Li Yun's eyes burned like twin suns as he traced the intricate glyphs on the ancient tome. The air around him pulsed with a strange, almost sentient energy, as if the book itself were alive, whispering secrets older than the heavens. This was no ordinary relic—it was the Celestial Codex, a legendary artifact said to contain the power of creation itself. Only one who had walked the highest peaks of the immortal realms could hope to unlock even a fraction of its secrets.
His fingers trembled slightly—not from fear, but from anticipation. The Codex was more than power; it was destiny. Li Yun could feel the surge of energy coiling around his body, reshaping his very essence. Every meridian, every fragment of his soul thrummed in harmony with the tome. This was the culmination of centuries of cultivation, the threshold to a realm few mortals could even perceive.
And yet… something in the air made his blood run cold.
From the heavens above, a palpable tension descended like a storm. The wind twisted unnaturally, carrying whispers of celestial judgment. Li Yun's gaze sharpened, recognizing the signs instantly. The six most formidable entities in existence—the Heavenly Gods themselves—were coming. Six beings whose very presence could unmake mountains, whose divine power dwarfed even the greatest of cultivators.
"They've come," Li Yun muttered, his voice steady, yet laced with a quiet, simmering anger. "So predictable."
His surroundings trembled as golden light streaked through the sky, illuminating the clouds in radiant arcs. The ground beneath him quaked, and the Codex responded, floating slightly above his palms, as if acknowledging the imminent threat.
And then he saw him. Shen Xuan.
The disciple he had trained personally, the one he had once considered like a son. Shen Xuan's expression was unreadable, calm, and yet there was a subtle hunger in his eyes, a glimmer that betrayed his true intent. The promise of shared power had been enough to twist loyalty into betrayal. Li Yun's chest tightened—not with shock, but with an inevitable clarity.
"They promised you the Codex, didn't they?" he said, voice low, a shadow of steel beneath the calm.
Shen Xuan said nothing. He merely lifted a small, intricately carved artifact, its surface etched with runes that glowed faintly. Even from this distance, Li Yun recognized the aura immediately. This was no ordinary tool—it was a divine suppressor, gifted by the Heavenly Gods themselves.
The first of the gods descended, a figure wreathed in silver fire, their presence like a storm of inevitability. The other five followed, each more imposing than the last, their combined aura almost tangible, pressing against Li Yun's mind and body. Every beat of his heart was a challenge, every breath a reminder of how few could withstand such power.
Yet, despite the overwhelming might, Li Yun did not flinch. His eyes narrowed, and a faint smirk tugged at the corners of his lips. He had faced enemies that would shatter entire sects, beasts that could devour worlds, and yet here he stood, unbowed. The difference now was not his ability, but the cunning of betrayal.
Shen Xuan stepped closer. The artifact in his hands pulsed with energy, synchronized with the power of the Heavenly Gods. It radiated an invisible chain, binding Li Yun's aura, intercepting the flow of meridians, suppressing the Codex's full potential. Li Yun's pulse raced—not from fear, but from the sudden, undeniable irritation of being struck from behind.
He moved. Swift, fluid, perfect. A single step and he had closed the distance to Shen Xuan, yet the artifact reacted instantaneously. A wave of force slammed into him, pushing him back violently, throwing him off balance. Pain flared across his back, and for the first time in countless lifetimes, Li Yun's body betrayed a fraction of weakness.
The Heavenly Gods descended in unison, their hands weaving through the air, summoning storms of divine power. Lightning braided with gold and silver, striking at the Codex. Li Yun's eyes blazed; he could feel the threads of the universe tugging against his soul, yet he stood firm, the Codex floating steadily above his open palms, its aura resisting, defiant.
A voice, clear as the ringing of a thousand bells, echoed in his mind: "You are a threat. Your power cannot exist."
Li Yun's lips curled into a bitter smile. "You mistake me for one who fears challenge. You may strike me from the front, but the shadows always remember."
He surged forward, breaking the initial suppression of the artifact with a flicker of spiritual energy. One sweep of his hand sent a shockwave that tore through the first wave of attacks from the Heavenly Gods. Stones shattered, clouds ignited, and the air itself seemed to twist around his power. He could have turned the tide—he would have turned the tide—if not for the artifact embedded by Shen Xuan.
The betrayal was precise, merciless, and devastating. Every strike Li Yun attempted was subtly deflected or absorbed by the combined efforts of the artifact and the celestial interference. Yet even as he was forced backward, pain blooming across his back, Li Yun's mind was calm, calculating.
"Foolish disciple," he hissed, his voice cutting like a blade. "You think you can take what is mine… and the fools who lent you this power? None of you understand the depth of what you've provoked."
Shen Xuan's lips twitched, almost imperceptibly. The reward of the Codex shimmered in his eyes, blinding him to the consequences of his treachery. The six Heavenly Gods, towering and unyielding, could not hide their caution now. Even among their might, there was unease—the energy emanating from Li Yun was not ordinary.
Heaven itself trembled as Li Yun unleashed a fragment of his power, not enough to turn the battle, but enough to carve a mark of warning across the very clouds. Thunder split the sky, and a shadow, dark as night yet brighter than the sun, coiled around him, consuming energy indiscriminately, wild and untamed.
The artifact's suppression began to falter, its runes flickering, yet time had already been stolen. Li Yun's soul—vibrant, boundless, and infinite—was forced into a fragmentary split. Part of it was cast away, slipping from the confines of his mortal body, hurtling toward the earthly realm below.
The Codex slipped from his grasp, hovering midair as if confused, vulnerable. Shen Xuan's expression bloomed with triumph, the Heavenly Gods' eyes gleaming with divine certainty. Li Yun's body, though not destroyed, was weakened, trapped in the liminal space between supreme power and mortal frailty.
But even as his consciousness fragmented, Li Yun's mind remained razor-sharp, burning with the cold fire of inevitability. This is not defeat. This is the beginning.
He glimpsed the world below, a realm of mortality, of weakness… a place where he would return, rebuild, and rise stronger than any of them could imagine. Shen Xuan would remember this moment—not as a victory, but as the ignition of his own doom.
Li Yun's first breath in his new vessel, a young body weak and broken, was shallow but fierce. The Codex, still glowing faintly, hung like a promise in the air. Somewhere above, the six Heavenly Gods and the treacherous disciple celebrated prematurely, unaware that they had merely postponed the inevitable.
A faint smirk touched Li Yun's lips, visible only to the shadows that whispered along the edges of his consciousness. The fire of vengeance, of reclamation, of ultimate domination, flared bright. The fragment of his soul that remained in this body pulsed, and even in fragility, it radiated an unmistakable warning:
Cross me again, and you will witness horrors your divine essence cannot comprehend.
The heavens roared, the Codex shimmered, and Li Yun's rebirth began. In the mortal realm below, a boy's body gasped its first breath—already infused with power far beyond human comprehension. Shadows clung to him, protective, watchful, and unyielding. The path ahead was long, treacherous, and bathed in fury.
And Li Yun, the Celestial Shadow, the Devourer of Fate, was already plotting, already rising, and already watching.