Darkness.
It surrounded everything, stretching endlessly in all directions.
Deep within Tao's mind, a long-overdue confrontation was about to unfold.
His soul's form knelt upon an endless, gray sea. His head was bowed, arms wrapped tightly around himself as if shielding his eyes—shielding his very existence. He refused to look up, refused to face the reality before him.
From a distance, he looked like a newborn child, vulnerable and small.
And then—"Look at me."
The voice was like a soft breeze and a raging storm combined—powerful, yet filled with warmth and tenderness. It was undeniably loving, and it shook Tao to his core.
A tremor ran through his soul.
His body tensed.
His breath hitched.
And yet, he refused.
His eyes squeezed shut, his lips murmuring incoherent words, rejecting the truth he dreaded most at this moment.
A soft sigh drifted into his ears—gentle, yet carrying the weight of an eternity.
And then, something greater than willpower took hold.
A mysterious force descended, lifting his chin with an unseen yet irresistible power. Against his will, Tao's gaze was forced upward, and he finally saw... well.
If he had the words to describe what he beheld, they would have still fallen short.
Before him floated a woman of ethereal beauty, her presence so radiant it felt as if she alone illuminated the void.
She was calm, serene, yet carried a presence that could shake the heavens.
Long, flowing silver hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall of moonlight, shimmering softly. The pointed tips of her ears hinted at an otherworldly or demonic origin, adding an air of mystique.
She wore a layered, dark-white robe, exuding elegance, grace, and unshakable dignity.
Her delicate features were flawless, her skin like polished jade, high cheekbones giving her an air of regality.
But her eyes—reddish-orange, like lava. They were filled with a sadness so profound it threatened to swallow the world whole. There was strength in them, but also longing—a weight of emotions untold.
She was like a sculpted masterpiece, a blend of marble and jade—beautiful.
But very deadly.
"My son..."
Her voice carried an ache so deep it seemed to stain the void itself.
"I don't have much time, but listen to me—listen well, my child."
Tao had no choice. His body would not move, and his ears would not shut. Her voice drilled into his soul, each syllable striking him with an unbearable foreign feeling.
A feeling he did not understand.
"I will not be in this world for much longer, my son."
The words pierced him.
"There was so much I wanted to do, so much I wished to see—with you. I wanted to watch you grow, to see you rise and take the cultivation world by storm. I wanted to be with you. But alas… I cannot."
A deep melancholy filled the space around them, thick and suffocating like a tangible gas.
And that foreign feeling within Tao only grew stronger.
The woman smiled—a smile that could chase away the void itself, a smile so bright it shamed even the stars.
"I can only use this brief moment to tell you a few important things."
Her eyes softened, a deep, almost tearful warmth filling them.
Then, she spoke the words that shattered him.
"I know… that you come from beyond the Great Dao."
Silence. Tao's mind—his very existence—went numb.
How?
How did she know?
For the first time since waking in this body, a feeling he had long buried rose to the surface—it was fear.
His face contorted with self-pity, with bitter mockery. Dark whispers clawed at his mind.
Would she curse him?
Did she despise him? Did she hate him for killing her child?
The thoughts rotted his soul like a plague.
But before they could consume him, warmth flooded inside of him.
A feeling of comfort unlike anything he had ever known filled his being.
The source was from the very woman before him.
His mother.
Tao's eyes filled with confusion.
The woman smiled once more and reached out. Her hands, pale and delicate, gently cupped his face. His body did not move—not because he refused, but because it simply would not.
Her touch was warm—like sunlight after an endless winter.
"I do not care where you were originally from, my son."
Her voice wrapped around him, soothing, unwavering.
"You do not know this, but even before this life. This body, your body now, was already close to death."
Tao's breath caught.
"When you were in my womb, you almost died."
His mind went blank.
"The fetus was weak… because I was attacked by a powerful enemy. A foe who came with many others to kill me."
Her face darkened, sorrow flickering across her features before she forced it away.
"They failed. But before I could strike them down, their leader launched a desperate, last-ditch attack—one I never expected."
Her voice grew colder, trembling with unseen fury and regret.
"They struck my womb. A soul attack. Not aimed at me—but at you."
Tao was frozen, his mind reeling.
"I don't know how they knew I was carrying a child… but somehow, they did. And that attack—Shattered your soul into pieces."
Tao felt a shiver run through him.
"I barely held your origin together with all the power I had. But by the time your father arrived… it was already too late."
"Two hundred years passed since that day."
"For two hundred years, I mourned."
Her voice wavered slightly, though she quickly composed herself.
"I was heartbroken, Tao. I was lost. My cultivation regressed."
She let the words sink into him before she continued.
"Your father…"
A small, bittersweet smile touched her lips.
"Bless him. He never blamed me, never pushed me to move on—even though it cost him dearly."
Her gaze turned far away, as if seeing a distant past.
"His family never liked me. But he defended me—to the ends of the earth."
Her voice grew softer.
"But I knew. I knew that he suffered, too. Even if he never said it."
A chuckle. Light, yet filled with sorrow.
"Men and their pride, you could say."
