Ao Longtian dreamed of drowning.
There was no water.
That was the first thing he noticed.
He stood beneath an endless crimson sky, surrounded by darkness so deep that even his shadow seemed reluctant to remain attached to him.
Blood floated through the air.
Thousands of droplets.
Millions.
Each one reflected a different scene.
A battlefield.
A ruined city.
A woman kneeling beside a grave.
An old man sitting alone beneath a dead tree.
A child running through a burning village.
Longtian reached toward one of the droplets.
The moment his finger touched it, the scene disappeared.
Another replaced it.
Then another.
Then another.
Too many.
Too fast.
He pulled his hand away.
"What is this place?"
His voice traveled through the darkness.
No answer came.
Then he heard something behind him.
A child's laughter.
Longtian turned.
The infant stood several steps away.
The child was naked, tiny, and covered in thin crimson markings.
He shouldn't have been able to stand.
Yet he did.
His feet rested upon nothing.
Longtian stared.
"You're supposed to be in the nursery."
The child tilted his head.
"You came."
Longtian's expression hardened.
"You can speak."
The child smiled.
"I always could."
"Who are you?"
The infant pointed at Longtian's chest.
"You."
Longtian's brow furrowed.
"What?"
"Me."
The child's smile disappeared.
"Us."
The crimson sky suddenly cracked.
A tremendous sound rolled across the darkness.
Longtian looked upward.
Something enormous moved behind the sky.
He couldn't see its body.
Only a pair of golden eyes.
Watching.
The child grabbed Longtian's hand.
"Father."
Longtian looked down.
The infant was trembling.
"Don't let it find me."
For the first time, Longtian saw genuine fear in the child's eyes.
"What is looking for you?"
The child looked toward the sky.
"The blood."
Longtian's expression changed.
"What blood?"
The child opened his mouth.
But before he could answer—
the world shattered.
Longtian woke screaming.
His back struck stone.
He immediately raised both hands.
Nothing.
No enemy.
No monster.
No battlefield.
Only darkness.
He breathed heavily.
His eyes adjusted.
He was lying inside the ruined nursery.
Or what remained of it.
Half the ceiling had collapsed.
Moonlight poured through the broken roof.
The cradle was gone.
Longtian's heart stopped.
"The child."
He forced himself upright.
Pain exploded through his body.
He nearly collapsed again.
His meridians felt like they had been torn apart.
He looked at his hands.
They were trembling.
Black lines crawled beneath his skin.
He clenched his fists.
"Damn it."
He searched the room.
Nothing.
Then he heard crying.
Longtian turned.
The infant was lying several feet away.
Alive.
Longtian released a breath.
He reached for him.
The moment his fingers touched the child's chest—
the infant opened his eyes.
Those strange crimson eyes stared directly into Longtian's.
Then the child smiled.
Longtian felt something pull.
His soul.
Not his body.
His soul.
Something was trying to drag it out through his fingertips.
Longtian immediately released the child.
The room trembled.
The infant began crying.
Longtian stared at him.
"What did you do?"
The child answered inside his mind.
I didn't.
Longtian froze.
It did.
"What did?"
The child looked toward his chest.
Longtian followed his gaze.
A dark-red mark had appeared over his heart.
It pulsed.
Once.
Twice.
Then the mark spread.
Longtian dropped to his knees.
Pain tore through every part of his body.
His bones cracked.
His blood boiled.
His muscles tightened until he could barely breathe.
He heard footsteps outside.
"My lord!"
The door opened.
His sister entered.
Ao Lian was dressed in a simple dark-blue robe, her long black hair tied behind her shoulders. She was followed by several clan guards.
The moment she saw Longtian on the ground, her expression changed.
"Brother!"
She rushed forward.
Longtian raised his hand.
"Don't."
She stopped.
"You're bleeding."
"I'm aware."
"What happened?"
Longtian looked at the infant.
"Get everyone out."
Ao Lian frowned.
"Longtian—"
"Everyone."
Something in his voice made her obey.
She turned toward the guards.
"Leave."
The guards hesitated.
Ao Lian's eyes sharpened.
"I said leave."
They bowed and departed.
She closed the door.
Then she looked at her brother.
"Now tell me."
Longtian slowly stood.
"I'm not sure."
"You're never unsure."
"Tonight is different."
Ao Lian approached him.
"What happened to the child?"
Longtian glanced at the infant.
"He was infected."
"With what?"
Longtian didn't answer immediately.
Ao Lian understood.
Her face lost some color.
"Demonic Qi?"
"Something worse."
He walked toward the broken window.
Outside, the Ao Clan was beginning to wake.
Servants hurried through the courtyard.
Clan guards gathered around the damaged residence.
Lanterns illuminated the destruction.
Longtian watched them silently.
Ao Lian came beside him.
"What do you mean, worse?"
"Do you remember the restricted records?"
Her expression tightened.
"Which ones?"
"The records beneath the ancestral hall."
She looked at him.
"You weren't supposed to know about those."
"Neither were you."
A long silence passed.
Ao Lian folded her arms.
"Then why are we talking about them?"
"Because the symbol belongs to the Heaven Devouring Demon Blood."
Her expression changed completely.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then:
"That's impossible."
"I thought so too."
"That bloodline disappeared."
"So did I."
Ao Lian looked toward the child.
"Then how did a newborn inherit it?"
Longtian shook his head.
"He didn't."
She turned toward him.
"What?"
