🌒 Jiang Clan – Inner Grounds, Dawn
The Jiang Clan had never been so silent.
After the massacre at the southern gates, even the wind dared whisper.
Disciples avoided the eastern courtyards now—where Jiang Chen had been relocated. Some called it the "Tyrant's Domain" already. Others feared saying his name aloud.
Rumors spread like wildfire.
> "He devoured their souls."
"They say his power grows with each life he takes."
"Even the elders don't dare stop him now…"
---
🏯 Inner Sect Hall
Elder Mo paced, restless. "We should confine him, at least—monitor his growth. He walks the edge of demonic cultivation!"
The Clan Head, Jiang Zhen, only sipped his tea.
"Can you confine a storm, Elder Mo? A wildfire? A god?"
Another elder grunted. "He's young. If we bribe him with power, titles—"
> "He will not be bought," Jiang Zhen interrupted.
"Then what?" Mo demanded.
The Clan Head set his cup down, eyes dark.
> "We let him rise."
> "And pray we are not beneath his feet when he does."
---
🔥 East Wing – Crater Meditation Hall (Rebuilt from Duel Site)
Jiang Chen sat at the center of a newly carved formation—eight golden runes embedded in the stone. Soulfire, Voidscript, Heavenpierce, and five others glowed faintly in a star pattern.
Around him, black crystal stones floated mid-air—Soul-Iron Runes, mined from ancient battlefield tombs, used in forging demonic-grade weapons.
But he was forging something else.
His own cultivation chamber.
> "No more hiding. No more permissions."
> "This is my sect now."
---
He held his palm out.
The air shimmered, and a golden flame rose from his fingertips—burning without heat, pulsing with divinity and death.
The flame of the Ninefold Soul Destruction Art.
He etched into the air, writing ancient glyphs. Each one twisted space around it, tearing tiny fractures into the spiritual fabric.
Then—
> "Condense. Collapse. Rebirth."
The formation flared, shooting arcs of violet light skyward.
A spiritual vacuum formed. Qi flooded inward from miles around. Trees withered. Spirit beasts fled.
And in the center…
Jiang Chen's soul burned—and reformed.
He did not scream.
He smiled.
---
⚠️ Meanwhile – Shadowed Pavilion
A cloaked figure stood atop a distant rooftop, watching the light in the sky.
"His control of forbidden arts is… elegant," the figure whispered. "Not corrupted. Not crazed. Calculated."
Another voice echoed from a jade talisman.
> "Then it's him?"
The woman pulled back her hood.
She had eyes like sapphire moons, and a silver mark on her brow: the emblem of the Moonlight Abyss Sect—a sect that had vanished from all maps 300 years ago.
"Yes," she whispered.
"The Tyrant walks again."
---
🌀 Nightfall – Within the Soul-Forged Chamber
Jiang Chen floated mid-air, body glowing from within.
From his dantian extended a thread of light—a soul-thread, something even immortals struggled to produce.
He wasn't just rebuilding his cultivation.
He was remaking the system.
> "The old realms were too limiting."
"I need more than Qi, spirit, or divine flame…"
He clenched his fist.
> "I will forge my own path—The Divine Tyrant Technique."
"It will not ascend through the heavens…"
"…it will crush them."
Suddenly—
The air shifted.
Someone had stepped into the outer edge of his chamber.
> And yet… no one should have been able to.
---
🧝‍♀️ A Mysterious Visitor
She moved silently, robes of starlight trailing behind her. Her hair was silver, her gaze unblinking.
Jiang Chen's eyes opened.
"Not many can bypass my soul-barriers," he said quietly. "Are you here to die, or do you bring something useful?"
She smiled slightly.
> "I bring questions. And… memories."
He studied her carefully.
She didn't radiate hostility. In fact, her spiritual signature was like… moonlight on broken glass—beautiful, but sharp.
"You were there," he said. "During my fall."
She nodded once.
> "The Moonlight Abyss never forgot the Tyrant of the Nine Skies. We waited… for your return."
> "But now… you are not him. And yet… more than him."
He stood, robes flickering with spiritual fire.
> "Then speak. Or leave."
She stepped closer.
> "The betrayers who killed you—they are still alive."
"They walk the world wearing halos, commanding armies, calling themselves gods."
> "Do you want to see them?"
Jiang Chen's eyes narrowed.
His heart burned with familiar, frozen rage.
> "I don't want to see them."
> "I want to bury them."