Chapter 1: The Vessel and the Butcher
The morning sun bled over the peaks of the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range, casting long, jagged shadows across the limestone plaza of the Spirit Beast Sect. War drums thundered, their deep resonance vibrating in the chests of the ten thousand disciples gathered below.
Today was not just a celebration; it was a coronation of potential.
At the center of the plaza, atop the Jade Altar, stood a young man. He looked no older than eighteen, with sharp brows like drawn swords and eyes that held the clarity of a mountain spring. His white robes fluttered in the wind, embroidered with the golden insignia of a roaring tiger.
This was Lin Yun. The Chief Disciple. The genius who had awakened his Spirit Veins at five, formed his Qi Cyclone at ten, and reached the peak of the Spirit Gathering Realm at fifteen.
Today, he would condense his Beast Core, the source of power for every cultivator in their sect, and step into the Earth Spirit Realm.
"Lin Yun! Lin Yun! Lin Yun!"
The chant rose from the crowd like a tidal wave. Lin Yun looked down, a humble smile gracing his lips. He did not cultivate for the fame; he cultivated to repay the man sitting on the obsidian throne behind him.
Sect Master Gu Cang.
Gu Cang rose from his throne. He was an elderly man with a long silver beard and eyes that usually held a stern warmth. Today, however, they shimmered with an intensity that Lin Yun mistook for pride.
"Silence!" Gu Cang's voice was soft, yet it silenced the drums instantly, infused with powerful Qi.
He walked forward, placing a withered hand on Lin Yun's shoulder.
"Yun'er. Today is the most important day of your life. As your master, I have watched you grow from an orphan begging in the snow to the pillar of our sect."
"It is all thanks to Master's grace," Lin Yun said, bowing deeply, his forehead touching the cold jade floor. "Without Master, Lin Yun is nothing."
"Rise," Gu Cang said gently. "Because you are my greatest achievement, I cannot allow you to condense a mediocre core. The beast souls you hunted in the forest... they are trash. Unworthy of you."
The crowd gasped. The beast souls Lin Yun had hunted were High Tier Earth Beasts. They were treasures to anyone else.
Gu Cang reached into his sleeve and pulled out a wooden box carved from Spirit Sapping Wood. The moment the lid clicked open, the temperature on the entire mountain plummeted.
ROAR!
A phantom sound, not heard by the ears but felt by the soul, swept across the plaza. Disciples with weaker cultivation fell to their knees, vomiting blood. Even the sky seemed to darken.
Floating inside the box was a sphere the size of a pigeon's egg. It swirled with chaotic colors, crimson, violet, and abyssal black. It pulsed like a living heart.
"Heavens!" an Elder cried out, trembling. "Is that... is that the Heavenly Beast Core found in the Forbidden ruins fifty years ago?"
"The one no one could refine?"
"The one that killed three Elders just by touching it?"
Gu Cang ignored them. He looked only at Lin Yun.
"This is the Core of the Void Splitting Heavenly Tiger. A beast of legend. I have held onto it for decades, waiting for someone with a physique strong enough to withstand its pressure. That person is you, Lin Yun."
Lin Yun's heart raced. A Heavenly Beast Core? This was a treasure that could start wars between empires. And his master was giving it to him?
"Master... this is too precious," Lin Yun stammered.
"Take it!" Gu Cang ordered, his voice growing stern. "Do not disappoint me. Refine it. Now. Before the heavens realize what we are doing."
Moved to tears by his master's generosity, Lin Yun nodded resolutely.
"I will not let you down!"
He sat cross legged on the altar. Taking a deep breath, he levitated the chaotic, terrifying core out of the box. With a shout, he swallowed it whole.
BOOM!
The moment the core entered his body, Lin Yun felt like he had swallowed a star.
His skin turned red instantly, steam rising from his pores. His meridians bulged like snakes beneath his skin, threatening to burst. The pain was absolute; it felt as if a million blades were scraping the inside of his bones.
