2025-08-19 17:09:14The 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
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 142:Collapse Of The Fifth Rift Chambers
Kai stepped out of the fading illusion and felt the solid floor of the awakening chamber under his feet as the entire structure trembled.“System, status,” Kai said.“Chamber integrity dropping. Forced stabilization field deploying,” the System replied.The Silent Rift Sect elders stumbled back as cracks ran along the walls.One elder shouted, “We need to leave now.”Kai said, “Move. I will hold the field until the sequence completes.”Another elder hesitated. “But if the chamber collapses—”“Go,” Kai said. “You will only slow me down.”The elders turned and ran toward the exit tunnel just as a blast shook the chamber.“System, incoming presence,” Kai said.“Warning. True Path operatives breaching the southern wall,” the System announced.The wall burst open and several masked figures entered, weapons charged with rift energy.One operative pointed at Kai. “Stop the shutdown now.”Kai stepped forward. “You will not touch the core.”The closest operative rushed him, but Kai struck once
Chapter 141:The Forced Trial Sequence
Kai placed his hand on the pillar and the chamber shook as the system linked to the ancient mechanism. A sharp sound rang out and locks snapped into place around the platform beneath him.“System, what is happening?” Kai asked.The ground vibrated and a ring of symbols lit up around his feet. The air thickened as the entire chamber tightened like a trap.“Shutdown attempt detected,” the system replied. “Ancient protocol has recognized the host as the trial candidate. Forced sequence triggered.”Kai tried to step back, but columns of rift energy rose around him and held him in place. “I did not agree to any trial.”“The chamber does not recognize refusal,” the system said. “Original cycle rules are still active. Host is being transferred.”A pull grabbed Kai from all sides. The walls dissolved into light and the elders shouted in panic from behind him.“Kai! Step away from it!” one elder yelled.Another shouted, “The chamber thinks you are the chosen mortal! Stop the system before—”T
chapter 140:The Awakening Chambers
Kai walked toward the center of the chamber as the floor shook under the pressure of rising energy. System spoke in a steady tone and filled the air with a blue projection.“Energy levels are rising at dangerous rates. The awakening process has already begun.”Kai kept his eyes on the circular platform ahead of him. “How fast?”“Current rate suggests a critical threshold in twenty minutes. Full activation in less than two hours.”Kai stepped onto the platform and looked up at the tall control pillar. Symbols glowed across its surface. “This is old. Much older than the other rift structures.”The surface flashed once, and a holographic record formed in the air. Figures from a past cycle appeared, showing a battlefield that shook under massive bursts of light. People screamed and fell as the ground broke apart.Kai narrowed his eyes. “A disaster record.”System responded. “The record is displaying the consequences of a failed Ascendant Trial. The rift collapsed in on itself and destroye
Chapter139:Descent Into The Core Zone
Kai landed on the unstable ground as the sub-rift floor gave way beneath him. Dust spread through the collapsing chamber, and the deep cavern below opened with a heavy tremor.“System, stabilize my descent,” Kai said as the ground fell apart under his boots.“Energy dampening field active. Fall impact reduced,” System replied.Kai dropped through the final layer of debris and landed in a dim cavern. The air pulsed with deep rift energy, and sharp cracks moved across the walls.Three True Path operatives appeared from a side tunnel. Their movements were fast, and their weapons flickered with unstable glow.“Stand down,” Kai said.They attacked instead.Kai moved in at once. His strikes were precise. He hit the first operative in the chest, forcing him to crash into the wall. The second tried to flank him, but Kai grabbed his arm and pulled him down with a firm twist. The third swung a blade at his neck, but Kai blocked with his forearm and pushed him back.“System, confirm identities,”
Chapter 138:Lost Scouts
Kai moved with steady steps as he crossed the northern barren region with the rapid-response squad close behind him. Cold wind hit their clothes, but no one slowed down. The ground carried faint tremors, and the sky above them flickered with thin cracks of rift light.“System, confirm coordinates,” Kai said.“Coordinates locked. Rift distortion thirty meters ahead,” the System replied.An Azure Cloud scout ran up to Kai. “Sect Master, the distortion is unstable. It is shifting every few breaths.”“We keep moving,” Kai said. “No one spreads out.”“Understood,” the squad responded.The ground under them shook again. Kai looked at the flickering air beyond the ridge. “System, what is the nature of the distortion?”“Signatures resemble time displacement fields. Caution advised.”One of the elders glanced nervously around. “Time displacement at this magnitude should not appear unless a rift is being tampered with.”“True Path is here,” Kai said. “Stay alert.”As they approached the next ri
Chapter 137:The Fifth Rift’s Coordinate
The system projected a large map into the strategy hall. Blue lines formed a steady pattern, then shifted into sharp red spikes that moved across the northern region.“Kai,” the system said, “the Fifth Rift spike pattern is now fully generated.”Kai stood in front of the projection with his arms crossed. The elders gathered behind him in silence, waiting for him to speak. The map kept pulsing as if responding to a rising force.“Show the final coordinates,” Kai said.The red spikes narrowed until they converged on a barren zone far to the north. The land appeared empty, with no settlements and no stable energy veins.Elder Jian stepped forward. “This region has unstable weather barriers. Sending anyone there without preparation is reckless.”Kai turned his head slightly. “We will prepare.”Elder Yao frowned. “The weather alone can break formations. The rift activity will make it worse.”“System,” Kai said, “confirm the rift fluctuation range.”“Range confirmed,” the system replied. “T
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