Warm light shone on Cade’s swaying, emaciated figure as he spat out a litany of curses.

  The light he assumed would lead him out of this underground hell actually originated from two round, orange crystals embedded in a solid wall of smooth black stone. In the center of the wall was a set of massive metal gates blocking the passage.

  His reserves of strength, both physical and mental, were greatly diminished by the many days he had spent traversing the seemingly endless tunnels. Yet, even faced with this obstacle, he was unwilling to give in to despair. The structure appeared ancient, and since there was nothing else to do, Cade decided to approach the gates.

  He took a few deep breaths and then stood, his knees trembling from the effort. Slowly, he shuffled toward the metal door, clutching the sharpened piece of rib in his bleeding hand. The gates weren’t especially tall—only about ten feet—but their surfaces were covered with an incredibly detailed relief. It depicted an aerial battle: a dozen winged humanoids facing hundreds of humans, some floating in the air, others standing atop massive, flying swords. The humans unleashed a variety of powerful techniques, their enormous manifestations of sabers and swords slicing through the air toward the scaled demons.

  His gaze burned with fascination. The demonic humanoids had powerful, muscular bodies, and their draconic jaws were filled with dagger-like teeth. Cade found himself slowly enthralled by the images, to the point where he forgot his exhaustion.

  Somehow, his consciousness was dragged into the relief. He soon began hearing echoes of combat—explosions, clashes, and the screams of dying warriors sounded incredibly real. With each breath, the experience became more vivid and compelling. Concerned about being unable to leave the vision, he attempted to pull himself away, only to find he couldn’t move.

  Suddenly, one of the winged warriors on the relief turned its head towards Cade. Everything froze in place, the sounds of battle gradually ceasing. He appeared as a young man, with a mane of golden hair and magnetic blood-red eyes. His face was splattered with blood, and he wore an ornate red armor, gilded with countless figures of serpentine beasts. Then his lips moved.

  “Since you showed up, why not come in?”

  A pleasant male baritone, speaking in an ancient accent, resounded through his realm of consciousness. The words carried a powerful charm that sent shivers down his spine. Cade realized the owner of this voice could decide his life and death with a single thought. All ideas of escaping evaporated instantly. Besides, he had no strength left; his life was a candle flame about to flicker out of existence.

  The heavy gates swung open inward without a sound, revealing a vast hall hewn from the same black stone. Its towering ceiling rested on dozens of thick, square pillars. The hall stretched so far that Cade could barely glimpse its far end. The darkness was pierced by soft rings of sunset-colored light, radiating from small crystals set into the pillars, casting a warm glow over the thin layer of mist that clung to the massive stone slabs of the floor.

  “Here is a token of my good will.”

  The words brought an immediate rush of vitality, as if someone had poured the essence of life back into Cade’s weary body. His battered palms and knees healed, muscles firmed, and sagging skin stretched taut once more. Hunger vanished, replaced by a surge of energy, as if he’d just woken from a full night of rest. In the next instant, all the dirt fell away, leaving his body completely clean. Even his mouth felt refreshed, though the rags he wore still reeked. At the same time, the force that had held him in place vanished.

  Cade promptly bowed towards the gates in his most polite tone. “Many thanks, Senior, for your kindness. If there is anything I can do to repay this favor, please guide me.”

  "Just a meager trick," a steady voice answered, then fell silent.

  His mind started racing. Meeting this person could change his life. His father had once told him that great risks often brought immense rewards—a kind of ‘serendipity’—and it was up to each cultivator to have the courage to steer their fate toward greatness. Anyone with the power to restore life to a nearly dying body had to be at the very peak of the cultivation ladder. An expert beyond experts.

  Everything about this situation baffled him. He should be long dead. If his luck was so great, why did his parents have to die? His life was a cruel joke. He realized he had to take the risk and hope the stranger didn’t bring him back from the brink of death just to harm him.

  “Thank you, Senior, for your gracious invitation. I humbly accept.”

  Though he tried to make his words sound confident, deep down he was terrified. It was helplessness taken to its extreme. There was nothing to do but keep moving. Step by step, he made his way toward the far end of the immense hall. Soon, he spotted a large throne of polished black wood, its design twisting like the branches of some unknown tree. Suspended above it hung a massive dragon skull—one he instantly recognized from Jon’s bestiary.

