Cao Xiang stood still in a vast and empty void, his white and black robe was tattered, injuries covered him from head to toe, he was in a sorry state. His previously beautiful hazel eyes were now bloodshot.

Within the void, there stood five figures, all of which, too, were in a sorry state.

Two of the figures had one of their arms missing, while another had a slash wound extending from his left shoulder down to the right side of his waist.

The remaining two were also severely wounded, but even all of these injuries combined did not compare to Cao Xiang's.

Although he appeared completely intact, within his clothes, both his arms were missing, bones could be seen on both his legs, they seemed close to giving out, all of his skin was torn or burnt off, his flesh and bones could be clearly seen, a force held his figure intact. 

This vast and empty void was no ordinary void, it was the literal Grasps Of Death!

Even the mightiest warrior pales when grasped by death! , this phrase wasn't an exaggeration, especially in this world.

The Grasps Of Death was one of the few mystical regions in this world, a normal human couldn't even stand here, they would scream and writhe with fear and pain, as the cold and sharp winds of death assaulted him!

Within this world, a poem was famous,

"Not even the Sun could lighten up the grasps of death!

Not even the most beautiful woman could make you feel affection in the grasps of death!

Not even the Primordial Nine could run away from the Grasps Of Death!"

This 'poem' was written through combined efforts of generations after generations of the Primordial Nines, the ones who held absolute power in the world.

...

"Not even the Sun could lighten up the grasps of death!"

The Grasps Of Death were inescapable!

Not even the most beautiful woman could make you feel affection in the grasps of death!

The Grasps Of Death erased all emotion!

Not even the Primordial Nine could run away from the Grasps Of Death!

The Grasps Of Death were absolute beyond reason!!

...

Currently, the last remains of the Primordial Nine, as well as Cao Xiang were in the Grasps Of Death, the utter importance of eliminating Cao Xiang could be seen from this!

The Primordial Nine were almost never annihilated all at once, it could strongly offset the balance of the world, however, at this moment, it was necessary to make a sacrifice.

"Cao Xiang! Your story ends here!! You have caused irreparable harm to the Heaven and Earth, today you shall pay with your life!", one of the figures screamed.

Cao Xiang closed his eyes, looking inside his Innate Core.

Although his core was located inside his body, it was very mystical in nature, when ordinary items were put inside of it, they would shrink by thousands of times!

The core was filled not even an eighth of the way through with a viscous black liquid.

This black liquid was his Innate Energy, right now, it was almost used up.

On the Innate energy floated various different objects, weapons, cosmetic, bodies and the like.

He opened his eyes.

"Sigh, In the end, I failed.", he said as a bright light started to emanate from below his navel. 

"However! I still have a move that I haven't used yet!", he lifted his hands up, forming a "T" pose.

The other five figures quickly got into a guarding stance, each lifting a hand up.

A large sphere of grand light was created a few hundred li* above Cao Xiang.

He took out a white lotus from within his Innate Core.

The large sphere of light plummeted towards Cao Xiang!

"ORIGIN BLOODCORE!", he screamed, all of the Innate Energy within his Core was used up.

The large sphere of light plummeted towards him even faster!

"DAMN IT! DAMN IT! WHY'D THIS FAIL?!?!?!", Cao Xiang screamed in panic as the large sphere of light got even faster, it was now just half a li away from him!

A Quarter li..

An Eighth of a li..

Just a few centimeters..

Suddenly!

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The white lotus shined with bright red light, absorbing every single ounce of energy from the sphere of light!

Cao Xiang felt his mind going numb, a few moments later, all he saw was bright white light.

"This is Heaven..", Cao Xiang realized where he was at once.

He had been here twice, once invited to join the Primordial Nine, and once to rebel against Heaven itself!

"...I died..", Although Cao Xiang was in heaven, he was dead, and with the amount of damage he had done to it, there was no way that he would live the rest of eternity peacefully.

Or so he thought.

The light faded, revealing a White Lotus, in its center, there was a drop of blood.

"O-ORIGIN BLOOD FLOWER?!?!", Cao Xiang's mind erupted with a singular thought, he couldn't speak now, he was dead.

He had obtained this flower once from an ancient inheritance. If possible, he wouldn't have tried to use the move, Origin Bloodcore, but just now, he had no choice.

The petals of the lotus fell off into the white void, one by one, until just the center containing a drop of blood was left.

Cao Xiang "looked" at it in awe.

The center of the flower exploded, Cao Xiang felt his soul being sucked into the white void.

Within his mind, hours and hours of time passed, when he finally regained vision!

He was alive once again!!

...

In a busy street market...

People were bargaining, children played with their friends, it was loud yet pleasant.

A formless light appeared, not visible with the naked eye; thus no one turned around to look at it or even knew of its appearance. 

It was the size and shape of a fetus, shortly, it grew into a baby, into a child, into a teenager and finally into an adult.

A young boy, who was running from a group of bullies, stumbled upon the figure of the adult, seemingly aware of its presence!

The bullies soon caught him, beating him up without restraint.

The light dissipated, revealing a pitiful figure, it was Cao Xiang!

The bullies were startled, taking a few steps back. The young boy raised his head, looking at Cao Xiang with a joyful expression, which faded fast enough.

