The Thunder-Crash Wasteland.
This place was a hellscape where lightning never ceased. Beasts here were mutated, violent abominations.
A Thunder-Horn Rhino (Rank 3) charged through the ash, chasing a small rabbit.
Suddenly, a shadow fell over the beast.
A figure landed in front of the Rhino. He was shirtless, his skin covered in red scars that glowed like magma veins. He carried a heavy, black sword that seemed to swallow the ambient light.
Ye Chen.
The Rhino roared and charged, its horn crackling with electricity.
Ye Chen didn't dodge. He raised his left hand.
"Solar Eclipse: Black Sun Palm."
A sphere of black fire formed in his hand. He punched the Rhino directly on the horn.
CRACK-BOOM!
The Rhino's head exploded. Not into gore, but into ash. The black fire spread instantly, consuming the massive beast in seconds, leaving nothing but a dry skeleton.
Ye Chen inhaled. A stream of red energy flowed from the carcass into his nose.
His scars pulsed.
"Weak," the voice of the Solar Tyrant echoed in his mind. "Beast blood is impure. You need cultivator blood to stabilize your False Core."
Ye Chen wiped the ash from his face. His eyes were cold, devoid of the naive heroism he once held.
"I know," Ye Chen rasped.
He looked at the horizon. He saw the distant lights of a Divine Sword Sect supply caravan moving toward the front lines.
"Righteous blood," Ye Chen whispered. "That should be pure enough."
"Heh," the Tyrant chuckled. "Look at you. Robbing your own allies. You really have fallen."
"I have no allies," Ye Chen grabbed his heavy sword. "The Righteous Path abandoned me. The Villain destroyed me. I am the only one who matters."
He leaped.
He moved like a cannonball, creating a sonic boom.
The Supply Caravan
"Keep moving! The Alliance needs these spirit stones by tomorrow!" A Divine Sword deacon shouted at the disciples guarding the wagons.
Suddenly, a black meteor crashed into the lead wagon.
BOOM!
Wood and stone shattered. The deacon was thrown back, coughing dust.
"Enemy attack! Is it the Eternal Night Sect?"
The dust cleared.
A lone figure stood amidst the burning wreckage. He dragged a heavy sword.
"Who are you?" The deacon shouted, sensing the terrifying, unstable aura of the intruder.
Ye Chen looked up.
"I am... hungry."
He swung his sword.
"Solar Eclipse Slash!"
A wave of black fire cut through the guards. They screamed as the fire burned their Qi, then their flesh.
Ye Chen walked through the flames. He didn't kill them quickly. He grabbed a wounded disciple by the neck.
"Please... spare me..." the disciple begged.
Ye Chen looked at the disciple's uniform. The white and blue of the Righteous Path. The uniform he used to wear with pride.
"Did you spare me when I was crippled?" Ye Chen whispered.
He drained the disciple dry.
The Solar Tyrant laughed in his head. "Yes! Feed! Let the world burn!"
Ye Chen dropped the corpse and turned to the terrified deacon.
"Tell Jian Wushuang," Ye Chen said, his voice sounding like two stones grinding together. "Tell him the Solar Sovereign is dead. The Eclipse is coming for him. And for Mo Tian."
He slaughtered the rest of the caravan, leaving only one survivor to deliver the message.
As he walked away into the darkness, his shadow seemed to stretch, taking the shape of a demon.
The Wildcard had entered the game.