"Chapter 1: The Scourge

Silvermoon Empire, Xuancheng City, Epoch Continent.

Inside the ancestral shrine of the Yun clan, Patriarch Yun Tian’hui stood dressed in opulent violet robes, his face contorted with suppressed rage. Every muscle in his body trembled violently, teetering on the brink of explosion.

Beside him stood the clan’s two elders, their expressions equally livid.

Kneeling before them—bound, bloodied, and covered in filth—was Yun Qing. Through the matted strands of hair hanging over his face, his eyes glowed with primal fury, cold and deranged, like a predator cornered in the dark.

Outside, the rest of the clan waited. Inside the shrine, only these four remained.

“Why?"" The silence broke an hour later as Yun Tianhui’s voice sliced through the air like winter’s sharpest wind, dropping the temperature in the hall. ""They were your aunt and cousin.”

Yun Qing—who hadn’t uttered a sound despite his broken body—jolted at the accusation. A guttural, chilling laugh tore from his throat. ""Why? You dare ask why?"" His roar echoed off the stone walls. ""After stealing my father’s birthright as Patriarch—then torturing my mother until she took her own life—she was your sister-in-law! Did you forget that?!""

Yun Tianhui’s eyelid twitched. ""So you violated them to hurt me?""

""From the day you drove my mother to death,"" Yun Qing spat, each word coated with venom, ""I swore an oath to return every cruelty you dealt. You defiled her? Then I’d make your wife and daughter know the same. If I hadn’t been caught, I’d have dragged in a dozen beggars to break them too—your precious ‘Madam Patriarch’ and that golden daughter, writhing beneath filth. That would’ve been entertaining.""

""Scum! You will burn!"" Madness seized Yun Tianhui. He struck the air. Spirit energy erupted, slamming Yun Qing backward against the wall before he crashed onto the stone floor.

Blood bubbled on Yun Qing’s lips as he wheezed, glaring up. ""Go on—hit harder! Afraid to kill me, coward?"" He bared his teeth. ""Because if I live, I’ll ruin your wife again! I’ll—""

""I will not grant you an easy death."" A muscle spasmed in Tianhui’s cheek.

""Then let me tell you a tale,"" Yun Qing smirked. ""Remember the concubine you cherished? The baby boy she gave you two years ago?"" He lowered his voice to a serpentine whisper. ""Two months old… so fragile. And while no one watched—"" He mimed smothering. ""—I took his breath away."" He erupted into wild laughter at Yun Tianhui’s sudden ashen face. ""How furious you must be… I murdered your only bloodline. Your legacy. So? Still refusing to kill me?""

""YOU KILLED MY SON?!"" Yun Tianhui’s self-control shattered. The aura of an upper-rank Soul Master surged, shaking the shrine. A palm strike unleashed violent currents. ""DIE!""

Bound and shattered, Yun Qing couldn’t move. As the killing wave swept toward him, though, his gaze softened—not fear, but release. He closed his eyes.

This was Yun Qing, son of Yun Tian’ao—former Patriarch, prodigy hailed through Silvermoon itself. By five, he trained. At ten, he shattered foundations to become a Second-Tier Soul Warrior. To crown his ascension, the clan sacrificed its most treasured relic: the Spirit Core of a Fifth-Tier Fiendbeast, Crimson Dragon.

Fusing a Spirit Core forged a warrior’s bond, sealing their future strength. With the Crimson Dragon fused to him, Yun Tian’ao soared like a god—a Soul Master by seventeen, Fourth-Tier Soul Ancestor by twenty-five. Such speed? Unmatched in Xuancheng… across Silvermoon itself.

At thirty-four, at Ancestor’s peak, he succeeded his deceased father as Patriarch. Four years later, Xuancheng crowned its one and only Soul King.

Soul Emperor stood within his grasp. Soul Venerable? Plausible. Under him, Yun Clan’s glory would’ve become legend. Soul Venerables—Eighth Tier!—were god-like monarchs beyond empires. Silvermoon housed fewer than ten. Any among them? Crowned Guardian Ancestor, immortalized in history. A mere whiff of their presence lifted an entire lineage to divinity.

But fate is vicious.

Five years ago, Yun Tian’ao—at forty-three, mid-rank Soul King—suddenly sickened. His death extinguished not just a man but Xuancheng’s apex clan. Without their Soul King, the Yuns plummeted from throne to ruin. Their reign? Barely a flicker.

Patriarch inheritance rightly belonged to Yun Qing. Yet his uncle, Yun Tianhui, seized power instead. Backed by elders, he stripped a twelve-year-old Qing of it: ""Too young.""

Back then, helplessness defined Qing. His mother? Only a concubine, powerless when her protector died. How could a woman and child battle a Patriarch backed by elders? So Tianhui ascended. And Qing watched.

It could have ended there. A peaceful life, forgotten.

Yet Tianhui’s hunger for beauty became Qing’s nightmare. His mother was radiant. Once untouchable beneath his brother’s shadow, Tianhui’s new power knew no boundaries. Three years ago, he summoned her under pretexts to his private study. What followed tore lives apart—until servants stumbled in.

Exposed, Tianhui called her a seductress. Labeled a harlot by all, scorned even by maids and guards, Qing’s mother crumbled. She drank poison.

Motherless, Qing became a shadow inside his own home. Rage against Tianhui hollowed him. Yet revenge demanded patience. Powerlessness forced strategy.

So he fought in silence—training behind locked doors. Talent inherited from his father bloomed. Before seventeen, he ranked as Soul Master, Third Tier—surpassing his father’s pace. Hope ignited.

Then Tianhui moved.

week ago, a decree: ""Test the younger generation!"" Assignments went out… even to Qing, long ignored. His task? Hunt a Second-Tier Fiendbeast, Gale Feroculus. An easy kill—if done alone.

But Gale Feroculi? Never fight alone."