Rain pounded against the jagged cliffs of the Black Dragon Mountain, turning the dirt into thick, dark crimson mud. It wasn't ordinary rain; it was infused with Spirit Energy, heavy and cold enough to freeze the blood of a lesser cultivator.
Lin Chen knelt in the mud, his breathing ragged and bloody. His white robes, once stamped with the proud crest of the Sun-Moon Sect, were now shredded and soaked in his own blood. His spirit veins—the very channels that allowed a cultivator to channel the energy of the universe—felt as if they had been torn out one by one.
"Why, Senior Brother?" Lin Chen coughed, spitting out a mouthful of dark, stagnant blood. He looked up through his rain-soaked hair at the tall, handsome figure standing before him.
Gu Feng, the top disciple of the Sun-Moon Sect, stood dry beneath a shimmering barrier of golden Qi. He held a crimson sword, its edge dripping with Lin Chen's blood. Behind him stood a dozen inner-sect elders, their eyes cold and devoid of any remorse.
"Why?" Gu Feng chuckled, a sound full of mockery. "Do you truly not know, Junior Brother Lin? You were born a trash disciple with a meager Grade-1 Spiritual Root. Yet, in just three years, you managed to surpass me, the golden genius of the sect. Did you really think we believed it was due to your 'hard work'?"
Gu Feng stepped forward, resting the cold tip of his sword beneath Lin Chen's chin, forcing him to look up.
"Hand over the **Ashen Pearl**," Gu Feng hissed, his eyes glinting with unbridled greed. "We know you found it in the Sovereign’s Tomb. A useless worm like you does not deserve an artifact of the ancient gods. Hand it over, and I might leave your corpse intact."
Lin Chen’s heart froze. The Ashen Pearl was a smooth, dull grey stone he had picked up by accident inside a crumbling ruin months ago. It possessed no energy signature, no light, and no divine pressure. He had kept it simply as a trinket, unaware that the sect had been watching him all along.
"So... that's what this was about," Lin Chen whispered, a bitter, blood-stained smile forming on his face. "Not treason. Not betrayal of the sect. Just pure, pathetic jealousy."
"Mind your tongue, trash!" an elder shouted from behind, unleashing a wave of pressure that slammed Lin Chen’s face directly into the mud.
Lin Chen groaned in pain as his bones cracked under the pressure. Anger, hot and volatile, burned in his chest. He had bled for this sect. He had fought in the front lines during the Beast Tide, saving Gu Feng’s life twice! And this was his reward?
"I don't have it on me," Lin Chen spat, glaring at Gu Feng with eyes red with fury. "And even if I did, I would rather swallow it and let it rot with my corpse than give it to a hypocrite like you!"
Gu Feng’s face darkened instantly. "Foolish. If you won't hand it over, I will carve open your Dantian and find it myself!"
Gu Feng raised his sword, golden Qi swirling around the blade like a hungry viper, and thrust it down with lethal force aimed straight at Lin Chen's heart.
*Thump!*
The blade pierced Lin Chen’s chest. Pain—blinding, absolute pain—exploded through his entire body. As his vision began to fade into darkness, he felt a strange warmth near his chest.
Deep inside his torn robes, hidden right against his heart, the dull, grey Ashen Pearl absorbed the blood gushing from his wound.
*Crack...*
A faint hairline fracture appeared on the pearl's surface.
In the final moments of his life, Lin Chen didn't hear Gu Feng’s triumphant laughter, nor did he feel the icy rain. Instead, an ancient, thunderous voice echoed directly within his consciousness, shaking his very soul:
> **[Bloodlines recognized: Ancient Primordial Sovereign Lineage.]**
> **[Unsealing the Chaos-Heaven Artifact: Ashen Pearl.]**
> **[Host's mortal body destroyed. Initiating Soul Preservation & Rebirth Protocol.]**
>
"Rebirth...?" Lin Chen thought dimly before his world dissolved into complete blackness.
