DEMON SOVEREIGN'S REIGN

The storm above the Sect of Shadows had not moved since Liu Shen's descent into the Abyss—but now, as he stood reborn beneath its churning clouds, it dispersed with unnatural precision, like a curtain being pulled back.

The light that broke through was not warm.

Yu Meixing shivered despite herself. "Something's watching."

Liu Shen's crimson gaze swept the sky. "They've noticed."

Above, space distorted. Not clouds—eyelids.

And then they opened.

A celestial eye, vast as a mountain range, blinked once and stared directly at Liu Shen.

The sky wept golden tears—divine will manifesting.

The Sect of Shadows trembled as an ancient formation buried beneath its foundations flickered to life. Warding runes born from a forgotten age began glowing faintly along the walls and pillars of the great temple.

"Is that…?" Lei Qing stepped back, spear raised instinctively.

Liu Shen didn't flinch.

"An Eye of Providence," he said. "A lesser projection of a true Celestial. They're probing… sensing if I've stepped beyond mortal bounds."

"And have you?" Yu Meixing asked softly.

Liu Shen didn't answer.

Instead, he raised his right hand. The black phoenix fire that had marked his rebirth ignited once more, this time burning quietly, steadily.

"The Abyss offered me paths. I rejected them. I forged my own. That makes me an anomaly." He smirked. "Heaven hates anomalies."

A low hum filled the air.

Then—a voice boomed from the sky, incomprehensible, as if the laws of language themselves bent around it.

Meixing clutched her head. Lei Qing gritted her teeth, blood trailing from her nose.

Only Liu Shen stood still.

A single word resounded clearly among the chaos.

> "Ascension Denied."

And then the Eye blinked shut—and vanished.

---

Moments Later – Within the Hall of Shadows

The core elders of the Sect gathered once more. Though now loyal to Liu Shen, unease flickered in their eyes.

"You challenged the heavens," said the ashen-faced elder from before, "and they noticed."

"I was expecting them to," Liu Shen replied calmly, seated atop the shadow-forged throne. "That was the goal."

Yu Meixing sat to his right, her face expressionless. Lei Qing remained standing, watching everyone like a hawk.

"The Eye issued a decree," she said. "Ascension Denied. What does that mean?"

"It means," Liu Shen said slowly, "that the heavens have marked me. I've become something they will no longer allow to rise."

One of the younger elders looked confused. "But isn't that bad? Doesn't it stop your cultivation from progressing?"

Liu Shen turned his gaze on the elder, and the man instantly regretted speaking.

"No," Liu Shen said. "It means I must carve a path beyond their control. They've closed the gates of ascension—but I'll build a door."

Meixing raised a brow. "And how, exactly, do you plan to do that?"

He stood, voice ringing with quiet menace. "With power the heavens have long buried—power hidden in the forbidden lands. And our first destination…"

He pointed to the far-western map of the continent, his finger landing on a region known only through legend.

> "The Withered Abyss."

---

Elsewhere – In the Court of Divine Order

Far above the mortal realm, in a hall of glass skies and silken stars, beings of unimaginable radiance gathered.

A figure sat upon a throne woven from fate threads—her face veiled, her hands glowing with truth. This was Fatekeeper Yuanji, an Arbiter of Celestial Balance.

"He has returned," she said.

Around her, five other figures stirred.

"He walks again with knowledge he should not possess."

One—an armored figure with burning wings—growled, "We should've destroyed him in the Abyss."

"We tried. He reshaped the trial. He rewrote it."

A silence hung heavy.

Fatekeeper Yuanji reached out and pulled a glowing thread from the air. Liu Shen's thread.

It was pulsing erratically, burning through the fabric of fate.

"He has begun the Heavenbreaker Cycle," she whispered.

"What do we do?"

Her voice, for the first time, faltered.

"…We wait."

---

Back in the Mortal Realm – At the Sect of Shadows

Preparations had begun.

The Abyssal Trial had changed Liu Shen—not just spiritually, but physically. His meridians had evolved. His soul now held not one but three cores: the Demonic Core, the Void Flame Seed, and something entirely new—the Fragment of Reversal, born within the Abyss itself.

Even Meixing had taken notice.

"You're shifting," she said quietly, watching him meditate at dawn. "You're no longer climbing the ladder… You're trying to destroy it."

Liu Shen opened one eye.

"I am what they fear—a Sovereign who cannot be chained. Let the heavens send their eyes. I'll blind them all."

As the Sect's scouts returned with maps of the western regions, Liu Shen rose.

"Call the expedition. We depart in three days. The Withered Abyss awaits."

"And what lies there?" Lei Qing asked.

He smiled faintly.

"An old friend. And the corpse of a god."