Ash tasted like burnt copper on Ren Shi’s tongue. Crushed beneath a fallen support beam, his left leg throbbed with a white-hot agony that threatened to tear his consciousness away. Black smoke coiled through the ruined courtyard of his ancestral home, carrying the sickening sweet scent of roasted flesh. Embers drifted through the night air like dying fireflies, landing on the broken corpses of his kin. Around him lay the wreckage of a once-proud cultivation dynasty. Men, women, and children he had known his entire life were now nothing more than charred piles of bone and melted spiritual jade. Gold-clad figures moved through the destruction, their boots kicking aside priceless family heirlooms with casual indifference. "Search every corner," a cold, aristocratic voice ordered from the center of the courtyard. Boots crunched on shattered roof tiles nearby, drawing closer to Ren's hiding spot. Ren pressed his back tighter against the crumbling obsidian tombstone of his grandfather, holding his breath as a cough threatened to rip from his chest. His ribs were cracked, and every shallow breath felt like inhaling shards of broken glass. Memories of this very courtyard from just hours ago flashed through his mind. It had been a sanctuary of quiet cultivation, filled with the laughter of his younger sister and the calm guidance of his father. Now, everything was painted in shades of charcoal and blood. A gap in the stone offered a narrow view of three Enforcers of the Heavenly Tribunal. Pristine white cloaks trimmed with heavy gold thread hung from their shoulders, completely untouched by the soot that covered everything else. Floating above their shoulders were glowing halos of pure spiritual energy—the unmistakable mark of high-level cultivation. Levels of power in the Nine Heavens were absolute, and these men carried the oppressive weight of Level-4 Capacité. Against a nameless cultivator like Ren, who had barely unlocked his first cultivation node, they were nothing short of gods. "Nothing but dust and bones here, Captain," one Enforcer called out, kicking a shattered ancestral tablet into the embers. "Keep looking," the Captain replied, his voice dripping with aristocratic disdain. "Our orders are clear. The Primordial Invocation must be retrieved, or every member of this bloodline must be confirmed dead. The Tribunal leaves no loose ends." Rage flared in Ren’s chest, hot and violent enough to momentarily drown out his physical pain. He clenched his fists so hard his nails sliced into his palms, drawing fresh, warm blood. Decades of peaceful guarding had been his family's way, living in seclusion and never seeking conflict. Yet, the Heavenly Tribunal had descended like a hammer from the sky, wiping out centuries of legacy in a single, terrifying hour. Power was what they wanted, and they had slaughtered everyone to get it. Forbidden Capacité slept within his bloodline, a legacy the high-ranking immortals feared. Ren closed his eyes, feeling the ancient, coiled mass of energy deep within his soul. It was a dark, hunger-filled void, waiting for a spark to ignite it. But he knew the horrific price of waking it. Every time he reached into that void, a piece of himself would be consumed. Sanity, memories, the very essence of who he was—all of it was currency for the monsters sleeping in the dark. "Over here!" another Enforcer shouted, his voice echoing off the scorched walls. "I found the main hall's vault. It's been blasted open, but there are traces of high-grade spiritual energy." "Check for survivors," the Captain commanded, his footsteps moving away slightly. "If any of the main bloodline escaped, they will try to flee to the lower realms." Ren knew he couldn't run. His physical strength was gone, his meridian channels ruptured by the earlier blast of heavenly fire. Survival was his only option, but he could not survive without a miracle. Staring at the broken stone of his grandfather's tomb, he realized this was the end of the line. Either he died here like a dog, or he opened the gate to the monsters. *I will pull down the heavens if I must,* he vowed silently. Lifting his right hand, he stared at his trembling fingers. He opened his mouth and bit down hard on his own palm. Sharp pain flared as his teeth tore through skin and muscle, releasing a thick stream of crimson. Hot, metallic-tasting blood welled up, coating his lips and chin. Kneeling in the dirt, he pressed his bleeding hand against the cold, cracked surface of his grandfather's tombstone. Bloody lines began to connect, his fingers moving with a frantic, desperate rhythm as he drew the intricate, jagged runes of the forbidden summoning array. Crimson liquid smeared against the dark stone, glowing with an unnatural, sickly purple light as it drank his life force. *What will you give?* a voice whispered in the deepest chambers of his mind. It was a voice of pure hunger, ancient and colossal, echoing from a realm far beyond the Nine Heavens. *What is the price for the gaze of the glutton?