Chapter 2: Fresh start (Edited)

Yan Zhong Yi had no idea how long he had been unconscious, but when he awoke, he was surrounded by massive trees in what appeared to be a forest. He could see lush greenery everywhere he looked.

He sighed deeply as he ran his hand through the blades of grass beneath him. His mind replayed the last moments he could recall, attempting to piece together the scant information he had.

He should've died.

Zhong Yi was well aware of this. His dantian was broken beyond repair, and nothing could stop all the energy from destroying his insides. What made matters worse was that his strong physique would have made the process a very long and painful one.

How he ended up here of all places is beyond him. Between trying to survive and trying to stay awake, he barely had any energy to spare to listen to the conversation between Kana and whoever that was.

Scanning his body, he realised that he wasn't crippled as he thought he would. In fact, it looks and feels like he had never cultivated before. Not a single drop of spirit energy could be found anywhere in his body.

The crown prince furrowed his brow in thought, but saved it for later. He already had a lot on his mind and didn't want to add any more. Like his younger sister surviving the massacre only to fall into the hands of that...

The anger that had begun to rise slowly ebbed away as he breathed in and out .

'Focus, focus.' He repeated those words in his head as if it were a mantra.

He stood up and looked around, having had enough time to adjust to his newfound abysmal strength. He silently chastised himself for falling into a false sense of security. Maybe he was paranoid, but it was better to be paranoid than dead.

He really wanted to just sit down and gather spirit energy, even a little bit would be enough reassurance.

"It's fine, though; I should be able to flee anything that wishes me harm. Plus, with my talent, I should be able to return to my previous realm with ease." This was not arrogance on his part; in order to become the crown prince of the empire, he had to have the qualifications for such a prestigious position.While it wasn't necessary to be a monstrous talent like his father, he had to reach a certain level in his cultivation before being considered.

With that in mind, he reviewed what he remembered of the Royal Sacred Origin Scripture. It was a cultivation technique that only the emperor and crown prince had access to.

[Ding! Host has been detected to be a Mutated Intelligence Lifeform [Ghoul] Contacting Mainframe…]

"Wait, what?" The unexpected voice in his head startled him. He whipped his head around, looking for the source of the voice, but he couldn't find it. He couldn't help but bemoan the loss of his divine sense.

[Ding! You have been detected and acknowledged as the only living member of the Sacred Ghoul bloodline and Zhong Wang's descendant in the legacy land]

While he was still suspicious of the source of this voice, he noticed the unusual wording. The fact that it recognises his ancestor's name. Zhong wang, also known as the Ancestor Ghoul, was the first and most powerful Ghoul of all time.

[Legacy trial chosen!]

[Warning! The legacy trial can only be attempted once, upon failure, all qualifications to inherit the bloodline legacy of the Sacred Ghoul race will be made void]

"Am I allowed to refuse?" Zhong Yi wasn't expecting an answer and wasn't disappointed when it didn't come. The emotionless voice made him nervous because it had the ability to speak into his mind at will, but he couldn't detect any malicious intent from it. In fact, it sounded exactly like the corpse puppet his uncle had fashioned from a sect elder who had offended him.

This made him feel even more uneasy.

[Legacy trial of the Sacred Ghoul race commencing...]

Suddenly, his surroundings vanished. There was a hundred-meter-tall altar in its place, and everything else was white.

The altar was made of red crystals embedded in large white blocks, with each step being about 25 centimetres high and half a metre wide. Small intricate patterns depicted the history of the Sacred Ghoul empire in each block. It seemed to reach up into the clouds, exuding an ancient, majestic, and dignified aura.

He was reminded of the royal palace. The inner palace contained works of art dedicated to previous ancestors or Ghouls who had had a significant impact on the empire. It served as a reminder of who to look up to and what to avoid.

A large marble statue adorned the altar's apex. The eyes on the statue were the same blood-red colour as every other Ghoul's. Over its shoulder was an enormous two-handed sword in its marble hand, and its kagune was extended from its back, pointing towards the bottom of the altar.

Zhong Yi walked towards the first steps of the altar. He ran his hands across the small patterns.

Yan Zhong Yi made his way to the altar's first steps. He traced the smooth carved lines in each block with his hands as he ran his hands across the small patterns on the blocks. Each evoked emotions he had been attempting to suppress. Frustration, rage, regret, bewilderment, and fear.

When he touched his cheek, he was surprised to find tears streaming down his cheek. He rubbed his face furiously. "I'm not supposed to show any signs of weakness." He repeated those words to himself, as he had been taught since he was a child.

He froze when he looked up to the top of the altar and examined the statue. He froze because the statue was extremely important, and not knowing who that man was was considered a disgrace to their entire race.

