The second morning was quiet. The air was still; no birds sang, no leaves stirred.
Zalavoria sat on a rock in the meditation field, her legs crossed, eyes closed, her breaths slow, like the pulse of the earth.
This type of training was unfamiliar to her.
In her old world, she tamed demons, opened shadow gates, and played with fire as if it were a toy.
But here? There was no energy… no violence… only silence, patience, and a painful inward gaze.
Two months of sitting, meditating, self-discipline, listening only to her own breathing…
Sometimes she felt her mind trying to devour her.
But she was not the type to give up easily.
And on the dawn of the sixtieth day…
The ground trembled.
The great tree in the middle of the forest shed its leaves without a breeze.
Master Bao rushed out of his hut, looking up at the sky, eyes wide:
"It… has arrived."
Zalavoria stood in the center of the stone circle, bathed in celestial light, while waves of pure energy crashed around her like waves against jagged rocks.
The sky split, and from it emerged a celestial meteor of dark blue flame, heading straight toward her.
This was the Celestial Trial—the test every practitioner must endure to ascend to the next stage of the Dao.
Bao shouted from afar:
"Do not resist it with your strength, but with your spirit! Embrace it, do not try to break it!"
But Zalavoria did not hear him.
She knelt on her knees, gasping, unbearable heat boiling through her veins.
Visions of her past flashed before her: her mother dying, demons betraying her, a life of misery.
Her body began to crack, as if the celestial energy were reshaping her anew.
Then…
She smiled.
A faint, bloody smile, yet genuine.
She whispered,
"Is this your way of purification? Impressive…"
Then she rose.
Master Bao opened his eyes wide.
She should have died from the pain.
But she… rose? In the midst of the Celestial Trial?
"This girl is not normal…" he muttered.
Zalavoria raised her hands to the sky and shouted:
"O heavens, I am Zalavoria Lambergin! Lady of Hell! You shall not subdue me!"
A massive spark erupted from her body, consuming the celestial meteor itself, turning the trial back upon itself.
The sky suddenly stilled.
Then… rain began to fall.
Warm, transparent, life-filled rain.
Zalavoria fell to the ground, exhausted, but smiling.
Master Bao approached her, smiling:
"You've passed the first stage, but… in an unconventional way."
She replied in a hoarse voice:
"Everything about me is unconventional."
---
In the following days, Zalavoria began her journey into the second stage: bodily integration.
This time, she was ready.
She was no longer the haughty lady of two months ago, who believed strength was the answer to everything.
She woke with the sunrise, practiced deep breathing, moved gracefully through the forest, meditated under the waterfall, spent hours in silence, then trained in controlling her pulse, her energy, her body's harmony with the surrounding nature.
She was learning to become a "part" of the world, not its "mistress."
Master Bao watched from afar, noting observations on ancient tree-paper, sometimes saying:
> "She's changing… but I don't know… will she stay on this path? Or will the darkness within her return?"
---
One night, Zalavoria sat by the fire, staring into its flames.
She whispered,
"Dao… what is the true Dao?"
She heard Master Bao behind her:
> "Your Dao… you won't find it in books, but in your heart. Your Dao may be… shadows, or destruction, or even salvation. But whatever it is… when you discover it, you will change forever."
She looked at him silently.
Then she said slowly,
"Could it… be that Dao is transformation? That I can do whatever I wish?"
He did not answer.
He only smiled.
Then he walked away, muttering to himself:
"Yes… her Dao has begun to form."
Weeks had passed since the Celestial Trial, and calm had returned to the valley.
But Zalavoria was no longer the same.
Each morning, she ran barefoot into the forest, moving lightly among the trees, touching the trunks with tenderness, inhaling the air as if it were the very water of life.
The second stage of training—bodily integration—was not merely exercises in endurance or fitness, but a true merging of body and nature.
One morning, Master Bao said to her:
"When your body moves as the wind moves… when you step as the deer steps… when you inhale the air as the trees do… only then will you have begun to understand this stage."
And thus began Zalavoria's new journey.
To be continued…