Chapter 1: A Stranger Beneath Crimson Skies
When Jiang Fan opened his eyes, the sky was weeping blood.
Or so it seemed.
Scarlet clouds roiled across the heavens like a celestial wound torn open, casting a red hue over a landscape of shattered stone and twisted trees. The wind howled mournfully through the desolate valley, carrying with it a scent of ash, iron, and something older… something wrong.
He didn't remember dying.
Nor did he remember falling asleep beneath bleeding skies, or resting his head on stones that whispered curses in forgotten tongues. All he remembered was the cold touch of a bus window, city lights outside blurring into neon dreams. A moment of exhaustion—and now this.
He sat up.
His body was his, and yet… different. Taller. Stronger, somehow. Wrapped in crude linen robes stained with sweat and blood, both fresh and old. His fingers were calloused. His feet were bare. Around his neck hung a black jade talisman he'd never seen before.
"What the hell…?"
His voice rasped like dry leaves scraping pavement. It felt alien in his throat, as if it had learned to scream before it ever learned to speak.
A low groan drew his attention.
Not far from him, a boy—no older than sixteen—crawled through the dust, his legs mangled beyond repair. Blood seeped from his mouth. He looked up at Jiang Fan with wide, terror-filled eyes.
"You… you're alive?" the boy whispered.
Jiang Fan knelt instinctively, unsure why. "Who are you?"
Before the boy could answer, a screech tore through the valley.
Something fell from the sky—fast, screaming, laughing. A winged beast, tall as a house and cloaked in bones, slammed into the ground where the boy lay. Its talons were spears. Its face was a skull carved with eyes that dripped venom.
Jiang Fan didn't move. Couldn't move.
The beast didn't even look at him. It simply skewered the boy, lifted him high, and began to feed.
Something broke in Jiang Fan's mind.
Not horror. Not pity. Something darker. Colder. Deeper.
He was not safe. Not here. Not anywhere.
He turned and ran.
Branches clawed at him. Thorns ripped at his skin. He didn't care. He ran until his lungs burned and his heart begged for mercy. And when he finally collapsed, alone and gasping beneath the dying sun, something clicked.
Ding—
A sound.
Like a bell chiming in a void.
A translucent screen appeared before his eyes.
System initializing...Name: Jiang FanOrigin: Earth (Lower Realm)Current Realm: Crimson Abyss ContinentDetected potential psychological fracture. Synchronizing host with compatible technique...Technique found: Supreme Heart Demon God TechniqueWould you like to accept?
He stared at it, heart pounding, mind spinning.
And then… he smiled.
It wasn't a happy smile. It wasn't even sane.
It was the smile of a man who had seen death… and found it lacking.
"Yes," he whispered. "I accept."
The system responded with silence.
Then pain.
Agonizing, soul-ripping pain. As if a thousand blades had been dragged across his consciousness. As if every lie he'd ever told, every weakness he'd ever hidden, had been torn free and offered to a black sun.
When it was done, he lay there.
No longer the same.
No longer weak.
The winds whispered once more, but this time he understood them.
They were hungry.
So was he.
End of Chapter 1