The sky above the Blackspine Mountains roared with thunder, but no one heard it. Deep within a forgotten valley — where even spiritual beasts dared not enter — lay a boy half-buried in mud, blood, and failure.
His name was Raizen, once a genius of the Vermillion Cloud Sect. Now, he was a discarded cripple.
Betrayed. Abandoned. Left to die.
Raizen's eyes barely opened. Cracked lips parted with effort as he choked out a bitter laugh.
"So… this is how it ends? A prodigy turned trash. A future Sovereign turned corpse."
Memories surged like venom. His father's cold gaze. His sect elders' disappointment. His fiancée's mocking smile as she handed him the poison — "You were useful once, Raizen."
They had crushed his cultivation core. Stolen his spirit veins. Labeled him a cursed star, a danger to the sect's future.
But the heavens had not claimed him yet.
The moment his dying breath lingered in the air, a chilling whisper echoed through the valley.
> "System initializing… Abyss Protocol awakened."
A black symbol — a spiral of crimson runes — burned onto Raizen's chest. His body convulsed as the ground beneath him trembled.
> [Abyss System: Bound to Host – Raizen]
Status: Soul Fragmented, Body Crippled, Core Destroyed
Initiating Emergency Reconstruction…
Do you accept the contract: [Become the Abyss Heir]?
Raizen's mind screamed, but his heart whispered: Yes.
He had lost everything.
So he would take everything in return.
"I accept," he rasped.
> Warning: Abyss Heir will be branded as Enemy of Heaven. Fate will collapse. Destiny shall be rewritten.
> Confirm?
Raizen grinned, blood dripping from his teeth. "Let the heavens come."
> Contract sealed.
A blinding pulse exploded from his chest, vaporizing the mud and stone around him. The mountain shook as black tendrils of energy surged into his broken body. His bones snapped — not from damage, but rebirth.
> [System Reconstruction: Complete]
Cultivation System: Abyssal Path – Forbidden Class
Unique Trait: Consume & Corrupt
First Skill Unlocked: [Soul Inversion]
Level: 0 → 1
A dark aura wrapped around Raizen like a cloak of shadows. His crushed core began to twist and reshape, not into a normal cultivation core — but into a writhing vortex of abyssal energy.
---
Somewhere far away, in the floating palace of the Heaven's Chosen Pavilion…
An ancient mirror cracked.
The oracle inside shrieked, "An Abyss Heir has awakened!"
The elders panicked. "Who allowed this? That path was sealed for a reason!"
But it was too late.
---
Back in the valley, Raizen stood.
His jet-black hair flowed like silk. His crimson eyes glowed with cold fury. A single thought burned in his mind:
They tried to bury me. But they forgot... I am the abyss.
His system interface flickered again.
> New Quest Available: [First Blood]
Objective: Slay a Qi Gathering Cultivator
Reward: +1 Level, Skill Upgrade, Trait Evolution
"Perfect," Raizen murmured.
He turned his gaze toward the direction of his former sect. His lips curled into a cruel smile.
"They wanted a demon? I'll give them a goddamned nightmare."
With the valley trembling behind
him, Raizen walked forward — not as a boy, but as the beginning of the end.
---
[End of Chapter 1]