The white jade statue of Bai Li stood serene amidst the desolation, a beacon of fragile hope against the oppressive darkness. The Ten Directions God-Sealing Formation pulsed around her, a luminous barrier holding back the encroaching tide of Annihilation Black Flame spewed by the frustrated Chaos Sky Dragon circling impotently above. This sanctuary, bought at an unimaginable price, was temporary, Lin Feng knew. The dragon’s roars echoed with growing impatience, shaking the very ground, and the strain on the statue, on Bai Li's petrified form, was becoming visible as faint hairline fractures began to web across the jade-like surface.

  Time was running out.

  “The Heaven-Reaching Tower... It is the key! The Inverse Scale Fragment beneath it... it anchors the Dragon... but it is also... its weakness! Go! Now!”

  Bai Li's final, urgent message burned in Lin Feng’s mind, overriding his grief, fueling a cold, desperate resolve. He cast one last, lingering look at the statue, etching her sacrifice into his soul, then turned towards the heart of the ravaged city.

  There it stood, piercing the smoke-choked sky like a dagger aimed at the indifferent heavens – the Heaven-Reaching Tower. Even unfinished, its scale was monstrous, a testament to the Imperial Court's ambition and cruelty. It radiated an aura far more sinister than mere stone and mortar should possess; an aura thick with the stench of death, despair, and something ancient, primal, and deeply connected to the chaos raging above and the turmoil within his own core.

  Navigating the ruins towards the tower was a journey through hell. The black flames cast eerie, dancing shadows, and the ground was littered with the dissolved remnants of whatever the fire had touched. He moved swiftly, staying low, using the shattered landscape for cover. The air thrummed with the Chaos Sky Dragon’s power, a constant pressure that made his teeth ache and the mark on his face throb.

  The construction site itself was a scene of utter chaos. Crude scaffolding clung precariously to the tower's lower levels, much of it already collapsed or consumed by stray licks of black flame. Tools lay abandoned. The bodies of countless conscripted laborers lay where they had fallen, some crushed by falling debris, others simply worked to death, their emaciated forms a grotesque testament to the tower's true cost. The stench of decay mingled with the acrid smell of smoke and the unsettling, metallic tang of chaos energy.

  He bypassed the main entrances, knowing they would be heavily guarded or trapped. Bai Li’s sacrifice had created a zone of relative calm around the Yi Zhuang, but the rest of the city was still a warzone, not just against the dragon, but amongst human factions vying for power amidst the apocalypse. He scaled a section of collapsed wall, using his enhanced strength and agility, slipping into the tower's shadow like a wraith.

  The interior was even worse than he had imagined. The lower levels were a labyrinth of half-finished corridors, vast empty chambers, and precarious drops. Deadly traps were everywhere – pressure plates triggering volleys of poisoned crossbow bolts, corridors filled with illusionary pitfalls, rooms protected by crackling energy barriers powered by crude, unstable runic arrays. It was clear the tower wasn't just being built; it was being fortified, but against whom? Or perhaps, for whom?

  More disturbing were the signs of recent, brutal conflict within the tower itself. Blood stained the floors and walls, not just the dark, viscous blood of demons or the thin, watery blood of starved laborers, but the fresh, bright crimson of well-fed warriors. He found corpses clad in the distinct uniforms of the Dongchang’s Blood Fiend Guards, alongside others wearing the sigil of the Black Scale Alliance – the shadowy organization the Imperial Court had supposedly allied with. They had clearly been fighting each other, viciously and to the death. Strange, half-looted chests lay overturned, their contents spilled – not gold or jewels, but bizarre artifacts, pulsating crystals, and scrolls covered in unholy symbols. What treasures were hidden within this accursed tower that both the Emperor's secret police and their supposed allies would slaughter each other for?

  Ignoring the carnage, Lin Feng focused on Bai Li's words. Beneath it... the Inverse Scale Fragment... He needed to go down, deep into the tower's foundations. He found a service shaft, likely used for hauling materials, its winch mechanism destroyed. Using the Inverse Scale Blade to carve handholds in the rough-hewn stone, he began his descent into the suffocating darkness below.

  The air grew colder, heavier, thick with a palpable sense of ancient malice as he descended. The sounds of the battle above faded, replaced by a low, resonant thrumming that seemed to vibrate in his very bones, echoing the chaotic pulse within his own chest. He felt a strange pull, a dark magnetism drawing him deeper.

  Finally, he reached the bottom. He found himself in a vast, cavernous space carved directly out of the bedrock beneath Bianjing – the tower's true foundation. The scale was immense, dwarfing the levels above. The air here was thick with raw chaos energy, so potent it was almost visible as shimmering distortions in the air. Strange, disturbing murals covered the walls, depicting monstrous figures and scenes of sacrifice that seemed far older than the tower itself.

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  And there, at the very center of the cavern, embedded in a massive, obsidian-like altar pulsating with dark light, was the source of the thrumming, the object of his search.

  It was a scale. A single, enormous dragon scale, easily the size of a large shield. It was impossibly black, seeming to absorb all light, yet faint, blood-red veins pulsed rhythmically within its depths. It radiated an aura of pure, undiluted chaos, ancient and terrifyingly powerful, a palpable miasma of destruction and primordial rage. This was the Inverse Scale Fragment of the Chaos Ancestor Demon.

