The night was moonless. Only the faint glow of distant mountains lit Lin Yuan's path.
His robes, torn and soaked from yesterday's rain, clung to his body, but he felt no fatigue.
The Blood Demon Scripture coursed through his veins, and every step pulsed with raw, dark energy.
He had left the Azure Flame Sect behind. Inner walls, elders, ridicule none of it mattered now. The prodigy was dead. The demon had risen.
A rustle in the trees made him pause. A group of wandering cultivators appeared, their aura thin but disciplined.
"Stop there, heretic! You've broken sect law. Surrender!"
Lin Yuan's lips curved into a cold smile. Law? Morality? Weakness disguised as rules.
He raised his hands. Crimson energy rippled outward like serpents in the dark. The cultivators stiffened. Their swords shook.
"I'm no heretic," Lin Yuan whispered. "I am power."
The first cultivator lunged, but his movements were sluggish, predictable. Lin Yuan moved like water fast, precise, lethal. With a flick of his wrist, a crimson claw of energy tore through the first man's chest. Blood sprayed across the night.
The others screamed and attacked, but each strike fell short. Lin Yuan's body was a whirlwind of dark energy.
Every drop of blood spilled from his enemies flowed into him, strengthening his veins, reshaping his muscles, sharpening his senses.
By the time the last cultivator fell, the forest was silent, save for the whisper of the wind. Lin Yuan's chest rose and fell, his eyes glowing like coals. The Blood Core within him pulsed, expanding, growing stronger with every heartbeat.
He looked to the horizon. The sect had marked him broken,
powerless, but outside its walls, the world would feel the rise of a true demon.
"I will devour everything that stands in my way," Lin Yuan murmured. "And nothing… nothing will survive me."