The smell of incense filled the air of the Great Hall, but for Su Lan, it smelled like death.

She was pinned to a cold, jade platform. Four heavy obsidian pillars stood around her, connected by glowing purple chains. These were "Spirit-Locking Chains." They didn't just hold the body; they bit into the soul, making it impossible to even circulate a drop of energy.

Standing above her was a man she once called Master—Grandmaster Qinghe. He looked immortal and elegant in his white robes, but his eyes were like chips of ice.

"Su Lan," Qinghe said, his voice echoing through the hall. "Do not struggle. Your Junior Sister Lin Yue has a constitution of the Phoenix, but her foundation is weak. You are her shadow. It is only right that the shadow merges with the light."

Beside him, Lin Yue leaned against the Senior Brother, Ye Chen. She looked pale and fragile, like a flower that would break in the wind.

"Sister Su," Lin Yue whispered, her voice trembling with fake emotion. "I am so sorry. If there was any other way, I wouldn't ask this of you. But the Sect needs a Saintess to enter the Ancient Realm. Only you can save us."

Su Lan felt a surge of nausea. For five years, she had been the one to enter the most dangerous forests to find herbs for Lin Yue. She was the one who took a poison arrow for Ye Chen. She had treated them like family.

"Save the Sect?" Su Lan’s voice was hoarse, but she forced the words out. "You mean save your own greed. Master, you promised me that if I reached the Golden Core stage, you would let me search for my parents. Was that a lie too?"

Ye Chen stepped forward, his face full of disdain. "Shut up! You are just an orphan the Sect picked up. Your life belongs to us. To be able to contribute your Spiritual Root to Yue’er is the greatest luck of your miserable life."

Without another word, Ye Chen raised a ceremonial silver dagger.

The dagger wasn't meant to kill. It was meant to carve.

Squelch.

Su Lan’s eyes widened. A pain unlike anything she had ever felt exploded in her lower abdomen. The dagger sank deep, twisting into her Dantian—the center of her power. She felt the silver blade hook onto her glowing, emerald-colored Spiritual Root.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

Su Lan’s scream echoed through the silent mountains of the sect. Outside, the thousands of disciples were celebrating the "Ascension" of the Saintess, unaware of the blood being spilled in the hall.

"Focus, Yue’er! Take the root!" Qinghe commanded.

Su Lan watched through blurred, tear-filled eyes as her glowing root was pulled from her body. It looked like a beautiful, pulsating vine. As it left her body, Su Lan felt her strength vanish. Her hair, once black and shiny, turned grey at the tips. Her skin lost its glow. In seconds, she went from a genius cultivator to a mortal waste.

Lin Yue grabbed the root with greedy hands. The moment she touched it, her pale face flushed with color. "It’s so warm... Brother Chen, I can feel it! I can feel the power!"

Ye Chen smiled dotingly. "It was always meant to be yours, Yue’er."

They didn't even look at Su Lan anymore. To them, she was already a corpse.

"Throw her into the Back Mountain Abyss," Qinghe ordered casually, as if he were talking about throwing out the trash. "The beasts need to eat, and we cannot leave any evidence of the ritual."

Two disciples entered, unchained Su Lan’s limp body, and dragged her toward the cliffside. Su Lan couldn't move. Her heart was filled with a cold, piercing hatred.

If I live... if there is a hell... I will crawl back and kill you all, she thought.

The disciples reached the edge of the Cloud-Wrapped Abyss. Without a word of pity, they tossed her over.

As Su Lan fell into the dark, misty depths, her consciousness began to fade. But then, a sharp, electronic sound rang out in her mind, startling her soul.

[Ding! Scanning Host... Life signs: 2%. Hatred Level: 1,000,000% (Maximum).]

[Condition met. The Sovereign Revenge System is binding...]

[Binding 10%... 50%... 100%!]

[Host Su Lan, welcome to the path of the Empress. Do you wish to live?]

"I... want... revenge..." Su Lan hissed in her mind, her soul burning with fury.

[Confirmed. Emergency Life-Saving Protocol initiated.]

[Reward for First Binding: The Void Devouring Body!]

[Reward: 10,000 Years of Forbidden Cultivation Knowledge!]

Suddenly, the air around Su Lan stopped rushing. The darkness of the abyss didn't swallow her. Instead, the thick, black fog began to swirl around her body like a protective cocoon.

