Xuan Ye died as he had lived... calculating, unyielding and utterly alone.
In the final moments of his previous existence, black lightning from the Primordial Veil tore through his half-step immortal body. The combined forces of the Eternal Sanctuary Alliance had cornered him at the edge of the Fractured Crown. Saintesses in flowing white robes chanted preservation hymns while their elders hurled righteous qi like judgment itself.
He had let out a laughed, a low dry sound swallowed by the void.
Existence is the original sin. If the heavens demand purity, then I will become the punishment that devours it...
With his last shred of qi, he activated the forbidden self-destruct ritual he had prepared for thousands of years, a desperate fusion with a fragment of the Outer Dark. His soul fractured into countless shards, screaming across the endless black. Most would perish but one, one would surely endure.
And it did.
FINALLY...
That "one" shard finally opened its eyes.
The body was weak, pathetic really but still it worked.
Xuan Ye or rather, the thing that had once been Xuan Ye lay on a thin straw mat inside a cramped and leaking hut. Damp stone walls pressed close, the air reeked of mold and cheap incense also the faint sting of abyssal flora. His new meridians was very much fucked, twisted like withered roots. Talent? Almost nonexistent. This was a crippled outer disciple named Ming, late teens maybe. Scheduled to be sacrificed in three days so the inner court could empower a minor rune.
He sat up slowly, testing the limbs. Pain flared in his dantian. The soul sea was starved, a hollow pit already whispering for violation.
"This vessel will do," he thought, voice in his mind as cold and precise as ever. "For now..."
Memories flooded in, not just Ming's worthless life but the full weight of his own ten thousand years. Schemes that had toppled sects, women that had been broken and drained on altars. Alliances forged and betrayed the instant they stopped being useful. The slow and delicious realization that every dao heart, every vow of purity, every proud bloodline was nothing more than meat waiting to be carved.
A soft knock sounded at the flimsy wooden door.
"Senior Brother huan Ming? The medicine from Elder Lu."
"Huan Ming?"
The voice was light and slightly mocking. A female servant, low rank perhaps Rank 1. She entered without waiting for permission, carrying a small bowl of dark liquid that smelled of cheap spirit herbs with subtle poison hints. She was plain with a thin face in a simple gray robes, black hair tied back carelessly but her yin essence was fresh and untouched... Will be useful.
She set the bowl down and smirked, looking him over with open contempt.
"Drink quickly. The family assembly is in three days, try not to die too pathetically before they sacrifice you. Outer trash like you should at least be good for something."
Xuan Ye's lips curved into the barest ghost of a smile. The hunger in his soul sea flared.
He reached out, seemingly weak and took the bowl. In the same motion, his other hand flicked a tiny shard of refined abyssal root dust into the liquid, undetectable to someone of her level. Then he drank it himself first, neutralizing the worst of any poison.
She watched, still smirking
As he lowered the bowl, he activated the nascent "Lust Rune fragment" in his palm (a faint invisible pulse directed at her.)
At first, nothing obvious. She turned to leave.
Then her steps faltered.
A soft gasp escaped her lips. Her cheeks flushed. She pressed her thighs together instinctively, confusion flickering across her face.
"What… what is this?" she muttered, voice trembling slightly. "Why am I… so hot all of a sudden?"
Xuan Ye watched with a smirk, the rune was working. Her body, which had never been exposed to true abyssal corruption was reacting violently... nipples hardening visibly against her thin robes, a visible damp spot forming between her legs. She had never felt pleasure like this not even close.
He rose slowly, his damaged body moving calmly. Before she knew it, he caught her wrist and yanked her back onto the mat.
She landed on her back with a yelp. "Let go! You filthy cripple... ah!"
The rune intensified.
Her eyes widened in shock as a wave of overwhelming arousal crashed through her. Her back arched involuntarily and a low involuntary moan slipped from her throat and Her hands, which had risen to push him away, instead clutched at his shoulders as her hips twitched upward, seeking friction she hated herself for wanting.
"I… I've never… this isn't right…" she whimpered, tears of confusion and shame already forming. Her legs parted slightly despite herself, the scent of her sudden wetness filling the small hut.
Xuan Ye pressed her wrists above her head with one hand. His other slid under her robes, fingers brushing her soaked slit. She was dripping.
""Pathetic,"" he thought, voice cold as Ice in his mind. ""A single pulse of the rune and her so-called dignity dissolves. Why waste time with sweet words when the flesh betrays so easily?""
"Shh," he said quietly, tone detached, almost instructional. "Your body already understands its needs and you do too. Existence itself is sin, this is simply… honesty."
He pushed two fingers inside her, curling them expertly while the Lust Rune continued pulsing. She bucked hard, a broken cry escaping as she came almost instantly her first real orgasm, violent and humiliating. Clear fluid squirted around his fingers, soaking the straw mat.
She moaned, half in pleasure half in confusion. "No… stop… we shouldn't..."
But her hips rolled against his hand, chasing more.
Xuan Ye freed himself from his robes. His third leg, average at best in this weak body pressed against her entrance. He thrust in slowly at first, letting her feel every inch as the rune carved deeper.
Her walls clenched greedily around him despite her tears. "It's too much… ahh... I can't..."
He began to move, steady and deep. Each thrust drove the sigil further into her soul sea. The black tattoo of LUST RUNE I started forming on her lower abdomen, pulsing in time with his movements.
He brought her to the brink again and again while monologuing in that calm, void-like voice.
"Your contempt was amusing. Now look at you. Dripping. Begging with your body while your mouth lies. How fragile your will truly is."
She shattered completely on the next thrust. Her eyes rolled back, mouth open in a silent scream as she squirted hard around him, body convulsing violently. At that exact peak, Xuan Ye carved the rune fully, absorbing her trickle of essence. His damaged meridians knit slightly. Power, while small was real flowing into him.
For a moment, the hut felt heavier. The air thicker with abyssal presence.
The servant lay beneath him, twitching, cum leaking from her, black rune glowing faintly on her skin. The girl who had entered full of scorn and secret desire now stared up at him with glassy, broken eyes filled with shame, confused craving and dawning terror mixing on her face.
Xuan Ye pulled out and stood, adjusting his robes.
""This body is still trash,"" he thought, already making plans ahead. ""But the first carving is done. Three days until the assembly.""
"Let's go and find out what this all about."
A faint, cold satisfaction touched his eyes.
How convenient.
He glanced down at the marked servant one more time.
"Rest," he said softly, voice devoid of warmth. "You have served your purpose… for now."
Xuan Ye turned toward the door, the hunger in his soul sea already whispering for more.
The Crimson Veil Sect had no idea what had just awakened in its lowest hut.
And the abyss was only beginning to carve.h