Chapter 21 – Ashes of Brotherhood
The Abyss was never silent.
Even after the fall of the Warden and the claiming of the Throne of Flesh, the air still whispered with torment and unspent wrath. Shadows bled through the cracks of reality, and the ground pulsed with the hearts of ancient, buried things. The deeper Li Shen walked, the more the world unraveled around him—folding inward into something older, something feral.
He walked alone now, draped in ragged black robes stitched with living thread, his eyes glowing faintly from the surge of abyssal power surging in his veins. A storm trailed behind each footstep—dust and ash curling in swirling eddies. He was no longer mortal in the way mortals understood.
But power without direction was just a curse.
He had taken the first Throne.
Two remained.
And he would not claim them alone.
The system had been clear.
> Optional Quest Activated: Assemble the Circle of Dread
Recruit up to 5 Abyss-Touched Comrades. Each must possess latent potential and willingness to descend.
Requirement: All must survive at least one Trial within the Core Abyss.
Progress: 0 / 5
Li Shen stood atop a jagged cliff, overlooking a dead city swallowed by fog. Stone temples leaned into themselves like collapsed ribs. A shattered tower loomed at its center, a half-buried spire made of bones and rusted chains. The smell of rotting incense lingered in the air, like a priest's dying breath.
The Hollow Sanctum, his system whispered. An ancient city once ruled by cults who served the Void. Now infested by scavengers, madmen, and cursed bloodlines. One among them bears the mark.
He descended.
The streets were choked with silence.
Only the occasional scrape of bone against stone told him the city still lived. Or perhaps refused to die.
As he moved deeper, his perception stretched. Eyes grew sharper. Shadows twisted in ways they should not. From behind broken pillars and collapsed statues, pale shapes flinched and vanished before he could approach.
They could sense it.
They feared him.
All except one.
She stood at the base of the spire—barefoot, clad in crimson and bone. Her face was hidden beneath a mask made of a human skull, her hands wrapped in bandages inked with black talismans. Around her neck, hung by a rotting string, was a bell that did not ring.
Li Shen stopped twenty paces from her.
Her voice cut through the silence. Soft, toneless.
"You're not from here."
"And yet," Li Shen replied, "this place reeks of me."
She tilted her head, intrigued. "Are you here to claim the Spire?"
"No." His eyes narrowed. "I'm here for something rarer. Someone who doesn't die screaming."
She was silent for a moment. Then she laughed—not cruelly, but as if reminded of a long-forgotten joke. "Then you are a fool."
"Perhaps," Li Shen said, taking another step forward. "But fools change the world."
In a blink, she moved.
Her masked face appeared inches from his, the scent of blood and incense clinging to her robes. A talisman flared in her hand, igniting in a flash of violet fire as she struck at his heart.
Clang!
Li Shen blocked with a raised arm. Sparks flew. The force behind her attack was monstrous—far more than her small frame implied.
"A spell-blade martial artist," he muttered, pushing back. "I expected another shadow-crawler."
"I am many things," she said, retreating. "But mostly, I am tired of this place."
"You want out?" he asked, already stepping into a low stance.
"No," she replied.
And then her mask split.
Her face beneath was untouched by madness or corruption. Pale. Youthful. Beautiful, even—though there was a strange emptiness in her eyes, as though part of her had long ago been devoured.
"I want revenge."
For the first time, Li Shen smiled.
"Then we may have something in common."
They fought.
There were no formalities. No exchanged names or honor. Only the language of blades, blood, and shadow. Her talismans crackled and exploded around him. Her movements were unpredictable, shaped by forbidden martial scripts. She danced like smoke, struck like thunder.
But Li Shen did not yield.
He adapted.
Countered.
Overwhelmed.
When she finally fell to one knee, panting, her blade cracked and talismans burned out, she did not look away from him. She bled from the corner of her mouth. Her hands trembled, not from fear—but restraint.
"Do it," she hissed. "Kill me or take me. I will not beg."
Li Shen walked forward and offered his hand.
She stared at it.
"The Abyss doesn't need beggars," he said. "It needs monsters. The kind that break the chains instead of worshiping them."
She took his hand.
> Comrade Recruited: Xue Yilan
Affinity: Blood Runes / Ghost Talismans / Twin-Blade Incantations
Role: Spellblade Executioner
Loyalty: Bound by Oath of Shadows
Trial Requirement: Survive Core Abyss Level 1 – Soul Maw Region
As she stood beside him, the shadows seemed to part.
A wind howled through the Hollow Sanctum.
The city remembered something it had long forgotten:
The monsters were no longer hiding. They were marching.
And the Abyss would
[A/N]
10 power stone per 3 chapter
20 power stone per 5 chapter