DEMON SOVEREIGN'S REIGN

The skies over the Northern Expanse churned with malevolent clouds.

Thunder rolled across the icy plains as a lone figure emerged from a tear in space. Liu Shen's robe, scorched at the edges by voidfire, billowed as he stepped onto solid ground once again. His aura pulsed violently—a storm barely restrained beneath his skin.

> "He's back," a voice murmured from the cliffs.

From the shadows, Lei Qing and Yu Meixing rushed forward. Meixing's eyes widened the moment she saw him.

> "Your energy… it's like the void itself."

> "I've seen what lies beneath the Hollow Empire," Liu Shen replied grimly. "And it's worse than we imagined."

He looked at them—not as companions, but as pieces of a puzzle he was only now beginning to understand.

> "We don't have time," he continued. "The Heavens have already foreseen this path. We need the other Shadows."

Yu Meixing's brows furrowed. "The other Nine Shadows?"

> "Yes," he said. "And they're being hunted."

---

Fragments of Memory

They camped by a frozen lake that night, the air thick with tension.

Lei Qing tended to a wound along his forearm, inflicted during their clash with the Abyssal Vultures in the Hollow Passage. Yu Meixing stared at her reflection in the ice, a faint black flame flickering in her pupils.

> "I remembered something," she said quietly. "Before I was sealed… I was tasked with guarding the Core of Shadows. It's not just a treasure—it's a key. A key to unbinding fate."

Liu Shen nodded. "The Core is hidden within the Sect of Shadows, right?"

> "Yes," Meixing confirmed. "But only the Nine Shadows can access its chamber. And I'm only one of them."

Lei Qing finally looked up. "Then we find the others."

---

The Shadow Hunt Begins

Their first lead pointed them toward the Obsidian Chain Peaks, where a rogue cultivator calling himself Wu Lian, once known as the Sixth Shadow, had been spotted decimating heavenly patrols.

When they arrived at the broken peaks, all that remained were ruins and corpses—seraphic soldiers crushed under molten stone, their divine armor warped and melted.

A silhouette emerged from a cave.

> "You reek of fate," Wu Lian growled, his eyes gleaming like volcanic glass. "Leave now… or I bury you beneath the mountain."

Liu Shen stepped forward, unfazed.

> "We're not here to bind you. We're here to awaken you."

Wu Lian stared at him for a long moment, then laughed—a sharp, bitter sound.

> "You sound like her," he said, glancing toward Yu Meixing. "The Ninth Shadow… I thought you were dead."

Meixing's eyes softened. "I was. Now I'm not. Same as you."

Wu Lian's stance loosened slightly. "Then tell me why I should fight again."

> "Because the Heavens still breathe," Liu Shen said coldly.

Silence.

Then Wu Lian grinned.

> "Good answer."

---

Shadow of Chains

Wu Lian led them deeper into the mountain, through a hidden tunnel laced with shadow sigils. There, a crystal pulsed with ancient power—one of the Nine Sigils that could locate the remaining Shadows.

But as Liu Shen reached for it, the crystal flared—and shattered.

A surge of divine energy burst forth.

> "A tracking sigil!" Meixing shouted. "They traced us!"

A vortex ripped open in the ceiling—and from it descended a Heaven's Enforcer, clad in robes of luminous gold and eyes of cold judgment.

> "Demon Sovereign," the Enforcer spoke. "You tread on forbidden roots. Cease… or be erased."

Liu Shen smiled darkly.

> "You're a little late."

He raised his hand—and unleashed a wave of soulfire from his palm.

The battle exploded into chaos. Wu Lian conjured chains from magma, hurling them around the Enforcer's limbs. Meixing chanted in tongues long lost, weaving illusions and barriers. Lei Qing darted through shadows, slashing with speed that defied logic.

But the Enforcer was relentless, wielding a blade forged from condensed oaths, slashing open reality with every swing.

> "You dare rebel against divine order?" he roared.

> "No," Liu Shen said as he stepped through the collapsing ceiling and appeared behind the Enforcer. "I destroy it."

He pierced the Enforcer's back with a spear of demonic energy—one drawn from the very core of the Warden he had slain. The Enforcer screamed as light spilled from his mouth and eyes, his form disintegrating like parchment in flame.

---

Echoes of the Past

When the dust cleared, the chamber was in ruins.

The sigil crystal lay broken—but its energy had already surged outward, lighting a beacon across the continent.

> "That was no mistake," Liu Shen muttered. "They wanted us to activate it."

> "Then the others will see it," Wu Lian added grimly. "And so will our enemies."

Yu Meixing placed a hand on the smoldering ground. "Two Shadows are already moving. One from the Crimson Dunes, and one… from the Sea of Falling Stars."

Lei Qing frowned. "That means we need to split up."

Liu Shen looked at them, then nodded.

> "I'll take the sea. Wu Lian, go with Meixing to the dunes. Lei Qing, stay in the mountains. Gather relics, and if the Sect sends word—relay it through the Raven Stone."

He turned toward the now-flickering beacon in the sky.

> "The clock has started. The Heavens will act soon."

---

Far Above

Within the Celestial Sanctum, Seraph Vanyel gazed at the fractured tapestry of fate.

> "He's begun uniting the Shadows," he said to the silent audience of Archons.

> "Then we must accelerate," one intoned. "The Chains of the Firmament must be invoked."

> "No," Vanyel replied. "Let him gather them. Let him think he is winning. The deeper he digs… the heavier his fall."

The stars above the sanctum flickered.

And one by one, the markers for the Nine Shadows lit up.