The Crimson Sand Desert was no ordinary wasteland. It was the "Cinnabar Glass Sand," formed during the Primordial Era when the natal essence of a Flame-path Great Sovereign fell and crystallized. Now, as the girl, Specimen 4402—the "Sun-Thief" who had escaped the forbidden zones of the Scarlet Cloud Sect—raised her hand, the sand within a ten-mile radius instantly boiled, turning into a viscous, dark-red lake of molten lava.
There was no white in the girl's eyes, only two dancing flickers of white-gold flame. That power did not belong to her; it was the "Empyrean True Fire" bestowed by the High Realm's Saint Ancestor. This was a fire that burned the divine soul and severed the path of reincarnation.
"9527, you were originally the most useless dross in that cauldron of 'Heaven-Mending Pills,'" 4402's voice was cold and mechanical, stripped of all human emotion. "The Saint Ancestor showed mercy by giving you a sliver of life, yet you chose to fall, consorting with the mortal ants. Today, I act as the Heaven's Inquisitor to reclaim the rebellious bones that should never have existed."
Hua Sui stood in the center of the lava lake, balanced on a charred remnant of stone barely half a foot wide. His silver hair danced madly in the heatwaves, each strand seeming to devour the surrounding light. He summoned no magical treasures. He simply stood with his left hand behind his back and his right hand hanging low, a grey vortex faintly swirling in his palm to swallow the oncoming heat.
"Heaven's Inquisitor?" Hua Sui let out a sharp laugh that cut through the roar of the molten glass. "Your so-called 'Heavens' are nothing more than a pack of parasites feasting on the marrow of the living. Which inch of the 'mercy' you speak of isn't soaked in the blood of our kin?"
He looked up, his deep indigo pupil exploding with a frigid, piercing light.
"Before 0911 died, he told me one thing: there are no gods in this world. It is only when the people bow too much that the beasts sitting in high places begin to believe they are divine."
"Stubborn fool!"
4402 snorted and pointed her fingers like a sword.
In an instant, the lava lake erupted with a thousand waves. Countless "Fire Qilins" condensed from the Empyrean True Fire charged toward Hua Sui, roaring with fury. These were not illusions; each one carried enough violent energy to incinerate the physical body of a Nascent Soul cultivator.
Hua Sui remained as still as a mountain. Only when the first Fire Qilin reached within three feet of him did he suddenly take a half-step forward.
That single step shattered the charred stone beneath him and ruptured the equilibrium of the surrounding void.
"Inverse Path Secret Technique: Hundred Bones Returning to Void!"
The Inverse Veins within Hua Sui's body reversed completely in this moment. He no longer repelled the heatwaves; instead, he transformed himself into an "Absolute Spiritual Black Hole." The moment the aggressive Fire Qilins crashed into his three-foot perimeter, they weirdly lost their forms. Like beams of light being forcibly twisted and swallowed, they vanished, turning into raw, primal energy that poured through Hua Sui's pores into his limbs and bones.
"Using your body as a furnace? You're mad!" 4402's expression finally changed.
The Empyrean True Fire was a taboo of the High Realm. Ordinary cultivators would turn to ash upon touching even a spark. For Hua Sui to dare swallow such a grade of exotic fire was nothing short of suicide in the common sense of the cultivation world.
Hua Sui's skin turned a vivid crimson instantly. Countless cracks appeared across his body, but what leaked out was not blood—it was dark-gold firelight. Every cell was being burned; every inch of bone was being reshaped.
That pain was a thousand times more intense than being flayed and dismantled in the Pill-Pits years ago.
Yet, he did not scream. Instead, he flashed a smile of near-maniacal ecstasy.
"Does it hurt? This is what it feels like to be alive!" Hua Sui roared, his body streaking like lightning through the layers of fire, appearing instantly in front of 4402.
He reached out with his cracked, iron-hard hand, piercing through the girl's protective golden flames, and locked his grip around her throat.
"When that old bastard sent you to kill me, did he tell you that these rebellious bones of mine... love nothing more than devouring the divinity you hold so high?!"
The grey vortex in Hua Sui's palm exploded.
The white-gold flames in 4402's eyes began to leak out violently, forcibly plundered through Hua Sui's arms. The girl let out a shrill scream as her divine avatar began to collapse. The once-sacred, untouchable aura withered rapidly, revealing the pale, terrified face of a mortal girl.
"No... save me... Saint Ancestor, save me!"
From the depths of the void, that cold, indifferent will swept through again. A massive bolt of thunder crashed down from the heavens, intending to obliterate both "violators" at once.
"Get back to where you belong!"
Hua Sui snapped his head up and threw a punch at the sky.
That punch condensed all the Empyrean True Fire he had just devoured, combined with seventeen years of mortal rage. A thick, dragon-like pillar of dark-red fire soared upward, slamming into the heavenly thunder and shattering it into pieces!
The firmament shuddered. That giant eye seemed to suffer a profound humiliation, slowly fading away with a sense of lingering resentment.
The desert fell into a deathly silence.
The lava lake began to solidify, turning into a sheet of dark-red glass. Hua Sui released his grip, letting the drained 4402 collapse onto the glassy floor. The cracks on his body were slowly healing, but the violent aura had settled, crystallizing into a fathomless pressure.
"0911 died in the 'Valley of Forged Swords,'" 4402 gasped, looking at Hua Sui with eyes full of terror. "He left something behind... he said it's the 'Heaven-Opening Key' that only you can take."
Hua Sui looked silently at the scorched desert he had personally decimated. He knew this was only the beginning. The assassins sent by the Saint Ancestor would grow stronger, and his current state was like walking on a cliff's edge, liable to be burst by the chaotic energies within him at any moment.
"Where is it?" Hua Sui asked coldly.
"In that place... the 'Pit of Forsaken Immortals' forgotten by the Celestial Realm," 4402 pointed toward the west. "That is where all the failed experiments are buried, along with the darkest secrets of the sect. He is waiting for you there, using his life... to forge a sword for you."
Hua Sui looked toward the west, where the sky held a sickly, leaden-grey hue.
He reached down and picked up the shattered iron pickaxe—broken, yet still carrying the warmth of his grip. Though the tool was ruined, he knew he no longer needed it.
He himself was the sharpest blade in existence.
Three Days Later. The Edge of the Forsaken Immortal Pit.
There was no wind here, only the perpetual stench of decay.
Hua Sui carried the unconscious 4402 on his back as he stepped into this forbidden land of white bones. At the center of this deep pit stood a small mountain made of broken blades. At the summit sat a withered corpse—0911.
Even though he had been breathless for days, 0911's fingers were still clamped tightly around a pitch-black wooden tablet that emitted no fluctuations.
That was the taboo left behind by the Founding Ancestor of the Scarlet Cloud Sect.
Hua Sui walked to the corpse, bowed deeply, and took the tablet.
The moment his fingers touched the wood, the countless restless spirits within the Forsaken Immortal Pit seemed to sense something. They let out a simultaneous, blood-curdling shriek.
"9527, you finally came."
An old, familiar voice drifted from deep beneath the pit.
Hua Sui's pupils contracted.
It was the voice of the Lu Family Ancestor whom he had already killed. No, it wasn't the Ancestor; it was something older, something more malevolent, parasitizing the remnant soul.
"You think you won? You think you broke causality?"
From the ground, a massive, hairy demonic hand slowly reached out, clutching the pile of white bones.
"You have merely... entered a larger cauldron. Welcome to the 'Gods' Graveyard.'"