The night was thick with shadows. In a remote, abandoned factory on the outskirts of Jiangcheng, Ji Chen sat cross-legged, his body surrounded by a torrent of spiritual energy. The Void Scripture was running at full capacity within him, the liquid vortex of spiritual power in his dantian spinning furiously, trying to condense into a Golden Core.
But no matter how fiercely he charged forward, that invisible barrier remained like a chasm—unbreakable.
"Still not enough…" Ji Chen opened his eyes, sweat beading across his forehead, brows tightly furrowed.
Su Wan sat nearby, her silver bow gleaming faintly under the dim light. She raised her head and said softly, "Breaking through to the Golden Core isn't that easy. You need the right opportunity."
Ji Chen nodded, just about to respond, when his pupils suddenly contracted. He jumped to his feet. "Someone's coming!"
Boom—!
The factory gate exploded open with a violent force. Dust filled the air as four figures strode in. Leading them was Zhao Mingyang, his expression twisted into a cold grin.
"Ji Chen, so this is where you've been hiding," Zhao sneered, murderous intent flashing in his eyes.
Behind him were three black-robed cultivators, each exuding a chilling aura. Spiritual energy pulsed dangerously around them.
"Dogs of the Night Owl Society?" Ji Chen scoffed, the Lingxi Dagger already in his hand. Golden light shimmered across the blade—sharp, lethal.
Zhao let out a sinister laugh. "Hand over the Void Scripture, and I'll make your death painless."
"Just the four of you?" Ji Chen's eyes narrowed. Within, his spiritual power began to stir—ready to strike at a moment's notice.
"You think it's just us?" Zhao clapped his hands.
Suddenly, dozens of eerie green lights flared outside the factory—it was a battalion of Yinfiend puppets! These grotesque constructs were shrouded in black mist, their eyes glowing blood-red, like demons crawling out from hell. They encircled the factory entirely.
Su Wan's expression darkened. "We're surrounded."
Ji Chen drew a long breath, his gaze icy. "I'll hold them off. Find a way to break out."
"No way!" Su Wan cut him off sharply. Her silver bow was already drawn, arrow aimed at Zhao Mingyang. "If we fight, we fight together."
"Foolish!" Zhao snorted and waved his hand. "Kill them!"
The three black-robed assassins charged, weapons gleaming as spiritual energy exploded.
Clang!
Ji Chen darted forward, his dagger slicing through the air in a brilliant golden arc, clashing with a killer's blade—sparks flew.
"Lingflame Finger!"
With his left hand, he formed a seal. A golden streak of light shot toward the throat of another assassin.
The killer sneered. From his sleeve, he flicked out a small black shield, easily blocking the strike.
"Late Foundation Establishment?!" Ji Chen's heart sank.
All three assassins were at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm!
Elsewhere, Su Wan loosed a barrage of arrows. Silver streaks rained down like a storm, but Zhao Mingyang dodged with ease.
"Su Wan, do you really think that weak cultivation of yours can stop me?" Zhao laughed coldly. In his palm, a misty black energy formed—he thrust it forward violently.
"Souleater Palm!"
Su Wan's eyes widened. She barely dodged in time, but the residual shockwave grazed her. She grunted, blood trickling from the corner of her lips.
"Su Wan!" Ji Chen's voice cracked. He tried to rush to her, but the assassins blocked his path.
"You can't even save yourself," one of them sneered, his blade slashing toward Ji Chen's neck in a streak of dark light.
"Get lost!"
Ji Chen roared, channeling all his spiritual power. His dagger blazed with golden light as he blocked the strike. But the force ruptured his palm, blood splattering.
This isn't working… at this rate, we're dead!
As he quickly assessed the situation—Su Wan being suppressed by Zhao, himself barely holding against three peak Foundation assassins—his spiritual power was draining fast.
I have to break through!
Clenching his jaw, Ji Chen suddenly leapt back several steps, forming a complex seal with both hands. The Void Scripturesurged within him.
"He's doing something! Stop him!"
All three assassins struck at once, their weapons cutting through the air.
But at that moment, a terrifying suction force exploded from Ji Chen's body. Spiritual energy from a hundred meters around rushed toward him, forming a massive vortex of power that engulfed him entirely!
Zhao Mingyang's face twisted in alarm. "Kill him now!"
Too late.
Boom—!
