The sky over the Heavenly Demonic Sect had not yet recovered from Jin’s declaration when it tore open again—
this time with a sound like a divine blade sliding out of its sheath.
A pillar of light descended, so blinding that even the Heavenly Alliance cultivators bowed their heads. The white-haired Saint stood at its center, unmoving, untouched by the howling winds, untouched by the chaos swirling beneath him.
Jin watched him with a crooked smirk, the demonic markings still faintly lingering on his arms and collarbone. His exhaustion had not faded. His body still screamed. His core felt like cracked glass. But his gaze never wavered.
Elder Wu whispered, voice thin and shaking:
“Jin… that man is Solemnus Dawnstar… the Saint of the Eastern Vault. A cultivator so powerful the Alliance bows to him. He hasn’t intervened in mortal affairs in… two hundred years.”
Jin didn’t look away.
“Good,” he said. “I’d hate to be bored.”
Behind his smirk, though, Jin felt his heart tighten.
Saints were not supposed to descend into the demonic domains.
It violated multiple celestial accords.
So why was he here?
Solemnus raised his spear—an immaculate weapon forged of condensed heavenly scripture. Every rune on it pulsed like a heartbeat.
Just lifting it changed the air. Winds died. Clouds retreated. Mountains bowed.
The Heavenly Alliance cultivators, their armor glimmering with divine light, parted behind him in a perfect formation. None dared to stand beside him. They stood behind—as if approaching the front meant suicide.
“Jin Valentine,” Solemnus said, his voice resonating like a bell struck in heaven.
“You ascended through slaughter.
You kneel to no heaven.
You carry the scent of a Demon God.”
He tightened his grip.
“You are an abomination… and Heaven will not tolerate your rise.”
Jin wiped dried blood from his chin with his thumb.
“You came all the way down to tell me that?”
He raised Esdeath.
“Or was your ego too big to send someone else?”
A ripple of shock shot through the Alliance ranks.
Blasphemy.
Mocking a Saint.
But Solemnus only tilted his head, studying Jin—not offended, but intrigued.
“You truly carry his shadow…” Solemnus murmured. “The first Heavenly Demon Lord… Leon Esdeath. The one who defied the heavens and carved a path impossible for mortals.”
Jin didn’t respond.
His grip tightened.
Solemnus nodded.
“Then it is good that I came personally. Only a Saint can erase the echo of a monster.”
In Jin’s consciousness, Vorgath leaned against a floating shard of Jin’s mental plane, smirking like someone watching a theatrical play.
“Boy. You might die today.”
Jin’s inner voice didn’t flinch.
“Then speak.”
Vorgath flicked his clawed hand lazily.
“That man is not here to kill you… not exactly.”
“Then what is he here for?”
“To judge your destiny. To see if the path you are walking… is the same path Leon Esdeath once forged.”
Jin’s breath caught for a second.
“…Esdeath?”
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Vorgath’s eyes narrowed.
“Leon Esdeath was the Heavenbreaker.
A man who challenged the Saints.
A man who could cleave through divine law itself.”
Jin swallowed.
Esdeath, the blade in his hand, trembled faintly—almost reacting to the name.
“Solemnus wants to see if you are his reincarnation… or simply a dangerous worm to exterminate.”
The wind howled.
Jin lowered his stance.
“Fine.”
He stepped forward.
“I’ll show him.”
Solemnus didn’t announce his attack.
One blink—
and he was already in front of Jin.
Jin barely had time to tilt his head before a spear thrust grazed past him, carving a gash across his cheek so hot it cauterized instantly.
The ground behind Jin exploded—
not cracked—
annihilated.
Elder Wu screamed, “MY LORD—!”
But it was too late.
The Saint was relentless.
He moved like a man who had already calculated a thousand outcomes and was cutting down each one. Jin parried, dodged, twisted—his demonic instincts flaring—but Solemnus pressed harder, each blow amplifying the next.
Jin blocked one strike with Esdeath—
and the collision unleashed a shockwave so massive half the sect shattered.
Disciples were thrown through stone walls.
Elders crashed into pillars, coughing blood.
Even the sky rippled.
Jin felt his arms tremble.
Not in fear—
in exhilaration.
“Not bad,” he said, panting.
Solemnus didn’t smile. He thrust his spear again, but Jin—at the last second—caught the shaft with his bare hand.
His palm split open.
Blood dripped.
But he held it.
Solemnus raised a brow.
“You caught a Saint’s strike?”
Jin grinned, eyes wild.
“Just your warm-up.”
Jin activated his demonic transformation.
Black, violet, and crimson markings spread across his body, his hair lifting with dark energy. His pupils narrowed into razor-like slits. A second heartbeat formed—one not entirely human.
Demonic qi erupted around him like a storm of black fire.
The mere release of his aura forced dozens of Alliance disciples to fall from the air, choking on the suppression.
The elders of the sect trembled in both awe and dread.
Solemnus finally smiled.
“A Demon transformation…
Crude, but interesting.”
Before Jin could retaliate, Solemnus raised his free hand.
Heavenly runes spiraled around his fingers.
And then—
BOOM.
A beam of celestial annihilation shot toward Jin—
but Jin swung Esdeath up and cleaved it in half.
The ground split open.
The sky cracked.
Elder Wu grabbed the closest disciple, dragging him back as the terrain warped.
“This is… beyond any battle we’ve ever seen…”
Jin stumbled, clutching his ribs. The Saint’s aura was ripping through his defenses. His demonic transformation was strong—but not complete. He needed more power. He needed something beyond instinct.
He needed—
DING.
A cold, divine tone echoed inside his mind.
