"When Murim marches, the heavens bleed first."
ā Iron Fist Monastery War Sutra
š©ø The Oath of Murim
The moment Jin sat upon the Hollow Flame Throne, something ancient snapped into alignment.
Across the Central Murim Domain, bells rangā
not forged bells, but spiritual war-chimes, embedded in mountains, rivers, and ancestral bones.
Every Murim cultivator felt it.
Not a command.
An invitation to die with meaning.
Iron Fist Jin-Seok rose first, dropping to one knee.
"Iron Fist Monastery pledges body, bone, and breath."
Sword Empress Seo Yul followed, blade reversed, knuckles pressed to stone.
"Ninefold Sword Domain pledges edge and intent."
One by one, Murim knelt.
Not to Jin.
But to the war.
š Heaven Responds
The Broken Sky Rift reacted violently.
Clouds folded inward.
Stars dimmed.
A screamānot of sound, but of pressureāripped through the upper atmosphere.
From theč£ fracture descended the first true invasion force:
Sky Devourers.
They were not dragons.
They were what dragons used as hounds.
Gigantic winged entities with segmented bodies of voidstone and mouths ringed with rotating sigils. Their wings erased qi wherever they passed, leaving cultivators gasping like mortals.
Shadow Marshal Kwon Mu's voice cut through the chaos:
"They're targeting Murim ley lines!"
Jin stood.
The throne dimmed behind him.
"Then they die before touching the ground."
ā The First Engagement
The Sky Devourers struck the Heaven-Step Plateau, a sacred Murim training ground suspended above a canyon of cloud.
Hundreds of disciples were still evacuating.
One Devourer opened its mouth.
Reality bent.
Jin moved.
He did not leap.
He arrived.
The Hollow Flame ignitedānot as explosion, but as density. The air folded around him as he appeared directly in front of the Devourer's maw.
He drove the Leviathan Blade upward.
The blade did not cut flesh.
It cut authority.
The Devourer shrieked as its sigils unraveled, its body collapsing into inert voidstone midair.
It never hit the ground.
Jin turned.
"Murimāadvance."
š„ Murim Unleashed
What followed was not a battle.
It was a demonstration of defiance.
Iron Fist monks struck the sky itself, collapsing void-wings with bare knuckles.
Sword Empress Seo Yul split a Devourer into nine simultaneous deaths, each blade strike arriving before the last finished.
Heavenly Thread Matriarch Yun Wei wrapped an entire squadron in fate-strings and pulled, unraveling them into mist.
Blood rained.
Heaven screamed.
š The Dragon's Gaze
High above, beyond the rift, something vast shifted.
A dragonānot spectral, not sealedāfully manifested.
Its scales reflected galaxies.
Its eyes burned with ancient contempt.
"The Hollow Flame commands mortals againā¦"
Its gaze fixed on Jin.
"Then let us test whether he still bleeds."
The dragon inhaled.
The sky darkened.
š„ Jin's Answer
Jin lifted his head.
The seven Seals along his body rotated, merging into a single sigil across his chestāthe Hollow Seal, now complete.
He spokeānot loudly, but with absolute certainty:
"You want proof?"
He stepped forward.
The Hollow Flame expandedānot outward, but inward, collapsing space into a singularity around him.
"Come closer."
The dragon smiled.
And descended.
š Closing: War Becomes Personal
As the dragon crossed the threshold of the world, every cultivatorāfriend and foe alikeāfelt it.
This was no skirmish.
No probing strike.
This was the moment history would later name:
The First Blood Beneath Heaven
And Jin stood at its centerā
not as a savior,
not as a tyrant,
but as the one who refused to kneel.