Shadow of the Ancestors
The dust kicked up by Han Ming's skidding body settled slowly, as if the air itself was reluctant to touch the ground. On the high balcony, the tea cup in Elder Han Bo's hand froze halfway to his lips. A single drop of liquid fell, the plink sounding like a gavel in the unnatural silence of the courtyard.
Han Feng stood on the stage, his silhouette thin and deceptively fragile against the morning sun. He didn't celebrate. He didn't boast. He stood with his hands tucked into his sleeves, his gaze fixed on the horizon as if the unconscious boy under the willow tree was nothing more than a stray pebble he had kicked aside.
Too much, Han Feng thought, his internal voice echoing against the walls of his aching skull. I revealed too much.
[System Alert: Adrenaline Levels Stabilizing]
[Internal Damage Assessment: Three cracked ribs, minor meridian fraying. Current Qi capacity: 0.04%.]
[Warning: The 'Parasite Heavens' have registered a statistical anomaly in the Han Clan Sector. Divergence is increasing.]
He ignored the blue-jagged text. He could feel the weight of a dozen gazes—some filled with confusion, some with sudden greed, and one—Elder Han Bo's—filled with a murderous, calculating coldness. Han Bo was Han Ming's grandfather. In the previous life, he was the one who had signed the order for Han Feng's sister to be ""donated"" to the sect as a furnace.
Looking at the old man now, Han Feng felt a flicker of the Sovereign's dark flame. It would be so easy to kill him. He knew the elder's cultivation secret—that his heart was failing and he was using forbidden demonic Qi to stay alive. One word, one well-placed strike, and the old man would explode.
Not yet, Han Feng cautioned himself. A Sovereign does not just kill; he uproots. I will take everything he loves before I take his breath.
""Han Feng!"" Elder Han Bo's voice finally broke the silence, booming with a force that made the younger disciples tremble. ""Explain yourself! What demonic art did you use to cripple your own kin? Han Ming is the star of this clan, and you... you are a documented talentless void! Speak, or I will cripple you here and now for the sake of clan justice!
" Han Feng turned his head slowly. He didn't bow. He didn't even acknowledge the ""Elder"" title. In his mind, he had lived longer than this man's entire ancestral line combined.
""Demonic art?"" Han Feng's voice was calm, but it carried a strange resonance that made the Elder's heart skip a beat. ""Is that what we call 'competence' in the Han Clan now? Han Ming was sloppy. He ate a Spirit Pill he couldn't digest, and his own Qi backfired. I simply gave it a place to exit.
"" A gasp ran through the crowd. To accuse the ""Genius"" of cheating and the ""Elder"" of blindness in a single sentence was suicide.
""You dare?!"" Han Bo stood, the stone railing beneath his hands cracking under his grip.
""I dare to speak the truth,"" Han Feng replied. He reached down and picked up a small, partially melted blue pill casing from the stage floor—a piece of evidence the Archive had highlighted for him before the fight even began. He held it up for all to see. ""The Han Clan prides itself on its 'Iron Fist.' Is this how we forge it? With pills bought from the black market?"
" The other elders shifted uncomfortably. Han Bo's face turned a shade of purple that matched the dying sky of Han Feng's past life. The trap was set. By shifting the focus to Han Ming's cheating, Han Feng had turned himself from a ""villain"" into a ""whistleblower."" This was the tactical manipulation he had learned from Regressor Instructional Manual.
The Weeping Earth The interrogation lasted hours, but with the Void Archive providing him with every clan law and secret precedent, Han Feng walked away not only free but with a ""pittance"" of compensation for Han Ming's ""unprovoked attack.
As evening fell, Han Feng didn't return to his shack. He waited until the moon was high, its silver light carving deep shadows into the mountains behind the estate.
[Archive Note: 500 meters North-Northwest. The 'Root of the Earth-Eater' will bloom for exactly three minutes tonight.]
In his first life, this Root had been found by a wandering merchant, who later sold it to a Sect Master. That Sect Master had used it to reach the Heaven-Step realm in less than a year. It was a ""Hidden Piece"" that could fix Han Feng's shattered meridians and give him a foundation that even the Parasite Heavens couldn't crack.
He moved through the woods with the silence of a ghost. His body screamed in protest, but the Sovereign's will was a whip, driving him forward. He reached a small, hidden alcove where a single, sickly-looking flower grew near a stagnant pond.
To a normal person, it looked like a weed. To Han Feng, he could see the ""Void"" signature within it.
He knelt, his fingers trembling as he touched the soil.
""In this life,"" he whispered to the dark woods, ""I will not be the one fed to the Heavens. I will be the one who clears the plate.
" He reached out, not to pick the flower, but to Devour it. As his hand touched the petals, the black hole in his soul roared to life. The plant didn't just die; it vanished into a stream of pure, emerald light that surged into his arm.
[System Alert: Devouring Commenced...]
[Foundation Reconstruction: 12% Complete]
[Hidden Stat Unlocked: Primal Vitality]
As the energy surged through him, a soft footstep sounded behind him. Han Feng didn't turn. He already knew the scent. It was medicinal herbs and cold mountain air.
""You shouldn't be out here, Feng-ge,"" a soft, trembling voice said.
Lin Yue stood in the shadows, her eyes wide with a mix of fear and an intense, tragic longing that she didn't yet understand. She didn't see the ""Trash"" of the clan. She saw the man from her dreams—the one who always died in the rain.
