The right chamber of Nalanda was nothing like the roar-filled jungle on the other side.
Here, silence ruled.
The dome-shaped hall stretched impossibly wide, its walls laced with golden Sanskrit mantras, glowing faintly like fireflies suspended in amber. The sigils hummed softly, resonating in rhythm with the candidates' breathing, as though measuring their every heartbeat. Concentric rings of stone platforms rose toward the ceiling, where dozens of chosen cultivators sat cross-legged in tense silence.
Among them was Zhang Xuan.
His token pulsed gently against his chest, its characters crisp and unflinching:
Zhang Xuan – Chi Stage 1, Seventh Step.
The room was filled with arrogance, curiosity, and fear, but none of it touched him. He sat perfectly still, posture straight, gaze lowered, his breathing slow like the flow of a river. His calmness drew glances from a few nearby candidates, some with contempt, others with unease.
"Why is he so calm?" one whispered.
"Chi cultivators are always slow."
"He'll break before he even begins", another sneered.
Zhang Xuan heard them all but did not respond. Words were ripples. His silence was the stone.
The Ranks Explained
A ripple of light spread across the hall as the formations stirred. The Sanskrit mantras pulsed, and then a voice thundered above them — calm, heavy, ancient.
"Students. You stand before Nalanda, the crucible of knowledge and power. Here, you will be ranked — not by birth, not by clan, but by worth."
The silence deepened, as though the very air had bowed.
"Three ranks guide your journey:
Śravaṇa-śiṣya — the Listeners. Lowest of Nalanda. They may learn, but they command no respect, no authority.
Adhama-śiṣya — the Lower Students. Disciples of the academy's body, allowed to walk the path but untested still.
Uttama-śiṣya — the Upper Students. Honored and nurtured with resources. They are Nalanda's chosen seeds of the future which will command some of the highest authorities of this continent.
And… beyond them… whispered only in legends… the Crown Rank.
One who shatters all expectation. A candidate not merely chosen — but remembered for centuries a total power house that can overpower complete kingdoms by themselves."
The room trembled with the weight of those words.
A murmur rippled among the candidates. Some grinned with confidence, others clenched their fists. Many prayed silently that they would at least escape the humiliation of being cast as Listeners.
Zhang Xuan opened his eyes at last. Calm, steady, but a faint glint of thought stirred. Upper Rank…? Crown Rank…? He had no need for titles. Yet even he could feel the pressure of this hierarchy wrapping around him like a storm.
Pride and Prejudice
The candidates looked to one another, sizing up their rivals through glowing tokens.
One tall youth smirked, his token blazing:
Devraj – Chakra 1 Stage 5.
"Hah! A hall filled with children and farmers," he boasted, voice dripping arrogance. "Chi cultivation? Sluggish, backward. By the time a Chi cultivator reaches my level, the world would have forgotten his name."
Snickers rose from a group around him.
Zhang Xuan, however, remained unbothered. He closed his eyes again, and within his mind's sea he compared silently:
Chakra. Like fire — volatile, explosive, consuming. Swift to rise, swift to burn out.
Chi. Like a river — slow, deliberate, unyielding. It carves mountains, nourishes life, and never tires.
His lips parted only slightly, the words a whisper meant for himself: "Fire burns brightest and destroy everything in its path… but rivers endure and cut through the valleys."
No one heard it. But his quiet conviction rippled louder than Devraj's mockery.
The silence thickened. The ranks were clear. The stage was set. But before the trial began, one question lingered in the chamber like thunder waiting to break:
Who here would rise to Upper Rank? And who… would fall to nothing?
The silence of the chamber wasn't only heavy — it was suffocating. Pride, arrogance, and nerves all pressed together like stormclouds ready to burst.
From her seat in the inner circle, Roshni shifted slightly. Her token glowed faintly against her chest:
Roshni – Chakra 1 Stage 7.
Roshni has done a lot of hard work in these days and achieved another level so that she can do well in competition, knowing that it is going to be fierce and challenging.
Most ignored her thinking she is not worth the competition.
A tiny shimmer fluttered onto her shoulder: Tara, the starlit fairy, wings glinting like oil in sunlight. Her presence was divine as her eyes linger on to each person.
