The cave was silent except for the soft crackle of fire and the faint hiss of herbs simmering in Tian Jue's small cauldron. The calming incense dulled the edge of fatigue, but none of the three slept. After the battle and the inheritance, rest felt almost impossible.
Xu Lin sat cross-legged, his injuries stabilizing under the medicinal effects of Tian Jue's treatment. His eyes lingered on the flames before he finally spoke.
"In six months… the Inner Disciple trial will begin." His voice carried a weight, as though the words themselves pressed on the air. "After what I've seen in the border, if either of you plan to compete, you'd better prepare for hell."
Huan Tao snorted lightly, her wild aura still lingering from her breakthrough. "Hell? If I wanted comfort, I'd have stayed behind polishing contribution tokens. Trial or not, I'll carve my way through."
Xu Lin gave her a long look, then smiled faintly. "That confidence suits you. But don't underestimate the trial. It isn't just beasts or formations—it's the sect itself weeding out the unworthy. More disciples die during the Inner Disciple trial than any ordinary sect mission."
Tian Jue stirred the simmering herbs and finally turned his gaze toward Xu Lin, his tone calm and analytical. "What do you know of the specifics?"
Xu Lin exhaled. "Rumors say the elders rotate the trial grounds every century. Sometimes it's a brutal hunting ground, sometimes a maze of illusions, sometimes direct combat in the arena. But one thing never changes: only those who prove overwhelming strength or unique talents are taken as inner disciples. The rest…" His eyes narrowed. "The rest are discarded."
The fire popped, and for a moment, only silence filled the cave.
Huan Tao leaned back against the stone wall, her childish grin surfacing despite the heavy talk. "Discarded? Heh. Then I'll just show them why I can't be thrown away. My blood burns hotter the more pressure I face. This trial will be fun."
Tian Jue studied her, the corner of his mouth twitching upward. Her shift between gullible playfulness and domineering confidence was stark—almost jarring. Childish outside, beastly inside the forest, he thought. And yet, that duality… it's oddly reassuring.
Xu Lin caught the look in Tian Jue's eyes and chuckled softly. "You two are strange. Most outer disciples spend these months scrambling for resources, terrified of the coming trial. But here you sit—calm, confident, even excited."
Tian Jue's gaze returned to the cauldron, his tone steady but carrying the faintest edge of steel. "Because fear wastes time. Six months… is both long and short. Enough for others to gamble on small improvements, but for me—it's more than enough to transform."
The flames reflected in his eyes, resolute and sharp.
Xu Lin felt a shiver, as though the boy before him wasn't just seven years old but an old monster reborn.
Huan Tao broke the tension with a laugh, leaning forward. "Then it's decided. When the trial comes, the three of us will storm it together. Xu Lin with his calm head, me with my claws, and Tian Jue…" She tilted her head, smirking. "…with whatever secrets he's hiding under that straight face."
Xu Lin raised a brow, but Tian Jue only smiled faintly, not denying it.
The fire crackled again, sealing the unspoken pact between them. Six months from now, the Inner Disciple trial would not just be a test of strength—it would be the first battlefield where their paths crossed with the wider ambitions of the sect.
The first light of dawn broke through the dense canopy, scattering gold across the forest floor. Mist clung to the underbrush, curling around roots like phantom hands. Tian Jue, Huan Tao, and Xu Lin moved with practiced silence, their breaths steady, their gazes sharp.
Though they were heading out of the forest, it was no calm journey. Fierce spirit beasts prowled restlessly, their agitation heightened by the recent qi fluctuations from the inheritance ground. Packs of fanged apes shrieked in the distance; scaled deer leapt past with unnatural speed; even the trees seemed heavier with qi.
Tian Jue smashed through a mid-Qi Refinement boar with a single hammer swing, its skull cracking like dry wood. Beside him, Xu Lin, still pale from his injuries, held his ground with precise, conservative strikes. Huan Tao, as usual, was all fire—her claws tore through a lizard-beast, her aura brimming with wild dominance.
But then, a different sound reached them. Shouts. Steel clashing. The guttural growl of a wounded beast.