Hold on. Master is watching, he told himself.
He circulated the Beast King Scripture, guiding the violent, tyrannical energy into his Dantian. The energy fought back. It was wild, ancient, and proud. It did not want to be tamed by a human.
One hour passed. Then two.
The sun began to set, painting the sky in hues of blood. Lin Yun was bleeding from his eyes, nose, and ears. But he did not waver. He clamped his mind down on the beast's will, crushing it with sheer determination.
Submit! Lin Yun roared internally.
Suddenly, a golden pillar of light erupted from his body, piercing the clouds. The chaotic energy calmed, swirling obediently into his Dantian, forming a solid, radiant core.
A wave of power, ten times stronger than any normal Earth Spirit Realm cultivator, washed over the plaza.
Success!
Lin Yun opened his eyes. The world looked different, sharper, slower. He felt invincible. He had done it. He had refined the unrefinable.
"Master!" Lin Yun exclaimed, joy bursting in his chest. He turned to face Gu Cang, eager to see the pride on the old man's face. "I did i"
The air behind him ripped open.
A shadow moved faster than sound. Before Lin Yun could even stand, a palm struck his chest.
Bang!
The force was cataclysmic. It was not a spar; it was a killing blow meant to shatter his heart.
Instincts honed by years of life and death training kicked in. The Heavenly Beast Core inside him pulsed, releasing a burst of protective energy. Lin Yun crossed his arms just in time.
He was blasted backward, his feet ploughing deep furrows into the jade floor, stopping only at the very edge of the altar.
"Who dares?!" Lin Yun roared, coughing up a mouthful of blood. The protective energy had saved his life, but his arms were fractured.
He looked up. The attacker stood in the dissipating dust. He was dressed in black, wearing a mask. But the blow he had used, the specific flow of Qi, it was familiar.
"Who sent you?" Lin Yun demanded, channeling his remaining energy.
The attacker did not speak. He lunged again, a dagger appearing in his hand, glowing with a sinister green light.
Lin Yun gritted his teeth. Flash Step!
He dodged to the side, his movement enhanced by the Heavenly Core. He was faster than before. Much faster. He caught the attacker's wrist and with a savage twist slammed him into the ground.
With his other hand, Lin Yun ripped the mask off the assailant's face.
"Let's see whose dog you ar"
The words died in his throat. The world seemed to stop spinning. The pain in his broken arms vanished, replaced by a cold, hollow numbness in his soul.
The face staring back at him was Gu Cang.
His master. The father figure who had raised him. The man who had just given him the core.
"Master?" Lin Yun whispered, his voice trembling. "Why? Is this a test?"
Gu Cang's expression did not change. There was no shame, no guilt. Only a terrifying, naked greed. The warmth from before was gone, replaced by the cold indifference of a butcher looking at livestock.
"A test? No, Yun'er," Gu Cang said, his voice eerily calm. "It is a harvest."
"Harvest...?"
Gu Cang stood up, brushing the dust from his robes.
"That core... do you really think I would give a god tier treasure to a brat like you out of the kindness of my heart?"
Gu Cang laughed, a dry, rasping sound.
"I tried to refine that core ten years ago. It nearly destroyed me. My body is too old, my potential exhausted. The core rejected me. I needed a filter. I needed a young, vibrant vessel to tame the wild energy, to soften the core, to merge with it first."
Lin Yun took a step back, horror dawning on him.
"You... you used me?"
"You were the perfect vessel, Lin Yun," Gu Cang said, walking closer. "Your talent was exceptional. I raised you, fed you pills, taught you the best techniques, all for this moment. To make your body the perfect sheath for my sword."
"But I am your disciple!" Lin Yun screamed, tears mixing with the blood on his face. "I loved you like a father!"
"And that is why you were useful," Gu Cang sneered. "Affection makes a tool obedient."
Suddenly, Gu Cang released his full cultivation base, the Sky Spirit Realm. The pressure was immense. Lin Yun, exhausted from the refining process and injured, fell to his knees.
