The city burned.
Ao Longtian stood in the middle of the street while thousands of people screamed around him.
Buildings collapsed.
Flames climbed toward the artificial sky.
A woman dragged her injured husband through the street.
A child cried beside a shattered fountain.
Cultivators fought above the rooftops, their techniques tearing apart entire buildings.
Yet Longtian didn't move.
He simply watched.
The voice of the treasure echoed through the destruction.
"Choose."
Longtian looked at the burning city.
"Choose what?"
"One life."
"And if I refuse?"
"Then all perish."
Longtian smiled.
"That's a terrible bargain."
The voice remained silent.
Longtian walked toward the nearest burning building.
Inside, people screamed.
He kicked the door open.
"Everyone out!"
Nobody moved.
They stared at him as if he were insane.
Longtian grabbed the nearest man by the collar.
"Do you want to live?"
"Yes!"
"Then move."
The man stumbled outside.
Longtian entered again.
One person.
Then two.
Then five.
He carried an old woman beneath one arm and dragged a wounded cultivator with the other.
He kicked through walls.
He pulled people from collapsing buildings.
He wasn't saving everyone.
He couldn't.
But he refused to choose only one.
Eventually, the entire street began following him.
People who had been fighting each other started helping strangers.
The illusion changed.
The flames became weaker.
The collapsing buildings stopped.
Longtian looked around.
The voice spoke.
"You have violated the conditions."
"No."
Longtian wiped blood from his forehead.
"I rejected them."
"You were instructed to save one."
"You never said I couldn't convince others to save themselves."
Silence.
Longtian laughed.
"There it is."
The city trembled.
The illusion cracked.
"You weren't testing whether I'd choose."
Longtian's eyes narrowed.
"You were testing whether I'd accept an unfair premise."
The voice finally answered.
"Correct."
The entire city disappeared.
Darkness returned.
Longtian stood alone.
"Fourth stage complete."
He looked upward.
"That was clever."
**"You recognized the purpose."
"Eventually."
**"You were expected to fail."
Longtian's expression hardened.
"By whom?"
No answer.
He waited.
Still nothing.
Longtian smiled.
"Fine."
He turned toward the next doorway.
"I'll ask again when you're less confident."
Outside the trial, the golden artifact trembled.
Ao Lian immediately noticed.
"Something changed."
Gu Ren looked at the treasure.
"The fourth seal has vanished."
Ao Lian nodded.
Then she frowned.
"But something is wrong."
"What?"
"The fifth seal."
It wasn't glowing.
It was flickering.
As though something behind it was struggling to awaken.
Gu Ren stepped closer.
"Could the treasure be damaged?"
"No."
Ao Lian's crimson eyes remained fixed on it.
"It's reacting to him."
Before Gu Ren could answer, a voice came from behind them.
"That's because your brother is not what the treasure expected."
Both turned.
A young man stood beneath the courtyard arch.
Nobody had seen him arrive.
He wore plain gray robes.
No clan emblem.
No weapon.
His hair was tied loosely behind his head, and he carried a wooden box beneath one arm.
He looked completely unremarkable.
Too unremarkable.
Ao Lian immediately moved in front of Longtian's motionless body.
"Who are you?"
The stranger smiled.
"That's an excellent question."
Gu Ren drew his sword.
The stranger looked at him.
"You don't need that."
Gu Ren's grip tightened.
"Answer her."
The young man sighed.
"Fine."
He placed the wooden box on the ground.
"My name is Shen Yao."
Ao Lian stared.
"I've never heard of you."
"That's usually how I prefer it."
Gu Ren stepped forward.
"How did you enter the Ao Clan?"
Shen Yao pointed toward the wall.
"I walked."
"The gates are guarded."
"I didn't use them."
"The formations cover the entire clan."
"I noticed."
Gu Ren's expression darkened.
Ao Lian raised one hand.
"Enough."
She studied Shen Yao.
"You know what that treasure is."
"Not exactly."
"Then what do you know?"
Shen Yao looked at Longtian.
"I know it was never meant to descend here."
Ao Lian's expression changed.
"What?"
"It was supposed to descend somewhere else."
"Where?"
Shen Yao smiled.
"That's the interesting part."
He opened the wooden box.
Inside were several ancient fragments of black stone.
Ao Lian's eyes widened.
"Those…"
"Yes."
"They're pieces of the same material."
"Very good."
Shen Yao picked one up.
"I've spent seven years looking for this."
"Why?"
"Because my teacher told me that one day, something would fall from heaven."
"And?"
Shen Yao looked toward Longtian.
"He told me to find whoever it chose."
Ao Lian's eyes narrowed.
"And now you've found him."
Shen Yao nodded.
"Unfortunately."
"Unfortunately?"
Shen Yao smiled.
"People chosen by heavenly treasures tend to cause problems."
Ao Lian almost laughed.
"You have no idea."
Shen Yao looked amused.
"I suspect I do."
Suddenly—
the golden treasure released a violent pulse.
Shen Yao's smile disappeared.
"That's not supposed to happen."
Ao Lian turned.
The fifth seal was glowing.
Not faintly.
Completely.
Gu Ren stepped backward.
"Why is it activating?"
Shen Yao stared at the treasure.
"I don't know."
Then a sixth symbol appeared.
Everyone froze.
Shen Yao whispered:
"That is impossible."
Ao Lian looked at him.
"You seem to say that often."
"This is different."
The treasure's voice echoed across the courtyard.
"Unexpected variable detected."