Cao Xiang had a peculiar appearance, his eyes were clouded, his hands were made of ethereal light, all his wounds were covered with the same light, however this was not the most peculiar thing.

He was butt naked!

His huge dragon was just hanging there, for everyone to see!

Women shrieked, some covered their faces, while others covered their children's faces, shutting their own eyes as hard as they could, while a few other women looked at Cao Xiang with a... lustful expression.

"HAH AHA!!! I'M ALIVE ONCE AGAIN, JUST WAIT, YOU FOOLS, I'LL KILL YOU ALL, ONE BY ONE!!!", Cao Xiang laughed with his head raised high.

Men in the market who saw this lunatic, laughing in public while being naked, were, of course, enraged.

However only a few moved towards him.

All of these men were tall, and had burly figures.

Cao Xiang's eyes regained their vitality, the cloudiness was gone, he scanned his surroundings, looking at the men rushing towards him.

"Pests."

He raised one of his hands, a red-black line composed fully of Innate Energy, decapitated everyone.

"DEMONIC ENERGIST!", someone from the crowd shouted, while others let out a shrill shriek, running for their lives.

"Why was that so utterly weak?!", Cao Xiang thought to himself.

He looked at his feet, five little boys were whimpering.

"One of you has potential, I'll let you all live.", he spoke, before leaping a few meters into the sky.

"What happened after the regression?! Why am I only this high up?!", Cao Xiang was shocked, looking inside his Innate Energy Core.

"WHAT?!", he couldn't help but scream out loud.

Within his core, there was a vast sea of snow-white innate energy, atop which floated a lotus with black petals, the Origin Blood flower!

His cultivation had dropped from the highest rank possible, black, to the lowest possible, white!

"That senile geezer! He didn't mention this in the inheritance!", Cao Xiang had lived for 800 years in his previous life, he was of course no fool, he quickly gained his composure and assessed the situation.

Although he thought quite a bit, only a moment had passed in actuality.

Within his Innate Energy core, almost half of snow-white Innate Energy was consumed, two broad and ethereal wings emerged from his back. 

The wings flapped twice, Cao Xiang soared high up into the sky, his vision broadened.

He was in the eastern outskirts of a very large city, it looked to be at least a few tens of thousands square kilometers large!

Closer to the center of the city, there were many large and grand buildings, these were the houses of the strongest and the most prestigious Energists in the city.

A bit farther, closer to the middle of the city, the houses were less grand but still quite large, these were the houses of Noble Energists.

Around the middle of the city, the houses were ordinary, still larger and better looking than the houses farther from the center than them, these were the houses of the middle class Energists.

And in the outskirts of the city, the houses were small and shabby, almost hut-like, these were the houses of Non-Energists.

Right now, Cao Xiang was in the eastern outskirts of the city, flying out of it.

He had just gained some speed, when a formless force grabbed at his wings!

The wings were made from just snow-white Innate Energy, they crumbled within a few breaths' time.

"Aww, it seems I got caught.", Cao Xiang spoke in a very sarcastic tone.

"Perverted demon! You shall be judged and locked up in a cell!", a woman dressed in tight white and gold clothes spoke while floating in air a few li away.

"Alright, lock me up then.", Cao Xiang spoke as he turned around to face her, his dragon dangling in the process.

3 days later...

Cao Xiang laid facing the ceiling, in a cell, wearing a dirty dark blue robe.

The cell was humid, water dripped from multiple points in the ceiling, it was a pitiful room.

"Aah, I really hate that geezer.", Cao Xiang said as he ended his reminiscence, sitting up.

In the last 3 days, he made some discoveries.

First was that his cultivation was gone for good, unless he went through the difficulties of making one's way up to black realm once again, he would never get that cultivation back.

Second was that, even though he had lost the ability to produce pitch black Innate Energy, he still had some left from his previous life, the Origin Blood flower had absorbed copious amounts of it before activation, it still had some left.

Third was that, he had regressed to 800 years back, to the same time as he was born!

Fourth was that his hands were bound by black-golden colored handcuffs, these were special handcuffs which restricted usage of Innate Energy, Cao Xiang had, of course, seen this many times in his previous life.

"I've to work fast.", with a single thought in his mind, he began his escape.

Withing his Innate Core, the Origin Blood flower floated, its black petals and red core looked majestic.

He willed and the water like snow-white Innate Energy surrounded the Origin Blood flower.

A few minutes passed, one of the petals of the Origin Blood flower turned white, as, on Cao Xiang's forehead, a tattoo of a Black Petal appeared.

"Sable."

A rough black aura surrounded the handcuffs, within less than half a breath's time, they were reduced to specks of dust. The tattoo of the Black Petal slightly shrunk.

"Wings."

The tattoo of the black petal shrunk almost by half, black wings started growing on Cao Xiang's back.

At first, the wings were not large, just a feet and a half, a few breaths time passed, the wings didn't stop growing.

He willed and the wings spread, the ceiling that was already quite low broke in less than a breath's time, sunlight penetrated through the large hole in the ceiling, he flapped his wings, soaring up into the sky!

The wings finally stopped growing, each was 15 feet long, they shined beautifully under the light of the sun.

Even though he felt countless gazes on him, he didn't pay the onlookers any attention.

"I'm free once again! My cultivation journey starts once more!!", he screamed his hearts out!