They approached cautiously and found a small clearing where three rogue cultivators were being cornered by a Foundation-realm wolf. Their robes were tattered, blades chipped, but their eyes still burned with defiance. Each time the beast lunged, they stood their ground despite bleeding heavily, refusing to retreat.
Tian Jue's eyes narrowed. Foolish, but admirable.
Huan Tao tilted her head, watching with uncharacteristic silence. Her usual smirk faded, replaced by something deeper. The desperation of those cultivators struck a chord in her—men and women with no sect, no backing, fighting tooth and nail against overwhelming odds.
Her lips curled into a grin, but this time it wasn't childish. It was sharp, feral. "That will… I like it."
Before Tian Jue could speak, she leapt forward, qi igniting around her. Her blood-burning technique surged, muscles coiling with explosive power. With a roar, she slammed into the wolf's flank, her claw tearing across its ribs. The beast staggered, confused by the sudden intrusion, before it snarled and turned on her.
The rogue cultivators stared in shock, then awe, as Huan Tao's aura dominated the clearing. Every strike was clean, decisive—born not of hesitation but absolute confidence. Within minutes, the wolf lay broken on the ground, its core still glowing faintly before Tian Jue harvested it with clinical efficiency.
Breathing heavily, the three rogue cultivators fell to their knees, their eyes burning with gratitude. "We… we owe you our lives, Senior ," one of them croaked.
Huan Tao wiped the blood from her claw, the feral grin fading back into her childish one. "Don't die so easily next time. The world won't always be so merciful."
Tian Jue observed her carefully. The contrast was stark—wild beast in battle, yet playful youth afterward. That duality again. It's who she is. And maybe that's why she's so dangerous.
Xu Lin gave a rare smile. "Helping rogue cultivators, huh? Not something most disciples would bother with."
Huan Tao shrugged, gazing at the three battered figures who still clutched their broken swords tightly. "When I see that kind of will, I can't ignore it. Strength without will is hollow. But will without strength…" Her eyes glinted. "Cannot achieve anything without guidance, they can only rely on fate."
The group continued toward the sect, the rogue cultivators bowing deeply until they vanished into the forest mist.
The boy among the rogue cultivators was no older than fifteen. His frame was thin, ribs visible under torn cloth, but his hands clutched the chipped spear like it was an extension of his body. His face was sharp, still carrying the softness of youth, yet his eyes burned with the unyielding fire of someone who had seen too much too early.
His name was Tuo Yili, a new hunter from a small city at the outskirts of Shenxian Sect's sphere of influence. Born into poverty, he had never set foot in a sect or learned from proper teachers. His father had been a city guard, killed by spirit beasts when Yili was only ten. His mother, sickly and frail, sold herbs in the markets, relying on Yili's meager hunting to survive.
At twelve, he began venturing into the wilderness with nothing but a half-broken spear scavenged from his father's belongings. Each hunt was a gamble—sometimes he came back with prey, sometimes only wounds. But he grew sharp, hardened, his instincts sharpened by hunger and desperation.
When spirit beasts flooded closer to human settlements during the recent qi outbreak, Yili banded together with two older hunters, forming a small rogue party. They lacked techniques, lacked resources, but they had grit. For Yili, each fight was survival, each wound proof he hadn't given up.
And today, they should have died.
He had already resigned himself to death when Huan Tao tore into the wolf like a storm. The fight was over in a flash, his heart still hammering in disbelief. As he stared at her fading aura, at Tian Jue harvesting the core with calm precision, and at Xu Lin's steady gaze, something stirred inside him.
Yili pressed his bloodied fist against his chest, lowering his head. His voice trembled but carried a steel-like edge.
"I swear… one day, I will repay this grace. Even if it costs me my life, I won't forget this debt."
The vow burned in his heart, not out of obligation, but out of admiration. For the first time in his young life, he saw what true cultivators were—what real strength looked like.
As the three sect disciples walked away into the mist, Tuo Yili's eyes followed them with quiet resolve. His path was uncertain, perhaps doomed by his lack of background, but that vow would become the seed of his future.