* Ren’s mind raced as the mental pressure of the entity began to crush his consciousness. He needed power, something strong enough to obliterate these Level-4 Enforcers. Summoning even a fraction of the Primordial Beast, Taotie, required a sacrifice of equal weight. Not blood, not flesh, but something far more precious. Something that defined his very soul. *A memory,* Ren thought, his eyes burning with unshed tears. *Take a memory.* *Which one?* the ancient voice hissed, salivating at the edge of his consciousness. Ren searched his mind, grasping for something he could spare, but every memory of his family felt like a sacred relic. Yet, survival demanded a sacrifice. He focused on his mother. Visions of her standing in the courtyard, her gentle hands holding a basket of star-plums, her soft voice calling his name, filled his mind. Every detail of her face became his anchor. Curving lips, warm eyes, the gentle line of her jaw. Consent was given. An invisible hand seemed to reach into his brain and tear. Sharp, blinding pain ripped through his skull. Ren let out a silent, breathless scream as his vision went entirely white. Inside his mind, the image of his mother began to dissolve. Those warm eyes blurred into gray mist. Soft lines of her smile became a jagged line of static. Within seconds, her face was completely gone, replaced by a terrifying, hollow void of absolute nothingness. He knew he had a mother, he knew she had loved him, but he could no longer recall what she looked like. A vital piece of his childhood had been erased, turned into static. --- Suddenly, air in the courtyard turned ice-cold. Heavy smoke from the burning estate froze in mid-air, suspended like black glass. An oppressive, suffocating pressure descended upon the ruins, heavy enough to crack the stone floor. It felt as if a giant hand had reached down from the heavens to squeeze the very air out of everyone’s lungs. Three Enforcers froze. Glowing halos flickered and dimmed instantly. "What... what is this?" one of them gasped, his knees buckling under the sudden weight. Gravity multiplied, crushing them down, and another cried out as he collapsed to his hands and knees. Ren slowly stood up from behind the tombstone. His eyes were bloodshot, his pupils dilated to the point of blackness. A dark, shadowy aura swirled around his body, dripping from his fingertips like liquid night. Behind him, towering into the smoke-filled sky, a massive, terrifying shape began to manifest. It was a pair of giant, glowing crimson eyes, burning with an insatiable, endless hunger. Phantom gaze of Taotie hung in the air, a manifestation of pure primordial terror. "You..." the Captain of the Enforcers whispered, his eyes wide with absolute horror. He tried to raise his sword, but his arm felt as heavy as a mountain. Sheer spiritual pressure of the Primordial Beast paralyzed his meridians, freezing his level-4 cultivation instantly. Power of this magnitude was impossible. Step by step, Ren walked toward them. He felt completely hollow inside, a gaping wound where his mother's face used to be. Loss made him cold. It made him ruthless. Looking at the paralyzed Enforcers, he saw them not as men, but as insects. "Who sent you?" Ren asked, his voice sounding dual, layered with a deep, echoing growl that did not belong to a human. "Tribunal... the Tribunal," the Captain stammered, sweat pouring down his pale face. "We only follow orders! Please... mercy!" Ren did not answer. He simply raised his bleeding hand and made a crushing motion. In response, the giant crimson eyes in the sky flared. An invisible, crushing force slammed into the two lower-ranking Enforcers. Bones snapped like dry twigs. No screams escaped before they were compressed into bloody heaps on the stone floor, their soul-energy instantly devoured by the phantom maw of Taotie. Captain watched his men die in a fraction of a second, his face completely drained of color. He began to hyperventilate as the invisible force wrapped around his own throat, lifting him slowly into the air. "Wait! Stop!" he choked out, clawing desperately at his neck. Ren stared up at him, his face a mask of cold stone. "You killed my father. You killed my clan. You will find no mercy here." "You... you don't understand," the Captain gasped, his face turning a dark shade of purple. His boots kicked uselessly in the air as his neck bones began to creak under the immense pressure. "Your... your sister..." Ren’s eyes narrowed. "What girl?" "Your sister..." the Captain wheezed, blood beginning to trickle from his nose and eyes. "She... she isn't dead. We didn't kill her." Ren’s heart skipped a beat. His sister, Ren Mei, was supposed to have perished in the initial assault on the inner sanctuary. Believing her body was lost in the ashes, he had given up on her. "Liar," Ren spat, though a desperate spark of hope ignited in his chest. "Not... lying..." the Captain croaked, his vision fading. "Tribunal already possesses her soul-tether... she is alive in the upper realms..." Invisible jaws tightened, and with a sickening crunch, the Captain's neck snapped, his body falling limp as his life-force was sucked into the void.

Chapter 1: Ashes of the Forgotten Lineage