Prologue: Chains of Betrayal

The heavens trembled.

Lightning carved jagged scars across the night sky, illuminating the shattered courtyard of the Crimson Sect. Disciples gathered in silence, their faces twisted with scorn and anticipation. At the center, kneeling in blood and dust, was Arion — once hailed as a prodigy, now branded a traitor.

His master, Elder Kael, stood above him, robes flowing like storm clouds, eyes colder than steel.
“You were never meant to rise,” Kael’s voice echoed, cruel and final. “Your talent was borrowed, your fate already sealed. Tonight, you return to nothing.”

With a flick of his hand, Kael’s palm struck Arion’s chest. Pain exploded through his body as his meridians shattered, his cultivation stripped away. The power he had spent years nurturing dissolved into ash. Gasps rippled through the crowd — some mocking, others pitying.

Arion collapsed, vision blurring, heart burning with betrayal. Why? He had given everything to the sect, fought for its honor, bled for its glory. Yet here he was, discarded like a broken blade.

Darkness swallowed him.
But in that abyss, a voice stirred. Ancient. Bound. Furious.

“I am the Emperor of Ten Thousand Flames, chained for defying heaven. Mortal… take my power, and burn the world that betrayed you.”

A surge of crimson fire ignited within Arion’s broken meridians. His eyes snapped open, glowing with forbidden light. The chains of despair shattered, replaced by a storm of vengeance.

From that night forward, the heavens themselves would tremble.
The betrayed disciple would rise not as a servant of fate, but as the Emperor of Broken Chains.