The rune flared crimson beneath Rael's boots.
Before he could react, the stone platform shattered, and the world around him collapsed inward like a vortex.
He fell.
No wind. No gravity. Only the sensation of being ripped through a hundred invisible teeth.
Then—
He landed.
But not on stone.
It was flesh.
A pulsating floor of red tissue, damp with blood and warm to the touch. The chamber pulsed like a living organ. Walls oozed crimson light. Veins coiled along the ceiling like roots of a corrupted tree.
[Initiated: Wraithblood Trial — Stage One]
"Trial of the Bleeding Walls"
Objective: Survive until heartbeat count reaches 1000.
Warning: Trial terrain is a pseudo-living construct. No Qi recharge allowed. Any attempt to escape triggers bone detonation.
Trait Suppression Active.
Clone Techniques Disabled.
Blood Arts Amplified.
Rael exhaled.
So this was how the sect welcomed its own.
He crouched, tapping the "flesh" beneath him. It twitched.
He could feel it breathing.
Somewhere within these walls, something was awake—and it wasn't happy.
Then he heard it.
The first scream.
It came from the left corridor.
Rael didn't run toward it—he crouched low, sliding behind a hanging membrane of skin. A moment later, a figure dashed past the hallway—screaming, blind, trailing black smoke from its eyes.
Rael remained still.
Then something followed the figure.
Crawling.
Slow. Wet. With joints that cracked sideways.
A malformed construct—a fusion of beast limbs, broken spirit bones, and human arms—all stitched into a spiderlike frame.
It clicked as it walked.
Each step triggered the walls to twitch.
Rael narrowed his eyes.
[Unstable Host Construct Detected]
Origin: Wraithblood Flesh Trials
Core Weakness: Temporal Nerve Cluster (rear spine)
Danger Level: Moderate (in current form)
He moved.
Silence was his cloak.
Rael shot from the membrane, sliding low across the sticky floor. The construct twitched—but too late.
With a flash, he struck—not with a weapon, but with a sharpened bone shard scavenged from the wall.
He jammed it into the base of the thing's spine.
It convulsed. Screeched. Then imploded—melting back into the fleshy floor like a failed organ rejected by the body.
Rael didn't wait for thanks.
He kept walking.
After two more intersections—each guarded by wall traps that spat skeletal thorns—Rael finally found something strange.
A mirror.
Floating.
Oval-shaped, its surface made of blood, not glass.
It reflected not his face—but his fears.
In the mirror stood Rael, bathed in fire, screaming as his arms dissolved into ash. Behind him, the burned corpses of children—Lin's face among them.
His chest tightened. The image distorted.
But then—
He stepped forward.
And spat.
The image shattered into droplets of light.
[Mental Trial: Passed]
+1 Willpower Point
+Partial Awakening of Inner Domain: Fragment Detected – "Ashborne Heart"
Rael blinked.
He didn't understand fully yet—but the fragments were starting to take shape.
The Wraithbloods weren't just testing strength.
They were breaking the soul apart… and seeing what would rise.
By the time he reached the trial's heart chamber, he was covered in blood—not all of it his.
He had no weapon.
Only instinct.
Yet his steps were calm.
Inside the final room, eight candidates already stood. Some panting. One crying. All bloodied.
A stone tablet pulsed in the center.
Then, without warning, a hundred red eyes opened along the walls.
A voice boomed.
"Final test: Only three shall walk out.
Choose:
Kill.
Betray.
Or submit."
They froze.
One boy screamed and charged a nearby girl with a broken staff. She blocked—barely—but his second strike cracked her skull. Another jumped him from behind, only to be slashed by a concealed dagger.
Chaos erupted.
Rael did not move.
He watched.
Calculated.
Five died in moments.
Now only three remained.
Rael.
The girl with chains on her ankles—now unbound, eyes glowing.
And the flame-bodied youth, panting, half-conscious.
The girl turned toward Rael.
"You're not even sweating."
He said nothing.
She tilted her head. "You could've killed any of them."
"I could've," Rael replied. "But they were never threats."
Her lips curled. "You're like the Wraithbloods."
Rael shrugged.
"I'm worse."
The wall opened behind them.
Trial complete.
All three had survived.
Not through blind violence—but by navigating the madness.
[Trial Complete: Three Remaining]
Trait Reward (Temporary): Blood Echo – Grants partial healing for each strike landed (expires in 24 hours)
Martial Insight Gained: Phantom Motion Step (Unstable)
Inner Domain Fragment Stabilized: "Ashborne Heart" – (1%)
Wraithblood Candidate Ranking: Updated to Rank 7 of 130
Rael walked through the corridor, his body aching.
He had survived.
But this was only one trial.
And already, the Wraithblood Sect was beginning to recognize him.
Somewhere high above in the floating fortress, behind a wall of ice and black silk curtains, three masked elders watched the candidates' progress.
"He's not normal," one said.
"He has no Qi signature we can track," another whispered.
The third leaned forward.
"Name?"
The scroll pulsed with Rael's name.
And beneath it—one word flickered.
"Origin: Unknown."