The ruins screamed.
Stone cracked as ancient formations flared to life, lines of light surging through the underground complex like veins suddenly filled with blood. Dust rained from the ceiling. The whisper Li Chen had sensed before returned no longer probing, but furious.
Li Chen staggered back from the obelisk, both hands burning as if branded. His vision swam. Knowledge he could not yet fully comprehend pressed against his mind, fractured and incomplete, threatening to tear him apart.
He clenched his teeth and forced himself to breathe.
Calm.
The ember within him responded thin, strained, but obedient. He guided it inward, not following the Iron River Breathing Art, but the instinctive pattern burned into him by the obelisk.
The pressure eased.
The ruins did not quiet but they no longer rejected him.
Li Chen straightened slowly.
He could feel it now.
A presence inside his dantian not Qi, not soul, but something colder. Sharper. A concept given form, incomplete yet undeniable.
Severance.
Not a technique. Not yet.
A direction.
Suddenly, pain exploded behind him.
Li Chen twisted as a blade of condensed Qi tore through the air where his head had been an instant earlier, smashing into the stone wall and carving a deep gouge.
"So it's true," a cold voice echoed through the chamber. "Someone activated the ruins."
A man stepped from the shadows, robes marked with the sigil of the Iron River Sect but darker, heavier. His aura pressed down like a weight, suffocating and vast.
Foundation Establishment.
Behind him, two more figures emerged, both at late Qi Condensation, their expressions grim.
Li Chen's heartbeat slowed.
Running was pointless.
He stepped forward instead.
The Foundation Establishment cultivator studied him with faint interest. "A Qi Condensation ant dared to touch Heaven's scars," he said. "Impressive. Stupid but impressive."
Li Chen met his gaze. "You'll kill me regardless."
The man smiled thinly. "Correct."
Li Chen nodded once.
Then he acted.
He did not draw Qi.
He did not form seals.
He reached inward and cut.
The concept inside him surged outward, raw and uncontrolled. The air twisted violently. For an instant, everything went silent as if the world itself held its breath.
The two Qi Condensation disciples screamed.
Their bodies convulsed as invisible threads snapped. Blood poured from their eyes and mouths as they collapsed lifelessly to the stone, souls torn loose and scattered.
Li Chen fell to one knee, coughing violently.
The Foundation Establishment cultivator staggered back a step, eyes wide with shock. "What… was that?"
Li Chen looked up, blood staining his lips.
"This," he said hoarsely, "is the beginning."
The man's expression hardened instantly. Killing intent exploded outward, shaking the chamber. "You will die slowly."
He raised his hand
and froze.
Li Chen felt it too.
A massive pressure descended from above, crushing, absolute, indifferent.
Heaven.
The ruins howled in response. The obelisk shattered completely, releasing a final surge of distorted Qi that tore through the formation like a dying breath.
Li Chen seized the moment.
He turned and ran.
The mountain erupted behind him as the ruins collapsed inward, swallowing ancient halls and furious cultivators alike. Stone and dust thundered through the tunnels.
Li Chen burst from the eastern slope just as the ground caved in, flinging himself into open air. He tumbled down jagged rock, bones cracking, pain consuming him.
Then darkness.
Far above, the clouds churned unnaturally.
The Foundation Establishment cultivator crawled from the rubble, bloodied and furious, staring at the collapsed ruins.
"Find him," he snarled. "No matter the cost."
Deep within the void, a mark burned brighter upon Li Chen's fate.
The first cut had been made.