  But it wasn’t the skull that caught his attention, but the person sitting on the throne. It was definitely the winged man from the relief, though he now had golden eyes instead of red, and possessed no wings. His age could not be guessed, as his skin had no blemishes or wrinkles. He had a calm gaze that betrayed a burden of years Cade had never witnessed in anyone.

  Once he approached the throne, he felt two golden irises piercing right through him, unearthing all his secrets. He immediately lowered his eyes and bowed at the waist with his fist cupped in hand, a greeting reserved for a respected elder.

  “Tell me, how did you find yourself in my domain?” The man spoke with a faint smile on his lips. Uncannily, his mouth didn’t move; instead, the words were delivered directly into Cade’s mind, just as before.

  Caught off guard by the directness of the question, he chose to tell the truth, suspecting this person could read him like an open book anyway. “Senior, my mother and I were attacked by unknown cultivators at our home…” His eyes glistened, and his voice trembled as he recounted the events of that terrible night for what felt like the hundredth time. “…On my last few breaths, I found myself at your doorstep. I sincerely apologize for the intrusion, Senior, and once again, I want to thank you for saving my worthless life.”

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “No existence is worthless, as each serves a purpose,” the stranger said, then fell silent.

  Cade didn’t know how to respond. His host's accent marginally resembled one he had overheard in Sacrament City, from a powerful True Core cultivator who was nearly a thousand years old. This being was likely much older. Even the air around the golden-eyed man behaved differently, seeming to separate him from the mundane world.

  Suddenly, the man smiled, displaying perfect white teeth. Cade’s brow furrowed as he glimpsed the protruding fangs. They weren’t excessively long, but noticeable. Beads of sweat trickled down his back.

  I really hope he’s not a vampire.

  “Ah, that’s better,” the man suddenly spoke. “Pardon my rudeness, but I’ve borrowed some of your Common language. Only the current speech patterns, so we can speak comfortably.”

  Cold sweat poured down Cade’s back. Not only was this old monster's cultivation unfathomable, but he could apparently read minds as well.

  “Don’t worry, young friend. This type of shallow knowledge is different from digging up secrets of the mind. I wouldn’t search the soul of an honorable guest unless they gave me a justifiable reason, so be at peace.”

  Cade relaxed a little, but he could not hide the fact that this terrifying man—if he was even human—made him feel completely outclassed, like a mouse standing before a tiger.

  “My name is Lao Ren, and you don’t need to call me Senior, though you probably will anyway. I am not actually here in person; what you’re seeing is a wisp of my soul shaped into my image. As you probably already suspect, I am not human,” Lao Ren smiled again. Only now, Cade noticed that when Lao Ren moved his head, the light would sometimes reflect in his eyes in a manner similar to a cat's or wolf's. He swallowed nervously, wiping his palms on the dirty fabric of his trousers.

  I’m done for. I will never avenge Mom, and I’ll never see Peter and Silk again. I just hope their lives turn out better than mine. Oh crap, what if he’s reading my mind right now?

  Lao Ren appeared oblivious to these thoughts, gazing calmly upon his young guest. “Mine is a race as old as the stars. Compared to humans, our numbers are low, because we no longer are born the natural way. We are the Asura of Chthon. Many beings often mistake us for vampires, which is simply ludicrous. We are creatures of life, not death. The Asura live by consuming life force, just as most races eat lesser beings to sustain themselves. Whilst ours is an existence of neverending appetite, we don’t need to harm people to sate it. Spirit beasts are a common and rich source of qi.”

  This explanation failed to make him feel any safer, though as long as this old monster was willing to talk, he would drink the words from his lips.

  Unexpectedly, the Asura stood up. Cade’s muscles were so taut he nervously jumped back, nearly tripping over his own feet. Lao Ren was half a head taller than him, and of imposing stature, further accentuated by the heavy armor.

  "Don’t worry, like I mentioned, you are safe here. Such a small amount of life force as yours wouldn’t even count as a snack,” the Asura chuckled. There didn’t seem to be any malice in his words, just some mirth. “Come, I want to show you something.”

