DEMON SOVEREIGN'S REIGN

The sky above the Shadow Sect roiled with thunderclouds, unnatural and still. Though the war drums had quieted and the Sect now lay in Liu Shen's control, the atmosphere remained tense—pregnant with change.

Liu Shen stood atop the obsidian dais, his crimson robes fluttering in the still air. Before him knelt the elders of the Sect of Shadows, their faces lowered in reverence. Beside him, Yu Meixing's silver eyes burned with conviction, a crescent mark now gleaming on her brow—the seal of the Ninth Shadow.

Lei Qing leaned against a spear twice her height, eyeing the kneeling figures warily. "They're obedient now, but they used to worship the old darkness. You sure about this, Liu Shen?"

Liu Shen didn't look at her. His eyes were fixed on the deep chasm at the heart of the Sect—the Abyssal Gate, sealed by nine chains woven from soulfire and bloodsteel.

"Obedience means nothing without trial," he murmured. "The loyalty of the shadows will be tested in the place where they were forged—the Trial Abyss."

Gasps rang out among the elders.

One stepped forward—an old man with half his face turned to ash, the mark of a failed soul-merging ritual. "My Lord… the Abyss is not just trial—it is oblivion. No one who enters uninvited returns unscathed."

"I have no intention of returning unscathed," Liu Shen replied coldly. "I will descend and emerge reforged. The Trial of the Abyss will bend or break those who follow me. Only those who emerge will be fit to walk into the heavens."

His voice cut like a blade through the silent hall.

Yu Meixing turned to him, voice low. "The Trial will strip you of everything—cultivation, memories, even identity. You will face your truest fear."

Liu Shen's crimson eyes narrowed. "Then let fear know I have returned."

With a wave of his hand, the nine soulfire chains clanked, ancient runes flickering as he activated the Sect's ancestral blood key—the Ninth Needle, now bound to his will.

The Abyssal Gate moaned open.

What lay beneath was not darkness—but colorless void. It churned like a sea of translucent oil, whispering forgotten truths and unspoken nightmares. Even the most powerful of the Sect had never dared to dive in unaided.

Liu Shen turned to Meixing and Lei Qing. "Only I will enter for now. The Abyss calls to the Sovereign within me. You will guard this place in my absence."

"You don't have to prove anything to them," Lei Qing said, frowning. "They already swore loyalty."

"I'm not proving anything to them," Liu Shen said. "This is a reckoning I owe myself."

Without waiting, he leapt forward. His body plunged into the Abyss like a stone through still water. The void rippled… then sealed shut.

Yu Meixing took a step forward—but stopped. Her fingers trembled, the old blood of the Ninth Shadow roaring in her veins. "He's entered the Abyss of Self. If he falters even once…"

"He won't," Lei Qing said, gripping her spear. "He's Liu Shen. Not even the Abyss can erase him."

---

Within the Abyss

Time ceased to exist.

Liu Shen floated in a space that bent reality, thoughts, and memory. His body disintegrated—bone, blood, soul, and mind unraveling like strands of smoke. He was… nothing. And yet, everything.

Fragments of voices surrounded him—some familiar, others alien.

> "Demon Sovereign Liu Shen. You defied fate. You tore the sky. You killed the stars."

> "But what were you to your people? A savior? A tyrant?"

> "Do you remember their screams?"

Suddenly, a scene unfolded.

He stood atop a mountain of corpses—familiar faces: allies, enemies, innocents. Blood rained from the heavens. A golden spear pierced his chest. A woman's voice screamed his name.

Liu Shen staggered.

"No… this isn't real."

A mirror appeared. Within it—his reflection, but twisted. Golden eyes, celestial robes. The version of him that once sought peace among the heavens. That trusted them.

"You're weak," the mirror-self sneered. "You trusted, you loved, and you paid for it."

Liu Shen's fist shattered the mirror.

"I was betrayed, not broken."

From the shards, shadowy hands reached out—binding him. Dragging him into a battlefield where thousands of versions of him clashed—merciful, ruthless, righteous, monstrous.

Each time he defeated one, another rose.

> "Which Liu Shen are you?" a voice echoed.

> "The Demon Sovereign who ruled with fear?"

> "The martyr who trusted heaven?"

> "The man who abandoned love for power?"

> "The boy who only wanted to be free?"

And then came silence.

A single flame flickered in the dark. Liu Shen reached for it, instinctively. As his fingers closed around it, a surge of warmth—memory—identity—rushed through him.

Yu Meixing's laughter. Lei Qing's loyalty. His old comrades. His betrayal. His vengeance.

His truth.

"I… am Liu Shen," he whispered.

"I am the Demon Sovereign reborn—not for revenge alone, but to defy fate itself."

The Abyss convulsed.

From the flame, a phoenix of black fire burst forth. It circled him, then plunged into his heart.

Chains shattered.

The trial ended.

---

Outside the Abyss

Yu Meixing stirred. The void rippled. A shadow rose from it.

Liu Shen emerged, body cloaked in black fire, eyes burning like twin stars. Ancient runes danced across his skin before vanishing.

But something had changed.

His aura no longer felt demonic—nor heavenly. It was… transcendent.

Lei Qing blinked. "You're different."

"I remembered who I am," he said, voice calm but thunderous.

"The Abyss showed me every path I could have taken… and I rejected them all."

"The path I walk now is mine alone."