A muffled explosion sounded within Ji Chen's body—something shattered.
Then, an overwhelming aura burst forth from him, like the deep sea breaking its dam.
Ji Chen opened his eyes. Golden light rippled within. His presence was vast and unfathomable.
"…Now it's my turn."
He raised the Lingxi Dagger, which let out a sharp hum. A golden wave of sword energy tore through the air.
Slash!
One of the assassins didn't react in time and was cut clean in two!
"Run!" The other two turned and fled in terror.
Ji Chen's figure blurred—he appeared behind one of them and drove his dagger through the assassin's back.
"Ah!"
The last killer tried to run, but Ji Chen pointed a finger—Lingflame Finger pierced through his skull.
In mere seconds, all three assassins were dead.
Zhao Mingyang's face went ghostly pale. He turned to flee.
"Going somewhere?" Ji Chen's voice was icy.
Zhao spun, only to find Ji Chen already in front of him, dagger poised at his throat.
"Ji Chen! You can't kill me! I'm a direct heir of the Zhao Clan! If you kill me, they'll hunt you to the ends of the earth!" Zhao screamed.
"The Zhao Clan?" Ji Chen sneered. "A dog of the Night Owl Society? So what?"
He didn't hesitate. The dagger gleamed. Zhao's throat was sliced cleanly, blood spurting as he collapsed, eyes wide with disbelief.
"Ji Chen!" Su Wan rushed over. Seeing his bloodied figure, now exuding a powerful new aura, she gasped. "You really broke through?"
Ji Chen nodded, golden light still faintly flickering in his eyes. "The Night Owl Society came to kill us. Now they've paid the price."
Su Wan took a deep breath, her expression complex. "Your strength now… surpasses mine."
Ji Chen gently grasped her hand. "I wouldn't have made it this far without you."
Su Wan's ears flushed red. She looked away and muttered, "We should go. The Night Owl Society won't let this go."
Ji Chen nodded, but just as he opened his mouth, his expression changed.
"What is it?" Su Wan tensed.
He narrowed his eyes and said grimly, "Something worse… is coming.
Far off in the night sky, a black shadow stepped through the air, each step sending ripples across the void like stones dropped in water. The oppressive aura of a peak Core Formation cultivator surged forth, crashing down like a tidal wave. Ji Chen staggered slightly—he could hardly breathe under the pressure.
"Elder Yinsha of the Night Owl Society," Su Wan murmured, her voice trembling. Her face turned pale. "Why would someone of his rank come in person?"
Ji Chen clenched the Lingxi Dagger, channeling the full force of his newly-formed Golden Core to resist the suffocating spiritual pressure. The elation of his recent breakthrough vanished, replaced by a profound sense of impending doom.
The shadow descended and revealed itself: a frail old man with sunken eyes and sickly gray-green skin, his body wrapped in visible black mist. Most terrifying were his eyes—white, empty, without pupils.
"The Void Scripture host?" Yinsha's voice rasped like sandpaper, grating and cruel. "You think yourself worthy of such a treasure?"
Ji Chen said nothing. His spiritual eyes scanned the elder's form, trying to spot a flaw. But in the face of a peak Core Formation expert, tricks and techniques were meaningless.
"Hand over the Void Scripture, and I'll grant you a painless death," Yinsha rasped, lifting one hand. His nails were long, jet-black, glistening with poison.
Su Wan clenched her silver bow, pulling the string taut. Three arrows wrapped in blue fire glowed at her fingertips. "If it's a fight you want… then come and get it."
"Fools." Yinsha sneered. He flicked his wrist, and a whip-like blast of black mist lashed out toward them.
"Look out!" Ji Chen shoved Su Wan aside and stepped in to block the blow.
Clang!
The impact rang like steel on steel. Ji Chen skidded back seven steps, his hands torn and bleeding. The Lingxi Daggeralmost flew from his grip.
"All that from just one casual strike…" Ji Chen's heart sank.
"Oh? You survived a blow from me?" Yinsha raised an eyebrow. "Looks like the Void Scripture is the real deal."
Ji Chen met Su Wan's eyes. They nodded at the same time. Only their combined resonance technique could offer a chance of survival.
"Void Resonance Strike!"
Their spiritual energies aligned, merging into a wave of bluish-gold light that coursed through their meridians. Ji Chen launched himself forward like a golden lightning bolt, dagger aimed for Yinsha's heart. Behind him, Su Wan loosed her arrows to seal every route of retreat.
