Heat waves distorted the jagged obsidian peaks of the Cinder Rift, painting the horizon in a shimmering, molten haze. Located at the treacherous border of the Southern Province, the air here smelled heavily of sulfur and burnt copper.
Standing at the edge of a precipice, Lu Chen casually crushed a dark jade slip between his fingers. The artifact crumbled into a fine gray dust, scattering over the cliffside. It was the latest intelligence drop from Envoy Mo of the Shadow Sword Pavilion.
Target: Yan Lie. Title: The Fire Dragon Prodigy.
Status: Peak Golden Core. Innate Talent: Earth-Rank Fire Dragon Body.
Current Objective: Transporting a thousand-year Phoenix Blood Lotus to the Dragon Gate Banquet to mend Fang Tianyou's fractured providence.
Lu Chen's lips curled into a cold, humorless smile. The pitch-black Void Core spinning within his dantian throbbed with a hollow, insatiable hunger. Since his clash with the Imperial Bureau's hound, Sikong Jian, his body craved more.
"Mending Fang Tianyou's luck?" Lu Chen murmured, his voice barely audible over the roaring updrafts of the canyon. "How deeply touching. But heaven's favors are no longer his to claim."
A rhythmic, earth-shattering tremor interrupted his thoughts.
From the southern mouth of the Cinder Rift, a procession appeared. It was not a stealthy courier run, but a parade of absolute arrogance. Three massive Scarlet Wyverns, each radiating the terrifying aura of Mid-Tier demonic beasts, dragged a suspended golden chariot through the sky. The chariot was ablaze with a spiritual fire that did not consume its wood, but instead scorched the very air around it.
Lounging within the chariot was Yan Lie. He was a young man with crimson hair that moved like liquid fire, draped in robes woven from fire-silk. Surrounding him were a dozen elite guards of the Heavenly Volcanic Sect, their expressions haughty.
To the naked eye, it was a display of overwhelming wealth and power.
To Lu Chen's Luck-Binding Mirror, it was an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Lu Chen pressed a hand to his chest. Through the mirror's Destiny Sight, the world lost its color, replaced by the intricate tapestry of fate. Above Yan Lie's chariot roared a massive pillar of golden Qi Yun, so thick it took the shape of a spiraling, five-clawed dragon. This was the manifestation of the world's absolute favor. Heavenly Opportunities would literally fall into this boy's lap.
Not for long.
Lu Chen stepped off the precipice.
He didn't use a flying sword. He merely plummeted, his black robes snapping violently in the wind. Just before he hit the ground in the middle of the canyon pass, a burst of pitch-black Void energy erupted from his feet, absorbing the kinetic force entirely. He landed without a sound, right in the path of the golden chariot.
The lead Scarlet Wyvern shrieked, its reptilian instincts instantly recognizing a predator. It flared its wings, halting so violently that the golden chariot lurched, throwing the guards off balance.
"Who dares block the path of the Heavenly Volcanic Sect?!" a guard barked, drawing a flaming scimitar.
Yan Lie lazily sat up, peering over the edge of his chariot. His eyes, burning with literal embers, locked onto Lu Chen. He sneered. "A beggar with a death wish? Or merely a fool who doesn't know whose domain he walks in?"
Lu Chen didn't answer. He slowly drew the Severing Edge from his back. The legendary sword, once pristine, was now coated in a creeping, grayish-black film—the physical manifestation of his newly mutated *Rotting Destiny* Sword Intent.
"I am here for your providence," Lu Chen said, his voice flat, devoid of any killing intent. It was merely a statement of fact. "And the lotus."
Yan Lie stared at him for a second before bursting into manic laughter. The guards joined in, their chuckles echoing off the obsidian walls.
"My providence?" Yan Lie stood, his spiritual pressure exploding outward. The heat in the canyon multiplied tenfold, instantly turning the surrounding rocks molten. "I was born in the heart of a dormant volcano! I drank dragon marrow at the age of five! The Heavens themselves forged my Fire Dragon Body! You think a nameless rat can speak of *my destiny? Die!"
