The audience hall of the Azure Sky Sect was huge, built with white jade pillars that reached the sky and a polished stone floor that reflected every flicker of light. This sacred place, where thousands once bowed and chanted with reverence, now felt like a cage.
And at the very center of it all… knelt Lin Xuan.
Once, he had stood here proudly as the Holy Son of the Sect. Disciples had looked at him with admiration, masters had praised him, and even elders secretly admitted he was the brightest star among them. But all of that was gone. His hands were bound in glowing chains of spiritual energy, his head lowered against the cold floor.
He knew this time, no one here saw him as their hope. To them, he was nothing but a thief… a disgrace.
Across from him, lined up like actors playing their role in a cruel play, were the people he once called family—his juniors.
Three junior sisters who used to follow him around with sweet smiles on their faces, and one junior brother who had clung to him since childhood. Back then, all of them had cried and laughed alongside him. But today, their eyes carried only smugness and malice. Especially his junior brother, Lin Shan. He was the one who started it all. His lips curved upward, enjoying every second as he gave testimony.
"Honored Sect Master, Elders!" Lin Shan's voice echoed loud and confident. "It is clear now! My Senior Brother has stolen the Seven-Star Lotus, a Level 4 spiritual herb. He sought to claim this precious treasure for himself!"
For a moment, silence overtook the hall. But then, disciples gasped and elders began to murmur.
The Seven-Star Lotus was no ordinary herb. It bloomed once every hundred years under the alignment of seven constellations. Its petals, glowing faintly with starlight, could purify spiritual roots and give cultivators a massive chance to break through their bottlenecks. A single lotus could raise a Foundation cultivator to the Golden Core stage. It was priceless—an herb reserved only for the sect's most talented disciples.
To steal it… was treason.
Lin Xuan's fingers clenched as his heart shook with rage and despair. How could his own brother frame him so shamelessly?
"I didn't steal it." His voice was hoarse, but his words were firm. His eyes looked to the Sect Master, to his own master, desperately hoping someone would believe him. "You—every one of you knows me. I have given everything to my juniors. When Shan was sick, who refined medicines for him? When Mei'er's meridian was blocked, who wandered dangerous ruins to find her cure? Everything I had, I gave away! Why would I steal?!"
For just a moment, the hall grew quiet. Some disciples lowered their eyes in guilt, remembering what Lin Xuan had done for his juniors. But that moment was quickly drowned out.
His second junior sister, dressed in green robes, lifted her chin and spoke with mock innocence. "But Senior Brother… you're the only one who had access to the treasure vault. If herbs disappear, who else could it be?"
His third junior sister, Mei'er, sneered. "Besides, Senior Brother, isn't it our pity that you've fallen so far? Without your Chaos Bone, you're no longer the genius you once were. You can't even cultivate. It's natural you would be desperate, right?"
Chaos Bone.
That single word stabbed like a blade.
Yes. It was true. He had once carried a legendary spiritual bone, said to be born from chaos itself, capable of bringing its owner unrivaled destiny. It was why he became Holy Son in the first place. With it, his talent was unmatched. The future of Azure Sky Sect had once rested on his shoulders.
But everything changed when his third junior sister had fought with a core disciple of Thunder Vale Sect, a stronger, more dominant sect. Lin Xuan couldn't bear to see her beaten, so he fought in her place. He won… but Azure Sky couldn't afford to offend Thunder Vale.
And so, as compensation, the elders tore the Chaos Bone from his body while he was still alive… and gifted it away. In one night, Lin Xuan went from heaven to earth.
Even then, he hadn't hated them. Even powerless, he had tried his best to help the sect. He refined pills, collected herbs, and gave everything he earned to the juniors who now mocked him.
And this was how they repaid him.
His head slowly raised. His eyes burned with disbelief as they landed on the one person, he had relied on most—his master, Madam Yue.
She had been his pillar, the one who personally trained and raised him. More than a master, she had been family. Surely… surely, she wouldn't abandon him.
"Master," Lin Xuan's voice trembled, but his eyes were steady. "Please… say something. You know me better than anyone. I would never betray the sect."
But his master's gaze was colder than ice.
