Chapter 1 : Second Life

Han Lian Village, Jian Ning Mountain.

This mountain was the furthest place from the Ziang Empire, and beyond it, many demonic beasts roamed, making the mountain increasingly untouchable. Atop the mountain lay a village, and its name was Han Lian.

In this village resided numerous dark slaves unknown to Emperor Ziang, for its great distance from the Imperial Region rendered it neglected by anyone beyond the mountain.

Here, the sound of whips cracking echoed incessantly, and many slaves perished.

In one particular spot, numerous slaves lay dead, their bodies tinged purple, their eyes white with vacant stares. They had succumbed to prolonged exposure to malevolent energy emanating from a single source within the village.

That source was a mine for yin moon spiritual stones, frequently used by demonic cultivators for their cultivation. Due to its extraordinary effects, many demonic cultivators sought it to grow stronger.

For demonic cultivators, absorbing this energy was as natural as breathing in the qi of nature. But... for ordinary humans, it meant death and bodily mutation.

This village resembled a living hell more than other villages bustling with human activity like market trading.

Within this village lived a young man whose uniqueness constantly earned him praise from the mine overseers.

He was a rather handsome young man with lustrous dark brown hair. His physique was special compared to other slaves, as he suffered no serious effects when mining the yin moon spiritual stones.

He felt nothing unusual when exposed to the evil energy of the yin moon spiritual stones.

One afternoon, the young man finished his mining and decided to have lunch. He passed the overseers, who always watched them with whips in hand to prevent the slaves from slacking off.

"Good work as usual, Lin Jiang," came the mine overseer's voice, chuckling with pleasure at Lin Jiang's excellent work.

Lin Jiang was the name of the young man unaffected by the yin moon spiritual stone's energy. He was born in this village. At the tender age of five, oblivious to everything, he witnessed his parents being whipped repeatedly until they died.

He didn't know why his parents were flogged to death. Still a child, he didn't understand what was happening, only showing a confused expression as he watched his parents being punished.

Since his parents' death, he had been cared for by the village's child caretaker, who usually looked after orphans.

"Yeah, whatever," Lin Jiang said with a flat face, ignoring the overseer's words.

"As usual... you're such a cold one. Lunchtime is almost here, go eat and let others continue your work."

Without uttering a word, Lin Jiang hurried away from the mining site, leaving the overseer behind.

On his way to the slaves' eating area, he smelled the stench of corpses everywhere, a familiar aroma to the slaves there.

The sight of hunger, thin and emaciated slaves and children, and the sound of weeping everywhere had become daily occurrences in this village.

Skeletal remains were scattered all around. The rotting flesh of dead slaves had become daily sustenance for scavenging birds.

Everyone living in this village had no choice but to mine spiritual stones to survive and receive food from the overseers.

Lin Jiang no longer cared about anyone else in his life. He only ever prioritized himself and was indifferent to the suffering of others.

The village was like hell. Since childhood, Lin Jiang had nothing to prevent him from discarding his humanity, and from the age of ten until now, at fifteen, Lin Jiang had erased his sense of humanity.

"Hah, what an unlucky fate for children born in this hellish place," he muttered as he walked past the area where hungry and emaciated children were being cared for by the child caretakers. "That place doesn't even deserve to be called a shelter for children. I always wonder... is fate real? If fate is real, why does it bestow such a terrible destiny upon this village?"

Lin Jiang sighed heavily, lowered his head for a moment, and then looked up at the sky with a resigned expression. "Is fate truly fair? Then why do the good and the evil have different destinies? The evil will always trample the good, and the good will continue to be used until their last breath."

Lin Jiang finally arrived at a shabby place with a worn-out wooden sign that still faintly read 'Food Queue.' Many people were lined up to get food. The food didn't even deserve to be called proper sustenance.

It resembled animal waste. They all had no choice but to eat it to survive. Lin Jiang was already used to it; perhaps those trying it for the first time would immediately vomit.

While they were eating, a demonic cultivator passed by. Everyone jolted to their feet and paid their respects. The demonic cultivator was Bai Zing, the owner of this place, known as a cruel dictator in the village.

Bai Zing looked at them all, and there was one person who didn't bow. "Hey, you! Stand up! I am the owner of this place, why don't you respect me?!"

