The devil's deal.

w windows, casting long shadows across the assembled clan elders, their faces etched with a mixture of contempt and calculated judgm

t heinous crime. Conspiracy to undermine the Celestial Cultivation Clan's sacred traditions and

ow he was nothing more than a condemned prisoner. The false accusation rang in his ears - a c

passion they once shared, replaced by a cold distance that spoke volumes

a desperate plea that echoed off the stone walls.

u, who cannot even maintain the most basic cultivation

eant to wound. Kai felt the fragments of his dignity crumbling. The

hing dark, forbidden cultivation techniques. Fragments of ancient texts that implied

ne final and merciless. "Death. By ritual execution at

t just his hope, but something deeper. The last vestiges of his belief

oth ancient and malevolent, barely perceptible but undeniably powerful. Th

e promise that slithered through

ration. The clan had not just sentenced him to death - they had pushed him t

gy, now a condemned prisoner, faced an impossible choice. Accept death at the hands of those wh

n magic, of powers beyond conventional cultivation. The demonic spirit's presence grew

ld alter the course of his life forever.

in that moment, d