Roshni's gaze drifted across the room, over the towering presences of Chakra prodigies, over the subtle menace of quiet ones like Sita of the Celestial Lotus. And then… her eyes landed on the calm figure sitting in perfect stillness.
Zhang Xuan.
She hesitated, then squat right beside him to talk to him. With a deep breath, she spoke in halting Chinese, her accent clumsy, her tones shaky:
"Ni… hao… Zhang… ge?"
The child's eyes opened, calm as still water. For a brief moment, surprise flickered — then his lips curved into the faintest smile.
"You don't need to strain yourself," he replied softly, his tone polite yet firm. "Your common tongue is fine. I understand."
Roshni blinked. Relief flickered in her eyes. "Ah… forgive me. I thought… perhaps you would prefer—"
Zhang Xuan shook his head. "Effort is admirable. But comfort allows truth."
Tara smirked from Roshni's shoulder. 'well, I can assure you this much that you perfectly know how to get yourself, embarrassed just like that boy, Aryan', she whispered, her voice like silver mist only heard by Roshni and no one else.
Roshni ignored her. She straightened, offering a nod of respect. "Then… I thank you. You are calm here, Zhang Xuan. While others boast, you sit as though already knowing the outcome."
His gaze remained steady. "The storm outside a man does not matter. Only the one within."
Roshni mumbles beneath her breath, "well, he is a child, but he talks like a gentleman."
Zhang Xuan ignores her mumbling and keeps his focus on his Chi circling so that he can be 110% prepared for the upcoming competition as he wants to acquire at least Uttama-śiṣya.
Roshni exhaled softly — but then, perhaps to lighten the weight in the air, she muttered with a wry smile:
"You speak wisely. Unlike that idiot Aryan… he doesn't even have the etiquette to talk properly to a girl."
The words slipped before she could catch them.
And Zhang Xuan's composure… cracked.
His brows lifted ever so slightly, his eyes focusing sharply. Aryan?
Zhang Xuan tilted his head, voice calm but with hoping that he shouldn't be that same Aryan that he knows," are you sure the one you are talking about? Is not a six year old, who is a walking disaster?"
Roshni caught herself, cheeks flushing faintly. "Ah—" She glanced aside. "I merely… crossed paths with him. Nothing more, I don't know him that deeply."
But her tone betrayed it. The irritation, the familiarity.
Zhang Xuan's gaze lingered. Inside, his thoughts turned sharp and chaotic. "well, I already suffered with him while riding the dragon. What worse he can do to let Nalanda. Hunt him down till their last breath, I should calm myself down, nothing like that will happen."
For the first time since entering the chamber, unease stirred in his heart.
If the chamber had a center of gravity, it wasn't the runes, nor the tokens, nor even the glowing Sanskrit that pulsed from the floor.
It was her.
Sita of the Celestial Lotus.
She didn't speak. She didn't move. She simply sat, hands folded over her knees, eyes half-lidded in silence. Yet her presence stretched through the chamber like the hush before a temple bell.
Her token gleamed faintly:
Sita – Chakra 1 Stage 3.
But no one in their right mind believed she was merely a "Stage 3."
Even the arrogant prodigies, the ones who boasted of Stage 5 and Stage 6, quieted when her gaze swept near them. They averted their eyes, shifting in their seats like children caught in mischief.
Roshni whispered under her breath, "She… feels like still water. But underneath—"
Tara's tiny voice finished the thought for her: "Underneath lies the Vast Ocean of Vishnu."
Rumours had long wrapped around Sita's name like garlands and chains. They clung to her presence, whispered between clenched teeth.
"They say her beauty alone can shift a kingdom's fortune."
"They say a saint once blinded himself, for to look upon her mother too long was to see destiny itself, she herself also is not less in beauty compared to her mother."
"They say if you try to mess with her even one step behind her, her father's shadows hides in her shadow and shatters that person from inside completely if they dare come close to her."
Zhang Xuan studied her in silence. There was no fire in her aura, no storm. Just control — absolute, terrifying control.
While others sought to display their strength, she needed only to breathe, and the chamber bent itself around her.
