The dawn was sickly pale, a weak, colorless light barely slicing through the thick mist that clung to Canglei Mountain like a suffocating shroud. 

The air hung heavy with the mingled stench of blood, damp earth, and something far older , something foul , buried in the bones of the land itself.

Jiang Xuan stood alone amidst the wreckage, motionless as a statue carved from shadow.

Broken bodies littered the clearing like discarded husks, their lifeblood seeping into the soil. Liu Tianyi’s pained groans had long since faded into feeble whimpers. 

The earth drank deeply of crimson offerings, and the last echoes of the Relic Pulse had dulled to a faint tremor beneath his feet .

 yet an oppressive tension still lingered in the air, like the breath before a storm.

But the real danger…

had only just begun.

[System Notice: Mistveil Depths entrance destabilized.]

[Relic Pulse Echo detected: Proximity - 600 meters.]

His gaze sharpened, eyes narrowing into cold slits of focus.

It’s opening.

Without hesitation, he moved , gliding through the mist like a phantom born of shadow and silence. 

The grove’s once-familiar paths now twisted unnaturally, warped as if the land itself had shifted in response to the ancient force stirring beneath its roots.

Soon, the gnarled trees thinned, parting like mourners at a funeral, revealing a monstrous sight , a massive crevice , torn open in the earth like a jagged wound. 

Crumbling stone steps spiraled downward into utter blackness, swallowed by a void that seemed to breathe. 

A faint, frigid wind exhaled from below, thick with the coppery tang of blood and the rotten sweetness of things long dead .

Jiang Xuan’s system flared to life within his mind, its voice cutting through the tension like steel against stone.

[Mistveil Depths Breach: Active.]

[Warning: Power fluctuations detected - multiple hostile entities confirmed.]

Good.

Without hesitation, he stepped into the darkness , as if welcoming the void itself.

The descent was brutal, punishing. 

With every step downward, the pressure thickened like an invisible weight pressing down on his bones, gnawing at the edges of his consciousness. 

The fragment of the jade talisman in his pouch pulsed steadily, in perfect rhythm with his heartbeat, its faint glow growing stronger the deeper he went , a beacon calling him forward.

By the time he reached the bottom, the world above felt like a distant memory , a half-remembered dream swallowed by time and shadow.

Before him stretched a vast cavern , an impossible underground realm lost to history. 

Collapsed ruins jutted from the earth like broken teeth, shattered stone statues loomed like forgotten gods, and rivers of ghostly blue mist coiled along the ground, whispering secrets no living soul had heard in centuries.

Strange symbols flickered faintly across the walls , ancient runes twisted by age and decay, their meanings long eroded by time’s relentless march.

But he was not alone.

They were waiting.

Figures stirred within the mist , pale, eyeless humanoid shapes, their bodies gaunt and hollow, marked by jagged black runes that pulsed with corrupted energy. 

These were no ordinary spirits.

They were the aberrant remnants of disciples who had vanished into the grove over generations , twisted, consumed, and reborn in suffering.

[System Scan: Aberrant Spirit Remnants.]

[Threat Level: High.]

Jiang Xuan’s lips curled into a slow, cold grin , sharp as a blade, dark as the abyss.

“Perfect.”

The first of the abominations lunged , a blur of bone and shadow, its gaping maw revealing no teeth, only endless void. 

Jagged claws sliced through the mist, aiming for his throat.

He struck first.

His palm shot forward like a striking serpent, impacting with brutal precision. 

The creature’s skull shattered in a single, sickening crunch , dry, bloodless, as if it had been dead for centuries.

The others came next, howling in silent agony , a swarm of pale, eyeless horrors emerging from the fog.

But this time, Jiang Xuan was ready .

[Soul Engulfing Heaven Art: Shadow Rend. ]

A wave of pitch-black energy erupted from his outstretched palm, slicing through the air like a thousand invisible blades. 

It tore through three more figures in an instant , their forms unraveling into shrieking wisps of dark mist, their corrupted essence devoured in a heartbeat, feeding the storm within him.

[System Prompt: Bloodline Progression - 82%.]

The deeper he fought, the more his power surged , each strike refining him, each soul feeding the storm within.

And then… something shifted.

A presence.

Massive. 

Ancient. 

Hungry.

A pair of crimson eyes ignited in the abyss beyond the mist , glowing like twin suns buried beneath the earth. 

A low, guttural snarl rumbled through the cavern walls, vibrating through stone and bone alike, shaking the very foundation of the ruins.

Not a remnant.

Not a beast.

Something far worse.

His system chimed, its voice colder than ever before.

[Warning: Unknown Entity Detected.]

[Threat Level: Cataclysmic.]

Good.

Jiang Xuan tightened his grip on the jade shard in his palm as its glow flared brighter, pulsing in perfect rhythm with the burning crimson gaze emerging from the abyss.

“Come out, then,” he whispered , not a challenge.

A summons.

The ground beneath him shuddered , groaning under the weight of something ancient stirring.

And from the blackness beyond the mist, a monstrous figure began to rise , slow, deliberate, inevitable.