In the Tianxu Realm, where mists veiled the heavens, the Qingyun Sect stood as a jade pillar under the moon's pale gaze. Li Wei fled its sanctity, a fleeting shadow cloaked in fog, his gray robes sodden and blending with the night. The cold intent, born from the Nether's touch, thrummed in his soul, sharpening his perception until every leaf's rustle and distant shout pierced the silence like a guqin's wail. His broom lay discarded; tonight, he was no servant. Tonight, he defied the heavens.
Shouts echoed from the sect disciples roused by Elder Huo's poisoned corpse, their cries sharp as unsheathed blades. Li Wei's steps were silent on the mountain's lower paths, where loose stones threatened betrayal. A stolen dagger hung at his waist, beside a vial of nightshade and a pouch of spirit ash etched with forbidden runes. His meridians, newly carved by Huo's dying qi, pulsed with raw, unsteady energy. Each breath burned, a reminder of his theft from fate. The righteous sect would hunt him, not for justice but to bury their shame. Let them come. He would forge his dao in their blood.
The path descended into a shadowed ravine, where mist coiled like dragons in slumber. The air grew thick with the scent of damp earth and ancient decay. Spirit beasts prowled these depths, their eyes like ghost lanterns in the dark, drawn to the faint qi now flowing within him. A low growl stirred the fog, and Li Wei's hand tightened on his dagger. The cold intent flared, its deathly aura seeping forth like ink in water. The beast's presence wavered, then vanished, driven back by the Nether's chill. Li Wei's lips curved, a fleeting smirk. The taint was no mere curse; it was his fang.
He pressed deeper, the ravine narrowing to a jagged crevice. His destination lay in the northern wastes, where the Black Lotus Clan thrived beyond the reach of righteous decrees. Servants' hushed tales spoke of a sect unbound by virtue, where cunning outweighed talent and only the ruthless endured. Li Wei harboured no delusions, they would test his will, perhaps to annihilation, but he would prevail. The void had forged him anew.
Hours bled into the night, his body aching under the strain of flight. His qi, a fragile thread, demanded focus to stabilize. By a stream where moonlight danced on waters imbued with faint spiritual essence, he knelt, drawing a shallow breath to nurture his meridians. The qi flowed, jagged but alive, then faltered. The cold intent surged, dark as the Yellow Springs, and his mind plunged into shadow.
The world vanished. No mist, no stars, only an endless expanse of gray desolation, where whispers gnawed at the edges of sanity. The Nether Realm, its name rose unbidden, a truth carried by the taint. Shadows writhed, formless, their voices like the lament of forgotten ghosts. A figure emerged, a skeletal lord clad in robes of tattered silk, its eyes twin abysses. "Mortal," it intoned, voice a grindstone against bone, "you intrude upon the realm of dissolution."
Li Wei's heart thundered, yet the cold intent held him firm, a blade against fear. "I intrude by no choice of mine," he retorted, voice steady as jade. "The heavens cast me here. Name your price to set me free."
The lord's laughter was a storm of splintered ice. "Price? Your soul bears the mark of the beyond. You are bound to this place, never to escape."
Li Wei's mind raced. His deaths in the shack, countless plunges into the void had tethered him to this realm. The taint was a chain, yet also a key. The lord lunged, its claws seeking his essence. Li Wei unleashed the cold intent, its deathly aura slashing outward like a crescent moon. The lord recoiled, hissing, but its grasp tightened, a spectral net.
"Then we bargain," Li Wei said, voice cold as winter's heart. "Grant me power, and I shall serve, on my terms."
The lord's eyes gleamed, cunning matching cunning. "Serve, and I bestow a fragment of eternity. Betray, and your soul will wail for eons."
Li Wei's gaze hardened, masking his intent. "Agreed." He would kneel to no one, not even a lord of the Nether Realm. The lord traced a rune in the air, its lines searing into Li Wei's chest, a curse binding him to this gray hell. But the taint twisted it, warping the rune's purpose. The Nether Realm flickered, a mirror forming, a shadowed domain born of Li Wei's soul, unseen by the lord's arrogance.
A vial materialized, brimming with an elixir dark as starless night. Li Wei drank, its essence an inferno in his veins, amplifying his qi into a blazing torrent. The lord roared, sensing the deception, but Li Wei was already fading, the taint pulling him back to the mortal realm.
He awoke by the stream, gasping, the elixir's power surging through his meridians. The curse pulsed in his chest, a tether to the Nether Realm, yet the mirror domain lingered, a void within him, ready to claim the souls of his kills. His laughter echoed, sharp and unhinged, a sound that chilled even the mist. The taint had deepened, and with it, his defiance.
Dawn painted the horizon in hues of pale jade. Li Wei neared the northern wastes, where verdant valleys gave way to desolate crags. Behind him, faint qi signatures pulsed, Qingyun pursuers, their intent sharp as drawn swords. They had traced the nightshade, no doubt. He quickened his steps, the dagger a cold comfort, the cold intent eager for blood.
By midday, he reached a forsaken outpost, its wooden stalls weathered by sand and wind. Rogue cultivators bartered beneath tattered awnings, their eyes wary. A figure in black robes, face half-hidden by a bamboo hat, stepped forward. "You flee the Qingyun Sect," he said, voice low as a temple bell. "Their hounds are close. What value do you offer?"
Li Wei met his gaze, letting the deathly aura slip free, a whisper of the Yellow Springs. The figure tensed, stepping back. "I seek the Black Lotus Clan," Li Wei said, voice calm but edged with steel. "I bear no talent, only will. Test me and know my worth."
The figure studied him, then inclined his head. "Follow. The Black Lotus devours the weak."
Li Wei's eyes glinted, the cold intent a silent vow. Weakness was dead, buried in the void. The Black Lotus Clan awaited, a furnace to forge his dao.