[SYSTEM WARNING]
Host is facing: Heavenly Saint-level threat.
Probability of death: 99.999%
Jin spat blood onto the ground.
“No shit…”
[Activating: Demon-God Pathway Resonance]
[Vorgath’s Mark: Stabilized]
[Forbidden Skill Unsealed: OATHBREAKER HEART]
Vorgath’s voice echoed sharply:
“JIN.
Do NOT use that skill.
It will tear your cultivation apart—”
Jin’s grin widened.
“Good.”
He triggered it.
Black flames ignited around Jin.
But this time—they were silent.
No crackling.
No roaring.
Just pure void—
like the flames consumed even sound itself.
Solemnus’s eyes widened slightly.
“You… awakened that?”
Jin’s aura surged.
He stepped once—
and the ground melted under his foot.
He stepped again—
and space distorted around him.
Then he vanished.
Solemnus barely tilted his head when Jin reappeared behind him, Esdeath already cutting downward. The Saint parried—but Jin’s newfound power sent him sliding back across the sky.
For the first time, the Saint’s expression hardened.
“You touched a forbidden heart technique.
The path of a true Demon God.”
Jin wiped blood from his mouth, panting.
“So what?”
Solemnus raised his spear again—
but slower this time.
More deliberate.
More… respectful.
“You are not Leon Esdeath reincarnated,” he said quietly.
“But you are something else.
Something dangerous.”
He lowered his spear.
“Something Heaven cannot permit to grow.”
Jin barked a laugh.
“Then come kill me.”
They collided again.
This time, the heavens screamed.
Their blows shattered clouds like glass.
The sky bled with streaks of purple lightning.
The mountains around the sect collapsed like piles of sand.
Every cultivator—Alliance or Demonic—was forced to kneel from the pressure alone.
Jin and Solemnus battled like two forces that never should have met.
Jin’s demonic flames carved the air into ribbons.
Solemnus’s heavenly runes tore apart the dark.
Esdeath clashed against a divine spear, ringing like bells of war.
Jin felt his bones cracking.
Solemnus felt his arm numbing.
Neither stopped.
Solemnus suddenly lifted his spear toward the heavens.
Golden light erupted—
not like aura,
not like qi—
but like raw celestial authority.
Elder Wu collapsed, coughing blood.
“That… that’s a Saint Domain…” he whispered.
“A realm of divine law…”
The air froze.
Time slowed.
Inside the domain, Jin felt his movements stiffen—
as if the laws of reality themselves were refusing him.
Solemnus’s voice echoed in every direction:
“Within my domain…
all demons fade.”
Jin snarled—but felt his demonic energy flicker.
Vorgath shouted inside his mind:
“BOY, BREAK HIS DOMAIN—NOW—”
Jin roared, forcing every ounce of cultivation he had into Esdeath.
He swung—
But the Saint caught the blade with his fingers.
Just. His. Fingers.
Jin’s eyes widened.
Solemnus whispered:
“Child.
You are no Leon.”
Jin’s chest tightened.
His knees buckled.
Blood spilled from every pore.
The domain constricted—
And for the first time, Jin’s vision blurred white.
Was this the limit?
Was this where he died?
Then, something happened that neither Jin nor Solemnus expected.
Esdeath—
the blade itself—
began to glow.
Not demonic.
Not heavenly.
Something older.
Something primordial.
A voice—ancient enough to predate heaven—rumbled inside the sword:
“MY NAME… IS NOT YOURS TO SPEAK, SAINT.”
Solemnus froze.
His domain cracked.
Jin’s body snapped back to life, gasping for air.
The sword pulsed again:
“LEON ESDEATH DID NOT BREAK HEAVEN ALONE.”
Jin blinked, stunned.
“What…?”
The sword’s voice growled:
“I WAS HIS HAND.
HIS WILL.
HIS FURY.”
Solemnus stepped back, face darkening.
“So the blade awakens…
After centuries of silence.”
The sky rumbled.
Vorgath whispered inside Jin:
“Boy.
Your sword…
just revealed its true name.”
Jin lifted Esdeath.
“What name?”
Vorgath smirked.
“You’ll learn soon.
But first—
survive this Saint.”
Jin exhaled slowly.
His body was broken.
His core was shattered.
His qi was flickering like a dying candle.
But his eyes—
his eyes were burning.
“You came to judge me?” Jin said, stepping forward.
Solemnus tightened his stance.
“I came to erase you.”
Jin grinned.
“Then come erase me.”
They disappeared—
colliding mid-air in a storm of divine and demonic fury.
At the final moment—
when the Saint swung his spear down to pierce Jin’s heart—
Esdeath moved on its own.
A black arc tore through the air, severing the spear in half.
Solemnus stumbled.
For the first time, truly startled.
The world went silent.
Jin stared at the blade.
Esdeath pulsed…
Once.
BOOM.
A shockwave erupted—
sending Solemnus flying back into the sky.
Jin dropped to one knee, coughing blood.
Solemnus hovered there, spear broken, eyes narrowing.
“…Impossible.”
Esdeath whispered:
“Child…
your path begins now.”
Solemnus pointed the broken shaft at Jin.
“Very well, Demon Lord.
If Heaven cannot erase you today…”
His aura flared.
“…we will bring an army that can.”
The Alliance vanished in a flash of divine light.
Jin collapsed forward—
Esdeath still glowing faintly—
while Vorgath whispers:
“Boy…
you don’t understand.
That Saint wasn’t sent to kill you…
He was sent to confirm something.”
Jin forced his eyes open.
“…Confirm what?”
Vorgath answered:
“Whether you are destined to become—
not a Demon Lord…
but something far worse.”
