Chapter 2: The Eye of Destiny and the Ring of Deceit
The wind howled through the shattered walls of the Morningstar Residence, carrying with it the stench of coagulated blood and charred wood. Night had fallen over the Dawn Valley, but it brought no peace; only a sepulchral silence that weighed heavier than steel.
Of the three hundred members who made up the proud clan at dawn, only thirty-four were still breathing.
Samael sat in the center of the main hall, or what was left of it. The marble beneath his boots was slick with the blood of allies and enemies alike. He breathed heavily. The forced use of Void Qi had left micro-fractures along his meridians, a sharp pain reminding him every second that he was still alive, while so many others were not.
Around him, the scene was devastating. His sisters, Violeta and Eris, lay unconscious on stained coats, their pale faces contorted by the pain of their wounds and the poison circulating through their veins. Lilith, the woman who had sacrificed her own body to protect them, leaned against a ruined pillar, breathing shallowly, with a charred stump where her left arm used to be.
"Patriarch..."
Samael opened his eyes. Before him stood Kael. His cousin had always been impetuous, a walking torch with his wild red hair, but tonight, that torch seemed on the verge of going out. His hands trembled as he held a splintered sword.
"What's the report, Kael?" Samael asked, forcing his voice to sound cold, authoritative. He couldn't afford the luxury of crumbling. Not now.
"Thirty-four, counting the children we hid in the crypt," Kael gritted his teeth, holding back tears of rage. "Grand Elder Marcus and Elder Livia are stabilizing the wounded, but... we are running out of supplies. The Zhao poison is killing Eris and Lilith. If we don't get Earth-Grade Restoration Pills, they won't make it through the night."
Samael closed his eyes. Despair threatened to suffocate him. Thirty-four. That was all that was left of his family.
Suddenly, a cold blue flash illuminated the darkness of his mind.
[System Update: Quest "Clan Survival" — Completed.][Calculating rewards for surviving a catastrophe-grade annihilation...][Reward obtained: Sword "Obsidian Fang" (High Earth-Grade).][Reward obtained: x3 Restoration Pills (Mid Earth-Grade).]
Samael's heart skipped a beat. The System! Amidst the massacre, he had almost forgotten the disembodied voice that had awakened in his soul.
The pills were now stored in a sort of digital "Inventory" in his mind, ready to be materialized. But Samael, with the cunning forged in a past life of betrayals, stopped. If he suddenly pulled magical artifacts out of thin air in front of the surviving elders, dangerous questions would arise. A powerless leader producing treasures out of nowhere is a walking target.
His eyes scanned the bloodied floor until they stopped on the corpse of a Liu family elder. On the dead man's finger rested a rusted, low-quality iron spatial ring.
Samael stood up, ignoring the pain in his chest, walked over to the corpse, and ripped the ring off. He slipped it onto his own index finger.
From now on, this piece of junk will be my alibi, he thought.
With a subtle thought, he extracted the three pills from the System and pretended to pull them from the stolen ring. Three jade spheres emitting a soft green glow and the scent of pure medicinal herbs appeared in his palm.
Kael's eyes widened.
"Bring Lilith to me and put the twins beside her," Samael ordered.
Kael asked no questions. In seconds, Grand Elder Marcus and Livia approached, helping to lay Lilith next to the unconscious girls. When they saw the pills in the young Patriarch's hand, their breath hitched.
"Patriarch... those are Earth-Grade Restoration Pills," gasped Grand Elder Marcus, his burly frame trembling. "If we waste them on them, you will have nothing to heal your own shattered meridians. You are the pillar of the clan now!"
"The pillar does not stand alone, Marcus," Samael interrupted, his voice hard as steel, looking the elders in the eye. "Our true strength is the roots, not the crown. Today, I bet everything on my own."
Without a second of hesitation, Samael popped the pills into the mouths of Violeta, Eris, and Lilith.
The effects were instantaneous and miraculous. The black poison darkening Eris's veins evaporated in a toxic hiss; Violeta's fractured bones cracked as they realigned at a speed visible to the naked eye; and Lilith's breathing stabilized, a faint but steady pulse of vitality returning to her mutilated body.
[DING!][System Event Activated: Clan Investment Module.][You have invested critical resources in key Clan members. Calculating multiplier return...][Investment Successful! Critical Multiplier applied.][Reward obtained: Cultivation Technique "Void Heart Sutra" (Volume 1).][Reward obtained: Blood Nirvana Pill (Low Heaven-Grade).][Reward obtained: 300 Mid-Grade Spirit Stones.]
Samael had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from gasping. Heaven-Grade? A pill of that level could buy an entire city in the Dawn Valley.
But before he could process the loot, a sharp, stabbing pain pierced his eyes. He brought a hand to his face, blinking rapidly as the world around him transformed.
[New Function Unlocked: Eyes of Destiny.]
When Samael opened his eyes again, reality had been overlaid with an information interface. He saw strange, colored auras howling above people's heads, pulsing with their own light.
He looked down at his unconscious sisters. Above Violeta and Eris, there were no normal auras. There were pillars of a Crimson Red so intense and dense that it seemed to be bleeding into the air.
Taboo Destiny, the System whispered in his mind. Anomalies that defy the laws of heaven. Their mere existence will attract calamities, but if they survive, they will devour the world.
Samael clenched his fists. Let the world come, then.
Then, his gaze shifted to Kael. Above the red-haired youth's head burned a Brilliant Gold aura, throbbing to the rhythm of immense, dormant potential.
Child of Destiny. Unawakened Draconic Resonance.
Samael understood immediately. This System didn't just give him resources; it showed him the true hidden value of his people. It showed him who he needed to forge.
Taking advantage of the elders' shock at the women's miraculous recovery, Samael turned around. Using the ring as a facade, he discreetly extracted the Blood Nirvana Pill and swallowed it dry.
It wasn't a gentle healing. It was a volcano erupting in his guts.
The Heaven-Grade energy surged into his shattered meridians, destroying mortal fragility and rebuilding his Qi channels with the ferocity of a dragon. At the same time, the "Void Heart Sutra" etched itself directly into his brain, teaching him how to breathe the world's energy without being rejected by its laws. His aura flared for a fraction of a second, blowing the dust away from him and leaving the elders slack-jawed.
He was healed. And he was stronger than before the massacre began.
Samael turned, his black robes billowing, and tossed a heavy leather pouch to Marcus.
The Grand Elder caught it, opening it carefully. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
"Three hundred mid-grade crystals!" Marcus gasped, falling to his knees. "Patriarch... this could fund an army of mercenaries... Where...?"
"My father's ring hid secrets that even you didn't know," Samael lied with absolute coldness, pointing to the rusted Liu family ring on his finger. "Ask no questions. Use those crystals right now to activate the manor's Blood Mist Formation. Isolate the perimeter. No one enters and no one leaves until I return."
"Where are you going, sir?" Kael asked, stepping forward, his golden aura flickering with concern and loyalty.
[New Main Quest Generated: Harvest of Debts.][Objective: Infiltrate the Zhao Family Manor, slaughter the traitors, and recover the stolen Qi Vein Scriptures.][Reward: System Vault Expansion.]
Samael looked at Kael, and then toward the illuminated horizon, where the Zhao family manor was celebrating the supposed extinction of the Morningstar Clan with music and wine.
He drew his new sword from the ring, the Obsidian Fang, its black blade drinking the scarce moonlight.
"You're coming with me, Kael," Samael ordered, his violet eyes flashing with a murderous intent that chilled the elders' blood. "Tonight, we are going to teach the Zhaos that we Morningstars don't know how to die quietly. We are going to bring hell right back to them."