  Lin Feng felt an immediate, visceral connection to it. The Chaos Core within him surged violently, resonating with the fragment like a tuning fork struck against its twin. He felt its immense power, its connection to the Chaos Sky Dragon raging above, acting as both an anchor tethering the beast to this location and a source of its seemingly inexhaustible energy. Bai Li was right. This was the key. But how could it be its weakness?

  Suddenly, the entire cavern shuddered violently! Dust and rock rained down from the ceiling. A deafening roar echoed from above, far louder and closer than before.

  CRASH!

  An immense impact rocked the tower to its foundations. The Chaos Sky Dragon, perhaps sensing the proximity of its lost fragment or enraged by the stubbornness of Bai Li's seal, had physically rammed the colossal structure! Cracks spiderwebbed across the cavern ceiling, and entire sections began to collapse inwards.

  Through the widening fissures, Lin Feng could see the swirling black flames and the furious eye of the dragon peering down. It roared again, preparing for another strike.

  But the dragon's attack wasn't the only new development. From a shadowed tunnel leading into the foundation cavern, figures emerged. Dongchang agents, led by none other than the Blood Fiend himself, Xue Yan Luo! His bronze mask gleamed menacingly in the pulsating light of the Inverse Scale, his eyes fixed on the fragment with feverish intensity. Had he followed Lin Feng? Or had he known about this place all along?

  "The Inverse Scale... magnificent!" Xue Yan Luo hissed, ignoring Lin Feng entirely for the moment. "The legends were true! With this power, the Dongchang... no, I... will be unstoppable!"

  He strode towards the altar, his surviving subordinates fanning out, their weapons drawn, clearly wary of both Lin Feng and the potential instability of the cavern.

  Then, Xue Yan Luo did something that chilled Lin Feng to the bone. He produced several small, obsidian-black pills from a hidden pouch – the infamous Blood Pills, refined from the life essence of countless victims. Without hesitation, he swallowed them whole.

  An agonizing scream tore from Xue Yan Luo's throat as his body began to contort violently. Dark energy, far more potent and unstable than before, erupted from him. His muscles bulged unnaturally, tearing through his uniform. Patches of dark, reptilian scales erupted across his skin, rough and ill-formed. One of his arms elongated, twisting into a grotesque, clawed limb resembling a dragon's foreleg, yet still horribly fused with human flesh. His spine cracked and arched, pushing him into a semi-bestial posture. He was attempting to forcibly merge with the Inverse Scale's power, using the volatile Blood Pills as a catalyst!

  "Master?" one of his subordinates stammered, taking a step back in horror.

  Xue Yan Luo threw back his head, his voice now a distorted, inhuman roar. The bronze mask cracked under the strain of his changing features. Through the widening crack, Lin Feng saw not a human eye, but one that was rapidly becoming reptilian, filled with golden, slitted pupils burning with uncontrollable chaotic energy and sheer, unadulterated madness. The fusion was incomplete, unstable, a monstrous backlash of power.

  He had gained immense strength, but lost his sanity.

  With another roar, the partially dragonized Xue Yan Luo turned, not on Lin Feng, but on his own terrified subordinates. His newly formed claw lashed out with blinding speed, tearing through armor and flesh like paper. He lunged into their midst, a whirlwind of berserk destruction, slaughtering the very agents who had followed him loyally moments before. Their screams echoed briefly in the collapsing cavern before being brutally silenced.

  Amidst this new horror, as the tower groaned under the dragon's assault and Xue Yan Luo butchered his own men, Lin Feng’s gaze fell upon something etched into the base of the altar holding the Inverse Scale – intricate carvings, almost hidden beneath layers of grime and dark energy. They weren't mere decorations; they were sacrificial runes, vast and complex, designed to channel energy – specifically, the life force of thousands upon thousands of souls – directly into the Inverse Scale Fragment.

  The horrifying truth slammed into him with the force of a physical blow. The Heaven-Reaching Tower wasn't built to appease the heavens or suppress demons. It was a colossal sacrificial engine. The Imperial Court, the Emperor himself, knew about the Inverse Scale. They knew its power. They had deliberately conscripted the populace, worked them to death, allowed them to suffer and despair, intending for their life force, their怨气 (yuan qi - resentment energy), to be funneled through these runes, feeding the Inverse Scale, awakening and empowering the Chaos Ancestor Demon! The alliance with the Black Scale Alliance, the battles within the tower – it was all a facade, a distraction, or perhaps a way to gather more 'fuel' for the true ritual.

  The entire disaster, the suffering of Bianjing, wasn't just a consequence of demonic forces; it was orchestrated, a deliberate, monstrous sacrifice engineered by the very rulers sworn to protect their people.

  The cavern groaned again as another section of the ceiling collapsed, blocking the shaft Lin Feng had used to descend. He was trapped. Trapped in the crumbling foundation of a sacrificial tower, with the Chaos Sky Dragon battering it from above, and a berserk, partially dragonized, utterly insane Xue Yan Luo standing amidst the mangled corpses of his own men, his burning, reptilian eyes slowly turning to fix upon Lin Feng, the only other living being left in the chamber.