The sky split open.
Golden light poured down like divine punishment, each beam a sword intent so sharp that even the ground bled. The Burial Grounds roared in fury as the invading radiance burned through layers of black mist.
Fei Tan stood in its center, his torn robe fluttering in the storm of light and darkness. His crimson eyes reflected both fury and calm — the stillness of a blade before it kills.
Bai Qing'er gritted her teeth, raising her sword to block the radiance. "They're using a cleansing formation! If we don't escape the barrier, we'll be burned alive!"
Fei Tan smiled faintly. "Escape?"
He lifted his broken blade, the air around it rippling. "I've run enough for one lifetime."
A golden sword beam descended from the sky, cleaving through the cave roof and crashing down like a divine decree.
Fei Tan moved — his aura exploded in a surge of black-red light.
He swung.
The broken sword met the descending beam. For a moment, silence reigned — then a shockwave erupted, shattering bones and hurling dust into the air.
Fei Tan was driven to one knee, blood dripping from his hand. His sword trembled, its edge glowing crimson.
But the golden light flickered… and died.
The cultivators outside gasped.
"Impossible…! He blocked Senior Brother Ren's Purifying Slash?"
Fei Tan's grin widened. His voice was cold."Tell your senior brother — heaven's light can't cleanse what was born in hell."
A figure stepped through the radiant mist.
The leader of the Radiant Sword Sect expedition — Ren Tianhai, the prodigy said to have reached the Foundation Core realm before twenty. His white robe glowed faintly with sword qi, each step cutting through the resentment around him.
His eyes, cold as moonlight, fell on Fei Tan.
"Dark Sect remnant," he said evenly. "Your existence defiles this world. I will erase it."
Fei Tan laughed softly. "Erase me? You couldn't even cleanse your own sect's sins."
Ren Tianhai's eyes sharpened. "You speak blasphemy."
Fei Tan's voice deepened, a low growl rising from his chest. "Blasphemy? When your so-called righteous brothers slaughtered children in an orphanage? When you butchered the helpless and called it justice?"
The air grew heavy. Even Bai Qing'er trembled at the fury in his voice.
Fei Tan took a step forward. The ground cracked underfoot. "If that is righteousness…" He raised his blade. "Then I will show you what sin truly means."
They clashed.
Ren Tianhai's sword streaked forward, golden light tearing through the air. Fei Tan's broken blade met it in a rain of sparks. Each strike cracked the air like thunder, shaking the bones buried beneath.
Bai Qing'er tried to help, but the pressure alone forced her back. The two were beyond her reach — titans colliding in fury.
Fei Tan's body bled from dozens of wounds, yet his eyes only burned brighter. Each drop of blood that fell was drawn back into him, feeding his aura.
Ren Tianhai's brows furrowed. "He's… absorbing his own wounds?"
Fei Tan's lips curled into a dark smile. "My Dao is pain. The more I bleed, the more I live."
He swung again, his sword shrieking. The black-red aura exploded outward, swallowing Ren Tianhai's golden light.
The Radiant Sword cultivators shouted in panic."Protect Senior Brother!""His qi is being devoured!"
But it was too late.
Ren Tianhai staggered backward, his robes scorched, his arm trembling. Blood spilled from the corner of his mouth — golden at first, then turning dark.
Fei Tan stood over him, his chest heaving. The broken sword dripped with golden blood.
"You righteous ones always look down," Fei Tan said softly. "But when the heavens burn, remember this moment — the day a corpse rose from your sins."
He turned his gaze toward the other cultivators.
Terror spread among them like wildfire.
Bai Qing'er's heart pounded. She had seen geniuses, monsters, saints — but never this. Never a man who looked so alive while drenched in death.
Then, suddenly — Fei Tan stiffened. His aura faltered, his vision spinning.
A voice, soft and melodic, echoed in his mind.
"Enough, my dear…"
It was her. The chained girl.
"You've proven your wrath. Let me taste it."
Fei Tan gasped as black chains coiled around his soul. His crimson aura thickened, becoming almost liquid — the Burial Grounds themselves trembling in response.
Bai Qing'er's eyes widened. "Fei Tan!"
The sky darkened as the Burial Grounds howled — as if something beneath had awakened.
Ren Tianhai's fear turned to horror. "What… what have you unleashed?"
Fei Tan's voice came out low and hollow, laced with another tone — her tone.
"Not what," he said. "Who."
The golden barrier shattered.
Mist poured out like blood, swallowing light and sound. The Radiant Sword cultivators screamed as their formation collapsed, their bodies corroded by resentful qi.
When the mist cleared, only Fei Tan and Bai Qing'er remained standing — surrounded by silence and corpses.
Fei Tan's eyes slowly dimmed, his aura fading back to crimson. He fell to one knee, gasping.
Bai Qing'er rushed to his side, her hands trembling. "Fei Tan… you—"
He gave her a weak smile. "Still alive."
She looked at him — truly looked. Beneath the exhaustion, the blood, the madness… there was something else.
A spark. A will that refused to die.
Bai Qing'er whispered, voice breaking. "You're not human anymore."
Fei Tan laughed softly, closing his eyes. "Then I'll make a new kind of human."
Far beneath the Burial Grounds, in the sealed abyss, the chained girl smiled.
Her voice caressed the silence like a whisper in a dream.
"Yes… Fei Tan. Break the world. And when it's done… break me free."