The name of the man was Zhong Wang

He was the Sacred Empire's primogenitor and the first Emperor of the Sacred Ghoul race. Born from the union of a cherubim angel and a royal demon. Ghoul was an outlier simply by existing. His existence violated the laws of both angels and demons, but he survived and thrived. His rise to power and the years that followed are legends that have ensured our safety for hundreds of thousands of years. Simply because people were afraid he'd return.

The emotional turmoil he was going through began to fade, allowing Awe and worship to shine through. The statue was so lifelike that it seemed as if Ancestor Ghoul was actually present.

Zhong Yi continued ascending the altar, unsure of when he took the first steps, and felt a pressure begin to bear down on his body. He hadn't noticed it at first because Ghouls were known for their body strength even without cultivation; after all, it was what allowed us to survive the Alfheim climate.

When he reached the 200th step, he had to provide extra effort in each step.

By the 300th step, his body felt heavy.

His clothes clung uncomfortably to his body by the 400th step due to the sweat he expelled. But a glance at the statue at the top of the altar was all he needed to keep going; he would never fail in front of Ancestor Ghoul.

As he approached the 450th step, his excitement grew. Each step required tremendous effort to reach the next; even though it would have been easier to give up, turn back, and simply cultivate to the peak, his determination wouldn't let him.

He reached the next step and illusions started to appear.

He saw his kin, his family, and his father. Those enticing illusions seemed so real, luring him into the absolute bliss of remembrance, drowning himself in a fabricated memory. But he knew in his heart that they weren't real.

'They aren't real. They died protecting our home!'

So he kept walking, ignoring the tearful expressions on his family's faces, especially the look of disappointment in his father's eyes, which was visible from beneath his half-mask.

New illusions of beautiful women began to appear, with the potential to bring kingdoms to their knees. Piles of spirit stones appeared as well, speaking of the riches he would receive if he stopped walking and turned around. But what beauty hadn't he seen as crown prince? Which beauties were not presented to him when he attained the pinnacle of cultivation at the age of 170? He even used thousands of spirit stones, each worth millions of gold coins, for his cultivation alone.

Plus his heart would only hold one woman.

So he kept walking, pausing at each step. The stress was gradually becoming unbearable. The pressure that had settled on his chest made it difficult for him to breathe.

He almost let out a sigh of relief when he reached the final ten steps of the altar. The red-haired man was confident he could finish it. Then his illusions gradually shifted to the annihilation of his entire race. Women were killed, soldiers fought back and , and children were slaughtered. Watching them be massacred in their homes, raped in the streets, and humiliated nearly drove him insane.

But he couldn't give up because he had a promise to keep. So he channelled all of that emotion into his drive, and that drive allowed him to continue with ease through all of the other illusions that appeared.

Finally, He ascended to the altar's apex. He surveyed the top of the altar with cold eyes, emotionally drained and downcast. "You'd better be worth it!"

When countless images began to flash before his eyes, all of which were related to the Sacred empire's beginning, rise, and fall, his mind felt empty and clear.

He saw it all; How they grew to become the most powerful race within that world, how they took over planets by the dozens on whims, how they fought against entire universes for supremacy over their resources.

He watched these scenes, feeling as if he was right there.

He witnessed everything: how they grew to be the most powerful race in the world, how they took over worlds by the dozens on a whim, how they fought against universes for supremacy over their resources. Military conquests that necessitated the use of millions of Ghouls. The disasters that the race had to bear century after century, as well as the empire's golden age.

He suddenly felt a burning sensation in his spine; it wasn't painful. Instead, it was so soothing and relaxing that Zhong Yi had to fight the urge to sleep.

His blood red kagune slowly unravelled and began to change visibly. The colour changed from a dangerous blood-red to a mysterious dark purple from his back to the tip.

His kagune still felt flexible to him, like the flow of water. They did, however, feel stronger and sturdier. He was confident that he could channel spirit energy faster and gather more than before . He grinned internally at the prospect of adding another weapon to his arsenal.

His snow-white hair was no longer pure white. Instead, it was highlighted with strands of dark purple. Zhong Yi's eyes remained blood-red but had darkened, lending him a dangerous yet profound air.

Zhong Yi couldn't see the changes that had occurred to his appearance. On the other hand, he noticed changes inside his body, and he felt stronger than before.

A spirit-like figure appeared before him as he was inspecting his recent changes.

It was dressed in a white-gold dragon royal gown and exuded a dignified and imposing demeanour. It stood with its hands behind its back, its gaze fixed on everything beneath the heavens.

Suddenly, a burst of killing intent erupted from the mysterious figure, manifesting as a physical entity of swords hovering just above Zhong Yi's head.

The strong killing intent jolted Zhong Yi out of his trance. When he looked up, he was astounded by the number of swords pointing at him. Millions of razor-sharp and lethal swords.

He slowly lowered his gaze to meet the eyes of the spirit.

His eyes widened, and his mouth formed a "O" shape large enough to hold an egg.

He managed to stutter out the words. "Y-Y-Your.....