The morning was gray when Kirin left the camp. The air carried no birdsong, no warmth of sunlight, only the faint smell of smoke that clung to everything like an old scar. He didn’t wait for farewells, and didn’t give anyone the chance to stop him. His body was still aching, but the ache was nothing compared to the gnawing shame in his chest.Walking felt too slow. He was no longer a crippled boy who could only stumble forward and pray. His cultivation had already broken past those chains. He was in the Soul Nascent Realm now, and his body thrummed with energy like a furnace that refused to cool.So he ran.The world bent to him as he moved, the dirt roads cracking beneath his steps, the wind tearing at his clothes. His breath never faltered. Each stride carried him farther than most horses could manage. His soul expanded outward as he moved, stretching far, covering valleys and ridges. Every ripple of life and death within kilometers flickered through his mind like stars across a dar

The Malakar army moved like shadows across the plains, the sound of their march swallowed by exhaustion. Fires burned low, banners dragged in the dirt, and no one spoke unless necessary. Every man and woman carried the weight of the last battles in their bones.Vael walked among them like a phantom. His cloak was torn, his armor cracked, his skin stitched with both bandages and scars. Yet the way his soldiers looked at him was not pity, it was reverence. He was still standing when most would have fallen.Kirin trailed not far behind, his steps steady, though each pace felt heavier than the last. He had run across ruined battlefields to find this army, and though his body brimmed with Soul Nascent energy, his heart still carried the ache of failure. He didn’t yet know what role he was supposed to play among these people.That night, when the soldiers stopped to rest, Vael did not.Kirin had just lowered himself beside the embers of a dying fire when a shadow fell over him.“On your fee

The third night came without rest.Kirin had thought maybe... just maybe, Vael would allow him one evening to breathe, to heal the bruises hidden beneath his skin, to let the ache in his arms and legs fade. But he should have known better. Vael wasn’t a man who softened, not when demons marched across the land and hope itself was dying.“Up,” Vael’s voice thundered, yanking him out of meditation like a clap of war drums. “The lesson continues.”Kirin opened his eyes, sweat already prickling his forehead. His Qi was steady now, flowing evenly as it circled through his meridians. But his body? It screamed, his bones ached, his muscles quivered. The control exercises from the previous night had left him feeling hollow, like he had been carved out and left with nothing but raw nerves.Still, he pushed to his feet saying with a drag. “What lesson now?”Vael’s gaze cut through him, sharp and unyielding. “Endurance this time. Power means nothing if the body collapses before the fight is done

The night after Vael’s illusion trial had left me shaken in ways my body couldn’t show. My wounds had scabbed, my muscles were stitched together with Qi, but inside... my chest still felt carved open. Fear didn’t fade just because Vael ordered me to endure it. It lingered like smoke in the lungs.I thought maybe he would give me a day, just one day to breathe.But Vael was not the kind of man who knew mercy.By dawn, he had already barked at me to get up, eyes sharp as blades. I dragged myself to my feet, body sore, waiting for the next brutal lesson. My shoulders still trembled from the drills, my mind still caught in the nightmare of the Demon Lord’s eyes.But before Vael could speak, a shout rang out across the camp.“Make way! Clear the path!”Heads turned. Soldiers stepped aside as a figure staggered forward. At first, I thought he was drunk, his steps swaying, his face pale. But then I saw the blood soaking through his armor, dripping onto the dirt in dark streaks. His arm hung

The dawn broke like a blade drawn across the horizon, cold, sharp, and merciless. The camp stirred under a sky streaked with ash colored light, soldiers moving like ghosts through smoke that still carried the scent of last night’s slaughter. Armor clinked, boots struck mud, and every breath seemed to drag frost and tension into the lungs.Kirin had barely shut his eyes when a heavy hand seized his shoulder.“On your feet,” Vael said, voice like gravel scraped across stone. His black eyes held no warmth. “Council meeting... You’re coming with me.”Kirin pushed himself up, every muscle screaming from the previous night’s chaos. His clothes still bore the dark spatters of demon blood. He wanted to ask why, but Vael’s grip tightened, a silent order that questions would earn nothing but pain.The walk through camp was a march through unease. Soldiers paused to watch him pass. Some saluted, others whispered. Kirin felt their eyes follow him like knives. They had seen the fight. They had see