The desert wind howled like a grieving spirit.
Van Thien Phong stood atop a jagged cliff, his silhouette outlined against the bleeding dusk. The sky was smeared with crimson and ash, as if the heavens themselves bled for what had occurred. Behind him, the shattered battlefield lay silent — a graveyard of broken stones and charred earth.
But he didn't look back.
His eyes were fixed on the northern horizon, where the stars began to stir — not twinkling, but shifting.
The Trial of Providence...
Bach Tieu Nhien was inside. And Phong would tear through realms to reach her.
Minh stirred behind him, still recovering. Bandages wrapped his chest, each one infused with healing qi. He coughed weakly. "Phong… are you really going to go through with this?"
"I don't have a choice."
"They said no one comes back from the Trial."
"Then I'll be the first."
The wind screamed louder, but it couldn't drown his resolve.
Minh looked at him — not with doubt, but with awe. "You're not the same man who entered the Celestial Gate two months ago."
Phong's lips curled slightly. "Good. The man I was wouldn't survive what's coming."
He took a breath. Deep. Controlled. And then unsheathed the ancient sword at his back — the one that hadn't tasted blood since he left the Ashen Sect.
The blade hummed with restrained fury.
He sliced it downward — not at the earth, but at the air.
A crack formed.
Thin. Invisible to most. But he saw it.
The veil between worlds.
"I will not wait for Heaven to act," he said. "I will break its rules and carve my path to her."
Minh forced himself to sit up. "Do you even know how to enter the Trial?"
Phong nodded slowly. "Yes. I need three things — the key, the flame, and the name."
"The name?"
Phong turned his gaze to the stars. "The name of the one who governs the Trial. The Warden."
Minh went pale. "That's suicide. That thing isn't mortal."
"Neither am I anymore."
---
Hours later, in the Forbidden Marshes.
Phong walked alone through the mire, where black fog rose from the ground like fingers of the dead. The air was thick with curses. Even the trees bled sap that hissed like acid.
Here, buried beneath centuries of rot and forgotten spells, lay the Flame of Defiance — the fire that had once burned the wings of a Heaven-ranked angel.
And it was guarded.
The guardian wasn't a beast or a trap.
It was a woman.
She sat atop a throne of bones, hair as white as snow, eyes blind but burning.
"You reek of destiny," she said as he approached.
Phong bowed his head. "I seek the Flame."
"Do you seek it… or do you need it?"
He raised his gaze. "Both."
She smiled. "Then bleed for it."
She raised her hand — and a thousand spectral blades rained down.
Phong moved. Lightning-fast. But not fast enough. One blade grazed his shoulder, another pierced his thigh. Still, he advanced.
He didn't strike back. He endured.
She watched, intrigued. "Why don't you fight?"
"Because I'm not your enemy."
Another blade sank into his chest.
He dropped to one knee.
Still, he didn't raise his sword.
"I'm here for her," he said. "Not glory. Not vengeance. Her."
The blades halted.
The woman stared at him for a long moment. Then stood.
"You pass."
She stepped aside, revealing a flickering flame behind her throne — pale blue, contained in a glass vial forged from the bones of a star.
"Take it," she said. "And beware. That fire burns both gods and mortals."
Phong reached out, grasping the vial. The flame inside flared — as if recognizing him.
One step closer.
---
That night, in a ruined temple hidden in the Whispering Peaks, Phong performed the Ritual of Names.
He drew a circle with his blood. Lit the Flame of Defiance. Whispered forgotten incantations.
The air turned to ice.
The sky above opened — not into light, but into memory.
And then he heard it.
The name.
Not spoken, but imprinted into his soul.
"Kael'Ryn."
The Warden.
The shadow that watched the Trial.
Phong opened his eyes. "Now I know who to kill if she doesn't return."
He stood. Three requirements, fulfilled.
The veil to the Trial began to part.
Behind him, the wind whispered his name. As if the world tried one last time to stop him.
But it was too late.
Van Thien Phong had made his choice.
And no god, demon, or celestial would stand in his way.
---
[End of Chapter 29]