The sun rose with indifference, casting golden light across the Crimson Sky Sect. From the distance, the sect looked like a serene mountaintop paradise—grand pagodas layered across the cliffs, waterfalls trickling from the peaks, and disciples in colored robes flitting through the air.
But beauty was a lie.
Li Tian knew the truth.
He walked in silence, his body still sore from awakening in a younger vessel, his mind sharp with vengeance. Every courtyard, every hallway, every training field he passed was branded into his memory—each one holding traces of humiliation, betrayal, or death.
In five years, this entire sect would burn.
This time, he would be the one holding the torch.
[System Message: Threat Scan Initialized.]
[Nearest Hostile Aura Detected: Outer Disciplinary Hall]
[Function Unlocked: Cultivation Ladder Overview]
———
🌌 Cultivation Realms (Crimson Sky Variant)
• Body Tempering – 9 stages
• Meridian Unsealing – 6 stages
• Core Formation – 3 stages
• Spirit Ascension – 4 stages
• Heaven Vein – Unknown upper limit
———
[Host Current Status: Body Tempering, Stage 1 – Incomplete]
[Core: 4% Reconstructed]
[System Goal: Reach Core Formation within 6 months.]
———
Six months to reach a realm that had taken him four years in his past life?
It sounded absurd.
But Li Tian didn't scoff.
He smiled.
This time, he had a system.
This time, he had no chains holding him back.
And this time… he had nothing to lose.
As he neared the Outer Disciplinary Hall, his steps slowed. The building stood like a squat beast, plain stone walls marked with the Crimson Sky emblem—a red lotus wrapped in chains. Inside, they beat disciples for the smallest mistakes, broke bones under the guise of "discipline," and extorted pills from the weak.
And inside that hall was a name he hadn't heard in years.
Instructor Zhao.
A man with a wide smile, a fat belly, and hands that never stopped grabbing.
In Li Tian's first life, Instructor Zhao had crippled three disciples to make space for Jin Wu's "chosen men." He'd sold entry passes to forbidden libraries and threatened anyone who reported him.
He also gave Li Tian his first public whipping.
It was time to pay him a visit.
The doors creaked as Li Tian entered.
A few outer disciples stood along the sides of the training hall, carrying buckets of water or sweeping the floors. Most froze when they saw him.
He didn't look like much—thin, pale, a boy just over fifteen—but something in his eyes made them step aside without a word.
"Instructor Zhao," Li Tian called, voice calm.
A snort echoed from a back room.
Seconds later, the man emerged.
Exactly as Li Tian remembered: bald on top, oily skin, and a smug expression that made him look like a toad in robes.
"Well, if it isn't the late riser," Zhao grinned. "Didn't I say you'd be punished if you missed morning drills again?"
He gestured to one of the guards.
"Bring the rod. Twenty lashes—"
"I challenge Instructor Zhao to a duel," Li Tian said, cutting him off.
The room went silent.
The guard holding the rod froze, confused.
Zhao blinked. "You what?"
"Instructor Zhao is still within Body Tempering, isn't he?" Li Tian asked mildly. "According to sect law, any outer disciple may challenge another member of the same realm for position."
Zhao's grin returned, but twisted with contempt. "You think you can beat me? A rat like you?"
[System Option Unlocked: Public Duel Initiated]
[System Bonus: Win = +50 Fear Points | +1 Rank Boost | Unlock Combat Feature: Devour]
[Duel Confirmation Pending…]
Li Tian stepped into the sparring ring.
"I'm not here to win, Instructor Zhao," he said, loosening his shoulders. "I'm here to humiliate you."
That did it.
Zhao roared. "Fine! I accept! But don't cry when I break your legs in front of everyone!"
The two faced off in the center of the ring. A few disciples gathered around, sensing something unusual.
Zhao cracked his knuckles and charged.
His first punch was slow—meant to intimidate, not kill.
Li Tian sidestepped it like drifting mist.
Another punch.
Dodged.
A low kick.
Dodged.
Zhao was fast, but unrefined. The man relied on brute strength and had never expected a disciple to challenge him.
Li Tian moved with the calm precision of someone who had died too many times to fear pain.
He waited.
And then he struck.
One palm. Straight to Zhao's gut.
It wasn't powerful.
But it was placed exactly where his dantian throbbed.
Zhao gasped.
Li Tian stepped behind him, lifted his foot, and stomped the back of his knee.
Zhao buckled.
Another blow—sharp, rising elbow to the ribs. Then a twist. A fall.
The fat instructor slammed into the ground.
It had taken less than ten seconds.
[+50 Fear Points Earned]
[+1 Rank: Outer Disciple (Silver Rank)]
[Combat Feature "Devour" Unlocked]
[Would you like to devour Qi residue from defeated target? Y/N]
"Yes."
[Devouring… +13 Qi Points Absorbed]
[Core Reconstruction Progress: 9%]
The disciples watching were silent.
A few bowed their heads.
One even muttered, "World Breaker…"
Li Tian ignored them.
He turned to Zhao, who wheezed on the ground.
"From now on," he said, "I'll be taking over your hall."
"You… you can't…"
Li Tian leaned down, voice like frost.
"Say that again. And I'll devour more than just your Qi."
Zhao fainted.
That afternoon, rumors spread like wildfire.
—Li Tian had defeated Instructor Zhao.
—He'd done it in ten seconds.
—He'd absorbed his power.
—He was reborn. Different. Dangerous.
By dusk, Li Tian's name had returned to the sect's internal ranking board—for the first time in three years.
[Outer Disciple Rankings – Updated]
• Rank 481 – Li Tian (Silver Tier)
• Rank 482 – Zhao Mu
[System Update: You are now visible to Talent Scouters.]
Li Tian sat alone at the edge of a training cliff, knees folded, eyes closed.
His hands trembled slightly—not from fear, but from the aftershocks of Devour. The power he'd absorbed was still circulating in his veins, wild and bitter.
It wasn't perfect.
The system was too raw. Too incomplete.
But it was working.
He could climb again.
Not as the fool he had once been.
As something more.
[System Message: Tutorial Phase Ending Soon]
[Unlocked: System Quests]
———
📜 QUEST: Claim What Was Stolen
Target: Retrieve the Heavenly Flame Manual stolen by Elder Mo Jian
Location: Forbidden Scripture Archive, North Wing
Reward: 100 Fear Points | +15% Core Reconstruction
Deadline: 5 days
———
Li Tian opened his eyes.
He remembered that manual.
It had been his grandfather's—a secret family technique sealed within the sect's vault. Elder Mo Jian had stolen it and framed him for theft, resulting in his expulsion from the inner hall.
That single betrayal had started everything.
He stood, spine straight.
Five days.
He would take back what was his.
Night settled.
In the shadows of the sect, a pale woman watched him from afar.
Clad in silver-white robes, with a jade mask over her face, she whispered into a crystal shard.
"Target Li Tian… potential anomaly. Requesting observation clearance from the Pavilion of Shadows."
The shard pulsed once.
[Request Approved.]