Shen Yao's face changed.
"Variable?"
"Secondary candidate detected."
Everyone looked at Shen Yao.
He slowly raised both hands.
"I would like to make one thing very clear."
Ao Lian stared.
"What?"
"I did not volunteer."
The treasure flashed.
"Secondary candidate assessment beginning."
Shen Yao sighed.
"Of course."
Inside the fourth doorway, Longtian heard something.
A voice.
Not the treasure.
A human voice.
"Longtian."
He stopped.
His expression changed.
Nobody should have been able to speak to him inside the trial.
"Who are you?"
A figure emerged from the darkness.
A woman.
She wore a dark red robe.
Long black hair.
Sharp eyes.
A thin scar ran from her left eyebrow toward her cheek.
Longtian didn't recognize her.
She smiled.
"You don't remember me."
"No."
"Good."
"Why?"
"Because if you remembered me, you'd already know what I'm going to do."
Longtian studied her.
"That's a terrible explanation."
"I've been told."
She suddenly attacked.
Longtian blocked her strike.
Her strength surprised him.
She spun.
Her elbow struck his ribs.
Longtian stumbled.
She followed with a kick.
He caught her leg.
She smiled.
"Still arrogant."
Longtian froze.
Those words.
He released her.
"Who are you?"
She stepped backward.
"Find me."
Then she disappeared.
Longtian stared at the empty space.
The treasure's voice returned.
"Fifth stage."
Longtian's expression became cold.
"What was that?"
"An unresolved possibility."
"That's not an answer."
"It is the answer."
Longtian clenched his fist.
"Bring her back."
"You must find her."
The room changed.
A vast landscape appeared.
Mountains.
Cities.
Oceans.
Countless people.
And somewhere among them—
the woman disappeared.
Longtian stared at the impossible landscape.
"You're asking me to find one person."
"Yes."
"Among all of this?"
"Yes."
Longtian smiled.
"Finally."
He stepped forward.
"Something interesting."
Back in the mortal world, Shen Yao suddenly collapsed.
Ao Lian caught him.
"What's happening?"
Shen Yao's eyes were closed.
"I see…"
"What?"
"Mountains."
His breathing became uneven.
"A black ocean."
Ao Lian frowned.
"Where?"
"I don't know."
He opened his eyes.
Then his face went pale.
"Someone is looking for us."
"Who?"
Shen Yao stared toward the horizon.
"The person inside the trial."
Ao Lian looked at Longtian.
"He's searching for us?"
Shen Yao shook his head.
"No."
His expression became grim.
"He's searching for someone else."
"Who?"
Shen Yao looked at her.
"The woman."
Ao Lian's expression hardened.
"What woman?"
Shen Yao slowly stood.
"The one who wasn't supposed to exist."
Far away, beyond the territory controlled by the great clans, a small village slept beneath the moon.
At the edge of the village stood an old tavern.
Inside, a woman sat alone.
The scar above her eye was unmistakable.
She poured herself a cup of wine.
Then she looked toward the window.
"He's here."
A voice came from the corner.
"You sound worried."
She smiled.
"Not worried."
She lifted the cup.
"Interested."
A man stepped out of the shadows.
He wore a scholar's robe and carried a folded paper fan.
"Will you tell him the truth?"
The woman laughed.
"Absolutely not."
"Why?"
She took a sip.
"Because where's the fun in that?"
The scholar smiled.
"You're cruel."
"No."
She looked toward the moon.
"I'm practical."
The scholar unfolded his fan.
"And if he finds you?"
The woman placed the cup down.
"Then I'll decide whether he's worth following."
Outside, thunder rolled across the distant mountains.
Neither of them noticed the tiny golden symbol appearing briefly on the tavern's roof.
The same symbol that now appeared across the mysterious treasure.
The woman looked upward.
Her smile vanished.
"That's impossible."
The scholar closed his fan.
"What?"
She stood.
"The treasure has chosen someone."
"Who?"
She stared toward the horizon.
"Ao Longtian."
The scholar's expression became serious.
"Then the old prophecy…"
"Wasn't a prophecy."
She walked toward the door.
"It was a warning."
Inside the fifth stage, Longtian stood at the top of a mountain.
He looked across the enormous landscape.
Millions of people.
Thousands of cities.
Countless paths.
Somewhere among them was the scarred woman.
Longtian closed his eyes.
He had no cultivation.
No bloodline.
No demonic Qi.
But he still had something.
Observation.
Memory.
Instinct.
He remembered her movements.
Her voice.
Her scent.
The pressure of her body when they fought.
He smiled.
"You made one mistake."
The landscape stretched endlessly before him.
"You showed me how you move."
Longtian opened his eyes.
He began walking.
One step.
Then another.
He didn't know where she was.
Not yet.
But he would find her.
Because the fifth trial wasn't asking him to defeat an enemy.
It was asking him to understand one.
And Longtian had always been very good at understanding people.
Even when they wished he wouldn't.
Above the mortal world, the heavenly guards watched in silence.
One finally spoke.
"The fifth trial has changed."
The oldest guard nodded.
"The treasure is adapting."
"Can it do that?"
"It can now."
"Because of Longtian?"
The old guard stared downward.
"No."
A pause.
"Because of everyone around him."
The guard frowned.
"What does that mean?"
The old man looked toward the distant mortal realm.
"It means the trial is no longer testing one man."
His expression became grim.
"It's testing the fate of everyone who will eventually stand beside him."
And somewhere beneath the heavens—
the sixth seal began to glow.