The transition was a soft apocalypse. The green portal did not snap shut; it exhaled a breath of scented petals, and Lin Chen stepped through into a realm of perpetual, verdant spring. Cherry blossoms woven from pure life Qi drifted upwards in a gentle defiance of gravity. Below, rivers of reincarnation water coiled in endless, silent spirals, and islands of immense jade lotus flowers floated like half-remembered dreams.
This was the Jade Lotus Court, the axis upon which the cycles of life, death, and rebirth turned.
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She awaited him upon a throne of intertwined lotus roots, pulsing with the slow, deep rhythm of all living things. The Jade Lotus Goddess, Lian Hua. Her body was sculpted from translucent, living jade, her hair a cascade of vines bearing blossoms that bloomed and died with every passing thought. Her eyes were not eyes, but deep, still pools reflecting the countless lives she had shepherded from beginning to end.
Her smile was a thing of terrible, maternal gentleness, holding both infinite comfort and absolute finality.
"FIRST FLAME,"her voice was the whisper of a forest, the sigh of a cradle, the rustle of a shroud. "YOU CARRY THE WEIGHT OF NINE DEATHS IN YOUR SOUL. LET ME OFFER YOU THE PEACE OF A TENTH… AND THE PROMISE OF A THOUSAND NEW BEGINNINGS."
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The tranquil court shifted. The very air shimmered, and six paths of shimmering light unfolded around Lin Chen, each a corridor into a life he could have lived, a self he could have been. His soul was pulled, not apart, but into parallel streams of possibility.
Path 1: The Mortal Child - He saw himself as a small, frail boy in the Fleshlands, dying of fever at five, the ember never finding him. Lin Chen did not hesitate; he extinguished the phantom, a mercy killing of a future that held only suffering.
Path 2: The Traitor- A version of him who, in the Ironbone Monastery, traded the flame for power and privilege, only to be executed by a jealous Abbot. Lin Chen's blade took his head, a judgment for cowardice.
Path 3: The False Hero- A celebrated savior of the River Pulse Hall, who later betrayed them for greater glory. Lin Chen met him with purifying fire, burning away the hypocrisy.
Path 4: The Beast- A self that had merged completely with the Azure Leviathan, losing all humanity to primal power. Lin Chen devoured this incarnation, reclaiming the strength without the savagery.
Path 5: The God- A tyrant upon the Unified Plains, ruling with a fist of molten gold. Lin Chen shattered this arrogant reflection.
Path 6: The Fallen- A being who had surrendered entirely to the Void Dragon, becoming a lord of nothingness. Lin Chen simply erased him from the narrative.
One by one, he confronted and executed the ghosts of his own potential, each death strengthening the core of who he truly was. The lotus throne at the center of it all bloomed with a triumphant, terrifying light.
Lian Hua rose, her jade form shimmering. "You have rejected the lies of your past. This is good. But the past is simple. Now, you must face the tyranny of your future."
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A lotus of unimaginable size, a hundred li wide, bloomed overhead. Each of its iridescent petals was a different reincarnation cycle, a possible destiny. At its center was not a stamen, but a mirror. And in that mirror, Lin Chen saw his future selves:
One, radiant and cold, having Ascended to join the False Gods.
One,broken and chained, a fallen star in the Court he now led.
One,his features twisted, having become a False God, sitting on a throne of lies.
Lian Hua's whisper was a seductive poison in his soul. "CHOOSE ONE. STEP INTO THAT REALITY AND LIVE IT. OR I WILL CHOOSE FOR YOU, AND YOU WILL BE TRAPPED IN ITS ETERNITY."
Lin Chen's answer was not a choice, but a refusal of the very premise. He raised Heavenslayer, its obsidian length humming.
Ashen Starblade: Fourth Form — Cycle Severance
The blade did not slash at the lotus, or the mirror, or the goddess. It slashed at the concept of a predetermined fate. The edge passed through the illusion, and the giant lotus, the mirror, and all the trapped futures within it, shattered like glass.
Lian Hua screamed, not in anger, but in agony. Cracks spider-webbed across her beautiful jade body.
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The cracks did not reveal emptiness. They revealed prison bars. Glowing chains of divine law, woven by the False Gods, were sunk deep into her essence, forcing her to serve their will, to bind souls to cycles they controlled.
