Wanchuan Continent.
A land carved apart by rivers—seventy-three thousand great waterways cutting through endless mountains and wilderness. A single river could stretch for thousands of miles, separating peaks from peaks, kingdoms from kingdoms. And within each river territory lived countless beings—cultivators, beasts, sects, empires… all fighting for power, for fate.
Within the domain of Wind-Thunder River, there was a place feared by many and coveted by even more—
Dragon Void Cave.
It was the remains of an ancient battlefield, sealed away by old powers. Each year, on the third day of the third month, the seals around the ruins weakened. Disciples from the Wind-Thunder Mystic Sect and nearby sects would flood into the area to undergo trials and search for treasures.
The dangers were endless. But if one could seize a true opportunity within those ruins…
they could leapfrog their cultivation and change their destiny.
Deep inside Dragon Void Cave, in the bottom of a dried-up well—
A roar tore through the darkness.
"Lin Ye! Hand over the Saint Realm Secret Scroll! Otherwise, your soul and body will be erased!"
Lin Ye staggered, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. His eyes burned with fury.
"Lu Jue! We've been brothers for decades. For a mere Saint Realm scroll, you set up a Blood Soul Refining Formation just to kill me?! I… I misjudged you!"
Lu Jue laughed coldly, the sound filled with disdain.
"Brothers? Don't insult me. I'm a prince of the Heaven-Blessed Imperial Bloodline."
His gaze sharpened like a blade.
"And you? You're nothing but a lowborn nobody who got lucky."
"You really thought becoming a Ninth-Grade Alchemist made you my equal?"
His voice turned cruel.
"Be smart. Give me the scroll. I'll spare your life… and you can continue making pills for my royal clan."
Lin Ye's fists clenched so hard his nails cut into flesh.
Then—
his aura surged.
"Lin Ye… what are you doing?!"
Someone screamed.
"Don't… DON'T! You're detonating your—!"
Rage. Madness. Hatred. Regret.
A storm of emotions exploded inside him.
And then—
everything went black.
Splash.
A boy suddenly sat upright in a pool of blood.
The stench of damp rot and ancient decay rushed into his nose, forcing him fully awake.
His breathing grew heavy.
He stared at his hands—his fingers, trembling slightly.
"I… I'm alive?"
"No… this isn't…"
His pupils shrank.
"I… I was reborn."
His voice was hoarse, almost unbelieving.
"And this place…"
He lifted his head, eyes flickering with realization.
"Wanchuan Continent!"
Memories slammed into his mind like knives.
Not his own memories—this body's memories.
Fragments, pain, fear, betrayal… pouring into him in a violent torrent.
Lin Ye swallowed hard as he quickly pieced everything together.
In his previous life, he had been a Ninth-Grade Alchemist from Shenchuan Continent, a cultivator who had already stepped into the Return-to-Abyss Realm.
An unparalleled genius who cultivated both alchemy and martial arts.
And yet, at the height of his power, he was betrayed by someone he had called a friend for years—
Lu Jue, the prince of the Heaven-Blessed Imperial Bloodline.
Lu Jue had set up the cruelest, most vicious killing formation imaginable.
A formation meant to erase him completely.
But the original owner of this body hadn't fared any better.
During a sect trial, he had found a spiritual herb at the bottom of a deep well. After he sent the herb upward, expecting praise or reward—
his fellow disciple, Zhou Taian, struck him in the chest with a single palm.
He fell back into the well.
Bones shattered.
Organs ruptured.
And he died.
To make sure no one discovered the truth, the well was sealed with a massive boulder, blocking out the light.
Leaving him there to rot in silence.
Lin Ye exhaled slowly, the coldness in his eyes deepening.
"So you and I… we died the same way."
Betrayed.
Discarded.
Buried alive.
He clenched his jaw.
"Since I've been reborn in Wanchuan Continent… I will rise again."
His voice grew colder.
"I will return to the peak."
"And then…"
His eyes flashed with killing intent.
"I will go back to Shenchuan and crush the Heaven-Blessed Imperial Bloodline under my feet."
His lips curled into a chilling smile.
"And Zhou Taian?"
"I'll kill him for you."
Lin Ye had once stood at the top of the world. His will was firm, his mind tempered. After surviving death itself, he adjusted quickly.
Right now, he needed to assess his condition.
He examined his body.
His brows furrowed.
"Both legs broken… ribs fractured… internal damage…"
"Left arm fractured."