The hole in her Dantian, where her root had been stolen, began to glow with a terrifying, pitch-black light.

A new root was forming. It wasn't green like the old one. It was black—darker than the deepest night, crackling with purple lightning.

[Ding! You have gained the 'Void Root'. This root does not need Spirit Stones. It eats the energy of your enemies.]

Su Lan landed on the floor of the abyss. Normally, the fall would have turned her into a meat patty. But now, she stood up slowly. Her grey hair turned back to a deep, ink-black, but it now had a strange, silvery sheen. Her eyes, once soft and kind, were now as sharp as swords, glowing with a faint purple light.

She looked up at the sky. High above, she could see the lights of the Cloud Mist Sect. She could hear the faint sound of bells celebrating Lin Yue.

"Celebrate while you can," Su Lan whispered. Her voice was calm, but the ground beneath her feet cracked from the pressure of her aura. "I gave you my loyalty, and you wanted my life. Now, I will give you my hatred, and I will take your everything."

[Ding! New Mission: Survival in the Abyss.]

[Objective: Kill 10 Soul-Eater Beasts and reach Level 1 of the Void Path.]

[Reward: Heaven-Slaying Sword Technique.]

A low growl came from the shadows. A massive wolf with red eyes and teeth like daggers stepped out. It was a Soul-Eater Beast, a monster that even Foundation Establishment cultivators feared.

Su Lan didn't back away. She didn't have a sword, so she simply raised her hand.

"System," she said coldly. "Show me how to kill."

[Ding! Detecting enemy weakness... Target: Throat. Suggested Move: Void Grip.]

Su Lan lunged. She was faster than a shadow. In her previous life, she was a genius, but she was "balanced." Now, with the Void Body, her speed was illogical.

Before the wolf could even bark, Su Lan’s hand was around its neck. Black energy erupted from her palm.

CRACK.

The wolf’s neck snapped instantly. A stream of white energy flowed from the wolf’s body into Su Lan’s palm.

[Ding! Killed 1st Soul-Eater Beast. Gained 100 Experience Points. Leveling up...]

Su Lan felt a surge of power. It was different from the "gentle" energy of her old sect. This power was aggressive. It was hungry.

She looked into the dark forest of the abyss, where hundreds of red eyes were starting to glow. A cold, beautiful smile touched her lips.

"Next."

The Abyss of Souls was a place where even the sunlight feared to tread. Massive, gnarled trees with bark like rotting flesh reached toward the sky, their branches tangled together to form a ceiling of thorns. This was the dumping ground of the Cloud Mist Sect—a place for failed experiments, broken weapons, and "trash" disciples.

Su Lan stood over the carcass of the first Soul-Eater Beast. The white mist of its essence was still being pulled into her palm by the Void Root.

In her previous life, cultivation was a slow, painful process. You had to sit for days, meditating, trying to coax the thin spiritual energy of the world into your veins. It was like trying to fill a bucket with a single drop of rain.

But this? This was different.

[Ding! Level Up! Current Realm: Body Refining Level 2.]

[Ding! Level Up! Current Realm: Body Refining Level 3.]

In less than five minutes, Su Lan had regained the strength of a common soldier. She could feel her muscles tightening, her senses sharpening. The smell of the damp earth and the distant sound of dripping water became crystal clear.

“If I can level up just by killing,” Su Lan thought, her eyes flashing with a predatory light, “then this Abyss isn't a prison. It’s a buffet.”

From the darkness, the red eyes multiplied. The smell of the first wolf’s blood had acted like a dinner bell for the rest of the pack. Slowly, a dozen more Soul-Eater Beasts emerged. They were larger than the first, their fur matted with dried blood and their claws scraping against the jagged stones.

[Warning: Pack Mentality detected. Enemy strength is equivalent to Body Refining Level 5. Does the Host wish to retreat?]

"Retreat?" Su Lan let out a low, cold laugh. She wiped a stray drop of blood from her cheek. "System, you don't understand. I’ve spent my whole life being told to be 'cautious' and 'gentle.' Look where that got me."

She clenched her fists. The black energy of the Void crackled around her knuckles like dark lightning.

"In this life, I don't move backward."

The lead wolf lunged, its jaws wide enough to snap off a human head. Su Lan didn't dodge. Instead, she stepped into the attack.

