The mountain stood like a fang against the heavens—jagged, snow-capped, and wrapped in a mantle of storm. From its cliffs fell rivers of silver mist. The locals called it Mount Ruomu, but the old scrolls called it something else:
The Throne of Crimson Oaths.
Li Shenhai stood at the forest's edge, staring up at its peak. The trail was overgrown, forgotten by the world, save for ravens that circled the summit like sentries. Yun'er stood beside him, silent, her gaze steady. She had chosen to follow him without words.
"We don't belong to the sect anymore," Shenhai muttered.
"We never did," came a rare reply from Yun'er.
He nodded.
With the rusted blade of his father, Stormblade Wuji, slung across his back, Shenhai took the first step into the storm.
Far to the east, Xiao Lan and Wu Feiyan arrived at the ruins of the Temple of Withered Eyes. It had once been a monastery of silent historians—cultivators who sacrificed speech to preserve truth without distortion. Burned to the ground in a forgotten war, the place was a skeleton of blackened stone and frozen ash.
They descended into the crypt, torches casting long shadows.
"The Crimson Soul wasn't born," Feiyan whispered. "It was forged."
Xiao Lan's fingers brushed across carvings—images of warriors kneeling before a figure wrapped in chains, red eyes glowing from within a sunless void.
"Who is that?"
"They called her The Bloodmother," Feiyan said. "First wielder. First curse."
In the deepest chamber, beneath an altar of broken bone, they uncovered a seal, pulsing faintly with crimson light. As Xiao Lan reached out, the seal screamed.
High above, at the peak of Mount Ruomu, in a chamber buried in ice and silence, something stirred.
Chains clinked softly.
A mouth opened for the first time in centuries.
"A child comes," the voice rasped. "One who bears my wound."
A figure stepped forward—eight feet tall, armor fused to flesh, with six swords embedded in its spine like a crown of war. Its eyes glowed like twin dying stars.
"Crimson Soul… you dare return."
The ancient Guardian of the Shrine had awoken.