EPISODE 14 Main Theme:
"The Coffin Opens, Shadows Stir"
After unearthing the buried underworld city, Xiao Kai and his companions come face to face with the Crimson Alchemist's greatest secret — the sealed coffin of the Demon King of the demon's association in the village. With the seal shattered, an ancient evil awakens, its oppressive aura shaking the very foundation of the Qi Mountains. As spiritual puppet demon armies surge forward, the four friends battle gets their selves prepared for a bloody fight, while Xiao Kai wrestles with a dangerous choice: reveal the unimaginable power of the hidden Star Tears Orb… or keep it concealed, risking their lives to preserve its secret.
The episode is a tense clash of wills — between ancient darkness seeking dominance, and a young cultivator guarding a power the world must never know...
The underground city pulsed with a dread rhythm, each heartbeat of the sealed coffin echoing like a war drum. Xiao Kai stood unmoving, eyes fixed on the floating tomb as the Crimson Alchemist's laughter rolled through the cavern like thunder. The spectral army around them shimmered with killing intent, weapons raised but awaiting their master's signal.
EPISODE 14 – "The Coffin of the Forgotten Demon Association King"
The black-jade coffin rose with a grinding, bone-deep rumble.
Around it, the underworld's red lanterns flickered like dying stars, their light bending away from the monstrous thing as if even fire feared to touch it.
The veins of crimson energy crawling across the coffin pulsed like a heartbeat, each throb sending a wave of spiritual pressure across the ruined underground city. Even the stone under Xiao Kai's boots shivered, dust lifting into the air before falling in slow, hesitant spirals.
The Crimson Alchemist stood before it all like a conductor before an orchestra, scarlet robes swaying in the supernatural wind. His hair, the color of wet blood, floated weightlessly, and his lips curled into a smirk that dripped with the confidence of someone who had already seen the ending of this fight.
> Crimson Alchemist: "You've come far, Xiao Kai. Too far… but not far enough to leave."
The words seemed to echo unnaturally, as though the coffin itself repeated them.
Cheng Xiao stepped slightly forward, sabers drawn, her eyes darting over the approaching shadows between broken buildings. Du Fan's stance lowered, both daggers reversed in his hands. Li Han Xiao planted the butt of her halberd into the cracked ground, the faint blue qi flickering along its shaft fighting against the oppressive crimson glow.
Then they emerged.
Dozens upon dozens of spiritual puppet demon cultivators stepped from the black mist that curled in the ruined streets. Their bodies flickered in and out of solidity — some with armor half-seen, others showing exposed ribs under torn flesh. Weapons in their hands thrummed with the same runes that covered the coffin.
> Crimson Alchemist: "The souls of traitors. Warriors reforged from their own hatred. They do not tire. They do not bleed. They remember only their last command… to destroy all who oppose the King."hahahaha
The first wave dropped low, weapons angled, and the air tightened before the charge.
Xiao Kai's golden eyes narrowed. "I'll take the Alchemist. Keep them off me."
> Cheng Xiao: "And if they don't want to stay off you?"
> Xiao Kai: "Then you cut them down."
The wave struck but as they are about to charge against the puppets an unseemly suppression suppresses on them and the attacks starts
The Battle Opens
The underworld rang with the first collision. Li Han Xiao's halberd swept wide, carving through two spiritual demons. Their bodies exploded into mist—only to swirl together and reform several paces back, runes flaring brighter.
> Li Han Xiao: "They're rebuilding themselves!"
> Xiao Kai: "Shatter the runes — it's their anchor!"
Cheng Xiao lunged forward, both sabers slashing in an X across the chest of a demon. Sparks and black mist erupted, and the runes on its armor flickered before dying completely. The demon fell to ash.
Du Fan appeared behind another, daggers striking with surgical precision into the rune on its shoulder before vanishing again.
But for every one they dropped, three more pressed in, their weapons biting through the squad's guard. Sparks of qi, flashes of void energy, and the metallic tang of blood began to mix in the air.
---
Xiao Kai Breaks Forward
With a surge of golden light, Xiao Kai moved. His palm struck the chest of a demon directly, golden flames exploding outward and consuming the rune. Before the mist even dissipated, he was gone — a blur toward the Crimson Alchemist.
The Alchemist's smirk didn't falter. His right hand rose lazily, catching Xiao Kai's first punch with an iron grip.
> Crimson Alchemist: "Ah… the heir to the Forgotten Nine. I thought the stories exaggerated your arrogance. I see now they were too modest."
> Xiao Kai: "And I see you're just another parasite wearing power you didn't earn."
Crimson fire burst from the Alchemist's free hand, hurling Xiao Kai backward. Xiao Kai twisted midair, boots finding the side of a crumbling tower, before launching himself back down like a falling star.
Their clash shook the chamber — Xiao Kai's golden qi colliding with the Alchemist's blood-fire, every strike a shockwave that knocked dust from the distant ceiling.
---
The Struggle at the Rear
Meanwhile, Cheng Xiao was breathing hard, sabers chipped from constant contact with void-forged steel. Du Fan's black-clad figure flickered in and out, but even his relentless precision was slowing. Li Han Xiao fought with raw, heavy blows, each swing of his halberd opening space before the swarm closed again.
> Cheng Xiao: "We're getting pressed back!"
> Du Fan: "Then push through!"
They tightened formation, back to back, slowly forcing their way toward Xiao Kai's duel. But the coffin loomed closer with every step, its crimson veins now pulsing twice as fast.
---
The Awakening Accelerates
The Alchemist began chanting in a language that scraped at the mind. The sound dug into the ears like claws, each syllable making the veins on the coffin flare. Cracks of red light split its black surface, spilling sickly illumination across the battlefield.