[Skill Activated: Void Step.]

Her body blurred. To the wolves, it looked like she had turned into a puff of black smoke. The lead wolf snapped at thin air, and in the next heartbeat, Su Lan appeared directly beneath its belly.

She thrust her palm upward.

BOOM!

The energy exploded. The massive beast was sent flying twenty feet into the air, its internal organs shattered by the sheer force of the Void energy. It crashed into a tree, dead before it hit the ground.

[Ding! Kill confirmed. Gained 200 Experience Points.]

The rest of the pack froze. These beasts survived on fear, but for the first time in centuries, they were the ones feeling it. They looked at the small, slender girl in the tattered, blood-stained white robe. To them, she no longer smelled like a weak human. She smelled like a black hole.

Su Lan didn't give them time to rethink. She became a whirlwind of shadow.

Crack. Snap. Thud.

One by one, the wolves fell. Su Lan’s movements were not the elegant, flowery forms taught by the Cloud Mist Sect. Her movements were efficient, brutal, and designed for one thing: ending life. She used her fingers like claws, her elbows like hammers, and her Void energy to bypass their thick hide.

Ten minutes later, the clearing was silent.

Su Lan stood in the center of a circle of corpses. Her breathing was slightly heavy, but her eyes were brighter than ever. Streams of white essence rose from the fallen beasts, flowing toward her like rivers to an ocean.

[Ding! Mission Complete: Killed 10/10 Soul-Eater Beasts.]

[Distributing Rewards...]

[Gained: Heaven-Slaying Sword Technique (Rank: Divine).]

[Gained: 500 System Points.]

[Gained: Void Storage Ring (Infinite Space).]

[Ding! Level Up! Current Realm: Body Refining Level 9 (Peak).]

Su Lan felt a massive surge of heat in her chest. Her bones creaked and hardened, and her skin became as tough as refined iron. In a single hour, she had jumped from a "waste" to the peak of the first major cultivation realm.

She looked at her hands. The scars from the Spirit-Locking Chains were fading, replaced by smooth, flawless skin.

"System," Su Lan whispered. "How do I get out of here?"

[Answer: The Abyss is sealed by a 'Heaven-Locking Formation' placed by the Sect Leader. To break it, the Host must reach the Foundation Establishment Realm and use the Heaven-Slaying Sword.]

"Foundation Establishment, huh?" Su Lan looked deeper into the Abyss. The forest went on for miles, filled with even stronger monsters and ancient, forgotten ruins. "Then I’ll just have to keep killing until the world itself can't hold me down."

Meanwhile, at the Top of the Mountain...

In the luxurious "Phoenix Pavilion" of the Cloud Mist Sect, the atmosphere was festive.

Lin Yue sat on a throne of silk, her face glowing with health. Around her, dozens of disciples were offering gifts and flattery.

"Junior Sister Lin is truly a genius!" one disciple chirped. "To merge with a spiritual root so perfectly... you will surely become the top cultivator in the Great Province!"

Ye Chen, the Senior Brother, stood by her side, looking proud. "Of course. Yue’er was always meant for greatness. Unlike that Su Lan, who was nothing but a clumsy tool."

Lin Yue giggled, hiding her mouth behind a silk fan. "Brother Chen, don't be so mean. Sister Su... she served her purpose. I will use her root to reach the heavens. In a way, she is still 'with' me."

They all laughed, a sound of pure arrogance. They had already forgotten the girl they threw into the dark. They assumed she was being digested by the wolves, her bones turning to dust.

Suddenly, a strange vibration shook the ground.

Qinghe, the Sect Leader, frowned and looked toward the Back Mountain. For a split second, he felt a chill go down his spine—a sensation of a Great Terror waking up beneath the earth.

"Master? Is something wrong?" Lin Yue asked, noticing his pale face.

Qinghe shook his head, forcing a smile. "Nothing. Just the wind in the mountains. Today is your day, Yue’er. Let us drink!"

He ignored the feeling. He didn't know that deep below, the "clumsy tool" he had discarded was currently holding a sword made of pure shadows, staring up at the bottom of his mountain with eyes that promised fire and blood.

Inside the Abyss: The First Treasure

Su Lan didn't care about the party above. She had followed the System’s map to a small cave hidden behind a waterfall of black water.

