The hall of judgment was silent.
Dozens of elders sat in their high seats, robes flowing, their eyes filled with nothing but disdain. At the center of the cold floor knelt a thin girl. Her hair was unkempt, her robes torn and filthy. Her hands trembled, but her back remained straight.
Jiu Loubing had lived her whole life like this—covered in grime, starving for scraps, beaten when she reached for more than what she was allowed.
One of the elders leaned forward. His eyes were sharp as blades.
"Even a rat has more potential than you," he said. "You are a disgrace to the clan. Your parents were geniuses, but you… you are nothing but filth."
The words cut deeper than any whip, but Jiu Loubing did not lower her head. She stared at them with empty eyes.
Another elder waved his sleeve. "Your weakness shames us all. You are unfit to stay in the Heavens. You will descend to the mortal realm. If you can make a name for yourself and survive the heavenly tribulation, then perhaps you may return. Otherwise, die there and save us the embarrassment."
Guards stepped forward at the command. The heavy doors groaned as they opened.
Jiu Loubing felt her lips curl. At fifteen years old she had already lived through more pain than most would know in a lifetime. She had been beaten, burned, humiliated, mocked. Her scars were hidden beneath her tattered robes, but the hatred in her heart burned brightly.
As the guards dragged her to her feet, she let out a laugh. The sound was sharp, echoing through the grand hall.
"Make a name for myself?" she said, her voice trembling with rage. "Hah. The next time I step into Heaven, I will burn it to the ground. Be prepared. I will show no one mercy. Just as you never showed me mercy, I, Jiu Loubing, shall bring hell to Heaven."
The elders froze. Their expressions shifted for a brief moment, but the contempt in their eyes soon returned.
"Throw this cursed child away." one of them ordered coldly.
The guards dragged her outside. The gates of Heaven shuddered, then opened with a thunderous bang. The endless sky yawned beneath her feet.
Jiu Loubing did not struggle as they cast her out. She fell into the void, her tattered robes whipping in the wind. Her expression was calm, but her eyes burned with fury.
She would remember this day.
She would kill them all.
Jiu Loubing fell, and while the wind tore at her hair, her mind was already working.
How to survive in the mortal realm. Where to find spirit stones. How to begin cultivating without a master or a sect. Each question was a knife, and she turned them over in her head without pause.
Below, the world spread out. Mountains, rivers, a smudge of villages. She chose a quiet peak, a place with few paths and plenty of shadow. Privacy would keep her from explaining anything to anyone. Privacy would keep her from being noticed until she could stand on her own.
Loubing did not see the black mass that fell with her. It moved like smoke and like intent. It rode the wind in the same direction, folding itself into the shadows of the mountain as if the night had been given a shape.
When her feet struck the grass, something inside her broke.
Agony ripped through her body. Her bones splintered with sharp cracks, her veins scalded as if molten iron poured through them. The chains binding her spirit root shattered, and the dammed-up energy burst forth like a flood, merciless and wild.
Her vision went white. She collapsed onto the ground, her nails digging into the soil as her body arched, spasming. Lightning cracked across her skin, searing her flesh. Her blood boiled until every heartbeat was a hammer blow.
"Ah—!" Her cry tore from her throat, raw and broken.
She bit down hard, tasting iron. Her voice shook, but she forced the words out between ragged breaths.
"Not… like this. I won't… collapse. I won't…"
The flood of energy raged through her meridians, tearing them wider, breaking them, then remaking them with brutal force. Each breath was fire, each heartbeat an explosion.
Her eyes burned. The Forsaken Heaven's Eyes forced themselves open, and with them came the unbearable flood of visions—threads of Qi, currents of fate, fragments of light dancing where no mortal should see.
Her tears scalded her cheeks, but still she whispered through gritted teeth, "Heavens called me worthless… they cast me aside… hah…but I can feel it, I can feel the power coursing through my..veins.."
Her body convulsed, slammed against the ground as if the earth itself rejected her, but still she clung to her will. Her voice rose, ragged but fierce.
"Then I will endure it! Tear me apart, burn me alive...still, I will not break!"
The mountain shuddered beneath her. Stones cracked, trees bent, the very air trembled.
Her scream split the silence, but it was not despair. It was defiance. It was rebirth.
When the light dimmed, she knelt in the grass, drenched in sweat and blood. Her body trembled, her breath came shallow and rough but the chains were gone.
She raised her gaze, her eyes gleaming with unbearable light. Her body hurt so much yet it felt light at the same time.
Loubing tried to get up, but she swayed and fell to the ground.
Thud!
The black mass, that had been watching her from a corner, quickly appeared before her when it saw her collapse.
Claws gave way as long, refined, fingers took its place.
These fingers, stroked her face gently, as if it's gentle taps would wake her up.
The air shifted as the mass quickly covered, Jiu Loubing.
"Do not dare to take another step, Human! Or I shall rip you to shreds!" Its red eyes darkened fiercely as its body covered Loubing protectively. As it spoke, it stared at a certain direction.
No one knew low long it had been standing there, watching them, but another figure came out from where it was hidden.
The figure let out a laugh, calm and amused, cutting through the air "My, my. Quite the sticky situation you are in. I come baring no ill-intent. I wish to help, in your form, you can't possibly nurse her back to health.."