Draven’s fingers, strong as iron, gripped the final handhold. He pulled himself over the ledge, and the world dropped away beneath him in a rush of wind and bright light.He was no longer on a path. He was standing on a huge open platform at the top of the world.The air did not simply buzz. It screamed with overwhelming power. It pressed against his skin like thick syrup and felt as if it wanted to seep into his bones and boil his blood. In the center of the wide plateau, reality looked like it was tearing apart. A giant pillar of swirling rainbow energy rose from the ground. It was the Convergence Point. It throbbed like a massive heart and shot straight into the storming clouds above. Every time it pulsed, waves of heat, cold, and crushing pressure spread across the stone.Nine other people stood in the shadow of that impossible light.They were nothing like the challengers he had met before. The climb had turned them into something sharp and dangerous. Their Auras did not just gl

One minute inside the Convergence beam felt like a lifetime made of both heaven and hell.Draven stood in the very center of the roaring column of light. The beam did not simply hit him from the outside. It poured straight through him like a river of fire and ice, flooding his veins and trying to rip his soul out of his body. His Cyclic Flow spun wildly, fighting to keep the chaotic power in a pattern, but it felt like holding back a collapsing mountain.He could feel his own Aura, the strong and dense foundation he had built up to Level 13, being pushed to its absolute limit.To his left, Vance was losing his fight in a dramatic and brutal way. The large man was already on his knees. His entire body glowed like metal left too long in a furnace. He no longer controlled the power. The power controlled him. His fire Aura, which had once roared proudly, was now being smothered by a force far too great.“I cannot…” Vance gasped. His voice sounded wet and broken. He tried to stand. Another

The wind this high had teeth. It clawed at Draven’s torn clothes and whipped his hair, but he felt only a distant pressure. The raw cold of the mountain could no longer touch him. His Qi-refined body hummed with warmth, a quiet furnace burning with the light of his new core.From his position, the plateau looked small. The remaining contenders—Selene, Goran, Lyra, the injured twin, and Vance’s battered group—were like pieces on a stone game board. Their struggles, which had felt so enormous before, now looked like small, frantic scrambles. He could see the strategies forming: Goran planting himself to shield Selene as she prepared a metallic Qi strike; Lyra and the twin moving together, frost and reflections weaving a fragile defense.He felt no triumph. Only quiet separation. He had crossed the line. The frantic competition below was for a prize he had already claimed.The System interface appeared in his vision.[ Status: Draven ][ Realm: Qi Refining, Level 2 of 13 (Grade S Level 3

The Stormbreak Spire rose against the apocalyptic sky like a clenched fist, a defiance of civilization standing tall in a world torn apart. Its walls were not simply stone or metal. They were a dense combination of crystal, metal, and hardened intent, fused by fire and will over decades of broken existence. Every surface of the Spire radiated authority, power, and purpose.The golden path from the System guided Draven, Selene, and Goran up to a vast landing terrace carved directly into the mountainside. The terrace buzzed with activity. Ascendants of all ranks landed, their Qi leaving ripples in the charged air. Some moved with calm precision. Others stomped forward with raw strength. All of them carried the weight of survival in their every movement.When they landed, the first thing Draven noticed was how heavy the air felt not just thick with Qi, but dense with intent. This place was more than a structure. It was a machine of survival, and every being here was either a cog or a co

The three Scions did not rush Draven again while his feet were on the ground. They had learned something important from the first exchange. Standing still against him was a mistake. Letting him control the flow of the fight was even worse.Kieran floated backward, flames rolling lazily off his shoulders. He grinned, but this time there was tension in his eyes.“The ground is too cramped,” he said loudly. “Let us fight where we are strongest.”Without waiting for agreement, he shot upward. Elara followed at once, her body lifted by a spiral of cold air. Silas vanished completely, melting into the shadows as if he had never been there.The three of them punched through the glowing dome above the courtyard and burst into the open sky.Draven looked up.Then he smiled.He pushed his Qi downward and rose after them, the wind screaming past his ears as the ground fell away. The Verdant Spring Enclave shrank quickly, becoming a small patch of white stone far below.The sky above the Spire wa