Chapter 1: Into the Abyss.
The biting wind howled through the mountains, swirling around the jagged cliffs like the wailing cries of the dead. Yao Zi, a black haired, tanned, black eyed, 16 year old boy with a height of 1.70m and a proportionate physique, stood at the very edge of the precipice, his bare feet pressed against the cold, rough stone.
His breath came in ragged bursts, each exhale forming a thin mist in the frigid night air. The scent of blood clung to his torn purple martial robe, its once-pristine silk now stained with deep crimson splatters of his own blood.
Streams of tears fell down his cheeks, hands trembling at his sides. Whether from fury or despair, even he did not know.
Below, an endless, abyss-like gorge stared back at him, cloaked in thick, swirling fog. The depths seemed bottomless, a void that threatened to swallow him whole. He clenched his fists, nails digging into his palms until warm blood seeped between his fingers. Yet he only flinched, not making a sound whatsoever.
Deep within his heart burned the dual-colored flame of hatred and pain, accompanied by the glow of betrayal. The emotions churned within him like a storm, drowning out all reason.
" Junior brother! Stop! Don't be reckless!"
A voice thundered from behind him. The hurried stomping of feet on stone followed, growing louder with each passing second.
Yao Zi didn't turn immediately. He already knew who it was.
Three figures in purple martial robes rushed toward him from the forest clearing, their expressions twisted with urgency and fear.
The moonlight gleamed off their drawn swords, but none of them dared to use such weapons on the sixteen-year-old boy before them.
"Junior brother, please listen to us!"
"If you die here, the young miss will never forgive us!"
"So please, step away from that cliff this instant!" one of them shouted. His voice cracked with desperation, as if his own life depended on Yao Zi's survival.
Yao Zi finally turned to face them, his movements slow and deliberate. His bloodshot eyes, filled with unbridled hatred, locked onto the men. His entire body trembled, not with fear... but rage.
"Go back?" His voice, hoarse from grief, carried a venomous edge. "You expect me to turn back now after all she's done?!"
"What do you take me for? A godforsaken bastard?!"
The leading figure, a tall man with sharp eyes, hesitated for a fraction of a second before surging forward. "You'll regret this, Yao Zi! Don't be foolish! Come back with us, and perhaps the young miss will be merciful—"
A bitter laugh tore from Yao Zi's throat, filled with hints of madness.
Merciful?
His grip on his robe tightened as he took a step back, his heel barely resting on solid ground.
"I would rather die than return to that woman!"
His words dripped with venom, each syllable like a dagger carving into his own heart.
Jiang Xue had taken everything from him. His love, his dignity, his very future, and yet these three had the gall to tell him to head back now?!
No.
He refused to live in the palm of her hand any longer.
"If I can't beat her, then I'll haunt her to the ends of the earth!" He cackled madly, his face contorted in sadness and hysteria, as if he was on the brink of losing his mind.
The lead pursuer's face twisted in alarm as he lunged forward.
"Don't you dare!" he yelled desperately, closing the gap between him and Yao Zi.
He stretched out his hand to grab Yao Zi, but Yao Zi was already prepared. He took a step back, causing the man's fingertips to graze the torn fabric of his robe.
"No!" he yelled, but it was too late.
Yao Zi let himself fall. His body sank down, instantly swallowed by the fog.
The wind roared as he plummeted into the abyss, his eyes unable to see anything around him within the thick mist.
So this is the end for me, huh…
His last thought before the darkness took him was filled with regret as he shot into the depths below.
The wind howled in his ears, his body spinning uncontrollably as he dropped through the endless fog. The pale moonlight above failed to penetrate the dense mist, leaving him in an abyss of nothingness with nothing but the sight of fog all around him.
His heart pounded violently, but his eyes were listless.
How long have I been falling?
Seconds?
Minutes?
With each passing moment, Yao Zi's perception of time faded.
Would he ever hit the ground? Or would he simply fall forever, lost in this endless void?
SPLASH!
Without being able to react, a deafening explosion of water roared around him as his body struck the unseen depths below.
Arrgh!
A searing pain ripped through his chest, as if his ribs had been snapped in half, and a rush of blood filled his throat. With how far he'd fallen, he was lucky the force of impact only left his lungs crushed, sending violent ripples through the water.
' Such thick Yin Qi...'
Yao Zi momentarily forgot the aching pain assaulting him when he felt the chill of the water he'd crashed into.
The feeling couldn't be compared to the cold of a winter night or an icy river. it was something far more terrifying. A consuming, bone-deep chill that seized his very soul.
His limbs, already weakened from his fall, refused to obey as he sank deeper and deeper into the black waters.
His vision flickered. The world around him blurred into an eternal night. His thoughts were sluggish, his body growing heavy.
'So this is how it ends?'
Yao Zi thought, his eyes turning dull as if he were on the brink of losing every ounce of life in his severely damaged body.
Just as the darkness threatened to claim him, something appeared beneath him.
A deep, eerie crimson radiated from the abyss below, swirling like a dark red vortex. It pulsed faintly, like the slow, steady beat of a slumbering heart.
'What… is that?'
Yao Zi felt an instinctual apprehension from the eerie crimson glow beneath.
Before he could even process what he was seeing, an invisible force gripped him.
' This...'
It coiled around his limbs, then his torso, soon enveloping his entire body, dragging him downward at an unnatural speed.
' Urk...!'
Yao Zi fought, twisting, kicking, clawing at the water in a desperate struggle, unwilling to let it end like this. His fear toward the eerie crimson glow ignited something within him.
He didn't want to die like this. Not knowing what that crimson glow entailed was a death he refused to accept. He had wanted a quick and painless fall, but that wasn't possible anymore.
He continued to struggle and flail in the water while suppressing the pain from his damaged body, but... it was useless.
His body was like a leaf in a raging current, helpless against the pull of the void.
"I can't stop it!"
He opened his mouth to scream.
Cough—
But only icy water rushed in, filling his lungs, choking him from within.
The pain was unbearable. His strength faded. His consciousness wavered.
As his vision darkened and his body drifted toward the depths of the lake, he uttered one sentence within his mind.
' At least I can now properly apologize to Uncle, Aunty and Wan'er…' The abyss claimed him and the lake fell silent.