And in that moment, Zhang Xuan understood why even arrogance faltered in her presence. It wasn't the raw power she held. It was the unshakable composure of someone who had already glimpsed the strings of fate — and knew she could pluck them at will.
The silence thickened, broken only by faint murmurs that grew quieter each time her calm eyes flicked toward the whisperers.
In this room of storming egos and sharpened nerves, Sita was the one presence no one dared to disturb.
The chamber had been quiet before, but now the silence carried weight. It wasn't peace anymore. It was the silence of blades, waiting to be drawn.
Whispers rippled like cracks in stone.
Suddenly, a voice of the elder of Nalanda came there,"Students. The trial ahead is simple, as you people already know about the rank system of Nalanda, as explained before, now, let's tell you what the trial of selection is. So this trial is like you are going to face a teacher assigned a rank from nalanda, only, let's tell you, for example, if you challenge a teacher assigned with upper rank and you somehow survive, his three strikes, you will be assigned to that rank of class only and that applies to every rank for the students."
After this announcement, room goes silent, and then panic voices come from each corner of the room.
"Three strikes? From teachers?"
"Impossible. Even one blow from a teacher could cripple us…"
"What if this is just a culling?"
Candidates tried to size each other up through the glow of their tokens, pride mixing with gnawing dread.
Zhang Xuan kept his posture straight, his breath even. Yet his mind sharpened.
The earlier announcement about Nalanda's ranks echoed in his head:
Śravaṇa-śiṣya — the Listeners, the lowest.
Adhama-śiṣya — the Lower Students, walking the path of strength.
Uttama-śiṣya — the Upper Students, rare and gifted, given Nalanda's best resources.
And Crown Rank… whispered only in rumours, reserved for those who shattered expectation itself.
For most here, even "Lower" was enough. For Zhang Xuan… nothing less than "Upper" could satisfy.
Still, as he steadied himself, something stirred beneath the stone floor.
A faint vibration.
At first, it was subtle — like a breath, or a tremor of earth deep below. But then it grew, humming through the Sanskrit runes, pressing against their bones.
Zhang Xuan's eyes snapped open. This wasn't a natural fluctuation of energy. It was too heavy. Too raw.
Not from here… he thought. This is coming from the other side.
The left chamber.
He glanced briefly at the sealed wall dividing them. Though no sound could pass, he could feel it — something immense, something wrong. Like a beast clawing against its cage.
A murmur cut through the crowd: "Is… something happening next door?"
Another voice, hushed, "What if they're already being tested and we need to tell, which beasts voice is behind that wall?"
Zhang Xuan's chest tightened. He forced himself calm, but doubt gnawed at him.
Aryan.
If that fool had truly unleashed something monstrous in there… then what rank would he claim? Upper? Or even… Crown?
Zhang Xuan pushed the thought aside, but unease lingered like smoke.
The vibrations swelled once more—then stilled, leaving only the pounding of hearts.
And just as fear began to knot itself through the chamber, the Sanskrit runes flared white.
A voice thundered, ancient and sharp as a blade:
"Reminder Students. The trial ahead is simple — survive. You will each face three strikes from a newly chosen teacher of Nalanda. Endure them, and you shall be ranked. Fail, and your journey ends here. Well, all the best students, you might need it" elder on the other side chuckles, getting excited to see the results of the new batch of Nalanda.
Elder tell them last important rule about this competition, "Remember: you may challenge any rank. Fail once, and you will be granted a second chance at a lower rank. Fail twice… and you are nothing."
Gasps tore through the chamber.
A teacher comes and calls out to them that first 20 can come out for the competition.
Zhang Xuan exhaled slowly thinking he will go later, eyes narrowing. It's not about defeating them. It's about proving I cannot be broken.
Right now, 20, random students were chosen from the room and taken to the Arena. Looking like they were guinea pigs as not a single important person in that room tried first.
Whereas Sita didn't like the vibe of going first, so she stayed.
Roshni brings her gauntlet having claws out like wolverine, thinking, no matter what teacher she gets, she will tear him apart.
Zhang Xuan thinks to himself, Aryan… if you survive whatever madness you've started, we'll meet again. And this time, I won't be left behind.