The demons faltered for a breath, their hollow eyes all turning toward the coffin — as if waiting.
A deep sound rumbled from within. Not a voice, not an animal's growl — something older, like the groan of mountains grinding together.
> Cheng Xiao: "…That came from inside."
> Li Han Xiao: "We stop him now, or we never stop him."
---
Xiao Kai's Gambit
The Alchemist's crimson flames expanded, forming a serpent-like coil that lashed at Xiao Kai from three angles. Xiao Kai slid under one strike, let the second pass above his head, and caught the third with his bare hand, golden fire devouring crimson.
> Xiao Kai: "You're hiding behind something in that coffin."
The Alchemist's grin sharpened. "Not hiding… preparing his stage."
The coffin pulsed violently, and a ring of crimson energy exploded outward. The shockwave knocked Cheng Xiao, Du Fan, and Li Han Xiao from their feet, sending them skidding across the ground. Spiritual demons dissolved into mist only to reform instantly.
---
The Coffin Opens
The cracks in the jade finally split wide, chunks of black stone falling away into the abyss below. A hand emerged — skeletal, encased in shattered black armor, strips of shadow dripping from its fingertips. Frost formed across the ground in a spreading circle.
Every cultivator felt it — an intent that crushed the lungs and made knees buckle. The aura of a being who once ruled not just the living, but the heavens.
The Crimson Alchemist knelt, head bowed toward the coffin. "Your Majesty… the era of your return begins."
---
Desperation Breaks Loose
Xiao Kai felt the orb inside his chest hum violently, resonating with the aura spilling from the coffin. He gritted his teeth.
He shot forward, not at the Alchemist, but at the coffin itself. Golden fire roared along his arm as he slammed his palm toward the exposed hand.
The Forgotten King's skeletal fingers twitched — and a single ripple of black force blasted Xiao Kai backward, skidding across the stone until he struck a pillar hard enough to crack it.
Cheng Xiao, bleeding from her lip, charged in with both sabers blazing. Her strikes landed on the King's hand — only to be absorbed like raindrops into the void. Du Fan's daggers flashed in and out, trying to carve at the joints, but shadows coiled up the blades and flung him aside.
Li Han Xiao roared, halberd spinning, and slammed it down toward the coffin. The King's other hand emerged, catching the weapon between two fingers, and snapping the halberd's blade like brittle wood.
---
The Cliff Before the Fall
The coffin's lid, still half-attached, began to fall away completely. Inside, shadows coiled around a tall, armored figure whose face could not be seen — only two crimson lights burning where eyes should be. The aura thickened until breathing was a battle.
The Crimson Alchemist rose to his feet, spreading his arms as if presenting the scene to the world.
> Crimson Alchemist: "Behold the one who will reclaim the throne for the Forgotten King of we demons."
All hail the branch association king
Xiao Kai pushed himself up, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. His eyes locked on the figure inside the coffin but now the orb already healed his wound, his palm tightening over his chest where the orb's heartbeat pumped.
> Xiao Kai: Soon… but not yet.
The King's head tilted slightly — as if he could see into Xiao Kai's soul but he couldn't and so he said how can someone at just a qi foundation stage have such power.
As the association demon king awakens he reveals his full power of 3 star dou zun and this made everyone so scared
Even with Xiao Kai's orb power leveling up he can't reach the level of a dou zun as at now but he can reach the peak of dou zong (9 star)
Cheng Xiao and others becomes frightened because of the qi suppression by the ancient association demon king
The king starts first by introducing himself and also telling them that he is not the real demon king just an association king because no one knows the real power of the demon king himself but today they will stop everyone who is trying to stop the demon king from awakening by killing them or turning them into puppets like those after much revelation and introduction a voice came out again and this time it's from Xiao Kai who said being a coward or being a pawn for someone doesn't mean you have the true lead of life and death
Surging powers and levelling up his power Xiao Kai reaches the peak of a dou zong he told Cheng Xiao and others to face the puppets and he will take on the crimson alchemist and the king himself
Fights break out but the association demon king remains unmoved because no one was his match but something later made him moved and it's the azure dragon star sword and this is the sword Xiao Kai got as his reward of winning the sects competition
Sooner the association demon king became serious about the fight and Xiao Kai told his friends to target the heads of the puppets after he uses the help of the orb to find their flaws, after 30 minutes of fighting, the association demon king was shocked of how a person at the level of qi condensation stage could have a power to rival him at the level of 3 star dou zun but also as they keep on fighting he keeps his distance because of the power engraved in the azure dragon star sword but all that wasn't of Xiao Kai concern as he has been looking for a chance to activate the orbs domain and the opportunity comes when both the association king and the crimson alchemist charged together at Xiao Kai they saw their selves get trapped in a full white domain world and this way no one can win against Xiao Kai
Both the association demon king and the crimson alchemist finds a way to break it but they couldn't which makes them even more surprised that the power of a dou zun is not match for an ordinary trap set by a dou zong but no one including Xiao Kai knows the full mystery of the orbs power in his body
Sooner without any more intense fighting and confrontations Xiao Kai got rid of both the association demon king and the crimson alchemist and this shocked the Cheng Xiao, Du Fan and LI han Xiao that no one could really predicts him because the last time he used the domain was when he fought against the moonshadow spirit hall ancestor and the 3 star dou zongs 3
And that's how Xiao Kai and his friends got rid of the whole hidden demon association in the qi dynasty
The episode ends as the first step of the Forgotten King lands on the frozen ground, the sound echoing like a death knell through the underworld.
[TO BE CONTINUED…]