[Ding! Detected: Ancient Cultivator’s Remnant Soul.]

[Warning: The soul is hostile. Does the Host wish to 'Devour' or 'Negotiate'?]

Su Lan walked into the cave. Resting on a stone pedestal was a rusty, broken sword. Above it hovered a faint, blue ghost of an old man.

"Who dares enter my tomb?" the ghost roared, his voice shaking the cave. "A little girl at the Body Refining realm? Leave your flesh for my reincarnation, and I might give you a quick death!"

The ghost lunged at Su Lan, his spectral hands reaching for her throat.

Su Lan didn't blink. She simply opened her mouth and activated the Void Root’s hidden ability.

"Devour," she said.

A black vortex appeared in front of her. The "Ancient Soul" didn't even have time to scream before he was stretched like taffy and sucked into Su Lan’s Dantian.

[Ding! Devoured 'Ghost King' Remnant Soul.]

[Gained: 2,000 Experience Points!]

[Gained: Map of the Secret Treasury of the Cloud Mist Sect!]

[Congratulations! Host has broken through to: Foundation Establishment Realm – Level 1!]

Su Lan felt a massive "click" in her soul. The liquid energy in her body solidified into a foundation of black jade. She picked up the rusty sword. As she touched it, the rust fell away, revealing a blade as dark as a starless night.

"Lin Yue, Ye Chen, Qinghe..." Su Lan whispered the names like a curse. "The Empress is coming home."

She swung the sword. A wave of black energy sliced through the waterfall, through the rocks, and cut a giant "X" into the side of the mountain.

The hunt had officially begun.

The Foundation Establishment Realm.

In the outside world, reaching this stage would make Su Lan a respected elder in a small sect or a top-tier core disciple in a large one. For most, it took twenty years of bitter cultivation. Su Lan had done it in a single afternoon.

But she wasn't satisfied. The Void Root inside her was humming, hungry for more. It didn't just want energy; it wanted restitution.

"System," Su Lan said, testing the weight of the black sword. The blade was light as a feather but felt like it could slice through the world itself. "How many 'Face-Slapping' points did I get for devouring that old ghost?"

[Ding! Host earned 1,000 System Points for 'Utterly Disrespecting an Ancient Senior.']

[Would you like to open the System Mall?]

"Open it," she commanded.

A holographic screen appeared in her mind, showing rows of legendary items: Divine Alchemy Cauldrons, Dragon-Blood Pills, Invisibility Talismans.

Su Lan’s eyes skipped over the weapons. She already had the Heaven-Slaying Sword. Her gaze landed on a shimmering, silver liquid in a small vial.

[Item: Karma Mirroring Mask.]

[Cost: 800 Points.]

[Description: Allows the wearer to assume any face. More importantly, it can reflect a person's greatest fear back at them.]

"Perfect," Su Lan whispered. "Buy it."

The points vanished, and a cool, liquid-metal mask appeared in her hand. She pressed it to her face. It felt like a second skin, merging perfectly with her features. With a thought, she didn't change her face to a stranger's—she made herself look exactly like she did when she was dying on the altar, blood-stained and pale, but with one difference: her eyes remained those haunting, purple-black voids.

At the edge of the Cloud Mist Sect’s territory, near the "Cliffs of Repentance," two outer-sect disciples were on guard duty. They were bored, leaning against the stone pillars and gossiping about the afternoon's festivities.

"Did you see the Saintess earlier?" one asked, lighting a spirit-tobacco pipe. "She looked like a goddess. I heard her new Spiritual Root is so powerful it caused a rainbow to appear over the Phoenix Pavilion."

"Yeah," the other sneered. "And to think, that 'trash' Su Lan actually thought she was a genius. I heard they threw her into the Abyss. By now, the Soul-Eaters have probably turned her into a pile of dung."

They both laughed, the sound echoing off the rocks.

CRACK.

The laughter stopped. A cold wind suddenly whipped up from the Abyss, carrying with it the scent of old blood and ozone.

"Did you hear that?"

"It’s just the wind, you coward. The Abyss is sealed by the Sect Leader’s formation. Nothing comes up from—"

The disciple froze. His pipe fell from his mouth, embers scattering on his boots. He didn't feel the burn. He was staring at the cliff's edge.

A hand, pale and thin, had gripped the jagged rock. Then another.

