Chapter 3: Descent

On a secluded street in the southern part of Nagazora City, a few female Dead Soldiers wandered aimlessly. Though close to the city center, the street was lined with shops like game stores and flower shops that didn't attract much foot traffic, so the number of Dead Soldiers here was relatively small.

Aside from the rhythmic footsteps of the Dead Soldiers, the street was eerily silent.

But this tranquility didn't last long.

A beam of white light enveloped a figure, suddenly appearing above Nagazora City. Like a meteor, it plummeted toward the earth, leaving a white trail of flame as it descended into this Honkai-ravaged world.

*Boom!* The impact carved a massive crater into the white concrete road. Debris and dust were flung into the air by the force of the collision, with fragments of stone shooting out like bullets. Several Dead Soldiers standing nearby were struck, and the shockwave from the impact shattered everything in its path, even sending a few of them flying several meters through the air, their spines snapping as they crashed to the ground, unable to rise again. The dust cloud that erupted resembled a miniature mushroom cloud, a spectacle of destruction.

The culprit behind all this lay sprawled in the crater they had created, arms and legs outstretched like a giant character, as if asleep. A glistening, mysterious fluid trickled from their lips.

The sun was exceptionally bright today, making it impossible for Li Xuan to sleep. Annoyed, he opened his eyes, thinking, *If I'd known, I would have drawn the curtains.* The blinding sunlight forced him to squint until his eyes adjusted, revealing a clear blue sky.

The sight of a few fluffy white clouds drifting across the azure expanse, along with the faint outlines of shops visible in his peripheral vision, gave him the unsettling sensation of lying in the middle of a road.

*Heh, that's impossible.* Li Xuan chuckled to himself, covering his face with his hand, completely oblivious to the unspoken curse he had just laid upon himself.

*What the hell?! Why am I actually lying in the middle of the road?!* The stark contrast between his expectations and reality left Li Xuan stunned as he sat up. He was in a crater that looked like it had been struck by a meteor. Dust swirled around him, and nearby lay several female corpses, with bloodstains scattered across the ground. The shops lining the roadside appeared abandoned for years. For someone just waking up, the scene was eerily reminiscent of a murder scene.

"Hiss—" Suddenly, Li Xuan felt a sharp pain in his right hand, causing him to gasp. In a moment of carelessness, a sharp shard of rock on the ground had sliced a three-centimeter-long gash across his palm. Blood gushed out uncontrollably.

*Before his mission could even begin, he had already met his end.* Counting from childhood, Li Xuan had never suffered such a deep wound.

Li Xuan stood frozen, his hand raised in bewilderment, his face grim. He stared at his palm, desperately searching for a way to stop the bleeding. His gaze drifted to the silver ring on his right index finger.

*Wait... when did I buy this ring?* Li Xuan stared at the ring, utterly baffled as to how he'd acquired it.

But what happened next left Li Xuan and his companions utterly stunned.

The blood that should have obeyed gravity and flowed downward instead began to move upward, being absorbed directly by the silver ring. *What the hell is this? The opening of some third-rate fantasy novel? Newton's coffin—I can't hold it down anymore!* In a single day, Li Xuan's worldview had been mercilessly shattered, ground to dust, and scattered to the wind.

The blood-drinking ring, after absorbing some blood, stopped drawing. To Li Xuan's astonishment, the wound on his palm began to heal before his eyes, completing a medical miracle in under a minute. It scabbed over, healed, the scab fell off, and the wound was covered with tender, pink new flesh.

Realizing what had happened, Li Xuan tried to pull the silver ring off his finger, but it felt as though it had fused with his flesh. No matter how hard he tugged, it wouldn't budge, only causing excruciating pain.

As Li Xuan struggled with the ring, a sharp, needle-like pain suddenly pierced his head. Fragments of information flooded his mind, his heart began to race, his thoughts accelerated, his limbs felt overflowing with power, yet his entire body was wracked with a tingling, ant-like sensation. The process lasted less than a minute, but it felt like an eternity to Li Xuan.

"Aaaaaah!!!!" Li Xuan stood rooted to the spot, roaring into the sky—a cry of power and a groan of agony. The stray Honkai Energy in the air began to swirl around him, forming a vortex that plunged into his body.

As he endured the torment, a crimson mark silently formed on the back of his right hand.

One yin, one yang, two yin-yang fish, intertwined and mutually dependent—this is Taiji, the essence of all things.