Dawn crept slowly over the village of Yangshui, a pale gray breath escaping from the chest of the heavens. Mist coiled across the dirt paths, soft and cold, while the cries of roosters pierced the fragile quiet. But beneath that routine stillness, something felt wrong—something subtle, unspoken… sensed by no one but a single soul.
Lin Tianhan.
He opened his eyes at the edge of the village.He had walked through the entire night without realizing it, as though his body moved by instinct alone. But when he finally saw the familiar weathered wooden fences of Yangshui… a heavy pressure struck his head.
He stopped.A hand rose to clutch his chest.
There was a throb—A heartbeat that was not human.
A pulse of blood.
The drop that had melted into his body was shifting… awakening… searching… testing him. A tremor spread through his fingers, and Tianhan inhaled slowly, fighting the burning ache rising through his bones. Strength flowed inside him—yes—but along with it came a searing pain.
"What… have I become?" he whispered.
Meanwhile, chaos rippled through the village. People spilled from their homes, whispering about the "red light" that had torn across the sky. Children wept. Women darted anxious glances around them. Men muttered about omens and curses.
But when Tianhan approached the first row of houses, the noise died instantly.
Not because of his exhaustion…Not because of his mud-stained clothes…But because of the crimson strand of hair resting on his forehead, glowing faintly beneath the newborn sun.
One man stepped forward, fear shaking his voice."His… hair! It changed!"
A woman shrieked."He's cursed!"
Another man cried,"It's the red omen! It tainted him!"
Tianhan didn't answer them.Didn't defend himself.Didn't even look their way.
His chest hurt too much.The red pulse grew harsher with every step.
He reached the door of his home. Before he touched it, it was flung open—his mother rushing out, crying:
"Tianhan!"
She wrapped her arms around him, trembling, desperate to confirm he was whole.
"Where were you?! You vanished all night! They said… they said you chased the red light!"
Then she saw it—the crimson strand of hair.Her face drained of color.
"What… is this?"
He bowed his head, silent.
At that moment, his father stormed out, fury etched across his features.
"Tianhan! How many times have I told you to stay away from that mountain?!"
He stood before his son, staring at the red hair, the tired eyes, the muddy clothes.
"Speak! What did you do?!"
Tianhan breathed slowly.He could lie.He could say he fell, or he got lost.
But that was no longer the path of the boy who descended into the pit.No longer the path of the boy who survived the blood.
"Something was calling me," he said quietly."I saw… something."
His mother's throat tightened.His father's brows knotted.
"Something? What do you mean?" the man growled.
Tianhan lifted his eyes—dark eyes now carrying a faint crimson glimmer, the echo of the heavenly spark.
"I saw a drop of blood… not human. It entered my body."
His mother staggered back.His father froze for a heartbeat—then exploded.
"Have you lost your mind?! Do you understand what you're saying?! These matters belong to cultivators! We… we are not part of that world!"
Tianhan didn't flinch.Didn't raise his voice.Didn't retreat.
"Whether I want it or not… what happened, has happened."
Then—
A scream tore through the western side of the village.High, sharp, filled with terror.
More screams followed.Running footsteps.A deep, guttural growl.
People bolted toward the noise.
Even before explanations arrived, the words reached Tianhan clearly:
"W–Wolves!""A monster from the mountain!""It's coming toward the fields!"
His father's eyes widened.No monster had approached their village for years.For one to appear now meant something had stirred in the mountain—something tied to the crimson spark,to the drop of blood,and perhaps… to the young man standing between them.
Villagers ran, dragging children away.But Tianhan did not move—not immediately.The pain in his chest returned, the red pulse beating like a war drum.
He inhaled.Then, without a word, he turned and began walking toward the screams.
His mother grabbed his arm, gasping,"Where are you going?! Tianhan—don't! Monsters kill!"
He looked at her.Said nothing.Gently freed his hand.
His face was calm… cold…But within him, something erupted—a quiet, burning volcano.
(If I run… I'll remain a slave to fear.)(If I face it… even without strength… I'll finally know what I am.)
At the village outskirts, near the fields—the roar of the beast shook the air.
A creature marked with black streaks, its eyes glowing sickly yellow, its fangs long as knives.A first-level monster—weak to cultivators, but death incarnate to ordinary men.
It tore at a farmer's corpse as seven villagers tried to hold it back with sticks and stones.
A woman screamed,"It'll kill them!"
Tianhan's father grabbed a hatchet and rushed—but he was too far.
The beast lunged at one of the men.
And in that instant—Tianhan flashed past his father.
As though his legs were moving on their own.The pain in his chest turned to heat.To energy.To blood.
He seized a long stick from the ground.
The monster charged at him instantly.
"Tianhan!!!" his mother screamed.
But the young man did not flee.Did not hesitate.Did not even lift the stick.
He stepped forward—just once.
Something strange happened.
The monster stopped.It roared—then backed away.
As if the scent of crimson blood within Tianhan struck fear into its instincts.
But Tianhan didn't know that.He only sensed an opening and swung the stick with all his strength, smashing it against the creature's head.
The stick shattered.The beast shrieked.It collapsed, writhing.
And then—a force exploded within Tianhan's chest.
Hot.Burning.
His eyes flashed red for an instant.
(Strike.)(Kill.)(Tear.)
A voice—yet not a voice—echoed from deep within.The instinct of blood.
He clenched his jaw, fighting the urge.Sweat dripped from his brow.He lifted a broken piece of wood and struck again.
Once.Twice.A third time.
Until the creature stopped moving.Until silence returned.
The villagers stared in disbelief.His father froze.His mother covered her mouth.
For the first time, the people of Yangshui felt that Tianhan was no longer an ordinary youth.
Tianhan stood, breath ragged, clothes torn, the monster's blood coating his hand.
Then—
A powerful pulse erupted in his chest.His vision trembled.A burning pain spread through his body.
He dropped to his knees.His hand clamped over his chest.
The drop of blood—was moving.
Awakening at the scent of fresh blood.
"Stop…" he hissed, teeth grinding."Not… now…"
But it did not stop.
Before the villagers' horrified eyes—two more strands of his hair turned crimson.
People backed away.Fear-struck.Shaken.
His mother trembled.His father's chest tightened.
Tianhan raised his head slowly—and opened his eyes.
They were no longer simply black.
They were black rimmed with burning crimson.
And for the first time in his life—Tianhan felt power.
A power unknown to him.A power no one in the village understood.A power that would become the very first thread…
in the storm that would one day consume the entire continent.