Mortal Awakening
Long Ge was born in a small mountain village to a family of three: his father, his mother, and him. At sixteen, he awakened the supernatural ability known as the "Heart's Eye," which let him see the good and evil in people's hearts. When demonic cultivators suddenly slaughtered the village, his parents died protecting him, entrusting him with a jade pendant engraved with the markings of "Tianyan" in their final moments. While fleeing, he encountered Xue Ling, a member of the Snow Spirit clan who was being hunted after a traitor leaked their secrets. Using psychological tactics to lure the enemy in, they wiped them out with a flash flood. The two set off together for the Tianyan Sect. On the way, they rescued Bai Xin, a collateral-line daughter of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Sect who had been secretly studying its techniques, and Nie Feng, an outer disciple of the Xuantian Sword Sect obsessed with weapons.
Foreshadowing: Long Ge's jade pendant resonates with the Demonic Heaven Sect's treasured artifact, the Heart-Devouring Mirror. Xue Ling divines that the "Fate Defier" has appeared, but cannot read Long Ge's destiny.
The villain makes his first appearance: Ye Wuhen, the young sect master of the Demonic Heaven Sect and the male antagonist, disguises himself as a refugee and infiltrates their ranks, secretly plotting to seize the Spirit clan's treasured artifact.
