We take a journey back to the Qing continent, the state of celebration as the righteous sects come together in victory after Wuixe was killed.
The Radiant Jade Sect's Pavilion of Spring Virtue shimmered with banners of purest white and jade-green. The air was filled with faint melodic chimes, accompanied by the rich scent of burning spiritual incense meant to signify purity and divine favor.
They had gathered. Many sects. Many names.
Among them, the Azure Cloud Pavilion Sect, towering in influence, with their sharp blue-and-silver formal robes. Their Grand Elder, Master Fei Jun, sat like a towering statue, a long beard of silver flowing over layered ceremonial silk, his presence unmatched among the mortals here.
In front of them, crystal-clear transmission mirrors floated, still replaying parts of the Heaven's Herald descending, the golden chains, the divine light, and the ashes of the Thousand Serpent Sect scattering into the void.
They were pleased.
Laughter, smiles, mutual praise. The righteous sects congratulated each other for standing with Heaven.
"Heaven favors those of virtue," one Sect Master boasted. "This is our sign to reclaim the Eastern regions."
Away from the clamor, standing by a quiet koi pond with drifting lotus petals, was Xiao Lian. Her sharp gaze stared into the gently rippling waters—but she wasn't seeing the reflections.
She was seeing him.
Not the Wuxie the elders painted with horror and disgust—but the boy who, amidst the blood and cruelty, had… hesitated. Had spared her.
"Demon," they called him.
Yet in that moment of sparing her life, she had glimpsed something else. A child, not a monster.
"He's alive…I don't know how,but someone like that, someone with the eyes that say they will never give up or surrender surely can't have their fate end so soon? Could fate be wrong this time?" she whispered under her breath, unsure if it was hope or foolishness speaking.
Her master's sharp voice echoed behind her earlier that day:
"Don't speak nonsense, girl. No one survives Heaven's Chains and Divine Cleansing. Not even Immortals."
But… why was there no body? Why only ash?.
Elsewhere in the grand hall, Lan Renshu, the rising prodigy of the Azure Cloud Pavilion Sect, stood beside his seated elders, his fists clenched so tightly that faint streams of Qi leaked from between his fingers.
They celebrated, but he… could not.
"He should have died by my blade," he muttered darkly. Wuxie. Demon. Butcher of his cousin. The source of his family's shame.
Victory had been stolen by Heaven's intervention—and that insult burned deeper than anything else.
"I wish…"
"I wish that demon had survived… just long enough to see me send his head flying."
The Ambition of the Righteous sects was now clear, it was time for an expedition.
As the feasting continued, new maps were unfurled on floating jade scrolls. These were not decorative—they were battle plans.
"The Thousand Serpent Sect was the pillar of the Deviants," said Grand Elder Fei Jun calmly. "Now the snake's head is gone. It's time to burn the body."
"We will move west first, take the Obsidian Tomb Sect, then sweep south to the Seven Venoms Sect. With Heaven's gaze upon us, none will stand in our way."
The righteous sects smelled blood. They had waited generations for this. Now, armed with moral superiority and the favor of the heavens, they would expand their influence, take lands, resources, and above all: power.
They called it justice.
But none of them knew the truth. Not yet.
The Herald of Heaven had returned triumphant.
The Thousand Serpent Sect was truly destroyed.
But the demon child?
Only the heavens, and a quiet, bruised boy in a white and blue sect on a distant continent, knew that a seed of something far more complicated than mere evil still lingered.
Xiao Lian's sat down thinking deeply
"A demon does not hesitate… A monster does not spare lives…"
"I will find out the truth…"
Miles away from the Qing continent:
Morning sunlight spilled gently through the skybridge windows of the Azure Sky Cloud Sect, painting the curved white halls with strokes of pale gold. Mei Lian stood outside the boy's room, arms folded, eyes sharp as always.
The door opened quietly, and Lan Wu stepped out. Clean white robes, slightly oversized, sleeves tugged nervously by his fingers. His black hair had been washed and brushed, tied back simply. His gaze was still soft, almost hesitant, but there was a sparkle of purpose behind it.
"You're nervous," Mei Lian said flatly.
"A little," Lan Wu admitted softly. "But I'm ready."
Without a word, she handed him two things:
1. A small white porcelain pill bottle, tied with pale blue silk—Qi-restoring pills, infused with warming herbs.
2. A folded parchment, containing the instructions for a bone-strengthening medicinal soak to be used nightly.
"You're still weak. Don't overdo it," she said with a scowl that, somehow, wasn't really annoyed—just protective.
"I will do my best," Lan Wu replied, bowing deeply.
Location: The Outer Disciples' Training Grounds
The Outer Disciples' Courtyard was wide, paved with clean-cut jade stone and lined with drifting spirit-clouds around the edges. Sections were partitioned for forms practice, meditation, breathing exercises, and Qi-thread shaping.
