Three days later, the Hollow Bone Sect was packed to its crumbling edges. The skies above the ancient arena shimmered with defensive formations—just in case someone tried to "accidentally" destroy it again like last year. Sect elders floated in the air, seated on their jade cloud thrones, and the disciples, both inner and outer, buzzed with expectation.
The Cultivation Trials were the only way for trash to rise—or be publicly executed trying.
A bloody spectacle. A tradition of false merit. But to Kael Draven, it was something far greater.
"They see a ladder," he muttered. "But I see a stage."
The arena floor was massive, scarred from decades of bloodshed and failures. Symbols of long-dead sects were still faintly etched into the ancient stone, remnants of wars, betrayals, and unfulfilled potential.
Perfect.
Kael stood at the edge of the combat ring, wearing a plain black robe. No weapon. No aura. Just a single pair of calm, focused eyes.
[System Notice: Cultivation Trials Begin in 00:01:00]
[Participants: 600]
[Survival Rate: 37% (Last Year)]
[New Rule Added: Elder Kill Veto Clause Disabled – All combat is final.]
[Note: Due to your presence, probability threads have destabilized.]
Kael smirked. "Let's begin the show."
Trial One: Free-for-All Slaughter (600 → 100)
The gong thundered.
Instantly, chaos erupted.
Blades flashed. Spells roared. Screams echoed. Lightning ripped the sky. Blood sprayed across the arena walls.
Kael stood still in the middle of it all.
"System," he whispered, "mark every ranked cultivator above me."
[Marking Complete: 493 Targets Flagged]
He sighed.
"Then let's begin lowering the bar."
Kael walked into the storm.
A dual-saber wielder from the 9th Division lunged. Kael sidestepped and slammed his knee into the man's chin. Skull cracked. One.
A wind cultivator flew in, unleashing a blade storm. Kael blinked behind him. One chop to the throat. Crushed windpipe. Two.
A fire user screamed, throwing three blazing orbs.
Kael caught one.
[Chaos Infusion: Ignition Inversion]
He flung it back. The orb exploded into ice. The fire cultivator froze midair, falling like a shattered statue.
Three.
Meanwhile: The Elder Balcony
Elder Mo leaned forward.
"He has no cultivation… and yet he's killing Foundation Realm disciples."
Elder Han frowned. "That boy… he's corrupting cause and effect."
"Or he's just angry," Elder Wu muttered. "Very, very angry."
The floating crystal showed Kael surrounded by six opponents.
They never touched him.
Back in the Arena
Kael dodged another sword and gripped the wielder's wrist.
"Flawed technique. Weak spirit. You walk like a prince but die like a dog."
He twisted the arm backward, forcing the blade into the man's own chest.
Five more attackers charged.
Kael ducked, caught a spear, and used it to impale two enemies at once. He grabbed the corpse and used it as a meat shield, throwing it into another.
The fourth tried to run. Kael hurled a stone—infused with Chaos. It exploded on contact.
[Current Kill Count: 49]
The last tried to beg.
Kael snapped his neck.
"Begging is a tactic. I invented it. You used it wrong."
Trial Phase 1 Result: 100 Survivors Remain
Kael stood amid a ring of corpses.
Not a scratch on him.
Even the instructors stared.
"What is he?" one whispered.
"A bug in the system," said another.
Kael cracked his neck.
"Bug? No. I'm the update."
Trial Two: Team Tactics — Survive With Allies (100 → 40)
They split the survivors into twenty teams of five.
Kael's team consisted of:
A crying girl with a broken blade.
A blind archer.
A beast tamer with fleas.
A guy literally named "Fodder."
Kael didn't even look at them.
"Stay out of my way. Or die faster."
The round began: waves of puppets, illusions, and terrain shifts. The other teams scrambled for formation.
Kael? He walked forward alone.
The puppets lunged. Kael let them.
Then he vanished.
One blink. Ten heads rolled.
An illusion tried to distract him. He walked through it.
The terrain shifted into a gravity trap. Kael stomped, sending a pulse through the arena floor, breaking the mechanism.
[Team 11 Victory: All Members Alive]
He looked back.
The crying girl had fainted.
The archer aimed at a tree.
"Fodder" pissed himself.
Kael sighed. "This is getting boring."
Trial Three: Duel by Elimination (40 → 10)
Finally.
One-on-one.
The arena was reshaped. Circular dueling platforms rose from the ground.
Kael's opponent? The #3 Ranked inner disciple, Zhou Min.
Zhou grinned. "I'll cripple you in one move."
Kael nodded. "And I'll teach you silence in one syllable."
The duel began.
Zhou launched a flaming spear. Kael ducked low, touched the ground.
[Chaos Pulse: Reverse Trajectory Rewind]
The spear turned in midair and impaled Zhou through the chest.
"One syllable," Kael said.
Zhou: "Guh—"
"Exactly."
End of Trials: Final Rankings Announced
Kael Draven: Rank #1
The crowd was silent.
Then someone clapped.
Elder Han's wife.
She smiled.
Kael tilted his head and smirked.
[MILF Radar Ping: Target Proximity — 12 meters. Flirt Option Unlocked.]
"Let the games begin."