"Cheap tricks." Yinsha didn't budge. His withered claw caught the dagger mid-air with ease. Then he opened his mouth and blew—black mist surged forward, melting Su Wan's arrows into liquid metal before they reached him.
Thud!
In the same instant, his other claw plunged into Ji Chen's abdomen. Blood gushed.
"Ji Chen!" Su Wan screamed, eyes wide with horror. She charged forward without hesitation.
"Don't come any closer!" Ji Chen growled, barely conscious, both hands clamped tightly around the elder's arm. "Run!"
Yinsha grinned wickedly and began twisting his claw inside Ji Chen. "Trying to self-detonate your Golden Core? Too late!"
Ji Chen coughed blood, but suddenly, a cold smile spread across his face. "Who said… I was going to self-detonate?"
His palm flared—the golden imprint of the Void Scripture blazed to life, and a pillar of radiant energy surged up Yinsha's arm. At the same moment, a glowing mark on Su Wan's left arm erupted with blue light. The twin beams converged in midair, forming a golden net that instantly wrapped around Yinsha like a divine prison.
"The Void Seal of Suppression?" Yinsha's expression twisted in horror. He thrashed wildly. "Impossible! How can you—"
"Void Scripture and Azure Luan Mark, born to suppress evil," Ji Chen said, blood flowing from his lips. "Su Wan, now!"
Understanding flashed in Su Wan's eyes. She bit the tip of her tongue and spat blood onto her bow. Silver light erupted, and an arrow made entirely of Azure Flame slowly took form.
"Azure Luan Heaven-Piercing Arrow!"
The arrow streaked through the air like a falling star, slamming straight into Yinsha's forehead.
"Arghhh—!"
A non-human shriek tore from Yinsha's throat. The black mist engulfing him ignited with blue fire, consuming him. He tried to smother the flames, but the Void Seal locked him in place. All he could do was watch himself burn.
"Young fools… the Dark Sovereign will… not let you live…" he hissed with his final breath before turning to ash and vanishing into the wind.
Ji Chen collapsed to his knees, the world spinning. Darkness began to swallow his consciousness. In the haze, he felt warm arms catch him, and something warm splashed onto his cheek—tears?
"Stay with me… please…" Su Wan's voice grew distant.
Darkness took him.
When Ji Chen awoke again, he found himself lying on a straw bed in a simple wooden cabin. Soft sunlight poured through the window, casting a warm glow across the room. The air smelled faintly of herbs.
"You're awake?" Su Wan pushed the door open, carrying a bowl of steaming herbal soup. Her face was pale, eyes red-rimmed from sleepless nights.
"Where… are we?" Ji Chen tried to sit up, only to be hit with a jolt of pain from his abdomen.
"Don't move!" Su Wan rushed to his side, gently pressing him back down. "The wound just started to close. You'll reopen it."
She carefully helped him into a sitting position and handed over the bowl. "Drink this. It'll help you heal."
The bitter soup burned his throat going down, but Ji Chen drained the bowl without complaint. As he took a moment to assess himself, he found that his Golden Core was dim and his spiritual energy nearly exhausted. His condition was worse than he had expected.
"How long was I out?"
"Seven days," Su Wan said softly. "We're in a mountain village far from Jiang City. There are no cultivators here—it's safe."
After the battle with Yinsha, Su Wan had carried Ji Chen out of the ruins and fled the city under cover of night. She had traveled by foot, bus, and finally hitched a ride to this secluded village, tending to him with the herbs and elixirs she had on hand. She hadn't slept for days.
"Thank you," Ji Chen murmured.
Su Wan shook her head, then suddenly leaned forward and hugged him tightly, her shoulders trembling. "You almost died… you idiot."
Ji Chen froze for a moment, then slowly returned the embrace, stroking her hair gently. "But I didn't. I'm still here."
They sat like that in silence, wrapped in warmth that neither spoke aloud. The sun moved higher, casting shifting patterns through the windows.
Eventually, Su Wan pulled away, her face flushed, trying to act composed. "Your cultivation is severely damaged. You'll need at least a month to recover. We should stay here and lay low. The Night Owl Society won't give up easily."
Ji Chen nodded. But then a thought struck him.
