Fang Chen stood surrounded by thousands of enemies.
The ground was soaked through with blood, turning the dirt into a thick, red mud that clung to his boots. Bodies were piled everywhere, making the flat land look like a series of low hills. Above him, the sky was a deep, solid crimson, lit by a massive moon that hung too low and too bright over the slaughter.
He adjusted his grip on his weapon. He was exhausted, but the enemy was already moving in to finish him off.
"Fang Chen, I will kill you! You killed my sister!"
"Fang Chen, you demon! You will not escape today. We will put an end to you!"
"Fang Chen you killed my daoist partner "
Fang Chen smiled as he looked down at his body, covered in wounds. Blood dripped from his injuries, mixing with the blood of the thousands of cultivators who had died by his hands over the past three days.
He glanced to his left. One of his arms was missing.
He sighed and thought to himself.
Life and death are the laws of nature. All living beings are equal, everyone die. I sought liberation from the constraints of nature. All my life, my goal was to become immortal. I chose the demonic path because it was faster than the orthodox path. I knew that if I became a demonic cultivator, all the righteous sects would stand against me… but to me, that was a small price to pay.
On my path, I killed thousands of orthodox cultivators. I devoured their blood using the Blood Devouring Demon Art, rapidly advancing through the cultivation stages.
In just one hundred years, I became the youngest cultivator to reach the Void Tribulation Stage only one step away from ascension.
Dying today only means that I was not strong enough.
"Hehehehehe…"
Fang Chen began to laugh, a sinister laugh that sent chills through the surrounding cultivators.
"Hurry! Attack him before the demon does something!"
Thousands of cultivators activated their divine abilities and charged toward Fang Chen.
Fang Chen smiled as he looked at them.
"If you want to kill me… you must be prepared to die as well."
With a single step, Fang Chen appeared in front of them. His face carried a terrifying smile, and at that moment he looked like a true Demon King.
"Hahaha!"
His malicious laughter echoed across the battlefield.
When the cultivators saw him suddenly appear before them, a cold shiver ran down their spines. Many instinctively took a step back.
Fang Chen slowly brought his hands together and activated his final technique.
"Thunderfire Annihilation."
When the cultivators heard the name of the technique, their faces turned pale with shock.
"Run! The demon is trying to self-destruct and take us with him!"
They had barely managed to run a few meters before—
BOOOOOOM!
A massive explosion engulfed the battlefield.
Everyone was annihilated, their bodies disintegrating in the terrifying blast… leaving only a few sect patriarchs barely alive in the aftermath.
"This demon was truly ruthless… even at the end of his life."
The leader of the Righteous Alliance sighed. One of his legs had been completely disintegrated by the explosion.
The other surviving cultivators stared ahead in stunned silence.
Before them lay a massive crater stretching for kilometers across the land, as if the world itself had been torn open.
No one spoke.
The battlefield had been reduced to nothing but destruction.
...
Meanwhile, Fang Chen's soul was being pulled into a dark, endless void.
"Where… am I?"
He searched through the memories and knowledge he had accumulated during his life.
According to what he knew about death, the souls of the dead should enter a river of purification before being reincarnated into another life.
"Hehehe… it seems Heaven does not want me anymore."
He looked around the endless darkness.
"Then what will happen to my soul?"
Fang Chen began to reflect on his life.
If someone stood in my way, I killed them before they could become a problem.
If ten people came seeking revenge, I killed them before they could even speak a word.
I killed everyone who opposed me… until all the sects of the world united against me.
Yet Fang Chen felt no regret.
Demonic cultivators and orthodox cultivators are the same. The strong are always right.
In this world, weakness itself is the greatest sin.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
In the end… I was weak. That is why I died.
Even as his soul drifted through the endless darkness, Fang Chen felt no remorse.
I do not regret anything.
Because I never gave up… and I continued walking forward until the very end in pursuit of my goal.
...
After wandering through the endless darkness for what felt like several years, Fang Chen suddenly noticed a faint glimmer of light far away in the distance.
It was small… barely noticeable.
Yet in that boundless void, it stood out like a star.
Fang Chen slowly moved toward it.
"Heh… perhaps I've finally gone insane after spending so long in this darkness and my eyes are playing tricks on me"
His soul drifted forward at a steady pace. As he approached, the light gradually grew larger and brighter.
After some time, Fang Chen finally stopped a few meters away.
Before him stood what looked like a door made of pure light.
Fang Chen narrowed his eyes and observed it carefully.
"Is real, It looks like… a door."
He studied it for a long time, silent and cautious.
"In any case, it's not like I have any other options."
He let out a faint, cold laugh.
"After drifting in this darkness for years, even someone with a will of steel would begin to lose their mind."
His gaze hardened as he stared at the radiant door.
"Perhaps… this is an opportunity."
A faint, sinister smile appeared on his face.
"An opportunity to change my fate."
Without hesitation, Fang Chen stepped forward toward the door of light.
...
The moment Fang Chen stepped through the door of light, an invisible force seized his soul and dragged it forward.
In the next instant he felt Pain.
A pain so deep it felt as if his very soul was being torn apart thread by thread.
Compared to this agony, the pain he felt at the moment of his death was nothing.
Fang Chen's soul trembled in the darkness.
"What… is this?"
His voice was low, hoarse, yet calm.
The unseen force continued pulling him deeper, grinding his soul as if it were nothing more than dust.
Fang Chen endured in silence.
His consciousness began to blur as the torment grew stronger.
Even so, his will resisted.
Like an unbreakable blade refusing to shatter.
Pain? I have walked through rivers of blood.
I have stood upon mountains of corpses.
If this is meant to torment me… it is far from enough.
But the darkness swallowed his thoughts little by little.
Even a will as ruthless as Fang Chen's had its limits. After a while his consciousness began to fade.
Then the demon known as Fang Chen fell into unconsciousness.
....
After a while, Fang Chen slowly woke up. His head hurt terribly, as if it were about to split apart.
"Where am I?"
Fang Chen looked around the room. He found himself lying on a bed inside a small and simple room.
He slowly sat up and instinctively checked his dantian.
But the moment he did, his expression changed.
He could not feel any qi at all.
"This is not my body."
Fang Chen frowned slightly. His eyes moved across the room until he noticed a mirror nearby.
He stood up and walked toward it.
When he looked into the mirror, he saw a young blond boy staring back at him. The boy had strange whisker-like marks on his cheeks and was wearing bright orange clothes that Fang Chen had never seen in his life.
For a moment he remained silent, studying the unfamiliar face.
Then he suddenly laughed quietly.
"Hehehe… It seems Heaven did not abandon me after all. I have been reincarnated into another body." A few moments later Fang Chen suddenly felt dizzy. His vision blurred and he dropped to his knees while holding his head.
A huge amount of foreign memories suddenly flooded his mind. Images, voices, and emotions that did not belong to him poured into his consciousness. After a while the pain slowly faded. Fang Chen raised his head again. His eyes became calm as he finished organizing the memories.
"So that is how it is…"
He smiled faintly.
"In this life, my name is Uzumaki Naruto."