanjing's fists clenched around his little cloth bundle.
Damn it. Of course they will!
But how could he accept death a second time?
Sha Yuanjing—once a twenty-nine-year-old cultivator whose heart had been ripped out, whose flesh and blood had been melted together and used to seal the cracks of Heaven&HellPass—had died at the hands of the man he called his savior, guardian, and Shizun: BaiShengjie, the prestigious YoushengElder, famed for his few words and untouchable authority.
Yuanjing died without even being given the chance to ask why. Before breathing his last breath, he thought it was the end. End of him, his relationship with this person and end of all sorts of attachment he once felt for the cruel man.
Yet fate dragged him back.
Reborn into a new body, his memories awakened when he was barely five. He believed heaven had given him a chance—to avenge his own death, to live a life without falling for that fox again, and to uncover the truth about his past.
His plans were simple yet precise. He would wait first, grow stronger and would surpass Bai Shengjie in cultivation and power before confronting him.
But never—never—had he imagined becoming that man's disciple again.
Last time, he had been innocent. He had followed Bai Shengjie with blind devotion, guarding him like a loyal wolf. He had offered his loyalty, his life, and his heart—
and the fox had ripped him apart without hesitation to save a world that never even knew his name.
That betrayal alone had already been unbearable. Still, he had been willing to let go of the past and live a good life—protecting what remained of his clan from his previous life, and guarding his new family in this one—until he discovered the most unforgivable crime of all which shattered him completely.
After his death, Bai Shengjie—the very man who had sworn to protect his nearly extinct clan—had annihilated the entire YitianClan himself.
For what? Only to repair his damaged spiritual core and strengthen his constitution...
Just how selfish could he be?
Where had all his promises to protect the weak and punish the evil gone?
All those fifteen hundred rules that dictated a cultivator's character, actions, and words—rules he was known to enforce on both himself and others—where had they vanished?
Wasn't he called a guardian? One who would do anything to protect mortals and even immortals from demons?
So how had he become a monster himself?
But those were questions for the future. He would carve the answers from Bai Shengjie, either by his will or by force.
No matter what, he would not let that man live in peace. He would make him pay for every life sacrificed to his desperate needs, and he would avenge every last member of the Yitian Clan.
Right now, he had to get the hell out of this hellhole before he crossed paths with that hateful man again.
With the memories of his past-life injustice burning in his chest, his contempt only deepened. His resistance grew fiercer as he shouted at the sect leader,
"I don't care what they wrote to you. All I know is that I'm not choosing any of you. And isn't it one of your rules that a newcomer must choose their master of their own will, without coercion or force? So what happened to that? Is the great Qian You Sect, famous for its fifteen hundred so-called rules, going to break its own principles?"
"You certainly know a lot about this place."
Before the sect leader or any of the masters could react to the boy's mocking tone, a familiar, eerily cold voice rang out behind him.
Sha Yuanjing froze.
How could he not recognize that lofty voice?
The terrifying question was—
What is he even doing here?
Hadn't the rumors said that Bai Shengjie had gone into seclusion, guarding the Heaven & Hell Pass and never attending meetings, taking disciples, or teaching again?
Then why—
Why is he here now?
.
.
.
To be continued...