Slowly, a figure pulled itself up. It was a girl in a tattered white robe, the fabric soaked in dark, dried blood. Her hair hung over her face, but through the gaps, they saw eyes that didn't belong to a human. They were swirling pits of darkness.

"S-Su Lan?" the first disciple gasped, his legs turning to jelly. "No... that’s impossible. You're dead!"

Su Lan stepped onto the flat ground. Every step she took left a scorched, black footprint on the "holy" soil of the sect. She didn't speak. She didn't need to.

[Ding! Detected 'Minor Antagonists.' Fear Level: 80%.]

[Calculating Face-Slap Bonus...]

"I forgot something," Su Lan said, her voice sounding like grinding stones.

"W-what?" the disciple stammered, reaching for his sword, but his hand was shaking too much to even grip the hilt.

"I forgot to thank you," Su Lan smiled. It wasn't a kind smile. It was the smile of a wolf looking at a rabbit. "You were the ones who dragged me to the edge, weren't you? You said my bones would turn to dust."

"It was an order! We were just following orders!" The second disciple turned to run, his only thought being to reach the inner gate and sound the alarm.

Su Lan didn't move her feet. She simply flicked her wrist.

A pulse of black energy shot out like a whip. It caught the running disciple by the ankle, slamming him face-first into the dirt. With a tug, Su Lan dragged him back across the rocks, his screams tearing through the quiet night.

"The Sect Leader said the Abyss is a place for trash," Su Lan whispered, leaning over the two terrified men. "I think he was right. But he got the names wrong."

She grabbed them both by their collars. Despite her slender frame, she lifted them as if they weighed nothing.

"Let’s see if you can survive the fall better than I did."

"NO! PLEASE! MERCY—"

WHOOSH.

With a casual toss, she threw them over the edge. Their screams faded into the dark depths of the Abyss, silenced by the howling wind.

[Ding! Host has successfully 'Cleaned the Trash.']

[Reward: 200 Experience Points. 500 System Points.]

[New Title Unlocked: 'Vengeful Ghost'. (Effect: Increases Intimidation by 20% against low-level enemies.)]

Su Lan didn't head for the Phoenix Pavilion yet. She wasn't a fool. The Sect Leader was at the Nascent Soul realm—three stages above her. If she rushed in now, she would be suppressed by his sheer aura.

Revenge was a dish best served in courses. And tonight was just the appetizer.

She walked to the massive stone gate of the outer sect. On it was carved the symbol of the Cloud Mist Sect: a graceful white crane.

Su Lan raised her black sword. With a single, vertical strike, she cleaved the massive stone gate in half. The "White Crane" was split down the middle, falling into the dirt.

Using the blood of the Soul-Eater beasts she had collected in a jar, she wrote four massive words across the wreckage:

I HAVE RETURNED. DEBTORS, PREPARE.

As the alarms of the sect finally began to blare—a frantic, high-pitched ringing—Su Lan vanished into the shadows.

Minutes later, Ye Chen and a group of elite disciples arrived at the gate. They found the ruins, the blood, and the message.

Ye Chen’s face turned from arrogant to pale white. He touched the edge of the shattered stone. "This... this wasn't done by a beast. This is sword intent. A very dark, very powerful sword intent."

"Senior Brother! Look!" a disciple pointed at the ground.

There, lying in the dust, was a piece of silk. It was a fragment of the robe Su Lan had been wearing when they threw her away.

Ye Chen felt a cold sweat break out on his neck. "Impossible. She had no root. She was a mortal. How could a mortal survive the Abyss and come back with this kind of power?"

From the darkness of the forest, a low, feminine laugh echoed. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.

"One month," the voice whispered, carried by the wind. "In one month, at the Sect Competition... I will take back my root. And your lives."

Ye Chen unsheathed his sword, spinning around wildly. "Who's there?! Come out and fight like a man!"

But there was no one. Only the cold wind and the feeling of a thousand eyes watching him from the dark.

[Ding! Target 'Ye Chen' is experiencing 'Psychological Terror'.]

[Reward: 1,000 System Points!]

Deep in the woods, Su Lan sat on a tree branch, watching the chaos. She popped a cultivation pill into her mouth like it was candy.

"One month," she murmured. "System, mark the calendar. I have a lot of faces to slap, and I don't want to miss a single one."