Southern Domain – Borderlands – Ruins of the Lin Clan
Snow fell in summer.
The sky held no chill. The ground was warm. Yet snowflakes drifted down—only to turn to ash the moment they touched the earth.Was it the ash of a broken faith, or of a world that had already ended?
In the center of a ruined stone plaza, a young man knelt in silence.Thin, ragged robes clung to his frame.In his hands, he gripped a worn-out whetstone and slowly carved strange symbols into the stone floor.
Each cut drew blood from his fingers.Each symbol stolen his breath.Each character finished—tore away a sliver of his soul, offered to something older than gods.
His name was Lâm Mạc.
Once, he was the pride of the Lin Clan.A prodigy—once called a "child chosen by fate" by the clan patriarch himself.The last heir to carry the blood of the Primordial Vein, a lineage cursed by the Heavenly Dao since before the world even began.
He had been kneeling here for three days and nights.No food. No rest. No cry for help.
Only blood—used to reclaim the path that was once his.
Suddenly, laughter echoed across the ruins.
"Still clinging to this madness, Lâm Mạc? Do you think those bloody scribbles will bring you back into the Heavenly Dao?"
It was Lâm Uyên, the clan's rising star—chosen to replace Lâm Mạc.His robes shimmered with noble colors, his tone sharp and mocking.
Lâm Mạc said nothing. He kept carving.
Ten Years Ago – The Night Heaven Struck
He had it all—talent, recognition, boundless potential.
But during his Dao-bestowal ceremony, a bolt of divine lightning tore down from the sky and struck his spiritual meridians.
No warning. No explanation. Just… punishment.
When he woke, he was crippled.
His sect erased his name.His clan banished him from their sacred vaults.The patriarch sealed his bloodline and forbade him from accessing any higher cultivation techniques.
From light—he fell into the deepest darkness.
Old friends now called him cursed.Even the one who once vowed to follow him to the end left behind a single sentence:
"I cannot bear Heaven's wrath in your place."
He once wanted to die.But death never came.
Each time he neared the edge, a voice echoed in his mind:
"Live. Live long enough to see why those who kneel survive longer than those who stand."
No one knew what he was carving.No one cared.
But every symbol came from a forgotten, half-burned tome—one final gift from his ancestor, erased from the annals of history.
That ancient scripture spoke of a path not recorded in the Celestial Registry.Not Spirit Dao. Not Law Dao.No spiritual roots. No Nascent Soul required.
It was…
The Primordial Path of Rebirth—the path of ash, walked only by those whose hearts had already died.
That afternoon, they dragged him to the Ancient Dragon Altar—a sacred place reserved for heirs worthy of legacy.
But this time, he wasn't an heir.He was a sacrifice.
His blood fell onto the stone altar, seeping into its ancient grooves.
And then—
BOOM—!!
From the altar's core, a single ember of gray light burst forth, swirling through the air like living flame—before slamming into Lâm Mạc's forehead.
The entire altar trembled.Cracks split the earth.The void itself wavered.
The elders stared in shock.But when Lâm Mạc collapsed, they turned their backs.No one came to help.
There was no light.
Only an endless sea of ash.
In the center stood a giant figure, cloaked in gray, back turned toward him.Its form loomed high—like it touched the end of the sky.
A voice thundered:
"Your blood isn't cold enough.Your heart hasn't truly died.But your eyes… they are sharp enough to pierce Heaven."
"If you wish to defy the heavens—then die once first."
Lâm Mạc awoke, drenched in cold sweat.
But his eyes no longer held despair.Now they burned—like embers in the ash.
From that moment, he was no longer the cursed heir.No longer a cripple.
He had taken the first step on the Primordial Path of Rebirth.
Above it all, atop a windless pine tree, a woman in flowing white robes stood shrouded in Spiritual Energy, watching from afar.
Her gaze narrowed.
"So… the inheritor of the forgotten Dao has finally arrived."
Then the wind blew.And silence returned.
"I have no spiritual roots. No master. No legacy…But I possess one thing that Heaven cannot control."
"The will of one who has died—but refuses to fade."
"Primordial Dao… if you still exist, then let me become the reason you do."