Xu Ming sat in the heart of the cavern, surrounded by silence.
The body of the spirit beast still steamed beside him, its once-proud mane soaked with blood. But it wasn't the battle that stirred something inside him—it was the call.
Low and deep, like a forgotten echo, it came from below the stone. Not words, but rhythm. A steady beat, slow and pulsing, like a second heartbeat awakening beneath the mountain.
He pressed his hand against the earth.
Warm.
Alive.
There was something buried beneath this place. Not just bones. Not just power.
A secret.
The rocks began to tremble.
---
Xu Ming didn't flinch.
He had once commanded armies of cultivators across the Nine Realms. In this life, he was no longer Emperor—but the instinct remained. He stood and walked forward, hand brushing the stone wall. His fingers found a crack—thin, nearly invisible—but real.
He pushed.
The stone gave way like paper soaked in blood.
A narrow tunnel opened before him, lined with glowing red veins, pulsing faintly. He stepped inside, the light reflecting in his eyes, his breath steady. The heat grew with each step, not painful—but heavy, like the weight of memory pressing against his shoulders.
At the end of the tunnel: a chamber.
Circular. Silent.
In its center, a floating object. Small. Perfectly still.
It looked like a heart—shaped from crystal, glowing with dim, reddish light. Yet Xu Ming knew instantly:
> "This is not just a relic."
It was alive.
He stepped closer, drawn not by greed, but recognition.
The moment his hand touched the crystal, pain lashed through him—white-hot and brutal. His bones screamed. Blood vessels burst. But he didn't fall. His fingers tightened.
> "Accept me."
The crystal responded. It cracked down the middle, and a flood of warmth poured into his body—followed by memories not his own. A roar of beasts. A battlefield under twin suns. A Qilin's cry.
Xu Ming gasped.
The first seal inside his soul shattered.
Power rushed into him. Ancient. Pure.
His vision dimmed—and then cleared.
---
When he opened his eyes, his surroundings had changed.
The chamber was gone.
He stood beneath the open sky, outside the mountain.
His body—light.
The crimson veins across his skin faded, absorbed back into his blood. But something had changed. He could feel it in the air. The wind recognized him now.
A notification glowed in his mind.
> Crimson Vein Physique - Stage One: Unlocked.
Fire affinity enhanced.
Primordial Bloodline Awakening: 2%.
He breathed slowly. The mountain behind him cracked, stone tumbling as if in respect.
From the forest below, cultivators turned their eyes toward the noise.
Xu Ming smiled faintly.
> "Let them come. This time, I won't hide"
[End of Chapter 6]