> "In the end, it wasn't my enemies who killed me. It was those who once swore to die for me."
Dark clouds loomed over the battlefield, painting the skies with streaks of blood-red lightning. Mountains lay shattered. Rivers ran dry. Corpses carpeted the scorched earth, each a silent testament to ambition.
Ren Xie stood alone, robes tattered, black blood soaking his sleeves. In his hand was the Voidflame Gu, trembling violently, as if sensing its master's end.
Ren Xie (calmly):
"So... it ends here. Not with glory. Not with peace. Just betrayal."
Across from him stood three figures — his sworn brothers in life, now executioners in death.
Mu Tian (voice shaking):
"We had no choice, Xie! You've become... something else. Something wrong!"
Ren Xie (cold smile):
"You mean, I refused to die quietly like the rest of you."
Lan Ruo (tears in her eyes):
"We followed you for power, but you gave us despair. You taught us how to kill, not how to live."
Ren Xie (softly):
"Then learn to live with what you've done. My blood will stain your souls forever."
Without another word, the Voidflame Gu flared one last time. An explosion of black fire engulfed the heavens, swallowing Ren Xie's body and soul.
And then — darkness.
---
> "When the soul refuses to die, even the void must make room."
A sharp gasp. Cold air surged into his lungs like knives.
He awoke — not in the great halls of the afterlife, but in a dim, moldy slave hut, his body frail and unfamiliar. Shackles bit into his wrists. A whip cracked outside.
Ren Xie (quietly):
"This... body. A child. Weak. Scarred. How poetic."
Pain lanced through him as memories flooded in — not his own, but of the boy he now inhabited. Beaten. Starved. Nameless. Forgotten.
Ren Xie (soft):
"Your hatred... it echoes mine. I'll carry it for you."
The door burst open. A tall, fat man stormed in, eyes bloodshot.
Slave Overseer:
"Why are you still breathing, rat? Didn't I say you get no food if you don't finish your quota?"
He struck the boy — Ren Xie — across the face. Blood sprayed onto the dirt floor.
Ren Xie (staring upward):
"You're lucky. Today, I am nothing. But tomorrow…"
He smiled through broken lips.
Ren Xie:
"Tomorrow, I begin again. And I won't make the mistake of trusting anyone."
---
> "The world will not give you mercy. So become the one they beg mercy from."