A silence deeper than the void stretched across the arena. The once-mocking disciples now stood frozen, their expressions trapped somewhere between disbelief and terror.
Lin Feng's breath came in ragged bursts, his body rigid as though the very air had turned to iron around him. Just moments ago, he had relished in Lin Xian's suffering, basking in the pleasure of grinding his once-great cousin beneath his heel.
But now…
Now, the fallen prodigy stood before him, his aura transformed into something that did not belong in this world.
Lin Xian flexed his fingers once more, feeling the raw, unshackled energy coursing through his veins. It was unlike the spiritual force he had once wielded as a cultivator. No, this was something different. Wilder. Darker. The sensation was foreign, yet it resonated with his very soul, as if it had always been waiting for him.
His gaze shifted toward his cousin, and for the first time in a long while, Lin Feng did not look down at him with scorn.
He looked at him with fear.
Lin Xian took a step forward.
Lin Feng flinched.
How amusing.
"W-What kind of trick is this?" Lin Feng forced out, trying to mask the tremor in his voice. "You… You shouldn't even be able to stand!"
Lin Xian tilted his head slightly, testing the weight of his new strength. His body, which had once felt like a shattered husk, now moved with an ease he had never known before. The pain that had haunted him for the past year had vanished, replaced by a power so deep and boundless it threatened to consume him whole.
But he welcomed it.
He relished in it.
"A trick?" Lin Xian finally responded, his voice carrying an unsettling calm. He lifted his right hand, staring at his open palm. His fingers curled into a fist, and the very air around it trembled. He could feel it—the power that had awakened within him. It was not simply spiritual energy; it was something far more ancient, something that did not belong to the cultivation techniques of this world.
Something… abyssal.
"I assure you," Lin Xian continued, "this is no trick."
A flicker of energy surged from his body, invisible yet undeniable. The surrounding disciples instinctively took a step back, their instincts screaming at them to flee.
Lin Feng clenched his jaw, refusing to be cowed. His pride would not allow it.
"You're still just a cripple!" he snapped, forcing himself to step forward. "I don't know what kind of sorcery you've used, but it changes nothing! You have no cultivation! You have no future! You—"
Lin Xian moved.
He didn't hear the gasp that escaped Lin Feng's lips. He didn't even realize what had happened at first.
One moment, Lin Feng was standing before him, spewing his usual venom.
The next, Lin Xian's hand was around his throat.
Lin Feng's eyes widened in sheer horror.
Lin Xian's grip was firm but not suffocating—yet Lin Feng could feel it. The power humming beneath his cousin's fingertips was unnatural, like a beast barely restrained, waiting for permission to devour its prey.
"How…?" Lin Feng choked out. "You—"
"I remember when you used to look up to me, cousin," Lin Xian murmured, his tone almost nostalgic. "You admired me. Followed me. Called me 'big brother.'"
Lin Feng's face twisted in anger and shame. "T-That was—"
"Then you betrayed me."
Lin Xian's grip tightened, not enough to crush Lin Feng's throat, but enough to silence him. The surrounding disciples watched in stunned horror. Lin Feng—the one who had been untouchable within the younger generation—was now completely at Lin Xian's mercy.
Lin Xian tilted his head, watching the panic flicker in his cousin's eyes.
Ah.
So this is what it feels like.
To have power again.
To be feared.
For the past year, he had suffered in humiliation, treated like nothing more than a discarded husk of his former self. He had been abandoned, mocked, beaten—reduced to something lesser than human.
But now, as he stood above the one who had tormented him the most…
He finally understood.
Lin Xian took a slow breath, his heartbeat steady despite the storm raging within him.
He would not be the same fool as before.
Lin Feng was beneath him, but his vengeance—his true vengeance—was only beginning.
Lin Xian released his cousin's throat, allowing him to stumble backward. Lin Feng gasped for air, his hands clutching at his neck as he coughed violently. His pride burned at the humiliation, but fear kept him from retaliating.
Lin Xian smiled faintly. "We're done here."
Lin Feng flinched at those words. His fists clenched, but he did not dare to attack again.
Lin Xian turned away. He had no need to waste any more time on Lin Feng. There were greater matters at hand.
He had heard a voice.
A voice that had offered him a chance to reclaim his fate.
A voice that had given him this power.
What was it?
And more importantly…
What price would he have to pay?
The Abyss call
That night, Lin Xian sat cross-legged within his chamber. He could feel it now—the foreign energy coursing through him. Unlike spiritual energy, it did not follow the structured paths of traditional cultivation.
No.
This was something entirely different.
He focused inward, diving into his dantian. What he found sent a shiver through his entire being.
At the core of his existence, where his shattered meridians had once been, there now resided something new. A swirling vortex of inky darkness, pulsing like a living heart.
It was neither spiritual energy nor demonic qi.
It was something else.
Something older.
Something… alive.
As he gazed upon it, a familiar voice echoed in his mind.
"You have accepted my power, child. But power is never given freely."
Lin Xian's breath hitched.
That voice.
It was the same one that had spoken to him in the arena.
"Who are you?" Lin Xian whispered.
"A shadow that has waited. A will that has endured. You, Lin Xian, are now my vessel."
Lin Xian's eyes narrowed. "I did not agree to be anyone's vessel."
A dark chuckle reverberated through his mind. "No. But you agreed to change your fate. And fate… always demands a price."
Lin Xian's fists clenched. "What price?"
"You will learn soon enough."
The voice faded, leaving only silence.
Lin Xian exhaled slowly. Whatever had granted him this power was not a benevolent force. It had an agenda—one he did not yet understand.
But he did not fear it.
For the first time in a year, Lin Xian had power again.
And no matter the price, he would not allow himself to be weak ever again.
He opened his eyes, his irises gleaming with an eerie, otherworldly light.
His journey was just beginning.
And the world would soon know…
Lin Xian had returned.