"Now," Gu Cang's eyes glowed with madness. "Give it back."
"No!" Lin Yun tried to circulate his Qi, but Gu Cang was too fast.
The Sect Master's hand, wreathed in distinct, sharp Qi claws, plunged straight into Lin Yun's abdomen.
"ARGHHHHH!"
The scream tore through the silence of the sect. The disciples below watched in frozen horror, unable to comprehend what was happening. Their beloved Sect Master was gutting their Chief Disciple.
Gu Cang twisted his hand inside Lin Yun's Dantian. He grabbed the freshly formed, glowing Heavenly Beast Core.
"Mine," Gu Cang hissed.
With a sickening squelch, he ripped his hand out.
Lin Yun collapsed, blood fountaining from the gaping hole in his stomach. His vision blurred. The coldness of death began to creep up his legs. He watched helplessly as Gu Cang held the bloody core up to the light, marveling at its beauty. It was stable now. Tamed. Ready for him.
"Master..." Lin Yun wheezed, reaching out a trembling hand.
Gu Cang looked down at him with disgust.
"You served your purpose well. But a broken tool is just trash."
He delivered a heavy kick to Lin Yun's chest.
Lin Yun's body flew backward, off the edge of the Jade Altar, over the precipice of the mountain.
Behind the altar lay the Cloud Severing Cliff. A drop of ten thousand feet into a mist so thick that birds refused to fly through it.
As Lin Yun fell, the wind howling in his ears, he saw Gu Cang standing at the edge, wiping the blood from the core, not even sparing him a second glance.
The betrayal hurt more than the hole in his gut. The hatred ignited in that moment was hotter than the core he had just lost.
Gu Cang! Lin Yun's mind screamed into the void. If I die, I will become a ghost and haunt you! If I live... I will tear the heavens apart to kill you!
Darkness swallowed him. The wind roared. And then, silence.
...
Crack.
The sound of breaking branches echoed in the damp air.
Lin Yun crashed through the canopy of ancient trees at the bottom of the ravine. His body, already broken, slammed into the unforgiving earth. He rolled, tumbling through jagged rocks, until he came to a stop against a mossy wall.
He should not have survived. But the residual energy of the Heavenly Beast Core, the tiny traces left in his blood, had kept his heart beating for just a few seconds longer.
He lay there, unable to move a finger. His Dantian was destroyed. His cultivation was gone. He was paralyzed, bleeding out in a nameless grave.
Is this how it ends?
His vision was fading to black. But just as his eyes began to close, he felt something.
Breathing.
It was not the wind. It was slow, rhythmic, and incredibly heavy.
Lin Yun forced his heavy eyelids open one last time.
He was not outside anymore. He had crashed through the entrance of a hidden cave. The air here was thick, heavy with an aura so ancient it made the Sect Master's power feel like a candle before the sun.
Deep in the shadows of the cave, two vertical slits opened.
Golden eyes.
They were massive, glowing with a terrifying intelligence. They locked onto Lin Yun's broken body.
A voice echoed directly inside his mind. It was a woman's voice, majestic, ancient, and laced with absolute authority.
"A human... falling from the sky? And he reeks of the Void Splitting Tiger..."
The darkness shifted. Scales, dark as the void and shimmering with iridescent starlight, scraped against the stone.
Lin Yun wanted to speak, to beg for help, or perhaps to beg for a quick death. But his throat was filled with blood.
The voice spoke again, sounding amused.
"Your soul burns with hatred, boy. It tastes... delicious."
A massive claw, sharp enough to slice through reality, extended from the shadows. It hovered inches from Lin Yun's face.
"Sleep," the dragon whispered. "If you survive the night, perhaps I will not eat you."
A mist of green energy descended from the claw, enveloping Lin Yun. The pain vanished, replaced by a deep, unnatural slumber.
His life as the genius disciple was over.