XUAN
I was sixteen when the heavens confirmed what everyone already believed about me...'I was born without a spirit root.'
The Spirit Awakening Ceremony was supposed to be a special moment, the day a child of the Lin Clan began their path of cultivation and claimed their future among the strong. The courtyard was decorated with crimson banners, and incense smoke curled into the air. The elders sat high on a stone platform like judges determining everyone's fate.
I stood at the end of the line. Not because I arrived late but because that was where I belonged.
One by one, the younger disciples pressed their palms against the Spirit Awakening Stone. It reacted beautifully. Brilliant light glowed within its translucent surface — green for wood, blue for water, and crimson for fire. The elders nodded in approval, clan members whispered praise, and futures were announced in loud, proud voices.
"Fourth Grade Fire Root."
"Second Grade Wind Root."
"High-Grade Earth Affinity."
Every announcement was followed by applause, every success drove the nail deeper into my chest.
When my name was finally called, the courtyard was not filled with anticipation. Instead, it was filled with quiet amusement.
"Lin Xuan."
I walked forward under the weight of a hundred gazes. Some were indifferent, some mocking. A few carried faint pity.
My father, Lin Guotian, the Clan Head, sat in the highest seat. His back was straight, his face expressionless, and his eyes focused somewhere past me, as if I weren't worth his acknowledgment.
I told myself it did not matter, that I was used to it.
The Spirit Awakening Stone stood before me, smooth and ancient, its surface reflecting my uncertain face. For a brief moment, I allowed myself to hope for something...anything.
I placed my palm against the stone and it was warm.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened. The courtyard was silent enough that I could hear my own breathing and my heartbeat.
A faint tremor ran through the stone, not from resonance but rejection. A thin crack appeared under my palm, splintering outward like fractured ice.
The light that should have blossomed inside it died before it was ever born.
The elder overseeing the ceremony didn't even sigh. "He doesn't have a spirit root."
His voice was calm. The words echoed louder than they should have.
Laughter rose from the outer disciples. It was a cruel laugh that I had expected.
"Nothing happened."
"What a waste of resources."
"I heard even mortals have more Qi sensitivity."
I withdrew my hand slowly, as if moving too quickly might shatter the little dignity I had left. I didn't look at my father, I didn't need to.
"Next," he said.
Just one word and with it, I ceased to exist.
***
The only person who moved toward me was Lin Yue.
"Brother," she called, pushing past two stunned disciples to reach me. Her fingers caught my sleeve before I could step away. Her eyes, bright and fierce, held no disappointment, only outrage.
"The stone must be damaged," she insisted. "I'll request another test. The elders cannot simply dismiss you again."
I forced a smile for her sake. "It's fine," I told her gently.
It wasn't fine. It had never been fine.
Lin Yue had a Heavenly Grade Spirit Root, the rarest talent our clan had seen in decades. The elders adored her. My father spoke to her with pride in his voice and yet she never looked down on me. "You're not useless," she whispered, her voice trembling more than mine ever had.
I brushed a strand of hair away from her face and answered softly, "Of course I'm not."
The lie came easily because if I didn't say it, she would carry my pain as her own and she deserved better than that.
***
The Lin Clan was reduced to ashes before the moon reached its peak. I woke in the middle of the night to the scent of burning wood and flesh. Screams pierced the mountain air, sharp and desperate, too real to be part of a nightmare.
The protective array that shielded our clan shattered with a sound like glass breaking under divine judgment.
Then I ran outside barefoot. Flames consumed the outer halls. The disciples I had trained with lay scattered across the courtyard, their blood dark against the stone, and their bodies were dismembered.
Black-robed figures moved through the chaos like shadows given human form. They were the demonic cultivators. Their Qi felt suffocating with malice.
I did not think or hesitate. I ran toward the heart of the chaos to her. Then I found Lin Yue near the ancestral hall, her sword trembling in her grip as three demonic cultivators circled her. Blood stained her sleeve, but her stance remained defiant.
When she saw me, relief flashed across her face. "Brother!"
That single word shattered something fragile inside me. I grabbed the nearest fallen blade, though I knew it was meaningless. I had no Qi, no cultivation, no training worthy of battle.
But I could not just stand by and watch. One of the demonic cultivators flicked his sleeve casually. Then an invisible force struck my chest.
The world spun as I crashed into a pillar. I heard bones crack before pain rushed in. I tried to breathe but failed.
Through blurred vision, I saw one of them seize Lin Yue by the throat. "She has excellent talent," he remarked calmly. "Her spirit root will be valuable."
I crawled forward, dragging my broken body across blood-slick stone. I had never hated my own weakness more than in that moment.
Lin Yue's eyes found mine. There was no fear for herself there, only the fear for me. "Brother… run…"
Then the blade fell. The sound it made was softer than I expected. Everything after that felt distant, muted...The world lost its color.
The demonic cultivators left me buried under corpses and rubble. "Leave him," one of them said. "He's nothing."
'Nothing.' The word echoed long after they disappeared.
***
I don't know how long I lay there. The flames eventually died. The screams faded, the sky lightened. I stared at the lifeless form of my sister only a few feet away.
The heavens remained clear, untouched, and unconcerned. "Is this justice?" I asked the empty sky but there was no answer...Only silence.
My fingers brushed against something cold under the rubble. It was a fragment of black jade. It pulsed faintly under my blood-soaked hand.
The moment my blood touched its surface, pain erupted through my body. My meridians, which had always been empty, ignited like dry branches tossed into fire. Then I screamed.
Dark energy seeped upward from the corpses around me. I felt it — resentment, lingering Qi, unfinished hatred.
The jade did not absorb the energy of the earth and only consumed what remained of the dead.
Then a whisper echoed in my mind. 'You were denied by the heavens. Then devour what the heavens abandon.'
Suffocating energy flooded into me. My shattered ribs reformed, but not cleanly. My meridians twisted, changing into something unfamiliar.
Something is wrong...I could feel every fragment of Qi left in the courtyard. Every fading soul including hers.
The jade pulsed again. If I reached for it, I would absorb the last trace of my sister's existence and If I didn't…I would stay weak, powerless, and useless.
My hand trembled above the ashes. Tears blurred my vision for the first time that night. "I'm sorry," I whispered.
The jade flared and I made my choice. The energy flowed into me violently, darker and colder than anything I had ever imagined.
The sky above the ruined Lin Clan suddenly dimmed. The clouds spiraled unnaturally and a pressure descended from the heavens.
It was ancient and oppressive as if something vast had turned its gaze upon me and then...A voice thundered across the sky. "Forbidden Path detected."
The air felt strange, and lightning gathered above my head. Not ordinary lightning, tribulation lightning.
That was heaven's punishment for someone who had not even begun cultivation. I stared upward as the first bolt formed, tearing open the sky like a blade splitting flesh.
And for the first time in my life, the heavens were finally looking at me.