She closed her eyes briefly before continuing.
"Watching him lose everything—his status, his standing—I made a choice."
Her voice trembled, just for a moment.
"I left him."
A deep breath.
"It was the hardest thing I've ever done, my son. But it had to be done. Before he lost everything."
Her gaze locked onto Tao's, filled with unspoken love and immeasurable pain.
With great tears and a broken heart, I left him alone. Alone with his family, alone in that suffocating world of power struggles and expectations. You don't know this, but your father was an existence feared by all but a select few old monsters who still haunted the cultivation world. He was powerful beyond measure, beyond the understanding of most, but even he was not invincible.
"It was those ancient existences that made me decide to leave. I could not be his weakness, nor could I allow myself to become the blade that others used to strike him down. He had a long path ahead, a destiny that reached beyond even my understanding. If I stayed by his side, I feared I would be the anchor that kept him from soaring."
"So, I left. I journeyed far and wide, leaving behind everything I had known, running from the shadow of what could have been. And in that wandering, I met a man who changed everything."
"It was an old monk."
"He was unlike any cultivator I had ever encountered. His head was bald and smooth, but what stood out most were his eyes—empty, void of pupils, like an endless abyss. Yet what struck me even more were his enormous golden-yellow eyebrows, thick and long, swaying slightly as if caught in a wind that none could feel."
"This man was a mystery. I had never heard of him in any records, never felt his presence before. Yet he knew me. He knew your father. And, to my horror and astonishment, he knew of you."
A silence heavier than a thousand mountains settled between us. Even now, I cannot fathom who or what he was, but one thing I do know—he was beyond dangerous. A being beyond the comprehension of even the strongest cultivators I had ever known.
"At the time, I did not have the mind to question his knowledge. My body was weak, my heart shattered, my soul barely holding together. But the monk merely smiled, his lips barely parting as he spoke words I will never forget."
'From the ashes of old, new life shall be brought forth.'
Then, as if his gaze could see through everything, he looked at my womb.
"He said nothing more. With a slow turn, he waved a single hand in farewell and walked away. But each step he took—each slow, deliberate movement—carried him across millions of miles, his body vanishing as if distance meant nothing to him. And then he was gone."
"A year later, you came into my life. And, somehow, against all laws of nature, against the will of fate itself, you perfectly fit into the fractured soul of my lost child. You were my son, my reborn child. You gave me back what I had lost."
"You brought meaning back into my world. How could I not cherish you?"
Tao's mother bent down, wrapping her arms around him in a deep, unshakable embrace. It was a hold that spoke of a love that defied time itself, a warmth that melted the very fabric of his pain. He had no words, no strength to resist. He merely let himself be held.
And then she whispered into his ear, her voice soft yet filled with undeniable truth.
"You are not weak. You are not worthless. I do not care that you came from another world. The moment you entered my life, you became my son. You are mine, and nothing will change that."
Tao trembled. He had endured so much—misery, torture, suffering beyond imagination. He had steeled himself against the world, against hope, against love.
But this moment shattered him.
Tears fell freely from his eyes, tears of pain, of grief, of release. He sobbed into his mother's arms like a newborn child, like the baby she had lost and found once more.
He cried for the love he had never known. He cried for the years stolen from him. He cried for a mother who had given him everything, only for fate to take her away.
But she was already dead.
That cruel reality loomed over him like an unmovable shadow. The one person who had given him this warmth, this love, this acceptance—she was gone.
Yet she remained, even if only as a lingering remnant, an obsession of the soul, a final whisper of the love she had carried for him.
Eventually, his sobs quieted. His body, though still trembling, felt lighter. It was as if something deep inside him had been lifted, some unseen weight that had shackled his soul for far too long.
His mother gently pulled back, lifting his chin so that their eyes met once more. Her crimson irises burned with conviction as she spoke her final words to him.
"Listen to me, my son. And listen well."
Tao held his breath, every fiber of his being focused on her next words.
"Do not falter. Do not bow. Stand tall, no matter what path you take. If you must kill, then kill. If you must plunder, then plunder. Do what you must to carve your own path in this world."
Her grip on his shoulders tightened, her voice filled with an unshakable force.
"Become whomever you wish to be. A strong heart. An unbreakable will. A soul that will never be swayed. Cultivate those above all else."
Tao's heart thundered in his chest.
"If you must become evil, then become the most feared villain under the heavens. If you must go against fate itself, then shatter the very sky that binds us. The heavens do not care for us. Only by rising above them can we truly be free."
Her words burned into his soul, branding themselves deep within him, forging something new—something stronger than before.
She caressed his face one last time, her touch unbearably gentle. Yet, to his horror, she was fading, her form growing dimmer, like mist dissipating beneath the morning sun.
Panic surged through him.
"What's happening?! No, wait! Please—!"
His mother only smiled, the warmth in her expression undiminished.
"I was merely an obsession, my son. My true self is long gone. I could only remain long enough to set you free… and to guide your father to you."
Tao's breath hitched. His mind spun with countless thoughts, countless emotions, but none of it mattered. She was leaving.
She was disappearing.