He felt the weak spiritual power circulating within him.
"Cultivation… Spirit Spring Realm, Sixth Layer."
He almost laughed.
"What a pathetic level."
He could feel it—he was barely hanging onto life.
The cultivation system of this world matched Shenchuan's:
Spirit Spring Realm
Qi Sea Realm
Earth Transformation Realm
Heavenly Phenomenon Realm
Star River Realm
Moon Wheel Realm
Sun Radiance Realm
Return-to-Abyss Realm
Saint Domain Realm
In his previous life, Lin Ye had already reached the Ninth Layer of Return-to-Abyss Realm, just one step away from the Saint Domain. He even possessed a Saint Domain scroll—
only to die before he could unlock its secrets.
He glanced around the sealed well and shook his head.
"The strongest in Wind-Thunder Mystic Sect is only at the Heavenly Phenomenon Realm… and they dare call themselves a 'sect'?"
He was about to circulate his old cultivation technique and heal his injuries—
When suddenly—
his vision drowned in crimson.
BOOM!
A wave of blood crashed inside his mind.
A vast, endless Blood Sea erupted in his consciousness. Its tides roared like a thousand storms.
And from the bottom of that Blood Sea…
a towering crimson mountain rose.
A blood-red peak stabbed toward the sky.
Carved on its surface were four ancient characters, bold and violent—
Nine Revolutions Asura Art.
Below it, a single line of annotation:
[When the Nine Revolutions are complete… even Saints can be slaughtered.]
Only seven words.
Yet they carried enough dominance to shake the heavens.
Lin Ye's whole body trembled.
Even without his old cultivation, his will and experience were still at the Return-to-Abyss level.
And yet, just reading that sentence made his heart pound.
That alone proved how terrifying this technique truly was.
"Why is this in my mind…?"
His eyes widened.
Then—
he understood.
"The Saint Domain scroll!"
"That scroll… it wasn't a map. It wasn't a treasure record."
"It was…"
His voice turned shaky with excitement.
"A cultivation art!"
Lin Ye laughed, the sound echoing through the dead well like madness.
"Hahaha… so this is it…!"
"No wonder I could never open it in my previous life…"
"The price…"
He clenched his fist.
"The price was death."
But now?
Now he had paid it.
The crimson peak continued rising.
The first layer of the technique appeared, engraved clearly.
Lin Ye memorized it immediately, engraving every word into his soul.
Then he began cultivating.
The endless Blood Sea in his mind wasn't an illusion.
It was real power.
It became his source.
"I can… draw power from it."
Lin Ye tested the technique.
The moment the Nine Revolutions Asura Art began circulating—
a thread of power rose from the Blood Sea and poured into his body.
It transformed into his own energy.
Blood-Asura Mystic Qi.
His cultivation method rapidly formed.
A single strand of Blood-Asura Mystic Qi condensed…
then thickened like a coiling serpent.
His previous limit at the Sixth Layer shattered instantly.
BANG!
Spirit Spring Realm — Seventh Layer!
The external injuries on his legs and arms began mending.
Lin Ye continued.
More power surged from the Blood Sea.
BOOM!
His Blood-Asura Mystic Qi roared and expanded, flooding through his meridians and acupoints—
Spirit Spring Realm — Eighth Layer!
BOOM!
Spirit Spring Realm — Ninth Layer!
A powerful wave of energy washed through him, healing his external wounds completely.
His internal injuries, however, still lingered—they would take time.
But Lin Ye's eyes burned brighter than ever.
He smiled slowly in the darkness.
"Good."
"This is only the beginning."
"Strange… why does it smell so strongly of blood?"
Lin Ye frowned. The stench was thick—sharp enough to sting his nose.
He released a thread of mystic qi, and in the pitch-black well a faint red glow flickered to life.
As he moved closer to the walls, his eyes narrowed.
Growing all along the stone surface… were clusters of Blood Spirit Grass.
His breath caught.
"This Blood Spirit Grass is at least a thousand years old. Even if it's considered a common herb… a specimen this old is easily Second-Grade."
Herbs were ranked from First to Ninth Grade.
Pills were the same.
In his previous life, Lin Ye had mastered Ninth-Grade Alchemy, becoming the one and only Ninth-Grade Alchemist on Shenchuan Continent.
To most people, Blood Spirit Grass was closer to poison. Consuming it would send their blood surging out of control.
