Night fell, but Flamepeak never truly slept.
Deep beneath the outer sect's surface layers — under courtyards, dormitories, and discipline halls — there was a place most disciples never saw. It had no name on any sect map. It was spoken of only in passing whispers, as a place where "the unworthy vanished."
The Flame Fang Trials.
Not a rite of passage, but a cleansing ground. A furnace where traitors burned or more often, where Heaven's enemies were tested... and failed.
And tonight, Shen Yao would enter it on his own terms.
He wore no sect robes. His form was wrapped in loose black layers, coated in a thin layer of ash that clung to his skin like a second soul. His hair was tied loosely behind him, but still wild, flicking with ember strands that had begun to appear since the Silent Flame Seed's awakening.
The guard at the gate didn't recognize him at first. Only when Shen Yao tossed the forged identity token did the man pause.
"Outer disciple 'Yan Zhi'? Never heard of you," the guard muttered, examining the flame-sealed token. "But the Trial accepts everyone... even fools."
He returned the token.
"The Fang Gate opens once every three days. The challenge is not compulsory, but once inside, you cannot leave until the test is complete. Fail to survive the three rounds, and you die."
"I understand," Shen Yao replied.
The guard gave him a second glance. "You look... calm."
"I'm not here to pass," Shen Yao said.
"I'm here to observe who fails."
The gate creaked open, wind blew through and Shen Yao disappeared into the dark.
Inside the Flame Fang Trials
The first chamber was a circular platform surrounded by an endless cavern. Firelight shimmered above, yet the source was unseen. Disciples stood in silence — thirty-two of them, from various sects. Most were young. Many wore expressions of arrogance or thinly-veiled fear.
A jade slab hovered in the air.
Trial One: Blood Flame Maze
1. Only those with pure fire hearts may pass.
2. Only those without fractured loyalty may find the path forward.
Shen Yao narrowed his eyes. He remembered this place.
In his first life, he had never entered it. But rumors had circulated: the Flame Fang Trials were not just tests — they were filters, created by the Celestial System to purge deviants from mortal cultivation sects. Tests designed to expose heretics and Heaven-defiers.
Now he was one of them.
Perfect.
The floor beneath their feet cracked. Lava surged — not upward, but sideways. It formed walls and corridors, a living labyrinth of molten stone and flame that moved like a breathing beast.
Shen Yao stepped into the maze. He didn't hesitate for a second, and he didn't need a map to find his way. The moment his foot touched the floor, the Silent Flame in his chest pulsed once and the entire maze... went still around him.
Ash Veil Form Activated – Spiritual suppression triggered. Maze threat awareness reduced.
A curved grin touched his lips. To others, the maze was a killer — a test of loyalty, of fire control, of inner purity.
To Shen Yao, it was a stage.
A perfect opportunity to observe.
He moved like a whisper. Other disciples crashed through walls of flame, some screaming, others shouting orders at each other. Their techniques flared — explosive, crude. Some already burned, the maze marking them as impure.
He saw one girl from the Phoenix Ember Sect collapse. Her flame bent backward, crushing her lungs. She died, not with a scream — but with silence. Her fire had consumed her from the inside. A hidden betrayal. The maze had sensed it.
And Shen Yao?
He passed beneath her corpse without sparing a glance.
To the soft-hearted, it looked like cruelty. But it was only reality, unpolished and raw. Flame, like fate, required obedience but his flame would not obey Heaven.
He moved deeper.
Then paused.
Ahead, two figures stood trapped between moving walls of lava. A boy and a girl — siblings, perhaps. The boy had fallen, legs charred. The girl dragged him, resisting the tide.
Shen Yao could have ignored them but then the girl's voice reached him — not her words, but the tone.
"Don't die now, brother. You promised you'd see the Ash Moon Festival with me...!"
And for the briefest moment, Shen Yao's breath caught.
Ash Moon Festival. That same night, in his past life, he had watched Flamepeak burn from afar. That was the night his sect began preparing his betrayal.
He walked past the siblings.
Paused.
Then flicked his wrist.
A tendril of his Silent Flame shot forward — unseen, unsensed. It wrapped around their bodies like a soft veil. The fire in the maze parted subtly as they moved, mistaking them for nothing more than breeze. They would live. Not because he cared but because they reminded him of something he could no longer afford to be.
By the time Shen Yao reached the center of the maze, only eleven remained And three had already begun accusing one another.
"You failed the purity test! Your flame broke rank first!"
"No — it was you! I saw your talisman shatter, you're not even from our sect!"
The maze was not the enemy.
Paranoia was.
And Shen Yao watched it unfold with clinical precision.
System Notification: Minor Flame Karmic Thread Detected – Subject: 'Mu Zhen', Hidden Celestial Spy.
Shen Yao's eyes sharpened. The man in question had a golden brand hidden under his robe. Shen Yao recognized it — an Immortal Thread Mark, proof that a cultivator served the Divine System in secret.
In his past life, Mu Zhen had been a minor elder. It made sense.
"Let's see," Shen Yao whispered then vanished into the shadows.
End of Trial One.
Flame screens emerged.
Participants Remaining: 10
Next Trial: Flame Truth Bellows
1. Those who lie burn.
2. Those who speak their truths shall pass — if their truths carry no treason.
Shen Yao's lips curved.
"Truth, huh?"
Let them try because he carried a truth that none of Heaven's flames could consume. A truth forged in betrayal, bound in silence, and now ready to burn every false heaven to ash.