Chapter 1: Bleeding on Forbidden Alter!
The air inside the Burial Mound Cavern reeked of blood, damp stone, and centuries of decay.
Ye Qing stumbled through the darkness, one hand pressed against the wound beneath her ribs while the other tightly gripped a glowing green talisman. Her torn robes dragged against the uneven ground, and every breath scraped painfully against her lungs.
Behind her came another deafening roar.
The entire cavern trembled.
Ye Qing glanced over her shoulder.
A pair of blood-red eyes glowed through the darkness.
The Blood-Claw Beast was still coming.
“Damn it…”
She forced herself to run faster.
Two hours ago, the outer sanctuary of the Breeze-Mist Sect had been destroyed.
She had barely escaped with her life.
As a low-tier alchemist, Ye Qing had never possessed the strength to fight powerful cultivators. She had survived this long because she knew when to run.
Unfortunately, tonight, running seemed to have brought her straight into another death trap.
A violent blast of black qi suddenly tore through the cavern.
Ye Qing threw herself sideways.
BOOM!
The attack struck the wall beside her.
Jagged cracks spread across the stone.
Before she could get back onto her feet, the entire ceiling above her groaned.
“Not good.”
She scrambled forward.
A moment later, several massive rocks came crashing down behind her.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Dust filled the passage.
The Blood-Claw Beast's furious roar was swallowed by the collapse.
Ye Qing coughed violently, covering her mouth with her sleeve.
When the dust finally settled, she looked back.
The tunnel was completely blocked.
The beast was trapped on the other side.
For several seconds, Ye Qing simply stood there, trying to catch her breath.
Then she realized something.
She wasn't trapped with the beast.
She was trapped somewhere else.
Ye Qing slowly turned around.
The narrow tunnel behind her had opened into an enormous underground chamber.
Her expression changed.
This wasn't a natural cavern.
The walls were carved from black obsidian, covered with strange ancient markings that seemed to disappear whenever she tried to focus on them. Several enormous stone pillars surrounded the chamber, their surfaces worn smooth by countless years.
And at the very center…
An altar stood beneath the darkness.
It was enormous.
Nine circular levels rose toward the ceiling, each one covered in strange crimson markings. Thick iron chains wrapped around the altar from top to bottom, disappearing into the stone like they had been forged directly into it.
At the very top floated a crimson object.
It looked almost like a heart.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
A faint pulse traveled through the chamber.
Ye Qing's skin prickled.
“What is this place?”
She had never heard of an altar like this.
Even the aura coming from it was strange.
It wasn't spiritual energy.
It wasn't ordinary demonic qi either.
It felt ancient.
So ancient that simply standing near it made her instincts scream at her to leave.
Ye Qing took a cautious step backward.
“I should go.”
She turned toward another passage on the opposite side of the chamber.
Her foot suddenly slipped.
“Ah!”
Her body fell forward.
She instinctively reached out to catch herself.
Her palm struck the edge of the altar.
A sharp stone cut straight across her hand.
Blood immediately spilled from the wound.
One drop.
Then another.
They landed directly on the ancient markings beneath her palm.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened.
Ye Qing stared at the blood.
Then—
Buzz!
A strange vibration traveled through the altar.
Her eyes widened.
The crimson markings beneath her hand suddenly lit up.
“What…?”
The entire chamber shook.
The crimson object floating above the altar began beating violently.
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
The iron chains rattled.
Ye Qing stumbled backward.
“No.”
The chains began to crack.
She stared in horror as ancient symbols erupted with blinding red light.
The next instant—
CRACK!
One chain shattered.
Then another.
Then another.
Within seconds, the nine levels of the altar were covered in crimson flames.
Ye Qing's face went pale.
She turned to run.
It was too late.
BOOM!
The crimson object above the altar exploded.
A terrifying wave of energy swept across the chamber.
Ye Qing was thrown several meters backward.
Her body slammed against the stone floor.
Pain shot through her back.
She struggled to lift her head.
The temperature inside the cavern had suddenly dropped.
Her breath became white mist.
Something was coming.
From the center of the altar, crimson smoke slowly gathered.
It twisted.
It spiraled.
Then it began taking the shape of a human figure.
Ye Qing's heart pounded.
A man slowly descended from the swirling mist.
His long black hair fell to his waist, moving despite the complete absence of wind.
He wore dark robes embroidered with intricate golden patterns. His features were sharp and almost unnaturally beautiful, but there was nothing warm about his appearance.
His skin was pale.
His expression was cold.
And his eyes…
They were crimson.
Not the ordinary red of a cultivator using some special technique.
They glowed like two burning pools of blood.
The moment his feet touched the altar, the entire chamber became silent.
The man slowly opened and closed his fingers.
Dark qi gathered around his hand.
He took a deep breath.
Then he smiled.
“Free.”
His voice was low.
The single word seemed to shake the entire cavern.
Ye Qing's body went rigid.
She had no idea who this man was.
