The morning sun in Stonehaven was pale and sickly, filtering through a sky choked with the smoke of ritual incense. In the center of the town square, a wooden platform had been erected. Lin Tian was chained to a heavy basalt pillar, his Yellow Rank aura suppressed by jagged, spirit-locking nails driven into his shoulders.
He looked aged, his face battered and his breathing shallow. Standing over him was the Vice-Sect Leader of Stonehaven, a man named Zhao Gan, a Yellow Rank Tier 7 Earth Master with skin like cracked stone.
"Citizens of Stonehaven!" Zhao Gan's voice boomed. "This man's son crippled a disciple of the path. For the sin of the child, the father pays in blood. Today, we harvest his core to compensate the Sect!"
The crowd of peasants and low-level masters watched in a mixture of terror and morbid fascination. In the VIP gallery, a representative of the Jin Clan sat—a lean man in white robes, sipping tea with total indifference.
The Child in the Crowd
At the edge of the square, a small boy in tattered clothes pushed through the legs of the giants. To anyone looking, he was just another "White Rank" orphan, his eyes wide with feigned fear.
Father, Lin Void thought, his internal gaze narrowing. They didn't just beat you. They tried to break your dignity.
He felt the Myriad-Mask pulsing in his veins. He could feel the Earth-energy radiating from Zhao Gan, the Fire-energy from the guards, and the sharp, cold Ice-energy from the Jin Clan observer. To Lin Void, these "Elements" were like loud, clashing colors.
He reached out and "tapped" into the ambient Earth element of the square. His aura shifted. To the world, he was now a White Rank Tier 3 Earth Master—just a pebble in a world of boulders.
"Stop!" Lin Void cried out, his voice high and cracking like a child's. He ran toward the platform, tears streaming down his face. "Please! Don't hurt my father! I'll give you the secrets! I'll tell you everything!"
The Trap is Set
Zhao Gan looked down, a cruel sneer twisting his lips. "Ah, the little rat returns to the nest. Guards, bring him up here. Let him watch his father's core shatter before we deal with him."
Two guards, both Grey Rank Tier 5, grabbed Lin Void by the arms. They didn't feel the need to bind him; he was just a child. They dragged him onto the stage, throwing him at Zhao Gan's feet.
Lin Tian's eyes snapped open. "Void... no... run..." he wheezed, the spirit-locking nails glowing with a painful red light.
"Quiet, trash," Zhao Gan kicked Lin Tian in the ribs, then looked down at Lin Void. "Now, boy. What 'secrets' do you have? Tell me how a White Rank brat broke a Grey Rank's knees, and maybe I'll kill your father quickly."
Lin Void crawled forward, his head bowed. "It was... it was a technique... I found it in a cave... I'll show you... it's written on this..."
He reached into his tunic and pulled out a small, blackened piece of wood. It looked like junk. Zhao Gan leaned in, his greed overriding his caution. Even the Jin Clan observer leaned forward slightly.
"Let me see," Zhao Gan reached for the wood.
The Silence of the Void
The moment Zhao Gan's fingers touched the wood, the "White Rank" aura around Lin Void didn't just vanish—it imploded.
"Void Art: Absolute Zero Horizon."
In a radius of ten feet, the sound died. The wind stopped. The light from the sun seemed to be sucked into a vacuum.
Lin Void's small hand didn't grab the wood; it grabbed Zhao Gan's wrist. The Vice-Sect Leader's "Stone-Skin" didn't just break; it evaporated. Matter didn't shatter—it ceased to exist.
Zhao Gan tried to scream, but there was no air in his lungs to vibrate. He watched in slow-motion horror as his hand, then his forearm, then his elbow simply turned into grey mist and was swallowed by the boy's palm.
Lin Void stood up. His eyes were no longer those of a child; they were the swirling violet-black vortices of a Sovereign.
"You wanted to harvest a core?" Lin Void's voice wasn't high-pitched anymore. It resonated with the weight of a thousand years. "Let's start with yours."
He plunged his other hand into Zhao Gan's chest. The Yellow Rank core, a glowing amber sphere, was ripped out of the man's body. Before it could even pulse with the man's life force, the Void consumed it.
Gulp.
Lin Void's secondary core surged. White Rank Tier 9... Grey Rank Tier 1... Grey Rank Tier 5!
The Massacre Begins
The two guards standing nearby finally realized what was happening. They roared, summoning their elements, but Lin Void didn't even look at them. He snapped his fingers.
"Void Stitch."
The space between the guards' necks folded. Their heads swapped places. Two bodies fell, blood spraying the platform, while their heads bounced onto the stone floor of the square.
The crowd erupted in a cacophony of screams. The "pebble" had just turned into a black hole.
The Jin Clan observer stood up, his tea spilling over his white robes. "Anomalous power! Void! It's the child from the prophecy!" He raised a jade flute, intending to signal the Stardust Palace.
"You talk too much," Lin Void whispered.
He appeared behind the Jin observer instantly—no movement, just a jump through the vacuum. He grabbed the flute and crushed it into dust.
"Tell Lin Wu Ran," Lin Void leaned into the man's ear as he drove a finger made of pure Void through the man's throat. "Tell her that the 'Mistake' she left in the Heaven Sea... is coming for her throne."
The Escape
Lin Void turned to the basalt pillar. With a wave of his hand, the spirit-locking nails disintegrated into nothingness. Lin Tian fell forward, caught in his son's small but impossibly strong arms.
"Father, we're leaving," Lin Void said.
"Void... the Empire... they'll know now..." Lin Tian gasped.
"Let them know," Lin Void looked at the horizon, where the distant peaks of the Stardust Mountains loomed. "The hunting season has officially changed. I am no longer the prey."
In a flash of violet light, the two vanished from the platform, leaving behind a square filled with corpses and the shattered remains of a Sect.