Void Cultivation : Outcast Architect of the Apocalypse

“Drink up, Han Ye. This tea was brewed from snow petals gathered just this morning.” Han Ye took the porcelain cup, his fingers trembling slightly. He looked up at his fiancée, Lin Xue, who stood before him with a smile he had always likened to a plum blossom in full bloom. Beside him, Mu Chen, his best friend since childhood, gave his shoulder a warm, supportive pat. “Thank you, Xue-er. You always know exactly how to soothe my nerves before a big trial,” Han Ye said. Mu Chen let out a soft chuckle. The sound, which usually struck Han Ye as sincere, felt a fraction too sharp today. “You are the pride of our clan, Han Ye. That Golden Spirit Root of yours is the ticket for all three of us to join the Sky Peak Sect. Drink up. You’ll need your strength for the strengthening ritual tonight.” Han Ye nodded and drained the cup in one go. A strange bitterness lingered at the back of his throat, but he brushed it off. His trust in the two people standing before him was far greater than any flicker of suspicion. “Does it taste alright?” Lin Xue asked, her eyes fixed intently on his lips. “A bit bitter, perhaps just the variety of the flower,” Han Ye replied. He tried to stand, but the world suddenly tilted. His legs felt like bundles of dry straw, unable to bear his weight. He collapsed back into the chair before sliding unceremoniously to the floor. Han Ye! Mu Chen cried out, yet he made no move to help. He remained standing, looking down at Han Ye with an expression he had never seen before. It was cold. Utterly detached. “What is happening? My head, my body...I can’t feel my legs,” Han Ye groaned. He tried to circulate his Qi, but his energy channels felt as if they were being pierced by a thousand needles of ice. Lin Xue stepped forward, but not to comfort him. She stood over him, looking down as if her fiancé were nothing more than an insect she had just stepped on. “I am sorry, Han Ye. But you shine too brightly. You are blocking the path for both of us,” Lin Xue said. Her voice was flat, stripped of every ounce of the affection she had displayed moments ago. “Xue-er? What are you saying? Mu Chen, help me.” Han Ye crawled across the floor, his fingertips brushing against Mu Chen’s boot. Mu Chen kicked Han Ye’s hand away with brutal force. “Don’t you dare say my name with that loser’s mouth of yours. Did you really think I was happy watching you always come out on top? Did you think I enjoyed playing the role of your shadow for ten long years?” “You...you poisoned me? Han Ye gasped.” His heart hammered against his ribs, each beat sending waves of agonizing pain through his nerves. “Just a simple Qi-suppressant,” Lin Xue said, kneeling so her face was inches from his. Han Ye’s skin was already beginning to turn a sickly shade of blue. “We need your Golden Spirit Root, Han Ye. The Sky Peak Sect is only accepting one core disciple with exceptional talent this year. If you still have that root, Mu Chen would never stand a chance.” “That root is my life. You can’t...” Han Ye coughed, dark blood staining the corners of his mouth. “We can,” Mu Chen interrupted. He drew a ceremonial dagger carved from the bone of an ancient beast. The blade pulsed with an eerie, malevolent purple light. The Ritual of Extraction is painful, “I know. But don't worry. Soon enough, you won't feel a thing, because you’ll be dead.” “Mu Chen, stop! We are brothers!” Han Ye screamed, his voice hoarse from the burning sensation in his chest. “Brothers? Brothers don't force their kin to live off the scraps of their fame!” Mu Chen roared back. He grabbed Han Ye by the collar and dragged him toward the stone altar in the center of the room. Lin Xue helped pin Han Ye’s arms down. Her touch, which once felt so gentle, now felt like iron shackles. Han Ye searched his fiancée’s eyes, desperate for a single spark of guilt or hesitation. He found nothing but a burning, hollow ambition. “Xue-er, I loved you...I would have given you anything if you had only asked. Why does it have to be like this?” Han Ye wept, his tears mingling with cold sweat. “Because I don’t need the love of a small-town genius, Han Ye. I need power. I need someone who can take me to the peak of the cultivation world. And that isn't you, not anymore,” Lin Xue replied. She pressed her palm against his chest, steadying his position so Mu Chen could strike with precision. Mu Chen raised the bone knife high. The purple light in the blade seemed to thirst for blood. “Farewell, Han Ye. Thank you for your talent. I’ll put it to much better use than you ever could.” The blade plunged into Han Ye’s lower abdomen. Han Ye howled. It was no longer a human sound, but the scream of a soul being torn apart. He felt something fundamental within him being violently uprooted. His spirit root, the source of his power, his very identity was being ripped from the foundation of his existence. The pain defied description. It felt as if every inch of his skin was being slowly flayed while his internal organs were boiled in oil. “Look at this, Xue-er! Look how beautiful it is!” Mu Chen laughed hysterically, holding up a shimmering mass of pure golden energy at the tip of his blade. The mass pulsed, trying to return to its rightful owner, but Mu Chen quickly shoved it into a prepared jade flask. Han Ye lay broken on the altar. His eyes were wide, but his vision was fading into a blur. He felt hollow. Not just weak, but entirely empty, as if his soul had become a black hole swallowing the last of his consciousness. “He’s still breathing,” Lin Xue noted, her voice sounding miles away. “Let him. Without a spirit root, he’s just trash. That wound will kill him within the hour anyway,” Mu Chen replied, admiring the jade flask in his hands. “That won't do. The Han Clan will come looking. If his body is found here, we’re finished. Take him to the cliff,” Lin Xue commanded. Han Ye felt his body being hoisted up roughly. He couldn't fight back. He couldn't even twitch a finger. He could only see the star-filled night sky through the thinning veil of his consciousness. The stars looked beautiful, a cruel contrast to the darkness currently consuming him. They reached the edge of a sheer precipice. A thick, black mist swirled at the bottom of the gorge, a place known to all as the Abyss of Extinction. No one ever returned from there. It was said that below the mist lay only eternal death. Mu Chen grabbed Han Ye’s legs while Lin Xue took his shoulders. They swung his blood-soaked body toward the void. “Why...?” Han Ye whispered with his final breath. “Because you’re useless now,” Mu Chen said shortly. “One...” “Two...” “Three!” Han Ye’s body soared through the air. Gravity claimed him instantly. The cold night wind bit into the wound in his gut, but that physical pain was nothing compared to the shattering of his heart. The person he loved and the person he trusted had discarded him like worthless refuse. As his body plummeted into the suffocating black mist, Han Ye had one final, burning wish amidst his despair. “If there is a life after this... if there is any power in this world that can hear me... I will return. I will erase every trace of you from this earth.” Then, total darkness swallowed him whole.