"Before he died, Yinsha mentioned someone... 'Dark Sovereign.'"
Su Wan's face darkened. "He's the leader of the Night Owl Society. Ancient. Supposedly immortal. He's been seeking the Void Scripture for centuries. His goal is to open the 'Gate of the Void.'"
"I saw that name too," Ji Chen said thoughtfully. "Back in the secret realm, the Void Sage mentioned him. Said the Dark Sovereign was his own junior apprentice brother… sealed thousands of years ago."
"What?" Su Wan's eyes widened. "The Dark Sovereign is… the Void Sage's brother?"
Ji Chen nodded and told her everything he had learned in the Void Scripture's hidden inheritance. Su Wan listened quietly, her fingers subconsciously tracing the blue mark on her left arm.
"What's wrong?" Ji Chen asked when he noticed her unease.
"This mark…" Su Wan hesitated. "I've had it since I was born. My family said it was just a birthmark. But now… every time you use the Void Scripture, it reacts."
Ji Chen gently took her hand, letting his spiritual energy flow into her arm. The moment their auras touched, the blue mark lit up—and a stream of information surged into Ji Chen's mind:
"Fragment of the Azure Luan Scroll."
"This is…" Ji Chen's eyes widened. "Another piece of the Void Scripture?"
Su Wan had sensed it too. Both of them stared at each other, realization dawning simultaneously. The mark on Su Wan's arm wasn't a birthmark—it was a fragment of a companion scripture: the long-lost Azure Luan Scroll, created as a counterpart to the Void Scripture.
"No wonder our spiritual resonance is so strong…" Ji Chen whispered. "They were meant to be one."
Then a darker thought crept into Su Wan's mind. Her face went pale. "If that's true… then the Su Clan… my grandfather… did they know about this all along?"
A heavy silence fell. Ji Chen recalled how the Su Clan had always looked down on her "mixed bloodline," yet had insisted she marry into the Zhao family. Perhaps all of it—their disdain, the forced engagement—had been to control her… or the fragment within her.
"We'll find out the truth," Ji Chen said grimly. "But first, you need to master this power."
Over the next month, they remained in the mountain village, hidden from the world. Ji Chen trained Su Wan in using the Azure Luan Scroll, while she tended to his wounds. As they cultivated together, the two scriptures began to resonate more deeply than ever before. When their powers aligned, their cultivation speed surged exponentially.
By the end of the month, Ji Chen's internal wounds had healed, and his spiritual energy was stronger than before. Su Wan, too, had made a breakthrough—she could now summon a complete phantom of the Azure Luan in battle.
"It's time to go," Ji Chen said one morning, standing in the courtyard and gazing at the distant mountains. "The Night Owl Society has a debt to pay."
Su Wan nodded, her expression cold and resolute. "And the Su Clan… I want answers."
They packed their things, thanked the kind villagers, and set out once more. But this time, they were not fugitives running in fear. This time, they returned as bearers of the twin scriptures, ready for vengeance.
Night. Jiang City. Inside the Night Owl Society's branch headquarters.
Mo Sha knelt on one knee in a darkened hall, not daring to raise his head. The black figure seated on the throne before him remained silent, yet the suffocating pressure in the room made Mo Sha tremble.
"Yinsha is dead," the figure finally spoke, his voice cold and hoarse like a wind from the netherworld. "Killed by two nobodies."
"I have failed you…" Mo Sha stammered. "But Yinsha underestimated them. One of them is protected by the Void Scripture…"
"Failed?" The black figure let out a faint chuckle. "Indeed. A failure. But…"
He paused for a moment, then changed his tone. "If they were strong enough to kill Yinsha, it means the bearer of the Void Scripture has begun to master its power. Good. The fruit is ripening. We harvest it only when it is sweet."
Mo Sha remained silent, not daring to speak a word.
The figure's voice turned cold again. "Spread my command. Suspend all operations. We wait for them to surface on their own. Also…" He paused, a dangerous glint flashing in the shadows. "Notify the Zhao Clan. We move the plan forward."
"Yes!" Mo Sha bowed low and quickly exited the hall.
The shadowy figure remained alone on the throne, tapping his pale fingers slowly against the armrest. The sound echoed in the vast, empty hall like a metronome of death.
"Void Sage, old brother…" he whispered, voice laden with mockery and malice. "Will your disciple… prove more entertaining than you did?"