The sky was bleeding.
At first, Li Tian thought it was just the sunset casting crimson hues across the clouds. But then he smelled it — the iron tang of fresh blood drifting with the mountain wind. The kind of smell that stuck to your throat, thick and choking. His wooden training sword slipped from his hand and clattered against the stone tiles.
Screams followed.
Not distant echoes. Not training cries. Real, ragged, pleading screams.
He ran.
Barefoot, robes fluttering, heart pounding like a war drum in his chest, he sprinted past the cherry blossom trees that lined the inner courtyard. Their petals, usually soft and pink, were now soaked red and torn, scattered like fallen dreams. One of them was on fire. Flames licked the trunk as if trying to erase beauty from the world.
He skidded to a stop at the main gate of Azure Serpent Sect.
And his world shattered.
---
Bodies. Everywhere. Brothers, sisters, elders — torn apart like dolls. Swords impaled through chests, heads crushed like melons. Blood ran in rivers through the stone paths, collecting in the cracks like dark veins. And at the center of it all stood the enemy.
The Crimson Sky Clan.
Their leader, Grandmaster Yuan Huo, was dressed in flowing robes of deep maroon, embroidered with golden dragons that seemed to move with every flick of his hand. His eyes were cold. Dead. As if life was a passing inconvenience.
He was smiling.
"Li Tian!" a voice cried out, weak but familiar.
He turned sharply. There, beneath the collapsing structure of the scroll hall, was his senior sister, Mei Lin. Her leg was pinned beneath a fallen beam, her blood pooling like a halo around her body.
He dashed to her side, hands trembling as he tried to lift the beam.
"It's okay…" she whispered. "You… need to run. They're killing everyone."
"I won't leave you!" His voice cracked. "I won't—!"
A blast of fire exploded meters behind them, shaking the ground. A wave of heat rushed over them as another elder screamed in agony. Li Tian's fingers finally found strength, adrenaline surging, and he heaved the beam just enough to pull her free.
Her leg was mangled. Bone exposed. She bit her lip until it bled but didn't scream.
"We have to go," she said. "Now."
But as he turned, a shadow fell across them.
Yuan Huo himself stood just ten steps away, his golden blade dripping with fresh blood. Behind him, the last protective barrier of the sect cracked and shattered into sparkling dust.
"Found the last rat," Yuan Huo said calmly. "Let me end your suffering."
---
Time froze.
Li Tian couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. His legs refused to move. Mei Lin reached for him, her hand trembling, her voice barely audible.
"Run."
He didn't.
---
The blade came down in a golden arc.
A flash of light. A scream. Blood splashed across his face.
Mei Lin's body slumped forward, the sword embedded through her back, piercing her heart.
"No…" The word escaped him like a prayer. "No no no—NO!"
He reached for her, held her close. Her blood was warm. Still fresh. But her eyes… already fading. Her lips moved, but no sound came. Then nothing.
Dead.
Everything inside Li Tian broke.
He screamed. It wasn't a sound of fear. It was pure, shattering agony — the kind that made the heavens weep and the ground mourn. He clutched her lifeless body as Yuan Huo raised his sword again.
But before it struck—
A voice echoed in his mind.
> "Do you want revenge?"
The world turned silent.
> "Do you wish to burn the sky that allowed this?"
> "Say yes… and let the gods fall with them."
Li Tian blinked. The air around him had turned cold. Time slowed. Even Yuan Huo seemed frozen in place.
> "Say yes."
And he did.
"Yes."
---
Something ancient awakened.
From deep within his soul, a black light erupted — not bright, not warm, but suffocating, like a void swallowing everything in its path. His chest seared with pain, a symbol branding itself into his flesh: a broken crown wreathed in chains.
Yuan Huo recoiled, his eyes narrowing. "What… is that?"
The ground trembled.
A voice, no longer in his head but all around, laughed — low, smooth, and terrifying.
> [SYSTEM OF THE FALLEN GOD: INITIATED]
> HOST ACCEPTED — LI TIAN, DISCIPLE OF ASH.
> WELCOME TO HELL.
Li Tian screamed again, but this time it wasn't pain. It was transformation.
Veins of black lightning burst across his body. His eyes glowed with a deep violet hue. The wind howled as if the heavens themselves feared what had just been born.
Yuan Huo attacked.
His sword came down with the force to split mountains.
Li Tian raised his hand.
And stopped it.
Fingers wrapped around cold steel. He squeezed. The blade cracked.
"What—" Yuan Huo's face twisted in disbelief.
Li Tian's voice was cold. Too cold. "You took everything from me."
He pulled Yuan Huo close, eyes inches from the man's. "So I'll take everything from you."
> [HATE POINTS GAINED: 15,000] [UNLOCKED SKILL: SOUL DRAINING PALM – LVL 1]
Li Tian struck.
Yuan Huo screamed as his soul was ripped from his body in a spiraling torrent of black mist. His flesh aged in seconds. Hair turned white. Eyes hollowed. The great cultivator collapsed like a puppet with cut strings.
Dead.
For a moment, there was silence.
Then the system whispered again, like poison in his ear:
> "This is just the beginning."
> "To kill them all… you must become worse than them."
---
Li Tian stood amid the ruins of his sect. His hands still shaking. His face stained with tears and blood. But his heart? Cold.
The boy had died today. Along with Mei Lin, and the hundred others who would never see the sun again.
What remained… was something else.
Not a hero.
Not a savior.
Just a vessel of wrath.
And the sky, once bleeding… now knelt.