The night was pitch black.
Cold winds howled across the barren land like the wails of vengeful spirits. The sky, thick with storm clouds, suddenly shifted, just enough for the stars to pierce through, their pale light spilling faintly onto the ground.
Whoooosh...
A violent gust scattered the mist.
What emerged in the starlight was a vision from a nightmare.
The land was soaked in blood. Corpses stretched out in every direction—thousands of them. Some were missing limbs, others had been cleanly decapitated. Heads lay severed beside shattered weapons, while broken banners flapped weakly in the wind. An entire battlefield, left to rot under the indifferent heavens.
Anyone with eyes would know: a dreadful battle had taken place here. One of such scale and slaughter that even the mountains would tremble.
A sliver of moonlight slipped between the clouds, falling silently upon a pair of eyes.
Cold eyes. Empty. Merciless.
They belonged to a boy—barely sixteen—sitting atop a pile of corpses like a lonely king without a crown. Blood stained his robes, his face, his soul.
He looked down at the carnage below him and whispered, voice low and bitter:
"Is this what they all wanted…? Those old fools cultivated for centuries… guarded their lives like treasures. And yet... they all came here to die like beasts."
He laughed—quietly, mockingly. Then coughed.
Wounded and barely conscious, he staggered to his feet.
His eyes fell on the corpse of a sect elder—once revered, now just meat on the ground.
With what little strength he had left, the boy lifted his foot and kicked the body.
Bang!
The head snapped off and rolled across the blood-soaked earth, stopping only when it landed in a pool of scarlet.
"Hmph. Not even their souls survived," he muttered, disdain thick in his voice.
He turned to face the sea of corpses, his eyes narrowing.
"Weren't you the mighty elders of your sects? You clung to your pride and righteousness... and slaughtered each other until none were left to claim victory."
He exhaled slowly, the cold air turning to mist around his lips.
Then he smiled.
Cruel. Cold. And calm.
"Good. Now there's no one left to stand in my way."