Chapter 3

Dark clouds hung heavy over the Judgement Spire, thick bolts of heavenly lightning dancing across the stormy sky.

The area around the Judgement Spire was packed with Celestials, all there to watch the execution.

They whispered, "Ten bolts of heavenly lightning? With her current cultivation, she probably can't even make it past three."

"She actually tried to use the Soulbane Curse on Ms. Luna Evernight behind her back. Doesn't she know her place?"

An elder with white hair stepped forward and said, "Mr. Evernight, ten bolts of heavenly lightning are too harsh. Maybe we should reconsider—"

"That's enough," Dad interrupted, his voice icy. "She never learns. If she doesn't take her punishment today, our sect's rules might as well be a joke."

Shawn strode up to me, looking down with that cold, superior glare. "This is your last chance. If you bow and apologize to Luna, I'll take the punishment for you."

I lifted my head, a mocking grin spreading across my face. "Bow to her? Is she even worthy?"

Shawn's face twisted with anger. "Stubborn fool!"

The last trace of hesitation vanished from Dad's eyes.

He lifted his hand, his fingers flashing through a series of signs, and the formation atop the Judgement Spire flared to life. He said, "Begin the execution!"

The first bolt of heavenly lightning crashed down with a deafening roar.

Agony exploded through my body, and every meridian felt like it was being torn to shreds.

I clenched my teeth, not letting a single cry escape.

The second struck, and then the third...

Blood seeped from the corner of my mouth, my vision growing hazy as consciousness slipped away.

Shawn yelled between the thunderclaps, "You can still beg for forgiveness!"

I just threw him an even deeper, colder smirk.

Heavenly lightnings crashed down again and again, relentless.

I crumpled onto the Judgement Spire, my vision blurring. All I could hear was thunder and the shocked cries of the crowd.

Was this it? Was it all over? No.

With the last bit of strength I had left, I reached inside my robes.

As the final bolt of heavenly lightning, one powerful enough to rip my soul apart, roared overhead, I couldn't help but laugh.

With bloodied fingers, I slowly drew something out from close to my heart.

I forced my eyes open, fixing my gaze on Dad, a cold smirk curling at my lips.

Dad's eyes narrowed, and suddenly, his frosty mask shattered.

Panic began to spread across his face.

He stumbled, almost falling over.

"No!" he cried out, trying desperately to halt the heavenly lightning that was already unleashed.

But it was too late.

The massive, purple bolt of heavenly lightning crashed down without mercy.

In the nick of time, Shawn's face turned deathly pale as he hurled himself toward me.

But he was still a second too late.

I felt like my soul was burned to ashes, as if flames had devoured it, leaving nothing but dust.

Suddenly, everything was swallowed by darkness.

The crowd's shouts faded into the distance.

Raindrops pattered down.

It was all over.

Francis's POV

Inside the grand hall, crystal lamps cast a ghostly glow, making all three of them look deathly pale.

Francis's knuckles were bone-white as he clenched tightly around the jade pendant he'd snatched from the Judgement Spire.

The jade was silky-smooth, but the streak of blood at its heart was a vivid, jarring red.

"Try again," Shawn rasped, gathering a thread of immortal power at his fingertip before carefully pressing it to the pendant.

The pendant shivered, and from the streak of blood, a soft golden radiance rippled outward.

A surge of pure, majestic energy swept through the room, brimming with divine purification.

This was the holy power unique to the Archon Lineage.

Miranda staggered, clutching the pillar just to keep herself upright, tears slipping silently down her cheeks. "Yeah, I'm sure. This is... This is my Primordial Power..."

Miranda slumped to the ground, his gaze full of anguish, lost in the endless sea of clouds outside the hall.

A thousand years ago, the Evernight Sanctuary was hit by disaster after disaster.

Disciples, especially the gifted ones, started dying mysteriously, one after another.

They looked peaceful, like they were just asleep, but their essence was completely drained. No marks, no sign of sickness, nothing to explain it.

Panic spread like wildfire. Everyone was terrified, and rumors swirled that the Evernight Sanctuary's luck had finally run out.

Just as despair was spreading through the Evernight Sanctuary, a mysterious cultivator who called himself Archon Malach wandered in during his travels.

Moved by the suffering he saw, Archon Malach poured out his immortal powers and finally uncovered the true source of the disaster.

Turned out, the real source was Serena, the tiny baby swaddled in Miranda's arms.

"This girl's bloodline is unusual," Archon Malach said, his expression grave as a drop of blood, drawn from Serena's fingertip, hovered at his fingertip.

Within the formation, that bead of blood flickered with an unsettling shade of dark purple.

He said, "This is primordial Demonic Power. It's like a lantern in the dead of night, luring every foul spirit out there."

To prove it, Archon Malach worked his magic for all to see, just barely nudging the blood's energy.

In a heartbeat, icy winds howled through the hall as a swarm of unseen demonic wraiths shrieked and surged in.

If Archon Malach hadn't slammed them down with a flash of golden light, no one knew what kind of disaster would've unfolded.

"The Demonic Power has already drawn the eyes of foul spirits. Keeping her in the Evernight Sanctuary for even a day is keeping everyone in danger," Archon Malach said.

His words were like a final judgment.

He went on, "For now, the only option is to send her down to the mortal world. Let the dust and chaos of that realm mask her unique bloodline. Maybe then, the Evernight Sanctuary can finally know peace, and she'll be safe."

Francis gazed at the baby in the cradle, her chubby cheeks and sweet smile making her look like a little angel. She had no idea she'd just been marked as a jinx.

On one side was his own flesh and blood, and on the other, the lives of everyone in the Evernight Sanctuary and the fate of the whole sect. The weight of it all nearly crushed Francis.

In the end, with trembling hands, he personally sealed away part of Serena's spirit and memories, and then entrusted her to a family of ordinary cultivators, far from the Celestials.

He remembered Miranda collapsing in tears at the bedside, the confused, innocent look in Serena's eyes as she was taken away, and most of all, the vow he made, his heart torn to shreds.

He said, "Serena, when you come of age, and her bloodline is stable, I swear I'll bring you home."

But after a thousand years, when they finally managed to bring their daughter home, what they found was a troublemaker with a twisted temper and a ruthless streak. She even tried to take out her adopted sister, Luna, several times.

The mess that erupted in the Evernight Sanctuary after she came back only confirmed what they'd decided all those years ago.

It wasn't until this moment, when the jade pendant revealed the pure, undiluted power of the Archon Lineage, that everything changed.

Miranda said, "If Serena truly carried demonic blood, it would have clashed with my Primordial Power. There's no way this spirit jade could ever have been activated."

Her voice cracked with anguish. "Were... Were we wrong from the very start?"