But every instinct inside her screamed the same thing.
Run.
The man lifted his head.
His crimson eyes immediately found her.
For the first time, something resembling amusement appeared on his face.
“A mortal?”
His gaze traveled over her torn robes and bloodied hand.
His expression became contemptuous.
“After three thousand years…”
He stepped off the altar.
“So this is what the world has become?”
Ye Qing slowly pushed herself backward.
“Who are you?”
The man's lips curved upward.
“You dare ask me that?”
Dark qi suddenly exploded from his body.
Ye Qing's knees struck the floor.
She couldn't breathe.
The pressure was overwhelming.
It felt as if an entire mountain had been dropped onto her shoulders.
The man raised one hand.
A strand of black qi gathered between his fingers.
“You broke my seal.”
His crimson eyes narrowed.
“That alone is enough reason to die.”
Ye Qing's heart sank.
“I didn't do it intentionally.”
“Does that matter?”
The black qi shot toward her.
Ye Qing tried to move.
She was too slow.
The dark energy wrapped around her throat and lifted her from the ground.
Her feet kicked helplessly in the air.
She clawed at the invisible force around her neck.
Her vision began to blur.
The man watched without emotion.
“A weak mortal who cannot even protect herself.”
His fingers slowly tightened.
“Pathetic.”
Ye Qing's lungs burned.
She couldn't breathe.
Her injured hand hung helplessly at her side, blood still dripping from her palm.
Just as darkness began creeping into the edges of her vision—
The man's expression suddenly changed.
He froze.
His hand loosened.
A strange look crossed his face.
Then he staggered backward.
Ye Qing dropped to the floor.
She immediately rolled onto her side, coughing violently and desperately sucking air into her lungs.
“What…?”
Across the chamber, the man had one hand pressed against his chest.
His crimson eyes were wide.
A thin line of blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
For the first time since his awakening, he looked genuinely shocked.
He stared at Ye Qing.
Then at his own hand.
Something was wrong.
A sharp pain had suddenly pierced his chest.
Not ordinary pain.
It had come from somewhere deeper.
Somewhere connected to his spiritual core.
And strangely…
The pain had appeared at the exact moment the mortal woman had nearly stopped breathing.
His gaze slowly returned to her.
Ye Qing was still coughing, one hand wrapped around her throat.
Neither of them spoke.
Then a strange burning sensation spread across Ye Qing's injured palm.
She winced.
“What is this?”
She looked down.
A faint crimson light was spreading from the wound across her skin.
The light traveled along her wrist before forming a small, unfamiliar symbol.
At almost the same time, the man's expression darkened.
He looked down at his own wrist.
The exact same crimson light had appeared there.
His eyes narrowed.
For several seconds, he simply stared at it.
Then he looked at Ye Qing.
She looked back at him.
Neither understood what had happened.
But one thing was certain.
Something had changed the moment her blood touched the altar.
The man slowly clenched his fist.
The crimson mark pulsed once.
Pain suddenly flashed through his chest again.
His expression twisted.
Ye Qing felt a faint ache in her own chest at the same moment.
She froze.
The man noticed.
His eyes became terrifyingly cold.
“You…”
He stepped toward her.
Ye Qing instinctively moved backward.
He stopped directly in front of her.
For the first time, there was something besides contempt in his eyes.
Suspicion.
And anger.
“What exactly did you do?”
Ye Qing swallowed.
“I told you. I don't know.”
His gaze dropped to the strange mark on her wrist.
Then back to her face.
For three thousand years, he had been sealed beneath this forbidden mountain.
He had expected freedom to bring destruction.
He had expected the first thing he would do after awakening to be reclaiming the power that had once belonged to him.
He had never expected to awaken…
bound to a mortal woman.
But he did not know that yet.
And Ye Qing certainly didn't.
All she knew was that the terrifying man standing before her had just tried to kill her—
and somehow, when she nearly died, he had suffered too.
The man's crimson eyes darkened.
He reached down and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him.
His voice was dangerously quiet.
“Tell me your name.”
Ye Qing hesitated.
Then, despite the fear pounding through her chest, she answered.
“Ye Qing.”
The man's grip tightened slightly.
“Ye Qing…”
He repeated her name as if committing it to memory.
Then he released her.
He turned toward the shattered altar, staring at the remains of the ancient seal.
His expression became colder.
“Interesting.”
Ye Qing slowly got to her feet.
“What are you going to do to me?”
The man looked over his shoulder.
A terrifying smile appeared on his face.
“I haven't decided yet.”
He turned fully toward her.
“But until I understand what you did…”
His crimson eyes burned brighter.
“…you are not leaving my sight.”
Outside the sealed cavern, the Blood-Claw Beast suddenly roared again.
The sound echoed through the mountains.
Ye Qing's heart sank.
The man merely smiled.
After three thousand years of silence, the Lord of Demons had finally returned.
And somehow, the weakest person in the cavern had become the one person he could not simply kill.
