ASCENSION OF THE FORSAKEN DISCIPLE

Chapter 4 :The Return Of The Trash

The disciples straightened with excitement flickering across their faces. Every month, their progress was tested. Their ranks within the sect depended on it.

One by one, each of the disciples stepped forward to show their cultivation levels. The first, a girl dressed in a green robe, pressed her palm against the Spirit Stone. The crystal pulsed faintly. Elder Zhao’s eyes narrowed, then nodded.

“Second stage of Qi Refining. Pass.”

Another disciple struck a wooden dummy, the impact left a deep dent. “Third stage of Qi Refining. Pass.”

The line moved quickly. Each disciple is eager to display their progress. Then came Li Shen. He walked forward with his head high. His aura blazed like a bonfire. When his fist struck the stone, the crystal glowed intensely.

“Fifth stage of Qi Refining,” Elder Zhao announced with faint approval.

Gasps from the disciples erupted. Li Shen turned, smirking as though he had already claimed the day’s glory. “Did you see? That is talent. That is strength. Not something trash could ever dream of.”

His gaze slid deliberately toward Kai. The disciples followed with grins spreading across their faces.

At last, Elder Zhao’s cold eyes landed on Kai. “Kai Lin.” His tone carried the weight of dismissal, as if the outcome were already known. “Step forward.”

The crowd chuckled.

“He should just trip on the way there.”

“What’s the point? He has no cultivation.”

“This will be fun.”

Kai exhaled. His feet moved steadily across the stone floor until he stood before the Spirit Stone. Dozens of eyes were watching him, waiting for failure. He raised his palm. For a moment, nothing happened. Li Shen barked a laugh.

Then, all of a sudden.

BOOM!

The crystal blazed with light, golden streaks bursted outward. A shockwave went across through the training field, whipping the disciples’ robes and sending a hush across the crowd. The glow dimmed, leaving the stone glowing faintly as cracks ran across its surface.

Elder Zhao’s eyes widened for the briefest instant before narrowing again. “Qi Refining… first stage.” His voice was steady. But he was beyond shocked. 

The disciples who had made fun of him went silent that moment.

“What?!”

“That can’t be right! Wasn’t he crippled?”

“Yesterday he was trash, today he’s…cultivating?”

Murmurs rippled like wildfire. For years Kai had been mocked for his broken meridians and declared worthless. And yet, before their eyes, he stood as a cultivator.

Kai lowered his hand slowly. His expression was calm. But inside, his heart thundered. He could feel the repaired channels in his body now humming with energy. The faint light of his Martial Spirit was responding to his will.

Li Shen’s smirk vanished. It was replaced by disbelief. He stormed forward, pointing an accusing finger at Kai. “Impossible! You…you cheated!” His voice cracked with fury. “There’s no way trash like you could suddenly cultivate. What trick did you use?!”

The disciples’ whispers turned into chaos in no time.

“Cheated? How could he fake a Spirit Stone reaction?”

“Maybe he found some secret treasure.”

“Or maybe…he really broke through?”

Elder Zhao’s gaze lingered on Kai. In the depths of his eyes, he suspected him. He remembered the fluctuation from the forbidden grounds days earlier. His jaw tightened.

Kai stood straight. His eyes met Li Shen’s for the first time. There was no arrogance in his gaze. It was only a quiet determination that made Li Shen flinch despite himself.

“I did not cheat,” Kai said evenly. His voice carried across the stunned field. “What you see is real.”

Li Shen’s face twisted with rage. “Liar! You’re just a piece of trash pretending to be a cultivator!” His fists clenched with his aura flaring. “Elder Zhao, I demand he be punished for deceiving the sect!”

Elder Zhao’s lips curled faintly. “Enough.” His voice cut through the noise. He studied Kai once more, then turned his gaze away. “Regardless of how he achieved it, the Spirit Stone does not lie. He has entered Qi Refining. That is the fact.”

The disciples erupted again. The half of them were in disbelief and half in complete awe.

Kai clenched his fists at his sides, keeping his breathing steady. Inside, the System’s golden words shimmered faintly,

“Quest Complete: Break Free From Mortality

Reward Unlocked: Qi Refining Foundation Strengthening.”

The warmth of energy pulsed through his veins, unseen by anyone else.

But even as relief washed over him, he felt Elder Zhao’s gaze stabbing into his back like a blade. And Li Shen’s eyes burning with hatred.

Li Shen walked towards him and pointed furiously at him with his voice shaking with hate.

“You cheated! I swear, I’ll expose you for what you really are!”

The training yard was in tension.  All eyes were all fixed on one person, the boy who was supposed to be nothing. Kai stood at the center of the commotion. His chest is still rising and falling after unleashing his shocking display of power during the cultivation test.

For a heartbeat, there came a perfect silence. Then the voices burst forth like wildfire.

“How… how did trash like him reach Qi Refining in days?”

“Impossible. He must have used some hidden trick.”

“Did he… did he steal a pill? Or…”

The crowd swelled with speculation. Their mocking smirks from earlier had crumbled into suspicion and unease.

Li Shen’s face flushed red with rage, jabbed a finger at Kai. “You cheated! There’s no other explanation! Trash like you doesn’t just crawl from the gutter and soar like a phoenix overnight!” His voice carried, cutting through the disciples’ murmurs like a blade.

The presiding elder, Master Yuan, narrowed his eyes. He was an old man with a stern face, rarely moved by noise. “Enough. Baseless accusations hold no place in the sect.”

Li Shen’s fists clenched, knuckles whitening. “Elder, he has to be hiding something. I…”

But before Li Shen could continue, another voice rang out.

“It is not entirely baseless, is it?”

The crowd turned. Elder Zhao stepped forward from the pavilion’s shadow. His robes swayed gently, though his eyes glittered sharp as a serpent’s. Zhao rarely spoke during disciple testing, but when he did, the entire sect listened