Darkness did not come all at once. It swallowed him in layers. Lan Qingyun felt himself falling — not through space, but through memory. Through voices. Through something older than his current life.
Then—
He stood on black ground beneath a blood-red sky. No cave. No orb. No mummified corpses. Only a vast barren plain stretching endlessly outward.
Before him floated the red orb. Larger now. Its surface no longer smooth. It shifted. Peeled. Opened.
From within emerged a towering figure draped in tattered crimson robes. Not fully solid. Edges flickering like flame. Eyes burning gold.
The pressure alone was suffocating. Nascent Soul. Even fragmented, even fallen, even incomplete Overwhelming.
The figure looked down at him with undisguised disdain. "So this is the vessel."
Lan Qingyun tried to move. His limbs felt submerged in tar.
"You are weaker than the beasts I drained."
The monarch's gaze pierced through him. "Mid Golden Core… barely."
Lan Qingyun forced himself upright. "This body… is mine."
The monarch laughed softly. "This body is now mine."
With a flick of its sleeve, invisible force struck Lan Qingyun. He was sent skidding across the black ground. No physical injury. But the pressure crushed his will.
"This place," the monarch said slowly, glancing around, "your spiritual sea… how pitiful."
Lan Qingyun clenched his teeth. He knew this was a mental plane. If he yielded here— Everything ended.
He steadied his breathing. A century of waiting. A century of disappointment. A century of mediocrity. He had endured worse than mockery.
"You fell," Lan Qingyun said hoarsely.
The monarch's expression shifted slightly. "You failed your transformation tribulation."
Silence.
Then the monarch's eyes narrowed. "You know nothing."
"You were not strong enough."
The ground trembled. The red sky darkened further.
"You dare—"
The monarch vanished. Appeared instantly before him. Fingers pressed against Lan Qingyun's forehead.
Pain erupted.
Memories not his own flooded in violently. Lightning tearing through a crimson sky. A golden figure standing atop a mountain. Tribulation thunder descending. A roar of defiance.
Then Catastrophic failure.
He saw flesh vaporized. Soul shattered. Falling. Falling. Clinging to remnant consciousness. Hiding within mineral veins. Feeding. Waiting. Centuries.
Lan Qingyun screamed as the memories tore through him.
The monarch withdrew its hand slowly. "You will not insult me again."
Lan Qingyun knelt. Breathing ragged. But he did not bow.
"You fed on beasts."
"Yes."
"You destroyed that sect."
"Yes."
"They tried to steal my essence."
The monarch's voice grew cold. "They deserved extinction."
Lan Qingyun lifted his head. "And now you want to steal me."
The monarch smiled faintly. "You are convenient."
It extended its hand. Red threads began weaving through the sky, descending like chains toward Lan Qingyun's spiritual sea.
"This will be quick."
Lan Qingyun forced his Golden Core to rotate within his spiritual space. Sword intent manifested faintly behind him. Thin. Small. But steady.
"You cannot suppress me," the monarch said almost lazily.
Red pressure descended. Crushing. His sword intent shattered instantly. His knees buckled.
This was not a battle of strength. It was difference in realm.
The monarch's aura surged, beginning assimilation. Red light poured into Lan Qingyun's spiritual sea, seeking to overwrite. To replace. To occupy.
Lan Qingyun's consciousness flickered. He could feel his control slipping. Meridians losing coherence. Identity thinning.
The monarch spoke calmly. "You will sleep. You will watch. You will be useful."
And then
A different presence stirred. Cold. Precise. Unemotional.
A faint golden line appeared across the black sky. Then another. Then hundreds. They formed a lattice. Intersecting. Locking.
The monarch paused. "What is this?"
Golden light spread rapidly, weaving into a cage around Lan Qingyun's spiritual core. The system's voice echoed.
"Emergency override initiated."
The monarch's expression shifted for the first time. "What dares—"
Golden chains lashed outward, striking the crimson figure directly. The monarch roared. The impact did not destroy it. But it staggered.
Lan Qingyun felt the pressure ease slightly.
"Foreign soul detected," the system continued calmly. "Energy calculation… insufficient."
The golden lattice flickered.
The monarch laughed suddenly. "Is this your support?"
It raised a hand and shattered several golden lines instantly. The sky trembled. Lan Qingyun felt his consciousness being pulled apart again.
The system responded immediately. "External energy required."
Lan Qingyun felt something within his storage ring ignite. The Seven-Colored Spirit Essence. The Golden Core cores he had collected.
Energy surged violently into his spiritual sea.
The monarch's eyes widened. "You dare—"
Golden flames erupted. The system channeled everything. The heavenly material dissolved. Golden Core cores shattered one by one. Raw cultivation energy flooded into the lattice.
The monarch shrieked as golden chains tightened around its form. "This is not your body!" the system declared.
Lan Qingyun felt his own Golden Core destabilize under the torrent. Energy overflowed. Too much. Too violent. His meridians felt like they would burst.
The monarch fought back fiercely. Red flames exploded outward, burning through sections of golden lattice. The spiritual sky fractured. The ground cracked.
Lan Qingyun screamed as the backlash tore through him. His Mid Golden Core could not withstand this scale.
Then—
The system changed approach. "Energy redistribution."
Instead of simply attacking, the golden flood turned inward. It forced its way into Lan Qingyun's Golden Core. Stabilizing. Compressing. Reinforcing.
The monarch realized too late. "You would use me—"
Golden chains tightened. The red form began fracturing. Breaking apart into countless fragments.
"Impossible"
The system's voice grew colder. "Remnant integrity below viable threshold."
The monarch screamed one final time— And shattered.
Not into nothing. Into particles of red light that were consumed by the golden lattice.
Silence fell.
The black ground vanished. The red sky collapsed. Lan Qingyun floated alone in dim golden space.
His Golden Core burned. Swelled. Compressed.
Energy far beyond Mid Golden Core capacity forced expansion. Cracks formed along the core's surface— Then sealed.
His aura surged upward violently. Mid Golden Core… Late Mid… Peak Mid…
The pressure did not stop.
He felt his spiritual sea expand. Meridians thicken. Foundation solidify.
Then A final compression.
Everything snapped into alignment.
High Golden Core.
The energy surge faded gradually.
Lan Qingyun collapsed onto the cavern floor in the real world. His body convulsed once. Then stilled.
Inside his mind, the system's voice returned. "Emergency override complete."
"Energy reserves depleted."
"Core functions entering dormancy."
Lan Qingyun forced his eyes open weakly. "…Dormancy?"
"Duration estimated: one year."
His vision blurred. "You said… insufficient energy."
"Correct."
"Host survival prioritized."
He tried to sit up. Failed.
"What remains… of it?"
"Remnant destroyed."
A pause.
"Residual memory fragments retained."
His breathing slowed. "First… and last time?"
"Yes." the sytem replied "Future possession events may not be intercepted."
The words felt heavy.
His body trembled slightly.
The system's voice grew faint. "Sleep."
Golden light dimmed. Silence followed.
Lan Qingyun's consciousness faded into darkness once more.
Above him, the blood-red orb chamber lay cracked and lifeless. The tentacles withered into dust. And deep in the cavern, only a faint echo of ancient hatred remained—
Gone.