"When Heaven decreed all paths, there was one who carried none.
When the world learned to bow, there was one who still chose to lift his head… even as blood pooled beneath his feet."
---
Southern Domain – Borderlands – The Ruins of the Lin Clan
Snow fell in midsummer.
The sky was not cold, nor was the earth frozen. Yet white snowflakes drifted down, each flake turning to ash upon touching the ground—was it the ash of a burned faith, or the remnants of a fallen world?
In the center of a desolate stone plaza, a youth in thin, ragged clothing knelt, gripping an old whetstone tightly as he carefully carved strange symbols into the stone floor.
Every stroke—a trickle of blood seeped from his fingertips.
Every symbol—a stifled breath in his chest.
Every completed character—a fragment of his soul stripped away, offered as sacrifice to something older than the gods.
His name was Lin Mo.
Once the prodigy of the Lin Clan.
Once hailed by the Patriarch as the "seed of Heaven's Mandate."
The last descendant bearing the mark of the Primordial Ancient Vein—a bloodline cursed by Heaven's Path since before the world's creation.
He had knelt here for three days and nights. No food. No sleep. No plea for help.
Only blood… to reclaim his own path.
---
A mocking laugh shattered the silence.
"Lin Mo, still refusing to let go? Do you really think those blood-scrawled symbols can send you back to Heaven's Path?"
The speaker was Lin Yuan, the disciple now being groomed to replace Lin Mo's former position. His arrogance radiated, his golden robes—reserved for the clan's chosen heirs—glinting as if to taunt the kneeling figure.
Lin Mo did not answer. His hand continued to carve.
---
Memory: Ten Years Ago – The Night of Shattering Thunder
A genius. A youth who had everything.
But that night, during the Path-Bestowing Ceremony, a bolt of divine lightning descended from the heavens—striking his spiritual veins without reason.
When he awoke, he was a cripple.
His sect erased his name.
His clan expelled him from their sacred vaults.
The Patriarch ordered his bloodline sealed, banishing him from the holy grounds, forbidding him from learning high-tier techniques.
From brilliance… to an abyss with no bottom.
Former friends—called him "Heaven's Blight."
The one who once swore to follow him for life—left with these words:
"I cannot bear the wrath of Heaven's Path for you."
---
He had wanted to die.
But death would not take him.
Each time he neared the end, a faint voice echoed in his mind:
"Live. So you may see why those who kneel outlive those who stand."
---
Present – Amidst Blood and Snow
No one knew what he was carving. No one cared.
But every symbol he etched was a remnant of a burned scripture—the last secret left by his ancestors before their name was erased from history.
The scripture spoke of a path unrecorded in the Heavenly Scrolls.
Not the Spirit Path, not the Law Path, requiring neither spiritual roots nor divine soul.
It was:
"The Primordial Life Path"—the path of ashes, the path of those with deadened hearts.
---
Noon That Day
He was dragged to the Dragon Terrace Ancient Seat—a place reserved for heirs deemed "worthy" of inheritance.
But this time, he was the sacrifice.
Lin Mo's blood dripped onto the stone altar, dark streaks flowing into ancient grooves.
Then—
BOOM—!!
From the altar's center, a spark of gray ash burst like living embers, swirling midair before plunging into Lin Mo's forehead.
The entire altar trembled.
The earth cracked. The void distorted.
The elders recoiled in shock, but when Lin Mo collapsed unconscious, they coldly walked away—not one stepping forward to save him.
---
Sea of Consciousness – First Layer of the Primordial
No light.
Only an endless expanse of drifting ashes.
A colossal figure in a gray ashen robe stood at the center of the spiritual realm, back turned, its silhouette stretching to the ends of the sky.
"Your blood is not yet cold enough. Your heart is not yet broken enough."
"But your gaze… is sharp enough to pierce Heaven's Path."
"If you wish to defy Heaven, you must die once."
---
Awakening – Eyes of Ash Unveiled
Lin Mo jolted awake. Cold sweat drenched him.
But in his eyes—no longer darkness, only smoldering gray embers.
From that moment, he was no longer the cursed youth.
No longer the abandoned cripple.
He—had taken the first step onto the Primordial Life Path.
---
High above, amidst ancient pines where no wind stirred, a woman in ethereal white robes stood amidst mist-like spiritual energy, her eyes flickering.
"At last… the heir of the erased path has come."
But the wind passed. Silence returned.
---
"I have no spiritual roots, no legacy, no master… But I have one thing Heaven's Path cannot control—"
"…the will of one who has died—yet refuses to fade."
"Primordial… if you exist—make me the reason your path endures."