Chapter 1

Chapter 1

When Feng Fulan opened her eyes, the first thing she smelled was blood.

It wasn’t the kind of blood mixed with disinfectant found in a hospital emergency room. This was cold, pungent, and carried the scent of rust and incense ash. She lay on a black stone platform, her limbs shackled, beneath a swirling mass of thunderclouds that refused to dissipate. Below the platform stood a sea of disciples in white, every one of them looking at her as if she were a demonic evil that deserved to be hacked into a thousand pieces.

“Condemned Woman Feng Fulan, for stealing the Abyss-Suppressing Lamp, colluding with the Demon Abyss, and causing the death of Senior Sister Gui Zhishuang, you are sentenced to Core Extraction and Mountain Suppression according to sect regulations.”

As the sentence was pronounced, a flood of memories that didn’t belong to her surged into her mind. Blood. Fire. Countless people pointing at her and cursing. And one name that felt heavy enough to suffocate her.

Ning Changye.

Feng Fulan struggled to turn her head and finally saw the man standing at the front of the platform.

He wore a plain white sword-robe, his features as cold as perennial snow. The longsword in his hand reflected the lightning, its intent so grim that even the surrounding air seemed to tremble. That face was excessively handsome and excessively heartless, like the sharpest blade in the world.

Then, she saw something beyond the blade.

A thread of extremely thin red line was wrapped around her wrist; the other end plunged straight into Ning Changye’s heart.

Professional instinct acted faster than thought. Feng Fulan blurted out, “If you strike with that sword, I die, but you won’t survive either.”

The crowd erupted in an uproar.

The Execution Elder roared, “Facing death and you still dare to delude the masses with your demonic talk!”

Ning Changye, however, did not strike immediately. He looked down at her, his eyes terrifyingly cold. “What kind of trick are you trying to play now?”

“It’s not a trick; our lifeblood is intertwined.” Feng Fulan’s breathing was tight, but her mind was becoming clearer. In her past life in the ER, she had seen too many people on the brink of death; the more critical the moment, the more one had to stay calm. “If you don’t believe me, go ahead and try stabbing me.”

Even as she said it, she felt she was being insane.

But Ning Changye actually raised his sword.

In the next instant, the tip of the sword tore through the fabric on her chest and pierced half an inch into her flesh. At the same moment the agonizing pain exploded, Ning Changye, at the other end of the platform, suddenly turned pale. Without warning, a mouthful of blood spilled from his lips.

The blood fell onto his white robes, a sight that made everyone’s expression change instantly.

“The Shared Fate Seal!”

Someone was the first to shout it out. The entire Core-extraction Platform fell into chaos in an instant.

The elders hastily formed hand seals to investigate, but amidst the confusion, Feng Fulan spotted a thin black crack beneath the sacrificial altar. The crack was hidden within the formation patterns, like a stealthily opening eye, seeping with demonic energy.

A fragment of unfamiliar memory suddenly pierced her brain.

In seven days, the Demon Abyss would open.

And this body was originally meant to be used to plug that hole.

Feng Fulan’s fingertips turned cold. Before she could sort through her thoughts, Ning Changye had already raised his hand to sheath his sword. He said coldly, “Escort her to Wujiu Peak first. Without my order, no one is allowed to touch her.”

He spoke with the scent of blood still on his breath, his gaze even darker than before.

As Feng Fulan was dragged up from the stone platform, she brushed past him. The hand inside the man’s sleeve was clenched tight, veins bulging as if he were suppressing something with all his might.

She whispered, “There’s something else inside your body.”

Ning Changye’s footsteps paused, but he did not look back.

“Seven days,” Feng Fulan said, staring at his back. “If you still want to live, don’t be in such a hurry to see me dead.”