But they didn't understand—
The roots were one of the finest medicines for healing internal injuries.
Lin Ye pulled out three stalks, keeping the leaves for later. He crushed the roots between his teeth and swallowed them down.
A thick, metallic bitterness exploded in his mouth and rushed straight up to his head.
He almost gagged.
But he forced it down and began refining the medicinal energy inside his body.
Immediately, his damaged organs flared with pain—like fire ripping through flesh.
Sweat drenched his forehead, but Lin Ye didn't make a sound.
He simply endured.
Half an hour later…
The burning pain finally eased.
And for the first time since waking up, Lin Ye felt his body lighten—like he could breathe again.
With his injuries stabilized, Lin Ye moved without hesitation.
His figure shot up the well wall like a shadow.
The dried well was more than thirty meters deep, but he reached the top in seconds.
A massive boulder sealed the opening.
He placed his hands against it and pushed.
His Spirit Spring Realm Ninth Layer strength erupted.
Yet the boulder barely shifted.
"This stone weighs at least thirty thousand jin."
Lin Ye's eyes sharpened.
"Zhou Taian is only Spirit Spring Ninth Layer. There's no way he moved this himself."
He exhaled slowly.
"But I don't need to move it."
"I just need to break the edge of the well."
Blood-Asura Mystic Qi surged into his fist.
He stepped forward.
And punched.
BOOM!
The blast shattered the rim of the well.
His fingers scraped and bled slightly from the impact—but the boulder above instantly lost balance.
It rolled downward with a thunderous crash.
Lin Ye sprang upward, flipping out of the well in a smooth motion—
And for the first time, he saw daylight again.
The moment his feet touched the ground—
Four figures surrounded him.
The men wore unfamiliar robes, but the memories of the original body surfaced instantly.
Earthfire Sect.
A notorious bandit sect within the Wind-Thunder River domain.
One of them sneered.
"Heh. Wind-Thunder Mystic Sect brat… whatever treasure was in that well, hand it over."
He tilted his head, voice dripping with malice.
"Do that, and we'll let you keep a whole corpse."
Their cultivation levels were clear.
All four—
Spirit Spring Realm Ninth Layer.
"Perfect."
Lin Ye's eyes flashed with a cold, violent gleam.
"I've been in a foul mood."
He stepped forward—
And charged them.
Martial Technique — Sky-Shattering Finger.
He thrust out a single finger.
It moved like lightning.
The leader of the Earthfire Sect felt a sudden chill crawl up his spine.
For a split second, it was as if death itself had locked onto him.
His mind blanked.
His blade swing slowed.
And Lin Ye's finger pierced straight through his throat.
PFFFT!
Blood-Asura Mystic Qi detonated inside his neck.
His head exploded into a mangled mess.
A ruined skull rolled across the ground.
The other three slashed their long sabers toward him—
But Lin Ye kicked the corpse toward one of them.
The bandit instinctively cleaved down, splitting the body in half—
And in that instant…
Lin Ye moved.
Both hands shot out.
Two more strikes.
Two more Sky-Shattering Fingers.
Two throats punctured.
Two bodies fell.
Dead before they could even scream.
The last man froze, his face draining of color.
"T-this…!"
He roared and swung wildly.
"Earthfire Blade Art!"
A wave of scorching saber qi surged forward like flame.
But to Lin Ye…
It was laughably slow.
The technique was full of holes.
He took one step—
And vanished.
The bandit's eyes widened.
Lin Ye appeared beside him.
Before he could react, Lin Ye's hand clamped onto his throat.
"I'll ask once."
Lin Ye's voice was calm, almost casual.
"But don't mistake that for mercy."
"Who told you to wait here and ambush me?"
The bandit's body trembled.
Something in Lin Ye's eyes…
made him feel like he'd fallen into an abyss.
"I… I don't know… I swear—"
CRACK.
Lin Ye crushed his neck without hesitation.
All four were Spirit Spring Ninth Layer cultivators—
And Lin Ye killed them like slaughtering chickens.
A sudden roar shook the trees.
ROAR!
A dark shadow leapt from the forest.
Crimson eyes. Cold fangs. Steel-needle bristles. Claws that could tear through stone.
Lin Ye paused.
Then sighed, almost helplessly.
"A Second-Rank feral beast… a Tusked Hyena-Boar."
He rolled his wrist.
And a faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"…It's been a long time since I've had to kill little animals like this."