His mother saw the devastation in his eyes, and for the first time, a look of sadness crossed her face. Yet her voice remained as steady as ever.
"Do not grieve for me, Tao. My love will always remain within you."
As her form faded into the void, Tao looked up at her one last time, a lump forming in his throat as a single question broke past his lips.
"…What is your name, Mother?"
For a brief moment, she seemed taken aback. Then, ever so gently, she frowned.
"Tao." Her voice held a firmness that made his heart still. "Never bow to anyone. Never lower your head, not even to me."
Tao swallowed hard and straightened, staring directly into her eyes.
And then, she smiled, as radiant as the first snowfall under the morning sun.
"To the world, I was the Demon of the White Lotus Sword. But to those I love, I am Yu Bai Lian."
As her final words drifted into the void, her form dissolved, leaving only a pale, ghostly arm.
"I release you from the mind seal, my son."
And then, she was gone.
BAMMM!
It was like a dam had burst open inside Tao's mind. His soul glowed brightly as memories surged forth from the deepest, darkest corners of his consciousness.
It all came flooding back—every moment spent within his mother's womb, the attack that stole her life, the mysterious old monk, and the face and voice of his father. The truths he had long been denied came rushing to the forefront of his mind, unraveling like a grand tapestry woven by fate itself.
And now, he knew. He knew what he was. He knew his lineage. He knew who had orchestrated his mother's death and the horrors they had inflicted upon him in the name of their twisted ambitions.
"They're the same group... the same fucking group of people!"
Tao's soul-bound eyes snapped open, blazing like two torches of unquenchable fury.
"Three eyes, huh?... I have to wake up. It's time that I wake up."
And he did just that.
Back in reality, the Immortal Demon Grotto lay in absolute devastation. The land itself bore the scars of unrestrained power. From the shattered remnants of the Big Dipper Array to the ground split asunder, everything had been cleaved into two. The entire grotto had been bisected by Bai Lian's sword strike.
The night sky was visible through the massive divide, its vast expanse littered with stars. Above, space itself bore a wound—a long, bubbling gash in reality where her sword had torn through the heavens. Slivers of white sword qi lingered across the wreckage, pulsing with a quiet radiance that cast an eerie glow over the battlefield.
Light illuminated the carnage.
On the left side of the grotto, the black-cloaked figures had all vanished, save for their leader and Meng Hao. But neither fared well. Meng Hao was bisected at the waist, his face ghostly pale, teetering on the brink of death. Only a strange red gas kept him from slipping into the abyss.
The leader—Old Man Gu—was barely better off. His left arm was missing, his black cloak reduced to tattered remnants. Fully exposed now, his slim and frail frame bore intricate tattoos carved across his shoulders and chest. His face, marred by a deep scar stretching from his left eye down his torso, twisted in a mixture of pain and disbelief.
He was panting, his soul trembling. That strike… It terrified him. It had left nothing untouched, nothing unscathed.
Nothing—except Tao.
And the reason stood right before him.
Tao's mother.
Her corpse remained unmoving, one arm bent behind her back, the other stretched outward in an eternal gesture of protection. Black gas still clung to her form, obscuring all but her shortened hair. She was a silhouette of defiance, standing between Tao and the monster who had orchestrated their suffering.
The bald-headed leader's bloodshot eyes burned with rage, but beneath that fury, a deep-rooted fear gnawed at his soul. He couldn't sense the moment she had struck. There had been no energy fluctuations, no vibrations—nothing to forewarn him.
"She was supposed to be dead," Old Man Gu muttered, his voice laced with disbelief. "He said she was dead!"
His mind raced, analyzing the impossible. And then, realization struck.
"She hasn't moved… hasn't spoken… This was a contingency left behind before her death."
A manic grin split his face. His lips curled with something between madness and triumph. Then, he laughed.
"Kekekeke! I, Old Gu, have survived a strike from an Immortal Emperor!"
His laughter echoed across the battlefield, maniacal and unhinged.
If only he knew.
If only he had understood that this strike had never been meant to kill him. That its true purpose had been to reveal Tao's location to someone far beyond his comprehension.
His laughter faltered as he noticed the black gas around Bai Lian's body beginning to dissipate. Yellow mist leaked from her fading form, signifying her final moments.
And yet, that crazed grin remained.
"You did all this… just to fail once again, White Lotus Sword!" Old Man Gu sneered. "Even now, as the Heavenly Dao claims your soul, you still failed, hah!"
His voice grew louder, reveling in his twisted victory.
"Your son is still ours! He will serve our lord's grand plan. Not even your great power could save him! No wonder your own family cast you aside! No wonder your husband left you!"
Tao's eyes fluttered open.
The first thing he heard was Old Man Gu's final words.
"You are a pathetic failure of a woman, a cultivator, and a mother! You should have stayed dead, you worthless wh—"
The words died in his throat.
A chill crawled up his spine, paralyzing him. The weight of an invisible force pressed down upon his very existence.
His head snapped around, searching frantically for the source.
And then, he saw it.
Behind Bai Lian's fading form…
A pair of blue, flame-lit eyes locked onto him.
Tao had awakened.