  Only then did Cade understand what Lao Ren meant by saying it was his soul wisp. There was the slightest transparency to his body, only noticeable when he moved through well-lit areas. As they walked to one of the corners of the hall, Lao Ren’s steps were completely silent; neither did his plate armor clatter. Dim orange crystals lit up as he walked by, as if greeting their master.

  The Asura finally stopped in front of a giant wall engraved with thousands of crystal plates containing images. Some showed his battles, others showed him meeting various inhuman figures or visiting wondrous places. Lao Ren made a grabbing motion with his hand, and one of the plates came off the wall, flying down towards them. It stopped right in front of Cade. Initially colorless, the scene embedded in the crystal began to gain saturation. Within it, Lao Ren was at a much younger age, quite possibly around Cade's own.

  "These walls have many crystals containing scenes from my life preserved into them. They help me recall what happened a long time ago, as my wisp suffers from limited memory,” Lao Ren explained, then began his story.

  “I was born a very long time ago, a human just like you. There was no Brightheart Empire back then, only the Verdant Sea, as far as the eye could see. When I was sixteen, my tribe was attacked by a band of beastborn cannibals. Their greatest delicacies were young cultivators—the younger, the better—as their meat was rich in spiritual qi. That being said, they weren’t particularly picky.”

  An image of a sea of ferocious, heavily tattooed men and women with various bestial features appeared in front of the astounded Cade. Tattooed and wearing bone jewelry, they presented a fearful sight.

  “My parents died in battle with another tribe when I was five. I suppose you could say I was raised by one of the elders. She didn’t care much for me, only valuing my high aptitude. Still, I was grateful to her for not letting me starve. By the age of fifteen, I had reached the seventh stage of Qi Condensation and could support myself. At eighteen, I entered Foundation Establishment. When the cannibals arrived with over a thousand battle-hardened cultivators, the elders were the first to flee. As far as I know, from my generation, I was the only one who managed to escape.”

  The image switched to the aftermath of the attack, showing tattooed men dragging screaming victims through the bloody mud, tying them up, and loading them onto caged carts. Those who resisted were brutally beaten and knocked unconscious; some of the older villagers were killed on the spot.

  "During my escape, which lasted for three days, I killed numerous pursuers. Close to being overwhelmed by their numbers, in desperation, I sought shelter inside a ruined ziggurat, a local forbidden zone. Nobody who went in had ever come out, and my pursuers were forced to give up. Eventually, I discovered the structure’s secret—it was a true inheritance site of a powerful Asura cultivator. All of this took place over thirty thousand years ago."

  Cade couldn’t help but gasp. Thirty thousand years! To his knowledge, the recorded history of the Brightheart Empire reached back a modest ten thousand years. Through the window into his host's memories, Cade watched the massive, tapering shape and felt instant awe. Its base sprawled over a mile, the walls overgrown with dense vegetation, its peak disappearing in the mist.

  "Even at my cultivation level, it took me a week to climb the ziggurat, and I saw countless skeletons along the way. When I reached its flattened peak, to my surprise, I saw a red-robed man standing with his hands clasped behind his back. He was tall and powerfully built, with long golden hair and eyes like twin stars. He radiated such immense power that when those fluctuations reached me, I felt my soul tremble and my blood churn. Standing in front of him, I was like an ant gazing at an elephant. Master may very well be one of the most powerful Asura in existence. However, despite his terrifying presence, he quickly turned out to be the biggest benefactor of my life. Other than bestowing on me his golden essence, Master gave me the Book of Life.”

  A small drop of glowing liquid appeared within Lao Ren’s projection, followed by an image of a thick, palm-sized book bound in red leather. Cade could swear there was a metallic scent of blood coming from the unassuming tome. The book was covered in arcane runes of unknown origin which, upon closer inspection, appeared to be almost alive, pulsing akin to a beating heart.

  The images disappeared with a wave of Lao Ren’s hand. With another wave, a small table and two chairs appeared, followed by a simple clay bottle and two tiny cups. Cade was starting to get used to these miracles. Lao Ren poured a small amount of the liquid into one of the cups.

  "Please, sit, and try this wine of mine. Here’s something I would like you to think about: what would you do if you were given the opportunity to not only claim revenge for your mother but to reach the peak of cultivation?”