Chapter 1: The Scum's Awakening and the Mark of Vengeance
The whistling wind brought with it a stench of putrefaction that clawed at the nostrils.
This was the "Filth Gorge," a small, forgotten corner of hell located just beyond the city walls of Ugly Abyss City, a border settlement teeming with criminals and the exiled dregs of society.
Amidst towering heaps of garbage, a skeletal figure of a young boy lay huddled. He was about ten years old, his tattered clothes barely covering the countless old scars etched across his body. His name was Mu Chen.
Mu Chen was not an orphan. He was something far worse.
He had been "sold" by his own biological father since he was old enough to remember, traded for a single jar of cheap liquor. He was dumped as a slave laborer at the laundry house belonging to a minor sect known as the "Three-Headed Sect," and the constant beatings and torture had planted a seed of madness deep within his eyes ever since.
Just last night, Mu Chen had been savagely beaten with a wooden club until he passed out, all because he dared to sneak a few scraps of food left over from a Senior Disciple's table. The pain did not bring tears; instead, it solidified the malice festering in his heart.
"I won't die... I will survive..." A hoarse whisper echoed in his consciousness.
[Power Level: Initial Blood – Stage 0/100]
Mu Chen possessed no "Qi" or "Power" whatsoever. He was nothing but scum who lacked even the fundamental qualifications to begin cultivation.
His body shuddered from the cold and the fever threatening his life. Slowly, he attempted to crawl forward, his skinny hand clawing at the muddy, waste-filled ground.
Suddenly, his hand brushed against a hard object.
It was neither scrap food nor copper, but a black, fist-sized stone. The stone had an oddly frigid temperature and bore a twisted inscription resembling interlocking wheels.
Mu Chen gripped the stone tightly. It wasn't beautiful, but its coldness slightly eased the pain from the recent beating.
"What is this... little stone?" he muttered to himself softly.
Instantly, the stone released a visible wisp of black, chilling energy that surged rapidly into the fresh wounds on Mu Chen's chest.
A monstrous agony, as if a thousand needles were plunging into his veins and bones, erupted. The madness in his eyes flared, yet he clenched his jaw, suppressing any sound.
He did not know if this was destruction or salvation, but a primal instinct told him to "embrace it."
The black mist was no ordinary Qi; it was Demonic Energy sealed within the ancient stone. It began to cleanse the impurities in Mu Chen's blood, but the process was brutal and ruthlessly violent.
Mu Chen endured nearly an hour of this agonizing, unconscious merging with the Demonic Energy.
Finally, the pain subsided. Mu Chen's body was drenched in cold sweat and blood weeping from his newly opened scars.
But something within his Senses had shifted.
He felt an "Emptiness" inside his body, but it was an Emptiness that was ready to be filled with a frantic, malevolent power.
Mu Chen crawled into a narrow gap in a pile of old timber and tried to close his eyes. The last image he saw was his reflection in the muddy water: the eyes that once belonged to an innocent boy had now turned a faint crimson, like the scorched mark of pure hatred.
"I... will never be abandoned again."
"Those who beat me... the Three-Headed Sect... that wicked father... you all must pay."
The Demonic Energy from the black stone had successfully "Inscribed" his body, preparing it for formal cultivation.
Mu Chen fell asleep, his malicious intent blossoming into the Seed of the Demonic Path. And thus, the forsaken one was finally born.