The maternal facade fell away, revealing a being of immense age and profound sorrow. She wept tears of liquid jade.
"They made me a warden of my own garden. A puppet to ensure no soul ever grew strong enough to challenge them. Free me, Heir of Ashes… and I will grant you not a new life, but the authority over life itself."
Lin Chen reached out, not with his hand, but with Heavenslayer's point. He touched the chains. The blade, which had been forged to defy heaven, burned with righteous fury. The chains of divine law glowed red-hot, then white, before melting away into nothingness.
Freed, the immense power of the Jade Lotus Goddess compacted, flowing into Lin Chen's outstretched palm and settling there as a single, perfect Jade Lotus Seed.
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The seed took root in his flesh, and a new power bloomed within him.
First Flame Mantra: Tenth Stage — Rebirth Authority
He understood the flow of life and death not as a cycle to be endured, but as a melody to be conducted. He could now resurrect fallen allies, restoring them without the taint of the False Gods' cycle. He could sever an enemy from existence so completely they would have no past, present, or future.
As this authority washed over the Jade Lotus Court, the floating islands, the rivers, and the lotus flowers themselves all bent in a deep, graceful bow. The very essence of the realm pledged itself to him. A True Rebirth Army was born, its soldiers not corpses raised, but souls restored to their primeval vigor.
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The sky of the realm tore open with a sound like a million souls being extinguished. The Second Executioner, Sheng Ming, descended. He was a being of pure, sterile light, his form painful to behold, his wings a thousand spinning halos that sang a hymn of absolute nullification. In his hands was the Staff of Eternal Life, a cruel parody that offered not life, but an unending, static existence.
"BY THE ETERNAL EDICT," his voice was the freezing of time, "THE JADE LOTUS IS TO BE RE-ENSLAVED. THE FIRST FLAME IS TO BE ERASED FROM THE MEMORY OF THE CYCLE ITSELF."
He struck, not at Lin Chen's body, but at his very place in the river of time. The Law of Eternal Banishment sought to pluck him from history.
Lin Chen met it with Heavenslayer.
CLANG.
The clash tore at the fabric of cause and effect.
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Sheng Ming unleashed his Halo of Oblivion. The thousand halos spun, and Lin Chen felt ten thousand years of age settle upon him in an instant, his body withering to dust. But the Jade Seed in his palm pulsed, and he was reborn from that dust, younger and stronger than before.
Enraged, Sheng Ming thrust the Staff of Final Death, a blow that promised an end to all cycles, all rebirth. Lin Chen parried, and with Heavenslayer's Fifth Form — Ashen Eternity, he did not counter time, he burned it. The halos of oblivion shattered like glass.
In the opening, Lin Chen struck his final blow. A simple, perfect thrust—Rebirth Severance. The blade passed through the staff, which vaporized, and pierced Sheng Ming's core of light. The Executioner did not scream; he simply dissolved, his pure light consumed by the ash of defiance, until only a fine, luminous dust remained.
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Xing Yao arrived as the last motes of light faded, her starry eyes wide with grim satisfaction. "Two of their chief executioners are now ash. The Celestial Citadel will no longer see this as a nuisance, but as a war. The next Court is the Crimson War—a realm of endless battle. Its god is a maddened weapon, drunk on blood and glory. You must either win his allegiance… or become his final, greatest trophy."
Lin Chen willed Heavenslayer back to its tattoo form on his arm. In his palm, the Jade Seed had blossomed into a delicate, permanent lotus tattoo. He gave a single, unwavering nod. The path was drenched in blood, and he was ready to walk it.
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The luminous ash of Sheng Ming swirled one last time, writing a message not in light, but in scorching, blood-red script that hung in the air:
"THE CRIMSON WAR GOD HAS TASTED YOUR COMING.
HE DROWNS IN THE BLOOD OF IMMORTALS.
YOUR NEXT BATTLE AWAITS…
IN THE RIVER OF BLOOD."
As the words faded, a new portal tore open—a violent, gaping wound of crimson light. From it echoed a roar that was the very sound of carnage, a challenge that shook the foundations of the Jade Lotus Court:
"FIRST FLAME! COME AND DIE A WARRIOR'S DEATH!"
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