Voices blend into a single anxious murmur, each one ced with worry. This was supposed to be the Supreme Court of the Withered Heaven Sect—the victors of the war against the Heroes of the Ages Sect—yet tension hung thick in the air, and everyone remained on edge.

  Nahri, the commander of the first division, steps forward, her heels cnking against the stone-cold marble floors of the courtroom. The elegance in the sway of her hips and the burning red color in her hair holds command, but in this instance, nobody paid her any heed.

  “Everyone, please be calm, master Liang will awaken, I’m sure of it.” She reassures, but nobody listens; their minds are still on the fact that their master just plunged the hero’s sword into his own chest.

  “Nonsense!” Someone speaks up, stepping forward, their voice bouncing off the bck cobblestone walls.

  Nahri’s crimson eyes nd on the d, as she eyes him up and down, noting the anger radiating from him, with the minor release of his spiritual energy.

  “What was that?” She inquires, focusing her attention only on him.

  “Didn’t you see?” He murmurs to her before facing the crowd. “Master Liang Feng tried to kill himself!” She shouts, catching everyone's attention. “Who in their right mind ends their life after defeating the person they’ve been after their entire life!”

  “Excuse me,” Nahri utters, taken aback by his pure audacity, while the rest of the commanders stand in the shadows quietly watching the unfolding drama. “Have you lost yourself?”

  “Commander Nahri, I’m sure you saw the same thing I saw!” Desperation clings to his tone. “The look on Master Liang’s face when he turned to us! It was as if he had accomplished his life goal! We have more to achieve with the st hero of the age’s death!”

  Nahri couldn’t follow up with an excuse.

  She was there, the first division coming to his aid after a distress signal, but as soon as the portal opened, her heart dropped, the sight of the Liang stabbing himself, then looking as if he had no regrets, still etched into her mind.

  “How can we possibly still call him our master if he’s willing to drop us after all our hardships?” Someone's voice cuts through the crowd, and everyone takes a moment of silence before an uprising begins again.

  “Yeah! That’s no master of our sect!”

  Nahri, noticing she couldn’t stop it, pulls away back into the shadows with the other commanders.

  “You should have kept quiet. “ Someone says to her.

  Turning to him, she presses her back against the wall and her eyes rolling as she replies in a cold tone. “I was trying to help.”

  Second commander of the second division of chi users, Ji Yunxi, only looks out at the crowd, ignoring her usual excessive rudeness, following up with his own take on the matter.

  “Helping is beyond us. The only one who can stop this is master Liang,” he exhales. “It’s because of him that all of this is happening.”

  “Right.” She muttered, looking at the crowd of outer disciples.

  ‘I still don’t know what made him do it.’ She thinks to herself, repying the time he saved her and changed her life for the better by recruiting her for the Withered Heavens Sect. ‘Whatever his answer is, I’ll accept, just as he accepted me.’

  “Now all we can do is wait.” Ji Yunxi voiced.

  Yet, that wait isn’t long.

  Just as the chants become louder and the outer disciples become uncontrolble with their persistent cim that he isn’t a good leader after his one mistake, the rger bck courtroom doors swing open, forcing all the cheers and chants of the outer disciples to come to a halt, all eyes facing the door as one single person strides.

  “He’s here!” Nahri straightens up, a smile forming on her face.

  ‘I guess cheating death comes with its drawbacks.” Ji Yunxi whispers to himself, eyes wandering to his hair, which was once bck, now a pure silver that cascades down his full white kimono.

  The man who began the uprising stops, his mouth as if sewn shut and his body rooted to the floor, as Liang stops in front of him, his deep red eyes like daggers pinning him in pce.

  ‘I guess we aren’t so different, hero.’ Liang thinks. ‘We’re both surrounded by untrustworthy people.’

  “M…Master Liang Feng!” He stammers, breaking free from the hold Liang’s eyes had on him and stepping back as fear grips his body and instincts.

  Liang Feng says nothing, but his actions speak volumes. In a blur, his hand wraps tightly around the disciple’s neck, lifting him clean off the ground. The disciple’s feet dangle helplessly, his hands cwing at Liang’s wrist, eyes brimming with tears.

  ‘There are many ways I can kill him.’ Liang thinks to himself, eyeing the struggling boy without any remorse weighing on him. ‘Perhaps, killing him and absorbing his spiritual energy might restore at least one of my cores.’

  [Negative]

  The same systematic interface sparks to life.

  [Reminder: The only ways to regain your strength and achieve ur goal of a peaceful death, you must undo ur wrongs]

  ‘Right.’

  With reluctance and the crowd's shock, he drops the boy back down onto the floor, and he scrambles off.

  “Did I see correctly?”

  “Master Liang Feng released him.”

  Mumbles ensue, while he only stands there quietly, his head faced to the floor.

  [A few hours earlier]

  “Master! Master! Ur awake!” The disciple says, relief, and worries, weaving into every word. “I’ll go announce the news!” He flies up, but Liang Feng grabs onto his hands, his head down, with sweat soaking the bck silk sheets below him.

  ‘I’m still alive…’ He ponders, questioning the entity of the events prior to his death. ‘Why am I alive? I’m supposed to be dead…Most of all–” He lifts his head to the golden screen dispying.

  [Fate’s penalty]

  ‘What is this?’ He questions, letting his grip slip and fall from the disciple who hurries off to alert the physicians.

  The memories of his time in the dark space instantly flood back to him, though it isn’t much he knows this is punishment for breaking the wheels of fate, by ending the life of the hero.

  He knew some type of heavenly punishment would be exacted on him, but not like this. Instead of relinquishing his life, he is forced to live for five hundred years, but for what? There must be a reason why he was bestowed with more years of life rather than death.

  [Liang Feng, the role that was given to you by fate was ’vilin’, destined to die by the hands of the hero, yet instead, with a path unseen by the heavens, you managed to change the course of time and fate by destroying the hero.]

  ‘I know.’

  [As for your punishment. The god of fate has given the task of repairing the world you have exacted your rage upon. With each task cleared by you given by the Xanthos system, your life span is shortened and ur goal of receiving a peaceful death will be achieved…and when your time of death comes, instead of eternal suffering, you’re soul will vanish from existence.]

  With each golden sylble dispyed by the system, his mind goes silent, and his body turns numb. This isn’t just a punishment for repairing what he had broken, but a btant disrespect shown by the gods.

  “From destroying to mending what I had caused.” He scoffs, a cruel smirk making its way on his face. “The gods are making their fool.”

  ‘But then again-’ The promise he made rings in his ears, the blurry vision of the woman he had once cherished fshing in his mind. ‘I’ll be able to keep this one promise to her. I won’t be subjected to suffering after death as well, just…gone.’

  [Now ready for your first task?]

  ‘Yes.’

  [First task: Disband the Withered Heaven Sect]