Yan Lie didn't bother giving an order to his guards. He punched forward.
Golden Core Art: Nine Dragons Incinerating the Heavens!
Nine massive serpents of pure, white-hot spiritual flame erupted from his fist, intertwining as they roared toward Lu Chen. The sheer heat evaporated the moisture in the air, creating a vacuum that pulled the surrounding debris into the inferno. It was an attack that could instantly incinerate a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator.
Lu Chen didn't blink. He raised the Severing Edge.
"The heavens forged your body," Lu Chen whispered, his Void Core spinning rapidly, funneling dark energy into his blade. "But I am the void that swallows the heavens."
He swung the sword in a simple, horizontal arc.
A wave of gray, rotting energy washed outward. It didn't clash with the flames; it infected them. The moment the *Rotting Destiny* Sword Intent touched the white-hot dragons, their brilliant light sickened. The flames turned an ugly, necrotic gray. The roaring fire was instantly reduced to a pathetic hiss as the spiritual energy decayed into harmless black ash, fluttering to the ground at Lu Chen's feet.
Silence fell over the canyon.
Yan Lie's mocking smile froze. His guards stared in utter disbelief. An ultimate art of the Heavenly Volcanic Sect had just been snuffed out like a candle in a breeze.
"What... what demonic art is this?" Yan Lie stammered, stepping back involuntarily.
"Nothing demonic," Lu Chen replied, taking a slow step forward. "Just the natural end of all things."
Panic flared in Yan Lie's eyes. "Kill him! Tear him apart!"
The twelve guards lunged, their weapons ablaze. Lu Chen didn't even break his stride. He flicked his wrist. Ribbons of gray sword intent shot forward, moving like vipers. They bypassed the guards' defensive barriers as if they didn't exist.
The moment the gray aura touched them, their luck plummeted. One guard's flaming sword suddenly shattered upon hitting a stray rock, sending a shard through his own throat. Another guard suffered severe qi deviation mid-flight, his meridians inexplicably bursting into flames, burning him alive from the inside out. Within three seconds, all twelve elite guards were dead, victims of bizarre, statistically impossible 'accidents'.
The air grew freezing cold, contrasting bizarrely with the molten rock.
Yan Lie panicked. He bit his tongue, spitting a mouthful of blood essence onto a jade talisman. "You think you've won?! I have the heavens' favor!"
The talisman exploded, summoning a localized spatial rift—a teleportation array meant to save his life. The golden Qi Yun above his head surged, bending the laws of space to ensure his escape.
"Your favor is a loan," Lu Chen said softly, appearing directly in front of the chariot as if teleporting. He looked up at the golden dragon of providence roaring above Yan Lie. "And I am calling in the debt."
Lu Chen activated the Luck-Binding Mirror's Third Form: Destiny Sight.
A thick, shimmering golden thread materialized, connecting the crown of Yan Lie's head to the sky. This was his karmic tether, the umbilical cord of his Heavenly Opportunity.
With a flick of the Severing Edge, Lu Chen cut the thread.
*SNAP.
The sound was imperceptible to the ear, but it echoed like thunder in the spiritual realm. The golden dragon above Yan Lie shattered into a million fragments.
Instantly, the spatial rift behind Yan Lie collapsed with a pathetic fizzle. The teleportation failed. The Heavens had looked away.
Yan Lie fell to his knees, clutching his chest. A profound, soul-crushing emptiness washed over him. The boundless confidence, the innate feeling of superiority, the warmth of the world's embrace—it was all gone. He felt cold. He felt mortal.
"What... what did you do to me?" Yan Lie wept, staring at his hands. He tried to summon his Fire Dragon flames, but only a pathetic, mundane spark flickered at his fingertips. His spirit was utterly broken.
"I showed you the truth," Lu Chen said, stepping onto the chariot. He looked down at the trembling prodigy. "Without the luck you hoarded from this fading world, you are nothing but a fragile mortal."