"Lin Xuan." Madam Yue's voice was sharp, echoing through the hall like a blade on stone. "Do not humiliate yourself further. The evidence lies before us. You alone had the chance to steal the lotus, and now it is gone. In my life, I have made many mistakes—but taking you as my disciple was the greatest."
Her words struck him harder than any blow.
For a long moment, Lin Xuan's body stopped shaking, as if emptiness had swallowed him whole. These were the words of the person he trusted most.
The whispers of the crowd grew louder. Some disciples showed pity. Most showed only disdain.
Finally, the voice of the Sect Master cut through, calm and merciless. "Lin Xuan, once Holy Son of the Azure Sky Sect. You stand accused of theft, deceit, and betrayal of your sect. For such crimes, execution would be too merciful."
His words fell like the weight of the heavens.
"You will be sent into the Abyss Tower. If you can survive, then perhaps the heavens will grant you redemption. If not… then this will be your fate."
The hall exploded with noise.
The Abyss Tower.
Lin Xuan's blood ran cold. He knew the stories—the ten floors of death, each filled with beasts, flames, poisons, and arrays left by ancient cultivators. Even Foundation realm experts trembled to enter. And he, without cultivation, was no more than a mere mortal.
It was the cruelest punishment. Not execution… but burning alive in a tower no man could survive.
"No… please, listen to me—" Lin Xuan tried to shout, but guards had already dragged his body away. His pleas fell into silence.
As he was dragged across the cold stone, despair drowned his heart.
He had dreamed of climbing these steps to stand against the heavens. But now, stripped of his Chaos Bone, condemned unjustly, he could not even enter Qi Condensation. He was less than a mortal.
Qi Condensation: where one first learns to draw heaven's essence into their veins.
Foundation: where spiritual pillars are established.
Golden Core: where power condenses into a radiant core.
Soul Wandering: spirit escapes the body, free to roam beyond.
Nascent Soul: the soul forms a divine infant, a second life.
Ensoulment: flesh and soul merge into one.
Void Breaking: limits shattered void touched.
Mahayana: seed of immortality grows.
Great Ascension: the cusp of godhood.
Emperor: heaven and earth bow before the sovereign.
The Abyss Tower was an ancient monolith at the edge of the sect, made of black stone and covered in glowing seals. Few ever looked at it willingly. Now, it was where Lin Xuan's life would end.
The guards tossed him inside. Instantly, the world shifted.
The first floor was a cavern of molten flame. The air itself was fire. Lin Xuan's skin blistered the moment he entered. A cry tore from his throat as unbearable heat smothered him from every side.
He stumbled forward, gasping for air, but each breath burned his lungs like swallowing knives. His hair ignited, his flesh cracked. He fell to the ground, writhing as flames devoured his body.
No cultivation. No protection. He was just a human thrown into the core of a star.
"Why…" he cried, his voice breaking into a scream. "Why won't anyone believe me…?"
His vision blurred with tears and smoke. His screams echoed until even his throat burned away. And then—there was nothing.
Within hours, Lin Xuan's body turned to ash. His soul dissolved. And with him, the last shred of faith in the people he once loved also burned into nothingness.
Then, suddenly—
"Lin Xuan!"
A stern voice dragged him out of darkness.
His eyes shot open. He was kneeling again on the jade floor. The chains bound his wrists. Around him stood the elders, the Sect Master, his master. And across from him, his juniors, wearing the same smug, hateful smiles.
He froze. His breathing grew ragged. No… no, this… this can't be real!
He remembered! He remembered the tower. The endless fire. The way his body had melted away. The despair of dying alone.
Yet here he was, alive again, moments before judgment.
His hands trembled wildly. His chest tightened as a scream nearly tore from his throat. He had died. He had suffered. And now, he was back here, forced to live it again.
"No…" he whispered, his lips trembling. His eyes widened as sheer horror filled them. "This time… no one will save me… I'm going to die again…"
The hall was exactly as before. The accusation about the Seven-Star Lotus was about to be spoken. His master's cold rejection was about to follow. And finally, the words—the sentence of the Abyss Tower—would come.
Lin Xuan's heart shattered once more. Rebirth was not salvation. It was not hope.