White.
The sky turned white.
Xiao Yun didn't move. He didn't blink. That old man's finger hadn't even made contact, but the pressure behind it was already ripping the world apart.
Ruo Lin was gone—vanished into a gap in the collapsed shrine.
The Celestial elders floated overhead like golden ghosts, silent, divine, untouchable.
The elder who spoke was still pointing.
Xiao Yun's entire body screamed. His meridians twisted. His Void Core pulsed erratically under his ribs. The Second Gate had barely stabilized—and now he was facing celestial suppression from a dozen peak cultivators who had outlived dynasties.
His knees nearly buckled.
But he didn't fall.
He clenched his teeth until blood filled his mouth.
The finger moved.
BOOM.
An invisible force smashed into him—like a mountain falling from the heavens. His bones shattered in four places. Blood gushed from his ears, his eyes, his nose.
He crashed into the ground, coughing, struggling to breathe.
"Such fragile flesh," the elder murmured above. "I expected more from the so-called Void Tyrant."
The name spread through the other elders like a curse. Murmurs filled the sky.
"He really is the one."
"But how…?"
"He should've been dead for over a thousand years."
"He smells like the Reaper Plane."
The elder descended, slowly, until his feet hovered inches above the bloodied stone floor. His eyes studied Xiao Yun with calm, detached curiosity.
"You shouldn't exist," he said. "You were erased. The heavens confirmed your annihilation. So how are you breathing?"
Xiao Yun forced himself to his feet, limbs shaking, vision swimming. Blood poured from a gash above his eye, blurring the world into reds and blacks.
"I don't answer to trash," he spat.
The elder didn't react. Instead, he flicked two fingers.
A golden net of law symbols coiled in the air, wrapping around Xiao Yun like a divine cage. It slammed into his chest and dragged him to his knees again.
"I won't kill you," the elder said, voice calm. "I'll seal you. Dissect you. Break you apart until I understand what you are. The Tribunal has questions."
Xiao Yun laughed, blood dripping down his chin.
"You think I'm the same as last time."
"You're not. You're worse. Sloppier. Crippled. Barely alive."
The elder walked forward, pressing a palm to the top of Xiao Yun's head.
He felt the probe instantly—light needles of divine sense plunging into his soul, trying to peel it open like a scroll.
He gritted his teeth, reached inward—
And fed them lies.
The Void Core twisted, creating a false pattern of memories—images of false reincarnations, useless memories, scattered lifelines that led nowhere.
The elder frowned.
"These are not real," he muttered.
Then his eyes widened.
"Oh no—"
Too late.
Xiao Yun opened his eyes.
Void Rebirth Manual – Soul Detonation Art.
His spirit flared with black fire.
The probe shattered inside him.
The elder reeled backward, clutching his head as a scream ripped from his throat. Black veins crawled up his neck, spreading fast.
The golden cage cracked.
One second.
That's all Xiao Yun needed.
He exploded upward, void energy bursting from every pore. He didn't waste time fighting. Not here. Not yet. He wasn't ready.
But he could run.
He shot into the sky, body a blur of black lightning.
The remaining elders reacted instantly.
"Don't let him escape!"
Golden swords formed in midair.
A thousand chains flew after him.
He dodged two.
The third wrapped around his leg.
He didn't break it.
He cut off his own leg.
The severed limb fell into the clouds as he flew higher, blood trailing like a comet.
He screamed, fury and pain twisting across his face.
But he didn't stop.
He flung his essence forward—calling to the sky. The Third Gate hadn't been fully awakened, but there was still one piece he could access.
The air warped.
The sun darkened.
Space twisted.
The elders hesitated.
Above Xiao Yun, a rift opened—circular, black, edged in violet flames.
A Void Gate.
Not a teleportation portal. Something far more dangerous.
"Seal that gate!" an elder yelled.
But they were too late.
Xiao Yun reached it just as golden spears pierced his back, exploding through his chest.
He bled.
But he laughed.
Then vanished into the rift.
---
Darkness swallowed him whole.
The Void between Realms.
Endless. Ageless. Weightless.
There was no air, no light, no time. Just pressure and silence.
His body floated, limp and broken, missing a leg, spine fractured, organs crushed.
But his soul pulsed.
He reached inward, fingers twitching, and drew on the last drop of stolen energy from the corpse throne chamber.
He bit into his wrist and smeared his own blood across his chest in a broken rune.
"Void Rebirth Manual… Third Gate…"
He didn't even remember what he said after that.
Just the burn.
The flames.
The darkness screaming inside him.
And the sound of something ancient… waking up.
---
He landed in a crater.
Somewhere.
His body hit the ground like a meteor, shaking the earth.
Dust and smoke rose.
Villagers screamed.
He heard none of it.
He lay in the center of a ruined field, body limp, blood soaking into the cracked dirt. Crops burned. Chickens scattered.
A man ran toward him—an old farmer with a hoe in hand, wide-eyed.
"Someone fetch Master Yuan! Quick!"
Footsteps thundered. Children cried. Dogs barked.
Xiao Yun barely breathed.
Then, a voice.
A woman's.
Sharp. Young. Commanding.
"Move aside."
He felt her presence before he saw her.
Sword qi. Thin and perfect. Wrapped in frost.
She knelt beside him. He smelled orchids. Her hand touched his neck. Then froze.
She inhaled sharply.
"His pulse… is fading."
Someone nearby spoke. "Let him die, Miss Yue! You saw that light—he's not from here."
"No," she said. "He's dangerous."
"Exactly! Then we should—"
"I didn't say we should kill him. I said we should bind him."
Xiao Yun's mind stirred.
Yue.
That name...
It felt like fire against his thoughts.
He tried to move—but his body refused.
The girl—this Miss Yue—stood again. Her boots crunched the dirt.
"Bring chains. The thick ones. And send a rider to the Sect. Tell them we've found a man fallen from the sky with a body soaked in forbidden qi."
"But what if—"
"Do it."
They obeyed.
And Xiao Yun, broken, bleeding, missing a leg, crushed under the weight of his Third Gate's backlash, could only listen.
He knew one thing as the darkness claimed him.
He'd seen her face once before.
In the memory fragment of the Void Heart Relic.
That woman—
She was standing beside his corpse on the day of his death.
Smiling.
And laughing.