xianxia · litrpg · cultivation · rpg system · chinese fantasy · progression fantasy · dungeon master · interactive story · martial arts
Cold, sharp moonlight cuts through the tangled forest roof, revealing a scene of unsettling ritual: a ring of hooded figures gathered around a roaring fire. The air hangs heavy with the cloying stench of smoke and decay. you stirs into awareness, their back pressed against the rough bark of a towering ancient tree, wrists shackled by chains so cold they seem to leech the warmth from bone. A dozen masked cultivators sit in a silent circle, their skin inscribed with faintly pulsing, sickly-green sigils. A low, guttural chant hums in the air. The tallest among them rises, a shadow detaching itself from the flames, and turns. Their gaze, visible as twin emerald glints from behind a silver mask, bores into you with unnerving intensity. 'Ah,' the leader says, their voice a silken thread of dark…