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The emerald light of the 'Root of the Earth-Eater' didn't just fade; it sank into Han Feng's skin like ink into parchment. Inside his chest, the sensation was akin to molten lead being poured into a mold. His meridians, which only hours ago felt like brittle, dry riverbeds, were now groaning under the sudden influx of primal vitality.
[System Message: Foundation Reconstruction – 45% Complete]
[Warning: Your current 'Mortal Shell' is experiencing heat-sink failure. Immediate cooling or rhythmic circulation required.]
Han Feng gritted his teeth, the sound echoing in the silent grove. He didn't move. He couldn't. If he broke his meditative posture now, the raw energy would tear through his chest like a wild beast. He had to ""Devour"" the pain itself. This was the secret of the Void Law: it wasn't just about taking; it was about the absolute erasure of resistance. Quiet, he commanded his own nervous system. You have endured the grinding of the Heaven-Shattering Array. This is nothing but a spark.
Slowly, the violent thrumming in his veins began to sync with his heartbeat. The emerald glow settled into a deep, pulsing jade at the base of his spine. For the first time in this life, he felt... solid.
""You're hurt.""
The voice was soft, barely a whisper, yet it carried the weight of a mountain. Han Feng opened his eyes. Lin Yue was standing five paces away, her silhouette framed by the silver halo of the moon. She looked exactly as she had in his dreams—and his nightmares.
In his previous life, Lin Yue had been the ""Ice Empress,"" a woman who could freeze an entire sea with a flick of her wrist. She had been cold, untouchable, and fiercely loyal. But here, she was just a sixteen-year-old girl with dirt on the hem of her dress and a basket of medicinal herbs in her hand. Her eyes, however, held a depth that no teenager should possess.
[The Eternal Void Archive: Scanning Target...]
[Target: Lin Yue] [Status: Dormant 'Celestial Frost' Physique.]
[Note: Her current life force is being suppressed by a 'Heart-Lock Curse.' Source: Unknown.]
Han Feng's eyes narrowed. A Heart-Lock Curse? He hadn't known about this in the first timeline. He had been too self-absorbed, too busy climbing the ranks to notice that the girl who followed him was dying from the inside out. The Butterfly Effect was already revealing the rot beneath the surface of the world.
""Why are you following me, Lin Yue?"" Han Feng asked. His voice was cold, a defense mechanism he had spent centuries perfecting.
Lin Yue flinched slightly, but she didn't retreat. She stepped forward, reaching into her basket and pulling out a small jar of ointment. ""I saw what happened on the stage. You moved... strangely. It looked like you were dancing, but it felt like you were killing. My father says that when a person's soul is too big for their body, the body breaks. You are breaking, Feng-ge."
Han Feng looked at her, and for a moment, the Sovereign's mask slipped. The ""Innocent Man"" vibe—the guilt of a man who knows he is using someone for a greater purpose—gnawed at him. He wanted to tell her to run. To stay away from him, away from the Han Clan, and away from the Parasite Heavens.
""I am not breaking,"" he said, though a trickle of blood escaped the corner of his eye—a side effect of the Archive's over-processing. ""I am being rebuilt."
Lin Yue reached out, her fingers hovering just inches from his face. She hesitated, then pressed a cool, herb-scented cloth against his temple. The touch was electric.
[System Alert: Synchronized Resonance Detected.]
[The Archive has detected a 'Hidden Fragment' within the target's soul.]
[Quest Triggered: The Healer's Secret. Reward: Unlock 'Void-Frost' Dual Cultivation Path.]
Han Feng stiffened. This was the ""Best-Seller"" hook—the discovery of a unique power that required a partner. It wasn't just about romance; it was about survival.
""They will come for you tomorrow,"" Lin Yue whispered, her eyes searching his. ""Elder Han Bo has already sent a messenger to the Main Sect. They won't let a 'trash' disciple keep the power you showed today. They will try to 'inspect' your dantian. They will try to take what you found."
Han Feng caught her wrist. His grip was firm, but not painful. ""Let them come. I have spent a lifetime being a 'calf for the slaughter.' This time, I am the one with the knife.
" He looked at her, his dark eyes reflecting the moonlight. ""And you, Lin Yue... do you want to keep hiding that curse in your heart, or do you want to see the Heavens tremble?"
Lin Yue gasped, her breath hitching. She didn't ask how he knew. In that moment, a bond was forged that was darker and more complex than simple young love. It was the bond of two survivors looking at a predatory world.
After Lin Yue left, Han Feng didn't sleep. He spent the rest of the night using the Void Archive to map out the Han Clan's treasury. He knew that by morning, the ""Main Sect"" would arrive. They were the ones who truly served the Parasite Heavens. To them, the branch clans were just harvesting grounds for talent and resources.
I need weapons. I need gold. And I need to move my sister out of this death trap, he calculated.
He stood up, his body feeling lighter, the 'Root of the Earth-Eater' now fully integrated. He could feel the Qi flowing through him, not as a gentle stream, but as a silent, hungry current. He looked at the Han Clan manor, the architecture of his childhood prison, and felt nothing but the cold logic of a Sovereign.
""Tomorrow,"" he promised the shadows, ""the Han Clan learns that some voids cannot be filled."""
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