There was a bleak sense of finality to the night as Su Vaen crossed the threshold into the inner chamber of the secret lab.
The room, which had once been a secret hub of unlawful experiments, now came as a wreckage of overturned tables, mystical devices in ruins, and the eerie blue-green light of corrupted energy pulsating fearfully along the walls.
Every corner echoed with the sorrow of the ones sacrificed, and the air clung with rot and desolation without hope.
With some of the fire still burning in obscurity, Su Vaen walked carefully.
His own footfalls produced little noise, his concealed Tenebris Energy thrumming unseen beneath its cover as ordinary Qi.
He released his potential—not with glory, but with the cold resolve of a man who has nothing to lose.
He began with the security of the inner laboratory, what was left.
Even the Peak Foundation Establishment cultivators, who were fairly trained and stood guard, fell one by one to his rapid assault.
All the guards were overpowered before they could raise an alarm, their weapons dropping on the stone ground.
Su Vaen's Phantom Fang Slash cut through the air with unyielding accuracy, every slash releasing the pent-up fury of a deceived soul.
Mayhem ruled in the clandestine laboratory in a matter of minutes. Dark corridors echoed with the screams of death from the tainted clan's laborers.
Su Vaen moved like a ghost through the ruins, his Shadow Veil skill concealing his true strength as he disassembled the complex.
As each precise strike took down, he erased the physical evidence of their evil experiments—cages were reduced to rubble, and the equipment which drove the malevolent research were ripped into twisted metal and smashed glass.
His ultimate purpose was not merely destruction—it was revenge and cleansing.
He moved forward as he was confronted with the forms of his own blood.
His father, Su Xian, and his grandfather, Su Wei, were at the center of the commotion, their faces set in the old haughtiness of men who had long traded honor for ambition.
They struggled frantically, opposed to him in a bitter struggle of wills, but Su Vaen's hidden strength ultimately became too much.
There was a bitter duel. In the midst of combat, Su Vaen's attack was relentless.
His father's and grandfather's defenses were broken by the assault, revealing deep, life-altering wounds.
Blood flowed freely, staining the ancient stone floor, as the elder cultivators—once feared for their power—fell back, their strength severely depleted.
Sight of their broken bodies, twisting in agony and clinging to life by mere threads, tore Su Vaen's soul.
But the pain of betrayal and corruption's stain allowed no hesitation. Every blow was directed at eradicating the corruption that had corrupted his family line.
He was not deterred even when he encountered a half-step golden core master.
When the final sound dissipated into the silence, the ruined laboratory was filled with quiet.
Su Vaen stood alone amidst the ruins—his breathing strained, his body quivering with exhaustion and the unrestrained surge of Tenebris Energy.
He regarded the devastation with a dispassionate, scientific gaze. The complex, long concealed, lay in shambles, nothing more than smoldering wreckage and shattered aspirations.
The weight of what he'd done was crushing him, a sour reminder of the cost of cleansing a legacy conceived in greed.
And then, as he made his slow way out into the cool night air, there came a low, growling voice echoing through his mind.
The voice was that of the dragon General—the enigmatic instructor who had schooled him in the ways of Tenebris Energy.
The words were far away initially, a whirlwind whisper.
"You have severed your roots of the past. The name that you bore carries no significance in this new world. You shall be known as Vaen of Dravidian from now onwards."
The words resonated within him, instilling a puzzled sense of liberation and bitter resolve.
In one sentence, the stigma of the Su name—once symbolizing family and lineage—had been lifted from him, made new in light and rebirth.
He tasted power, a feeling that his own soul was being reshaped into the mold of a free warrior, freed from the culpability of his ancestors.
Not a change by name alone, but by intention.
He now wore the parka of change—a being part of something greater than this reality he still didn't have clearance to comprehend.
He stood atop the charred ruins of a lab before escaping, eyes closed as he allowed the heaviness of his decision soak deep into his heart.
The silence of the night, interrupted only by the hushed whisper of wind through leaves, seemed to sanction his action. What had to be done, he had done.
The laboratory no longer existed; its evil secrets lay buried beneath the ashes of revenge.
But the price of his actions had been steep. His body was bruised from the battle—deep cuts, welts, and searing pain that radiated from all his muscles. He could feel it won't be long before vengeance will be his.
Yet, even as he limped off towards the western woods, his pace resolute despite injury, he felt curiously light.
It was as though, with every wound, he lost a part of the old, tainted self, making room for the new self the Dragon General had provided.
Far in the distance, the west forest beckoned—a vast, wild expanse where he could lose himself in the ancient forests and tend his wounds in solitude.
He was aware that this flight was temporary only; the battle for the heart of his clan was not yet won.
But temporarily, he had to escape the destruction and the accusations of treachery.
With a final look over his shoulder at the burned-out shell of the lab—a reminder of his ruined yesterday—Vaen of Dravidian, once Su Vaen, set off resolutely into the western forest.
The coldness of the night air blended with his blood and sweat, and the wind whispers of supernatural strengths carried promises of transfiguration into his brain.
His clean heart, having shed the soiled Su name, pounded at a new beat—a syncopation of resolution, an avowal of a future refined in the furnace of revenge and rebirth.
With every step, into the dense underbrush, sounded a final firmness.
The Su Clan, in all its ruthlessness and corruption, would soon be no more—a memory of how power had been sought at the expense of humanity.
And following him, Vaen of Dravidian pledged to lead the way to a world where honor and power would no longer be determined by personal greed, but by a lofty goal to protect the innocent and revive the legacy of kindness his mother once embodied.