Lu Chen didn't hesitate. He plunged his hand directly into Yan Lie's lower abdomen, piercing the dantian.
Yan Lie unleashed a blood-curdling scream.
Through the Luck-Binding Mirror, Lu Chen grabbed hold of the Earth-Rank Fire Dragon Spirit Root. It felt like holding a writhing, molten snake. With a brutal pull, he ripped it out.
Golden and crimson energy exploded from Yan Lie's body as the Innate Spirit Root was forcefully extracted. The prodigy's eyes rolled back, his body turning into a desiccated husk as the remaining World Essence fled his corpse.
Lu Chen stood holding a pulsing, fiery meridian in his hand. He pressed it to his chest. The Luck-Binding Mirror spun wildly, projecting a vortex that instantly devoured the Spirit Root.
Searing, unimaginable heat flooded Lu Chen's meridians. His artificial Earth-Rank Void Root aggressively attacked the foreign energy. For a terrifying moment, Lu Chen felt as though he would combust. But the pitch-black Void Core in his dantian pulsed, releasing an overwhelming wave of cold emptiness that forcefully compressed the fire.
The two energies merged, mutating violently.
Lu Chen exhaled a breath that ignited the air in black flames. His Void Root had evolved once again, assimilating the Fire Dragon attributes to create something entirely new: Void-Mantra Fire, a flame that burned away spiritual energy instead of physical matter.
He casually looted Yan Lie's spatial ring, retrieving a crystalline box radiating immense vitality. Inside sat the Phoenix Blood Lotus, a supreme treasure of life and luck.
"One down," Lu Chen muttered, his eyes glowing with dark satisfaction.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
The slow applause echoed through the canyon.
From the shadows of an obsidian boulder, Envoy Mo of the Shadow Sword Pavilion stepped out, his face hidden beneath a shifting, ink-black veil.
"Flawless execution, Sovereign," Envoy Mo praised, bowing slightly. "To sever a genius's destiny and extract their root while they still draw breath... the Pavilion is thoroughly impressed by our new partner."
Lu Chen leveled the Severing Edge at the envoy's neck. "Spare the flattery. I killed the target. Where is the rest of the intelligence on the Dragon Gate Banquet?"
Envoy Mo chuckled, not flinching at the blade. "That is why I came personally, Sovereign. The situation has... escalated. The Dragon Gate Banquet's schedule has been violently pushed forward to tonight."
Lu Chen frowned. "Why?"
"Because Sect Master Fang grew impatient with his son's fractured providence," Mo replied, his tone dripping with dark amusement. "He realized that fifty minor geniuses wouldn't be enough to fully heal Fang Tianyou's luck. So, they changed the main event. Tonight, they aren't just pooling providence. They are conducting a forced Dao Companion Severing Ceremony."
Lu Chen's black eyes narrowed. "Explain."
"Fang Tianyou is going to forcefully merge with a female cultivator possessing the 'Heart of the Sword'," Envoy Mo whispered, stepping closer. "He intends to rip out her innate spiritual harmony to replace his fractured luck, effectively destroying her soul in the process."
The Void Core in Lu Chen's chest skipped a beat. The ambient temperature in the canyon plummeted so fast that frost formed on the molten rocks.
"They placed the Saintess of the Fallen Moon Palace under house arrest the moment she returned from the Sword Tomb," Mo said, observing Lu Chen's reaction carefully. "Tonight, at the peak of the Azure Cloud Sect, Ye Xiyue will be sacrificed to heal the man you broke."
Lu Chen stared into the distance, the black flames of his new Void-Mantra Fire flickering uncontrollably around his fingertips.
Ye Xiyue. The woman who had secretly cut a spatial fissure to save him from a Nascent Soul attack. She was the only one who had shown him an ounce of grace in this parasitic world.
Lu Chen gripped the *Severing Edge*, his knuckles turning white.
"Send word to the Pavilion," Lu Chen said, his voice echoing with the terrifying resonance of the Void. "Tell them the Dragon Gate Banquet is canceled. I'm going to slaughter every single 'Chosen One' in attendance."