"Get up, you useless waste!"
*Splash!*
A bucket of freezing cold water hit Lin Chen square in the face, shocking his senses. He gasped violently, bolting upright as his lungs burned for air.
He gripped his chest instantly, expecting to feel the gaping hole left by Gu Feng's sword. But there was no hole. No blood. No shredded robes.
Instead, he was sitting on a straw bed inside a small, damp wooden hut. His hands were smaller, thinner, and covered in faint scars from manual labor.
"Where... am I?" Lin Chen muttered, his voice sounding entirely different—younger, weaker.
"Oh, look who decided to wake up!" A sneering voice rang out from the doorway.
Standing there was a stout young man in a grey outer-disciple robe, holding an empty wooden bucket.
"Don't play dumb with me, Lin Chen," the stout youth spat. "Just because you got knocked out by Brother Zhang during yesterday's chore duty doesn't mean you can slack off today. The spirit fields need weeding, and if it's not done by noon, I'll make sure you don't get any food for a week!"
Lin Chen stared at the youth, memories suddenly rushing into his head like a tidal wave.
This body also belonged to someone named Lin Chen—an outer-disciple of the low-tier **Azure Cloud Sect**, located thousands of miles away from the Sun-Moon Sect. This body's owner was known as the "Ultimate Waste," possessing an incomplete Meridian system that made cultivation virtually impossible. Yesterday, he had been beaten to death over a single Copper Spirit Coin by a bully named Zhang Wei.
*I... I reincarnated?* Lin Chen realized, his eyes widening. *The Sun-Moon Sect, Gu Feng, the Elders... it wasn't a dream. I really died!*
A cold, deadly light flashed in Lin Chen's eyes. He had been given a second chance at life.
The stout youth flinched slightly when he met Lin Chen's gaze. For a second, he felt as if he were looking into the eyes of an ancient demon, not a weak outer-disciple. But he quickly shook the feeling off, raising his hand to slap Lin Chen.
"What are you glaring at, trash? Move!"
Before the hand could land, Lin Chen’s instincts took over. Even in a weak body, his soul was that of a peak core-formation cultivator. He leaned his head back slightly, easily dodging the slap, then grabbed the youth's wrist, twisting it sharply downward.
*CRACK!*
"AAAGH!" the stout youth screamed, dropping to his knees as his wrist bent at an unnatural angle. "My hand! You... you dared to break my hand?!"
"Get out," Lin Chen said softly, his voice devoid of any emotion. "Before I break the other one."
Terrified by the icy aura radiating from Lin Chen, the youth scrambled backwards out of the hut, holding his broken wrist and crying out threats as he fled.
Lin Chen didn't care about the bully. He immediately crossed his legs on the bed and closed his eyes to inspect his internal body.
His spirit channels were blocked, filled with impurities, and his Dantian was bone dry. It was indeed a trash body. But just as desperation began to creep in, a glowing, marble-sized pearl floating peacefully in the center of his mind palace caught his attention.
The Ashen Pearl! It had fused with his soul and followed him through reincarnation!
Suddenly, the grey pearl radiated a blinding, golden light, and a majestic mechanical voice rang through his mind again:
> **[Primordial Sovereign System Activated.]**
> **[Current Host: Lin Chen]**
> **[Cultivation Realm: Mortal
1st Layer Body Refinement
]**
> **[Physique: Primordial Chaos Physique
Dormant
]**
> **[First Time Binding Rewards Available: 1x Sovereign Cleansing Pill, 1x Primordial Swallow Art
Divine Rank
.]**
>
Lin Chen opened his eyes, a wild, sharp smile breaking across his face.
Gu Feng. Sun-Moon Sect. You betrayed me for a treasure you couldn't even comprehend.
"Just wait for me," Lin Chen whispered into the quiet room, his fists clenching until his knuckles turned white. "In this life, I will cultivate the Primordial Path, crush everything in my way, and make you pay for every drop of blood I spilled!"