The night was thick with shadows, the scent of blood and damp earth still heavy in the air.
Ye Bai staggered through the twisting forest paths outside the Ye Clan estate, his breath ragged, his body screaming in agony. He had barely escaped with his life. His father one of the highest authorities in the ya clan had sent some of the strongest cultivators in the clan who stand guards to catch him after Qin Ruo's humiliation, delivering a ruthless beating to remind him of his worthlessness and how unwanted he is in the clan.
But something had changed within him.
The black mark within his soul pulsed. A cold, ancient power whispered through his veins, keeping him conscious when his body should have given out. It was as though something deep within him refused to die.
His vision blurred, flickering between the real world and something… else.
He didn't know how long he had been running, but he had the energy to do so. Suddenly, without any warning, his foot caught on a root. He tumbled forward, crashing down a steep embankment. The ground gave way beneath him.
With a deafening crack, the earth crumbled, and Ye Bai plummeted into the void of complete darkness. Darkness, unlike anything he had seen in his life as a boy.
It was a Ruins Beneath the Earth. The place of falling gods and those who have been in high places.
Ye Bai passed out in the void. He lay down motionless for days in the void but his body moved from time to time glowing with a faint pulsating light of golden color. 20 days later ye Bai finally awakened to a dim, eerie glow in his surroundings. The air was cold, tinged with a strange, metallic scent. He groaned, forcing himself up, his fingers pressing against the smooth stone floor beneath him.
"How on earth did I survive such a fall?" He asked no one in particular. He thought he was going to die and that would be the end of him, but to his surprise his still alive and breathing fine, except for the pain he felt.
The cavern was massive, its walls lined with ancient carvings, and depictions of warriors wreathed in shadow, wielding power beyond imagination.
A forgotten ruin. The den of ancient gods
How long had it been buried here beneath Rico City? The Forbidden Land.
Ye Bai stumbled forward, his body still aching, but something pulled him deeper inside. The air grew thick with energy, a pressure that made his skin prickle. His soul mark still pulsed in response, as if recognizing this place.
At the heart of the ruin, upon a raised obsidian altar, a single object can be seen floating at the center of it
A black, tattered scroll.
Even from a distance, Ye Bai could feel its pulsating energy coming out from it.
His breath caught in his throat. He had seen this before… somewhere in the fragments of memories that weren't his own.
The Shadow Immortal Codex.
A lost technique. A forbidden art.
His body moved on its own, drawn to it by a force beyond his understanding. He reached out, his fingers barely brushing the worn surface of the scroll—
The cavern trembled.
A sudden pulse of pure darkness erupted from the scroll, slamming into Ye Bai's chest.
Immediately he felt Pain.
Unimaginable, searing pain.
He collapsed to his knees, his vision consumed by swirling darkness as knowledge—forbidden, ancient knowledge all poured into his mind.
Memories surged through him from lifetimes of battle, slaughter, and domination. He saw flashes of himself, or rather, a version of himself from long ago, standing atop mountains of corpses, his body cloaked in shadows.
He had once wielded this power.
He had once been unstoppable.
And now…
It was his again.
The Shadow Immortal Codex did not just contain knowledge, it was alive. It bonded to his soul, rewriting his very existence.
Ye Bai gasped, his eyes snapping open, now glowing with different factions of light.
His power had awakened. But he can't use it fully. He had to restart his cultivation system from the lowest rank
The first realm of the cultivation system was Body Refinement. The foundation of all martial strength. Most cultivators used spiritual herbs, Qi-infused meals, spiritual pills, or special tempering techniques to harden their bones and flesh.
But Ye Bai's path might not be like theirs, he was somehow too complicated to understand probably.
His Shadow Devouring Art did not refine his body like ordinary cultivation. It devoured external energy, fusing it into his soul, strengthening his existence.
His fingers curled, and the surrounding shadows began to tremble.
Dark energy slithered from the corners of the temple, drawn to him like starving beasts. He guided them into his body, forcing them into his limbs, his bones, his veins.
Pain unlike anything washed over him.
A sharp, searing pain tore through his body as his meridians rejected the dark energy. He gritted his teeth, sweat forming on his brow. In his past self, Jiang Tian had long surpassed this stage, but now… his mortal body was too weak to handle the forbidden energy properly.
Not yet. But soon.
The power pulsed within him, building up like a surging tide. He just needed a little more time to process all that had just happened to him.
Ye Bai sat cross-legged inside the ruined temple, his body still tingling from the stolen energy he had absorbed from the two demon beasts and other living creatures. Though his cultivation was still at the mortal stage, he could feel it the ember of his true self, burning in defiance of the heavens.
His Shadow Immortal Dao had begun to stir.
Now, it was time to break his mortal shackles.
He inhaled deeply, closing his eyes.
Cultivation was a delicate process, a moment of pure concentration and refinement. A single mistake or interruption could shatter everything a cultivator had worked so hard for days or even months.
Ye Bai's path is unlike any other in the Eastern Wastelands. His cultivation system stems from the Shadow Immortal Art, an ancient technique that defies conventional martial paths. This system is a fusion of forbidden energy, shadow mastery, and soul cultivation, making him a unique force in the world.
Ye Bai has barely awakened the remnants of Jiang Tian's power. The Shadow Immortal Art is in its infancy, manifesting as a black seed within his soul.