The sky was bleeding.
A rift tore across the heavens above the Burning Myriad Peaks, and out poured rivers of golden lightning, cascading down like celestial wrath upon a land already steeped in death. Craters dotted the landscape. Sect banners lay tattered in the wind. Screams echoed across the mountains as spirit beasts fled and disciples scattered.
In the center of the devastation, Jun Long stood—alone, unbowed.
His robes were torn, clinging to blood-slick skin, his hair matted to his face. His left arm hung uselessly at his side. Before him was a wall of flames conjured by the Burning Vein Sect, and beyond that wall… Yue Mei.
Bound in golden chains of celestial-grade spirit metal.
"Come no closer, Jun Long!" the Sect Master of the Burning Vein Sect bellowed from behind his array. "Or the girl dies!"
"She's not just a girl," Jun Long said softly, his voice barely audible over the crackle of fire. "She's the one who made me feel alive when I was already dead inside."
With a wave of his remaining hand, spiritual power surged. The mountains trembled. The air itself twisted, as if reality were bending in anticipation.
The romantic stakes had just been set.
Two Days Earlier
Yue Mei's fingers brushed Jun Long's cheek as they lay beneath the ancient peach blossom tree atop Moonshadow Cliff. The sky had been soft with stars. The scent of blooming petals hung in the air like a promise never spoken aloud.
"Why do you keep walking toward death?" she had asked.
"Because every time I hesitate, someone else dies in my place."
She looked at him with pain in her eyes. "And what if I die because of your path?"
He had no answer then. He still didn't.
But now, watching her chained and surrounded by enemies, something inside him snapped. Not with rage. Not even with vengeance.
It was clarity.
Now
"Do you really think a few ancient chains and a wall of fire can stop me?" Jun Long's voice deepened as the Heaven's Vein beneath his skin glowed with otherworldly power.
The spectators—disciples, elders, and even spirit beasts—stared, breath held.
The world seemed to wait.
"Activate the array!" the Sect Master roared.
A colossal sigil lit up beneath Yue Mei's feet, threatening to rip her spirit from her body to power a forbidden technique—one designed to kill even immortals.
She turned her head slowly to Jun Long, her eyes soft. "Don't," she mouthed.
He stepped forward anyway.
The array ignited.
Jun Long's body erupted with light—a new system alert triggered.
[System Update Detected: "Primordial Heart Protocol – Awakened"]
[Warning: Fusion of Heavenly Dao and Mortal Emotion at 96%]
[Warning: Host emotion thresholds exceeded—Processing evolution…]
A second sun burst from his chest.
The flames parted.
Deep Within the Sect Hall
In a hidden chamber, five Elders of the Burning Vein Sect watched in horror. One of them, cloaked in shadow, whispered, "We've awakened something older than karma itself…"
"The Heart of the Primordial System…" another said in fear.
"Why now? Who is that boy?"
Meanwhile, in the skies
Above the realm, a divine figure stirred from slumber. Her eyes fluttered open for the first time in ten thousand years.
"A mortal has touched the flame that can rewrite existence…" she murmured. "He dares love with such purity?"
She smiled.
"It's been too long since I last descended."
Back to the Battlefield
Yue Mei's chains cracked.
The burning mountain turned to glass under Jun Long's gaze.
He walked through the flames, each step heavy with resolve, with fury, with love.
The Sect Master tried to escape—but time warped around him. The mountains bent in obeisance. The fire bowed.
Jun Long's power wasn't his cultivation alone—it was the System's Will, fused with a mortal's undying emotion.
He reached Yue Mei.
And as he broke the last chain with a single touch, she collapsed into his arms.
"Why…" she whispered, "Why would you go this far?"
"Because I finally understand," he said, pulling her close. "If I lose you, I lose the only reason I sought power in the first place."
Far Above
The divine figure from before smiled, a hand extending toward the realm.
"Let the trial begin," she said.
And a rain of stars descended.
To Be Continued…