2026-05-24 13:48:19
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Dawn
The dawn that broke over the academy the following morning was thin and watery, painting the granite compound in dreary shades of slate and ash. A low, clinging fog rolled in from the surrounding peaks, pooling thick around the ankles of the fourteen disciples as they stood assembled before the heavy iron-reinforced doors of the underground sectors. The air was bitingly cold, carrying the damp, ancient smell of subterranean stone and rusted gears.Lin Yuan stood in his usual position at the rear flank, his shoulder lightly resting against the moss-slicked brickwork of the main entrance wall. His posture remained perfectly loose, his hands tucked into the wide sleeves of his simple grey robes. Within his soul aperture, the thirty-one percent jade-green essence pool sat with a heavy, glassy stillness. The grueling compression exercises from the day before had entirely smoothed out any remaining volatility in his meridians; his energy no longer felt like a fluid current, but rather a sol
Thirty-one percent
The morning sun could not pierce the heavy gray clouds that hung over the academy. On the large granite square, the air was still cold. Gu Fang Xin had just been carried away by the medical disciples. His broken arm was a clear warning to everyone else. The remaining thirteen disciples stood in a straight line, their eyes fixed on the stone floor. No one spoke. The absolute silence was heavy.Master Teng Lianhua walked slowly to the center of the square. His heavy leather whip smacked against his thigh with a dull sound. He stopped right in front of Lin Yuan. His dark eyes were sharp like needles."Look at him," Lianhua said. His voice was low and rough. It carried to every corner of the granite square. "Lin Yuan easily defeated the other disciples. Why?"He paused and glared at the line of students. Chen Ming was holding his bandaged ribs, listening intently. Xiao Lanxue stood perfectly still, her face pale."Because you all treat your beast essence like a performance," Lianhua growl
Trial of Combat (3)
The clearing was dead silent save for the ragged, desperate gasps of the remaining disciples struggling within their respective water locks. The fine blue mist from Lin Yuan’s shattered sphere hung in the air like a shimmering shroud, slowly dampening the iron-hard earth.Master Teng Lianhua did not speak immediately. His dark eyes remained fixed on Lin Yuan, his massive chest rising and falling as the Abyssal Water-Bear behind him slowly dissolved back into his shadow, its dark blue form rippling away like a receding tide. The shock within the instructor’s mind was profound. In the long history of the academy, no disciple at the Spirit Beast Realm had ever dismantled a Core Beast Realm intent lock through pure, unadulterated spatial calibration."Stand down, Lin Yuan," Lianhua finally rasped, his voice carrying a rare, heavy gravity that cut through the sounds of the clearing. He waved his hand toward the remaining four spheres, manually dialing back their internal pressure before the
Trial of Combat (2)
The dissipation of the sensory suppression array felt like a sudden, violent tearing of a heavy silk veil. As the invisible grey barrier dissolved into the damp forest floor, the true atmosphere of the outside world rushed back into Lin Yuan’s senses. The air inside the deep, rocky ravine became lighter, and the suffocating pressure that had choked his mind for forty-eight continuous hours vanished into the canopy of the iron woods.Before him, the towering split-will phantom of Master Teng Lianhua flickered twice, its translucent grey form dissolving into a scattering of harmless spiritual sparks that merged back into the ambient air.Lin Yuan stood entirely still in the center of the clearing. His simple robes were torn at the hem and marked with the dark dust of the iron trees, but his skin was completely unmarked by a single welt or laceration. Inside his aperture, the newly refined leaf-green essence pool settled with an oceanic, heavy stillness. It rested at a solid twenty-nine
Trial of Combat
The skewering doors of the assembly hall closed behind the fifteen disciples as they filed out into the blinding midday sun. The air outside was warm, but compared to the suffocating, iron-heavy atmosphere of Master Teng Lianhua’s gravitational array, it felt like a brief reprieve. Yet, no one was celebrating. The ominous promise of the long trial lingering over the disciples like a gathering storm cloud.Lin Yuan walked at the back of the crowd, his steps light and unhurried. Inside his aperture, the newly refined leaf-green essence pool settled comfortably at twenty-six percent. The microscopic calibrations he had forced his body to make during the Flash-Point Skirmish had ironed out the residual turbulence from his sudden breakthrough to the Mid Stage of the Spirit Beast Realm. He could feel the quality of his energy; it was no longer just a loose mass of spiritual power, but a highly compressed, responsive force coiled tightly around his body.As they crossed the central courtyard
Combat training
The heavy stone doors of the central hall groaned as they were pulled shut, cutting off the crisp morning air and locking the fifteen disciples inside a chamber of cold granite and shadowed pillars. The absolute silence within the walls was a stark contrast to the chaotic roaring that had filled the colosseum just a day prior. The iron-tinged scent of vaporized blood and the rancid, sulfurous odor of demonic essence had been scrubbed from the stone tiles outside, but the mental stains left by the final match remained deeply embedded in the minds of everyone present.Lin Yuan stood near the back of the assembly, his arms crossed loosely over his chest, his back leaning against a smooth, nameless stone column. His posture was entirely devoid of the rigid tension that characterized the other students. Inside his aperture, the leaf-green essence pool swirled with a slow, deliberate fluidity, like deep river water settling after a violent storm. His victory over Gu Shiyan had been absolute,
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