As Lan Wu and Mei Lian entered, conversations quieted. Dozens of disciples, most between fifteen and twenty years old, paused their routines to glance over.
"Who's that?"
"Never seen him before…"
"He spoke with the Grand Elder? Really?"
"He's only a kid… doesn't even have a visible Qi thread…"
Whispers. None openly hostile—yet—but coated with skepticism and mild superiority.
Most of them were already at late-stage First Awakening, some even brushing up against early Path Rooting.
He's weak.
Lan Wu heard it, saw it in their postures—but he didn't flinch.
It's fine. I'll catch up. He smiled, almost innocently, adjusting his sleeves again as if to hide his awkwardness.
First Lesson – Qi Flow and Meridian Discipline
The day's session was led by Instructor Yao, a middle-aged cultivator with graying temples and sharp blue eyes, dressed in simpler robes marked by a single cloud-spiral insignia—the sign of a long-serving Outer Court teacher.
"Qi is not brute strength. Qi is conduct, refinement, and discipline," he lectured. "If you force Qi, you shatter your foundation."
The first exercises were basic:
Breathing patterns—controlled inhalation, gradual Qi sensing through the Lower Dantian.
Meridian Tracing—mental focus along twelve principal channels of the body, identifying weak or blocked points.
Thread Guidance—beginners' technique to draw ambient spiritual energy into the palm without dispersion.
Lan Wu sat cross-legged like the others, his posture perfect, his movements respectful, even bowing to his classmates when accidentally brushing them.
Others were moving Qi easily already, coaxing faint streams of glowing white-blue energy into their palms.
Lan Wu's palm? Empty.
Nothing. Only faint warmth beneath the skin.
"He's too far behind…" someone murmured.
"He's wasting space here."
Still—Lan Wu didn't break form. His soft smile stayed. Every time someone gave him a sideways glance, he responded with a slight nod of respect.
"I'll learn," he whispered to himself. "Step by step…"
One senior outer disciple, Zhang Feiyu, scoffed openly at one point.
"Little stray," he sneered. "Trying to play catch-up with us? You should've stayed a servant or joined the kitchen staff."
Lan Wu bowed his head slightly in response.
"Thank you for your advice."
The sheer sincerity of it left Zhang speechless for a beat, unsure whether the boy was mocking him or genuinely grateful.
Another disciple, a quieter girl with round eyes, Yun Qiao, offered a hesitant smile from afar but didn't approach.
The sun sank, casting peach-colored hues over the sect.
Most of the other disciples had gone to spiritual baths or meals.
Lan Wu stayed.
By himself.
Sitting at the edge of the training ground, robes slightly wrinkled from a day of effort, he continued the breathing patterns—again, and again, and again.
Still barely drawing Qi. Still smiling.
Mei Lian stood watching, arms folded again.
"Why?" she finally asked. "Why are you still here, practicing?"
"Because I'm grateful," Lan Wu answered simply, voice barely above a whisper.
"They gave me a name here. A place. I don't want to waste it."
Mei Lian's expression didn't soften, but… her gaze stayed on him longer than usual.
Far, far beneath the humble boy's smile, in that roiling black sea, Wuxie sat on jagged rocks, bound by heavenly seals, lips curled in disgust.
"Look at you… bowing like a dog to those insects...pathetic bastard."
His dark purple like eyes narrowed.
"You're me, aren't you? Half of me. And yet you… you smile at weakness."
Behind him, the Devouring Moon Beast shifted, its massive, shadowed form silent, chained but awake. The corrupted sky flickered occasionally with threads of primordial hunger.
Wuxie whipped his glare toward the chained beast.
"You. Why are we alive? Why him? Why this… pathetic… version?"
The beast's voice was low, ancient, weighted by hunger and weariness.
> "I saved what I could to save myself."
"You should be thankful,as your soul was being torn apart,i salvage the side that became pure and fixed it to the dantain, because what is pure cannot be destroyed.And as for you?I formed a heavenly restriction pact with what remained after your split corrupted soul making sure this you will be saved, a pact that binds myself with you, if I die you die and if you die I die, we are now one. ."
" I see, so... Two souls one body? "
Wuxie's fists trembled against the celestial chains.
"I'm supposed to burn everything. Not… bow to them like some lost stray…"
But behind that disgust… there was a flicker of something else.
Confusion. Pain. Anger and... Curiosity as what this means? A second chance at revenge ? .
As the moon rose, Lan Wu exhaled softly, Qi still faint, but his posture resolute.
"Tomorrow again… and again after that…"
A gentle resolve. No cruelty. No schemes. Just the humble dedication of a boy trying to deserve a second chance.
Somewhere in the tangled threads of their soul, good and evil stared at each other, chained together, destined to either destroy or redefine one another.