Ash Where I Stand

Pain had a sound.

It wasn't a scream, or a groan, or even the tearing of flesh.

It was silence — thick and suffocating. The kind of silence that follows after something breaks. A bone. A body. A boy.

Tian Qiren couldn't feel his left leg anymore. He wasn't sure if it was still attached. His back was slick with blood. Something cracked every time he breathed. He'd long stopped trying to figure out what.

The wyrm circled him.

Twelve meters long. Covered in moss-dark scales that shimmered with wet earth and poison. Each breath it exhaled hissed with rot. Its antlers scraped against the rock walls of the ravine, showering sparks.

A River-Clad Wyrm — category three.

In his current state, even a first-tier beast could've ended him.

But this thing?

It was playing with him.

Waiting. Watching. Letting him drown in his own helplessness.

Qiren knelt in the mud, a single broken stick in his hand like it was a sword. He didn't even have enough qi to light a spark. The pendant was drained. His dantian felt… hollow.

He had nothing.

Except the fire behind his eyes.

"You… want me?" he hissed, coughing blood. "Come take me, then."

The wyrm obliged.

It surged forward with a roar, its maw wide enough to swallow a horse. Its teeth shimmered with venom. Its hunger pulsed in the air.

Time slowed.

Qiren didn't flinch.

He closed his eyes.

And in the moment before death — something answered.

Something ancient.

Something waiting.

Burn.

The world exploded.

Flame didn't just ignite — it detonated.

From within Qiren's chest, fire erupted in spiraling threads of orange and white, laced with something deeper — blue at the core, black at the edge. The wyrm struck — and vanished in a scream that melted stone.

A thousand degrees of pure, directive heat surged outward.

Trees within a kilometer disintegrated.

Rocks ran like wax.

The air turned to ash.

It wasn't cultivation. It wasn't technique.

It was Mandate — pure and furious.

Desitive Flame.The Will That Burns What Shouldn't Be.

A name burned into his soul. Not whispered. Not gifted. Branded.

The wyrm's remains were gone. Not even bones survived.

Qiren collapsed to his knees, panting, eyes wide with shock. His skin was covered in glowing script, like brands etched into his flesh. The fire around him was gone — like it had never existed. The world was dead silent again.

He laughed, breathless.

Then he passed out.

And Elsewhere…

The flames had cleared. But the land was ruined.

High above, cloaked figures gathered in the treeline, watching the cratered expanse.

A younger man, no older than twenty, stared in awe.

"That… that wasn't a technique," he whispered.

"No," murmured the elder beside him. "That was a Mandate Awakening."

"But that scale… The range—he wasn't even core level. How could he—?"

The elder was silent.

Then he said, grimly:

"That… wasn't any Mandate I've ever felt," the elder said grimly, watching the scorched, still-smoking crater. "It wasn't of this world."

Beasts of the Known Realms: A Study in Power

In the world of Liuchuan and beyond, beasts are ranked not just by strength — but by instinctual control of the world's natural laws, much like cultivators align with the heavens.

Here is the traditional classification:

Category 0: Lesser BeastsNo qi affinity. Comparable to common animals. Harmless to most.

Category 1: Spirit-FangedMinor qi presence. Threat to civilians and early-stage Qi Root cultivators.

Category 2: BloodboundCan manipulate elements. Equivalent to late Qi Root or early Thread Forging.

Category 3: CorebornePossess cores that enhance their body beyond human. Match Core Kindling stage.

Category 4: WillmarkedGain territory. Influence qi around them. Equivalent to Mandate Awakening.

Category 5: DomainkindCan create zones where reality bends. Equal to Ascendant Vein or low Heaven-Bound.

Category 6: WorldtouchedRare. Shape landscapes with breath. Equal to late Heaven-Bound.

Category 7: Sovereign-KinMyth. Only spoken of in old scrolls. Their presence alone alters fate. Equal to Thread Crown.

Category 8+: Cataclysm Class / RealmbreakersThese are not recognized officially. Said to have existed before the Heavenly Mandates were formed. Some believe their awakening ended an age.Most sects deny they exist.

Qiren had summoned something.

Whether it was Sovereign-level… or beyond… no one yet knew.

But far away, in the Jade Archives, a sealed scroll began to unburn itself.

And a name long forgotten or perhaps something that should never been exist has been born

Ash Mandate.