The person stood up and turned to face Bai Zing, his gaze flat and indifferent to Bai Zing's words.

That person was Lin Jiang, who was already too sick of the rules in this village.

"Who are you? Just disturbing my meal," he said, turning back and sitting down to continue eating.

"How dare you!" Bai Zing roared, his hand clenching tightly, wanting to kill him instantly.

"Why wouldn't I dare? We are all humans living in the same world, the only difference is that you are a cultivator and I am just an ordinary human," Lin Jiang said as he continued his lunch.

All the slaves were shocked by Lin Jiang's audacity to speak to Bai Zing like that.

"Lin Jiang, stop it and apologize to Master Bai Zing before something happens to you," said a woman who had taken care of him since he was five years old.

Lin Jiang sighed heavily, stopped eating, stood up again, turned around, and stared sharply at Bai Zing.

"He is neither fate nor god. How can he always do as he pleases? If he were a god, how could he act so arbitrarily? Even god himself doesn't see the suffering happening in this village."

"Lin Jiang, just apologize quickly!" shouted the other slaves, wanting this matter to end quickly.

The atmosphere grew increasingly tense, and the wind began to blow strongly, causing leaves to fall.

"You!" Bai Zing growled at Lin Jiang. "I will make sure you have a swift death!"

Bai Zing darted forward quickly, tearing through Lin Jiang's body, and leaving a gaping hole.

Lin Jiang's eyes widened as he received the attack, blood gushing from his mouth. Bai Zing's hand was covered in Lin Jiang's blood. Bai Zing withdrew his hand, turned, and slowly walked away from Lin Jiang's body, which fell to the ground in a pool of blood.

"This is the consequence of daring to defy me!" Bai Zing exclaimed, pointing at Lin Jiang's body, displaying his cruelty to the other slaves.

"Now all of you, go back to mining, and there will be no dinner tonight!" he yelled at the slaves present.

Leaves slowly fell on Lin Jiang's body. Everyone had left and returned to their respective tasks, leaving behind the unfortunate event of that day.

In the late afternoon, a small child placed a single flower on Lin Jiang's body, which was partially covered by red leaves.

"Brother, you were so brave to fight someone you knew you couldn't win against."

"Ming'er, what are you doing? Come here, let's go back to the resting place, it will be dark soon," called an old woman who cared for the orphaned children.

"Okay, Grandma!"

The two of them left Lin Jiang's corpse and returned to the children's shelter.

On the way, they talked about their fate, which sooner or later would be the same as Lin Jiang's.

"Grandma, I want to ask something."

"Ask what, Ming'er?"

"I want to ask, in this world, will the weak always end up like our village?"

"Haha. Ming'er, our cruel world is different from the beautiful world outside. Perhaps some places are like our village. So if you want to leave this village, you must be patient. When the time comes, perhaps all of us in this village will be free to go anywhere."

The two of them chatted as they walked past falling leaves carried by the gentle breeze, the orange light of the setting sun adding a touch of serenity to the atmosphere, even though they lived in an endless hell.

Night had fallen, and the slaves went to rest and sleep. The night was calm and quiet. Suddenly, a bright light shone on Lin Jiang's corpse, slowly lifting his body. Abruptly, the wounds on Lin Jiang's body healed and rejoined.

The light originated from the full moon, and its power came from the yin moon spiritual stone. Lin Jiang's heart began to beat again slowly, his eyes opened, seeing himself absorbing something strange.

"What... what is happening?" Lin Jiang muttered, feeling slightly dizzy and disoriented by the previous events.

"Did I... come back to life?" he wondered, confused by what was happening.

"You have finally awakened the true power of the Night Legacy..."

The voice sounded like a whisper echoing from the depths of the earth and the collapsing sky, a voice not of the mortal realm.

Lin Jiang fell silent. His body slowly floated, enveloped in a bluish-black aura. The moonlight now shifted—becoming a dark purple, like the eyes of an enraged time.

"Who... are you?" he asked with a hoarse voice.

"I... am a shadow of the goddess whose fate you have touched. You are no longer an ordinary human. You are the Successor of the Night, the last bloodline of the God Destroyer sealed 90 thousand years ago."