Kael stood at the summit of Black Heaven Cliff.
The wind howled relentlessly around him, thick with the heavy stench of blood and burning ash. Below the precipice lay a vast, bottomless abyss—a sea of absolute dark where even light seemed to wither and die.
He had finally reached the apex.
After three hundred grueling years of cultivation, surviving countless slaughterhouses, and paving his path over mountains of corpses, Kael sat at the absolute peak of the Saint Realm. A single step further, and he would pierce the celestial veil to touch the legendary Divine Realm.
By all rights, this should have been his ultimate moment of triumph.
Instead, his heart was as cold as iron.
"Why are you all so quiet?" Kael asked, his voice disturbingly calm against the roaring gale.
Behind him stood seven imposing figures. Each was someone he had trusted with his life: a sworn brother who had bled beside him; a senior he had once dragged from the jaws of death; a disciple he had raised from childhood; and Lian Yue—the woman he loved more than life itself.
They were all formidable powerhouses, their crushing auras warping the surrounding air. Yet, under Kael's quiet gaze, not one of them dared to meet his eyes.
Heavy silence was his only answer.
Kael turned around slowly. His pitch-black eyes swept over their faces, finally resting on the woman at the center of the group.
"Lian Yue," he said softly. "You too?"
Lian Yue clenched her fists so hard her nails drew blood. Her porcelain face was deathly pale, but her eyes harbored a chilling, unshakeable resolve.
"I'm sorry, Kael," she whispered. "This is the only way."
Kael burst into laughter.
The sound echoed wildly across the desolate cliff face, dripping with raw mockery.
"The only way?" he repeated, his eyes darkening. "Tell me... the only way for what?"
A tall man stepped forward, clad in radiant golden armor, his cultivation hovering barely a breath beneath Kael's own.
"For balance," the armored man declared coldly. "Your very existence violates the fundamental rules of this world."
Kael's laughter died instantly. "So that's it," he murmured. "You fear me."
Another cultivator sneered. "Fear? Don't flatter yourself, Kael! Your cultivation speed defies logic. Your foundation is unnatural. If you step into the Divine Realm, none of us will ever be able to control you!"
Control.
That single word turned whatever warmth remained in Kael's soul into absolute frost.
"All these years," Kael said softly, "I fought for this realm. I crushed invading demonic sects. I defended our borders. And this... this is my reward?"
No one answered. They had already cast their dice.
Kael took a deep, steady breath. In the next instant, his terrifying aura exploded outward, shaking the sky and tearing fissures through the ancient stone beneath their feet.
"Come then!" Kael roared, his voice trembling the heavens. "If you want my life, take it with your own hands!"
The sky turned dark as blood. Seven supreme cultivators unleashed their ultimate techniques simultaneously. Elemental spells illuminated the dark, sword light screamed through the air, and raw killing intent flooded the summit like a tidal wave.
Kael lunged forward. His fist tore straight through the fabric of space itself.
BOOM!
One cultivator was struck head-on, his body torn apart midair as his protective barrier shattered. Kael twisted, his open palm slicing down like an executioner's blade, cleaving a second enemy in two. Blood rained upon the peak.
Even surrounded and trapped, Kael was an absolute nightmare.
But they had prepared for this for years.
A massive ancient array lit up beneath his feet. Sinister crimson runes flashed, instantly locking onto Kael's qi pathways and crushing his cultivation down by half.
Kael's knees trembled. "A Heaven-Sealing Formation..."
Lian Yue raised her hands, her eyes filled with agony and cold determination. "Kael... please don't fight back."
That was the moment Kael understood everything. This was never a battle. It was a meticulously planned execution. Seven against one, a god-sealing array, and the exact moment of his breakthrough when his body was at its weakest.
His strength began to drain rapidly into the void.
Kael let out a soft, bloody laugh. "So this is how I die."
He forced his back straight, his eyes burning with a pride and hatred that made even the seven powerhouses flinch.
"I don't regret walking this path," Kael growled. "But remember my words."
The cultivators hesitated, a sudden chill creeping up their spines.
"If there is another life..." Kael's voice carried a lethal oath that echoed into their very souls. "...I will slaughter every last one of you."
Lian Yue's eyes trembled.
THUMP!
A beam of light pierced through Kael's chest. Pain exploded through his body as subsequent attacks tore his flesh apart. His vision blurred, darkening fast.
As his broken body collapsed backward off the cliff face into the endless abyss below, Kael felt himself falling into the infinite void.
The world faded into absolute darkness. He thought that was the end.
Yet, deep within the dark of his fading consciousness, something stirred. A cold, mechanical voice echoed directly inside his mind.
[Soul compatibility detected.]
[Host consciousness stabilizing.]
[Searching for suitable vessel...]
Kael's lingering awareness trembled. What... is this?
[Target found.]
[Initiating reincarnation protocol.]
A sharp, violent pain jolted his soul. Time lost all meaning as memories shattered and reassembled.
"Gasp!"
Air violently rushed back into Kael's lungs. His eyes flew open.
The first thing he registered was pain—not the tearing agony of destroyed Saint-level cultivation, but a dull, hollow ache deep within his bones.
This body... he thought, looking down. It was fragile, thin, and terribly weak. Nothing like his previous body, which had been tempered by centuries of divine lightning and blood.
He lay on a creaky wooden bed inside a small, dilapidated room. The mud walls were cracked, the roof leaked, and the air reeked of cheap, bitter herbal dregs.
Kael frowned. "This is not my world."
Foreign memories surged into his brain like a tidal wave. This body also belonged to a youth named Kael—a sixteen-year-old discarded member of the low-tier Kael Clan. Born with crippled meridians, he was unable to gather a single strand of qi. Bullied, despised, and ultimately left to rot in this broken shed.
"So... I was reborn," Kael muttered, his young voice raspy.
Before he could process the memories further, the cold, mechanical voice resonated once more.
[Reincarnation complete.]
[Forbidden Cultivation System binding to host.]
Kael's pupils shrank. "System?"
A translucent, glowing panel materialized before his eyes.
[FORBIDDEN CULTIVATION SYSTEM]
Host: Kael
Realm: Mortal (Crippled)
System Core Directive:
— Strength is obtained strictly through combat.
— The stronger the opponent, the greater the reward.
— This system is forbidden by the Laws of Heaven.
Warning: Exposure may result in pursuit by powerful sects and higher beings.
Kael stared at the hovering interface. Slowly, a dark, dangerous smile spread across his bruised face.
"So the heavens still want to play games with me," he said softly, clenching his frail, bony fist until his knuckles turned white. "This body may be crippled... but my soul belongs to a Saint."
His eyes burned with unyielding ambition. "If this world wants to suppress me... then I will cultivate a path the heavens cannot control."
The system interface flickered gently.
[New Objective Unlocked: Survive. Grow stronger. Defy the heavens.]
Kael closed his eyes. This time... he would not fail.