"The bloodline wasn't inherited."
Longtian's eyes darkened.
"It was planted."
Ao Lian's face became cold.
"By whom?"
"I don't know."
"Can you remove it?"
Longtian looked down at his hands.
The black veins had spread farther.
"No."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Why?"
"Because it isn't inside him anymore."
Ao Lian stared at him.
Longtian slowly placed his hand over his chest.
"It's inside me."
The room became silent.
Ao Lian's expression hardened.
"How much time?"
"I don't know."
"Longtian."
He looked at her.
She stepped closer.
"How much?"
Longtian hesitated.
"Enough."
She slapped him.
The sound echoed through the room.
Longtian slowly turned his face back toward her.
Ao Lian's hand trembled.
"You always do this."
"Do what?"
"Act like you're invincible."
"I'm not."
"You walked into the most dangerous thing I've ever heard of and allowed it to enter your body."
"I didn't allow it."
"You still have it."
Longtian looked at her.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Ao Lian's anger softened.
"What happens now?"
Longtian looked at the infant.
"I don't know."
The child stared back at him.
Then Longtian heard the voice again.
Father.
He closed his eyes.
"What is it?"
Ao Lian asked.
"Nothing."
"You looked frightened."
"I'm not frightened."
"You are."
Longtian opened his eyes.
"I'm thinking."
"About?"
"The child."
Ao Lian waited.
Longtian finally spoke.
"Something happened while I was unconscious."
"What?"
"Our souls touched."
Ao Lian frowned.
"Explain."
"I can't."
"Try."
Longtian looked at the child.
"I think part of his soul entered mine."
Ao Lian's eyes widened.
"Can you separate it?"
"I don't know."
"Then find someone who can."
Longtian laughed quietly.
The sound contained no humor.
"Who?"
Ao Lian didn't answer.
The Ao Clan possessed powerful cultivators.
Alchemists.
Formation masters.
Soul cultivators.
But none of them had experience with what was happening.
And Longtian knew something she didn't.
The demon blood wasn't simply damaging him.
It was changing him.
He could feel it.
His spiritual energy was disappearing.
His cultivation foundation was collapsing.
Yet beneath that destruction, something else was forming.
Something stronger.
Something older.
His blood was becoming hot.
His bones were becoming heavier.
His senses were expanding.
He could hear conversations from the courtyard.
He could smell incense burning three buildings away.
He could feel the spiritual energy moving through the ground.
Longtian looked toward the door.
"How many people are outside?"
Ao Lian glanced at him.
"Several dozen."
"Twenty-three."
She stared.
"What?"
"Twenty-three."
Longtian hadn't consciously counted them.
He simply knew.
Ao Lian's expression became uneasy.
"Longtian…"
He looked at her.
"Your eyes."
"What about them?"
"They're glowing."
Longtian touched his face.
His fingers came away wet.
Blood.
He looked toward a broken piece of polished metal lying on the floor.
His reflection stared back.
His eyes were still his.
Mostly.
Around his pupils was a thin ring of crimson.
He stared at it.
Something inside him stirred.
Then a voice echoed through his soul.
Not the child's.
Something deeper.
Older.
Consume.
Longtian's body moved before his mind did.
His hand reached toward the infant.
Ao Lian immediately stepped between them.
"No."
Longtian stopped.
His fingers trembled.
The urge vanished.
He took a slow breath.
The child began crying.
Longtian looked away.
"Take him."
Ao Lian carefully picked up the infant.
"What are you going to do?"
"Find out what happened."
"How?"
Longtian stared toward the night sky.
"I'll start with the person who put the blood inside him."
"And if you can't find them?"
His expression became calm.
"Then I'll find everyone who could have helped."
"And if you find them?"
Longtian looked at his sister.
The faint smile that appeared on his face wasn't the smile of the brother she knew.
It was colder.
Quieter.
"Then I'll ask them."
Ao Lian raised an eyebrow.
"You?"
Longtian nodded.
"Me."
"And what happens if they don't answer?"
Longtian looked back toward the broken nursery.
The moonlight illuminated the blood covering the floor.
His smile disappeared.
"Then I'll make the question easier."
Far above the Ao Clan, beyond the clouds, a figure watched the manor.
The figure wore white armor.
A heavenly insignia covered his chest.
Beside him stood three others.
One of them looked down.
"The fusion has begun."
"Will he survive?"
"We don't know."
"Should we intervene?"
The oldest guard shook his head.
"No."
"Why?"
The old guard looked toward the distant manor.
"Because if Ao Longtian survives this…"
He paused.
"And becomes what we believe he can become…"
The others waited.
The old guard's expression darkened.
"…then Heaven will have a problem."
Below them, Longtian suddenly looked upward.
For one brief moment—
his eyes met the darkness above the clouds.
The heavenly guards froze.
"He saw us."
"No."
The oldest guard slowly shook his head.
"That's impossible."
Longtian stared into the night.
He couldn't see the figures.
Not yet.
But something inside his blood had noticed them.
And for the first time since the nightmare began—
Longtian smiled.
Not because he understood what was happening.
But because somewhere deep inside himself, beneath the collapsing cultivation and the burning blood, he felt something awakening.
Something that wanted to hunt.
Something that had been waiting for him.
And somewhere within that awakening presence, the child's fragile spirit whispered one final word.
Father.
Longtian closed his eyes.
"I hear you."
Then the darkness inside his soul answered.
Good.
The transformation had begun.