The Heaven-Sealing Pact

Thunder rumbled over the skies of the First Great Heaven.

A realm of floating continents and blade-shaped clouds. Cities carved into sky-borne mountains. Sects that ruled like kingdoms. Beasts with wingspans longer than warships. The lowest here could destroy nations.

Xu Shen stood at the edge of it all, staring down from a stone landing platform, robes tattered, saber across his back.

Behind him, the gate he'd passed through from the final trial now lay sealed—scorched black from his presence.

Before him, hundreds of cultivators gathered around floating banners bearing the seal of the Skyreach Sect, one of the Nine Divine Clans of the upper heavens.

He had arrived.

And they were waiting.

A sect elder floated down to greet him—his eyes sharp, robes crimson, and spiritual aura suppressing everyone nearby.

"Xu Shen."

His name was spoken like a curse.

"You are the one who devoured a soul fragment in the Mirror Trial."

Xu didn't blink. "Yes."

"You stand accused of violating the Heaven-Sealing Pact—forbidden soul inheritance, forbidden memory stabilization, and walking a legacy path outlawed by the Divine Sky Court."

Xu's voice was steady.

"I stand guilty of surviving."

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

The elder's eyes narrowed.

"Then survive this."

He lifted a scroll. Unfurled it.

Spiritual pressure surged.

Heaven-Sealing Order: Class Crimson

It was rare.

Deadly.

Official authorization from the Divine Sky Court to eliminate a cultivator deemed an existential threat to the balance of reincarnation.

"By order of the Nine Divine Clans," the elder said, "you are to be detained. Resistance will be met with death."

Xu Shen didn't draw his saber.

Instead, he bowed slightly.

"Then it's a good thing," he said softly, "that I didn't come here to join your sect."

He raised his hand.

[Devourer Core – Combat Protocol: Unleashed Form Limit 2 Activated]

[Fragment Recall: Lives #101 (Sky-Eater Fist), #177 (Void Pulse Bloom), and #8,814 (Heaven-Crushing Roar)]

The platform exploded.

Xu blurred forward, chi igniting like black lightning around him.

The elder moved to counter—but too late.

Sky-Eater Fist tore through the air—compressing spiritual force into a single point, detonating on impact like a thunderclap.

The elder was sent flying—robes shredded, blood spilling.

Cries rang out.

Disciples scattered.

Xu rose into the sky, aura burning black and gold.

"Tell the heavens," he said, "if they want me sealed—"

"They'd better bring more chains."

Far away…

Inside the Divine Sky Court, celestial beings knelt before an obsidian throne.

"He rejected the pact."

"He is now fully unbound."

The figure on the throne raised their head, voice ancient.

"Then awaken the First Hunter."