"Isabelle Hawkins, I swear, if I don't avenge this, I'm no longer human!"
Lucas Thornhill's eyes snapped open, bloodshot and burning with fury. Cold sweat drenched his forehead, every breath laced with searing pain twisting his face.
He was once the brightest star of the Faith Ainsley Sect, the youngest Heaven-Tier prodigy in centuries. Yet, who would have thought that this star could be so cruelly shattered by someone he trusted the most?
Three years ago, the Sacred Cultivation Grounds of Canglong Academy offered Faith Ainsley one coveted spot for a new disciple. Everyone believed Lucas was destined to claim it, the pride of the sect. But the one who had been his childhood friend and first love, Isabelle Hawkins, schemed against him in secret.
First, she tricked him into taking Melting Qi Powder, draining his spirit energy and crippling his cultivation. Then, during the sect's selection tournament the next day, she delivered the fatal blow—breaking his meridians and ripping out the Dao Bone from his chest.
Her ruthless ploy not only secured Isabelle the admission to Canglong Academy but cast Lucas from the heavens into the abyss. Once celebrated as the greatest young talent, he was now a broken man with shattered meridians and a destroyed Dantian.
"Isabelle Hawkins! I once held you in the highest regard, trusted you with my heart. And for what? A mere spot at the academy? You destroyed me for that!"
Clenching his jaw, Lucas's eyes blazed with unrelenting rage.For three years, he’d been consumed by a single thought: making Isabelle Hawkins pay for the betrayal that ruined his life.
But fate was a cruel beast. The world had changed, and so had they.
Now, Isabelle stood at the top as one of the brightest stars of the Dragon Academy, while her father, Asher Hawkins, had risen to become the second most powerful figure in Sunlit Sect—second only to the sect master himself.
In comparison, not even his mother, Margaret Harrison, one of the Seven Peak Lords of the Sunlit Sect, could do anything for him, let alone a cripple like himself who couldn’t even lift a weapon.
A sharp creak broke his thoughts as the door swung open.
Lucas Thornhill shifted his gaze. Standing in the doorway was a woman whose once-radiant elegance was dimmed by exhaustion. Clad in flowing robes, her weary eyes were filled with worry and pain.
“Lucas, you’re awake,” she said softly, her voice trembling.
Margaret Harrison stepped into the room, her every movement filled with an unspoken love and sorrow.
“Mother...” His voice rasped, barely audible, as if each word drained what little strength he had left.
“Don’t speak,” she said gently, her hand reaching out to touch his pale face with a tenderness that only a mother could offer. “Close your eyes, steady your mind. I’ll heal you.”
Without another word, her slender palm rested on his chest. A wave of warm, soothing energy flowed from her hand, cascading through his battered body like spring rain, easing the pain as it traced along his broken meridians.Wherever it passed, the searing pain slowly melted away, like snow under the sun.
An hour slipped by in no time.
Margaret Harrison withdrew her hand as Lucas Thornhill slowly opened his eyes.
"Lucas, how do you feel?" she asked gently, her voice full of concern.
Lucas was about to reply, but then he noticed her sudden coughing. A thin thread of crimson blood traced down the corner of her lips.
“Mother! You—”
His chest tightened instantly, and his face darkened.
“It’s nothing. I’m fine,” Margaret said, waving it off, casually wiping the blood away.
But her nonchalance only made Lucas’s eyes redden, his heart twisting painfully.
As her only son, Lucas Thornhill knew exactly why this was happening.
Three years ago, Isabelle Hawkins had shattered his meridians, drained thirty-six drops of his heart's blood. It was Margaret who had exchanged eighteen drops of her own heart’s blood to preserve a sliver of his life.
These years, she had worked tirelessly, day and night, to heal his battered body and keep him alive.
Her efforts saved him, but it had come at an unbearable cost—her own vitality, slowly fading away.
"Mother..."
Lucas’s throat tightened with emotion, words struggling to come out.
Just then, an urgent shout came from outside the door, cutting through the heavy air: "The Peakmaster is treating Senior Brother; no visitors allowed!"