Ash and smoke clogged the air. The sky was a dull gray canvas, smeared with black streaks like blood spilled across a battlefield.
Lian Zhen opened his eyes with a sting, cold stone pressing against his back. His body felt wrong—heavy, sluggish, as if it belonged to someone else.
His ribs ached with a dull pain. When he looked at his hands, they were stained a dark red. Not his own. He didn't remember bleeding. Didn't remember anything.
Voices echoed in the distance, but there was another sound—inside his mind—a clear, calm voice that cut through the chaos.
[Extraction Panel Activated]
No user detected. Binding to nearest consciousness… Complete.
Words flickered in front of him, sharp and cold like steel.
Function: [Steal]
Target locked: Wan Ru — Qi Gathering Stage 9
Skill: Thunder Pulse Veins (Rare)
Begin extraction?
Lian Zhen's heart slammed against his ribs. The name stirred a faint flicker of memory, like a shadow brushing the edges of his mind.
Nearby, a man crawled painfully across the broken ground, clutching his side. His face was pale, eyes wide with shock and fear.
Lian Zhen's hand moved without permission.
[Stealing…]
Energy surged from Lian Zhen into the man. The man's breath hitched. His Qi flickered weakly, then dimmed.
Suddenly, Lian Zhen's vision sharpened. His senses exploded to life—hearing every crackle of dried leaves, feeling the pulse of lingering Qi in the earth.
A fragment of memory slammed into his mind like a hammer.
"Don't tell anyone. If they find out you mastered that, they'll burn the whole sect to ashes."
The power was real. Dangerous. And not something anyone should have.
He stumbled backward, heart pounding. The battlefield lay quiet, but the weight inside him pressed like a stone.
The Panel pulsed, hungry for more.
Movement flickered at the edge of his vision.
Three figures emerged from the shadows, their steps calculated and slow.
The tallest stepped forward, eyes locked on Lian Zhen.
"You there," the man said, voice cold and hard. "Seen Wan Ru?"
Lian Zhen forced his voice steady.
"No."
The man's eyes narrowed, doubt clear.
"The Thunder Pulse Veins are rare. If Wan Ru's gone, and his Qi's missing… someone took it."
Lian Zhen's fingers clenched.
"Then that someone is dangerous."
The leader smiled, a thin, cruel curve.
"Exactly. And we find them first."
They swept the battlefield, silent and merciless.
Night fell. Lian Zhen crouched among ruins, the panel whispering promises and threats.
This power was a curse. A weapon. A chain.
And it had chosen him.
He was not a hero.
But a survivor.