The forest grew stranger the deeper he walked.
For twenty years, the Twilight Abyss had been his cage and his sanctuary, its dangers his sharpening stone. Yet, beyond the borders he knew, a far older power lurked. The System had not chosen the Forgotten Altar of Blood lightly.
The air thickened as Aezrael advanced. Trees grew twisted, their roots rising like skeletal hands clutching for the sky. The ground was scattered with bones—human, beast, and things beyond either. Strange whispers laced the wind, not of the living, but of wills long perished.
The scythe pulsed in his hand, as if eager, almost trembling with hunger.
[Warning: You are entering a forbidden ground.]
[Sign-In Target is within 2,000 meters.]
[Danger Level: Extreme. Estimated survival rate: 32%.]
Aezrael smirked faintly. "Thirty-two percent? That's more than enough."
The First Trial – Beasts of Blood
The undergrowth shifted. Dozens of eyes flared crimson. Creatures slithered and stalked from the shadows—blood beasts, born from corrupted qi, their bodies stitched together by scarlet veins and dripping maws.
The largest of them, a wolf with six eyes and a body twice his size, roared and lunged.
Aezrael's aura erupted, violet-crimson qi twisting the air into storm. The scythe whistled, severing the beast's head in one stroke. Before its body even touched the ground, he vanished, reappearing amidst the horde.
Each movement was precise, detached, yet devastating. The scythe danced arcs of moonlit carnage, severing heads, bisecting torsos, cleaving through corrupted flesh. Blood painted the trees, soaking into the earth.
When silence returned, only corpses remained. Aezrael walked on, his breath steady, his expression calm—as though slaughtering an army was no more than breathing.
The Second Trial – The Whispering Gates
Ahead, two colossal stone gates loomed, half-buried in earth. Crimson runes pulsed upon them, glowing faintly as if alive. Whispers filled the air—voices of agony, temptation, madness.
"Come closer…"
"Bleed for us…"
"Surrender your will…"
A lesser cultivator would have broken instantly, consumed by madness. But Aezrael simply stepped forward, his eyes unblinking.
The runes flared, and chains of blood lashed out from the gates. With a flick of his scythe, he severed them, violet qi tearing through their corruption. The gates groaned, the whispers fell silent, and the way opened.
A stairway of bones led downward into darkness.
Elsewhere – The Azure Sky Sect
Far from the forest, in the heart of the Azure Sky Sect's grand hall, silence reigned.
The report had arrived. Dozens of disciples, dead. Their corpses mutilated beyond recognition. And a single name left carved in blood upon a cliff face:
Aezrael.
Sect Master Yun Hailan sat upon the throne, his face stormy. Around him, elders debated furiously.
"That demon brat has returned!" one roared. "Decades we've hunted rumors, and now he resurfaces by slaughtering our disciples?!"
"His name spreads already," another elder spat. "The Southern Sects whisper of the 'Calamity of Twilight Abyss.' Our reputation bleeds with every tongue that speaks it!"
"But how?" a younger master asked, voice tinged with fear. "He was slain years ago—his body discarded in that cursed forest!"
Yun Hailan's eyes narrowed, his aura pressing down on the hall like a tidal wave. "Then he crawled back from hell. And if so…"
He leaned forward, voice cold as steel.
"…we will send him back there."
The hall trembled as his decree echoed. Disciples were summoned, envoys prepared. The Azure Sky Sect would not let Aezrael rise unchecked.
The Altar
Deep underground, Aezrael finally reached it.
The Forgotten Altar of Blood.
It was not stone, nor earth—it was flesh. A massive heart, petrified yet pulsing faintly, lay embedded in the cavern's floor. Veins of crimson light stretched outward, filling the chamber with eerie glow.
The System's voice rang within him.
[Sign-In Successful.]
[Reward Generated: Blood Origin Scripture (??? Rank).]
[Additional Reward: 1x Blood Authority Seed.]
The scythe in his hand thrummed violently, almost singing with hunger as he stared down at the altar. A faint smile tugged at his lips.
"So this is the true face of the Abyss…"
The altar pulsed again, as though answering him.
For the first time since his rebirth, Aezrael felt something stir—a faint resonance, like destiny itself whispering in his ear.
But above ground, the Azure Sky Sect was already preparing its hunt.
And in the abyss below, Aezrael reached out his hand toward the altar, his eyes burning with hunger for power.
The forest would never be the same.