The air in the cavern thrummed with tension, thick as the scent of rain before a storm. Luo Jin stood basking in his father's pride and Chief Xuan's praise, his smirk sharp as a blade. At the edge of the Primeval Spring, Luo Hao watched in silence, his frail frame cloaked in shadow. Praise is a heavier chain than ridicule, he thought. Ridicule forces a man to face his flaws or break. Praise blinds him, convincing him those flaws are gone. Luo Jin stood atop his rank-two Razor Grass Vine, puffed up by applause, believing he'd already conquered the heavens. The danger of applause is that it fools the climber into thinking he's reached the peak. And those who stop climbing… fall.
Luo Hao's eyes glinted, cold and unyielding, a spark of something darker stirring within. Behind him, the Primeval Spring rippled, its surface patient, waiting, alive with ancient power.
Chief Xuan turned to him, his weathered face softening. "Your turn, Luo Hao." He placed a firm hand on Luo Hao's shoulder, Primeval energy flowing from his palm, warm and steady, wrapping around Luo Hao like a second skin. "Let's begin."
They stepped onto the spring's surface. Luo Hao's breath hitched as his feet met the liquid, solid as stone beneath him despite its shimmering fluidity. Incredible, he thought, marveling at the chief's mastery over Primeval energy.
At the center, Chief Xuan's voice was calm but commanding. "Relax your body. Don't fight the spring. It's not water—it's energy. You won't drown."
Luo Hao nodded. "I understand, Chief Xuan."
"Good luck," the chief said, stepping back. The moment the words left his lips, the force holding Luo Hao aloft vanished. He plunged into the spring.
Warmth enveloped him, not like water but like a living current, seeping into his pores, threading through his veins. He kept his eyes open, watching the motes of light dance above as he sank deeper. The surface's glow dimmed, then vanished, swallowed by inky darkness. As the void closed around him, a memory flickered—his mother, kneeling beside him the day she and his father left for their doomed journey. Her gentle hands wiped tears from his cheeks, her smile a beacon against the world's cruelty.
"No matter what this world takes from you, my boy, keep fighting. You were born to survive. You were born to defy the heavens." Her voice trembled with conviction. "One day the heavens will quake at the mention of your name my child."
The memory blurred, her face dissolving into the dark. Luo Hao's chest tightened, not with hope but with the last ember of emotion he clung to. The heavens will quake. Her words echoed, relentless, fueling the faint pulse of his will.
Then the darkness shifted. Luo Hao opened his eyes to a strange new realm. The ground beneath him rippled like water with each step, yet held firm. Is this… my sea of consciousness? he wondered, his voice a solemn whisper in his mind. He walked, the endless expanse stretching before him. After what felt like an eternity, a figure emerged in the distance—towering, over five meters tall, shrouded in a red-and-black aura. Two crimson eyes glowed from its silhouette, framed by what looked like two jagged horns. Its form was indistinct, like smoke given shape, yet its presence pressed against Luo Hao's soul.
He approached without fear, his expression blank as stone. The entity mirrored his stillness, watching. Neither moved for what seemed like hours. Then, slowly, the figure raised a shadowy arm, its clawed finger pointing at Luo Hao. Does it want me to touch it? Hesitating only a moment, Luo Hao lifted his hand, his fingertip meeting the entity's.
A torrent of voices flooded his mind. Pain lanced through his skull, sharp and searing. He clutched his head, a scream tearing from his throat as the cacophony grew, words twisting into incomprehensible fragments. The agony intensified, each second an eternity.
In the cavern, Luo Zhen paced toward Chief Xuan, his voice sharp with impatience. "What's taking so long? It's been four hours, and Luo Hao still hasn't surfaced." He forced a laugh. "Could he have drowned?"
Chief Xuan's face remained thoughtful, his silence heavy. Four hours, he mused, stroking his beard. The longest before was Luo Wei, an hour and twenty minutes. He awoke a rank-two Sky-Piercing Vine, a prodigy who shook the entire Western Province of Cang Xi. His gaze fixed on the spring. What kind of monster did you sire, Luo Wei?
The cavern shuddered violently, walls groaning, debris cascading from the ceiling. Luo Jin summoned his Razor Grass Vine, weaving a shield to deflect a falling rock. "Chief Xuan, what's happening?" Luo Zhen demanded.
The chief's eyes never left the spring. "Luo Hao's awakening is causing this. He may awaken a rank-three spirit soul—perhaps higher."
Luo Zhen's face paled, disbelief warring with dread. That walking corpse? Impossible.
Beneath the spring, Luo Hao writhed, curled on the rippling ground of his sea of consciousness. The voices sharpened, one word rising above the chaos,Malice. Malice. Malice. He whispered it, voice hoarse. "Malice." The pain ebbed with each repetition, as if the word were a key unlocking the torment. "Malice."
The agony vanished. Luo Hao staggered to his feet, sweat and strain staining his face. He met the entity's glowing eyes. "You, you are Malice," he said, voice steady. "You are my spirit soul."
The entity surged forward, its form dissolving into a crimson-black mist that engulfed him. Power flooded his soul, fusing with his being. The sea of consciousness cracked like glass, shards falling away. Panic flickere Chief Xuan's warning echoed in his mind A weak vessel cannot contain a powerful spirit soul. "Malice is too strong," he realized, desperation clawing at him. "I can't die. Not yet. Not ever."
In the cavern, the spring churned like a storm-tossed sea. Luo Hao's body erupted from its depths, floating midair, waves of Primeval energy coiling around him in a radiant blue vortex. Chief Xuan's eyes widened. Such power… a monster, like his father.
Luo Hao's scream shattered the air, raw and anguished. Luo Zhen rushed to the chief. "Why is he screaming?"
Chief Xuan's voice was grim. "His body is too frail for the spirit soul and the energy flooding him. If he cannot control it, his soul will be consumed."
A faint, pleased smile curved Luo Zhen's lips. Good, he thought. Let him die.