The Moonveil Arena was carved into the jagged cliffs of the Ashveil Mountains, suspended above a sea of mist that never parted. Obsidian pillars rose like ancient sentinels, each etched with glowing runes—seals that pulsed faintly with spiritual energy, whispering fragments of forgotten incantations.
Tonight, the arena was alive.
Hundreds of disciples stood in formation, their robes fluttering in the wind. Elders hovered above on floating seal arrays, their expressions unreadable behind veils of spiritual light. Spiritbound guardians—phantom beasts tethered to the sect—circled overhead, watching silently.
At the edge of the crowd stood Feng Liren, his grey robes plain, his posture unassuming. He kept his spiritual presence sealed so tightly that even the most perceptive elder would overlook him. He preferred it that way.
He had no clan backing. No flashy techniques. No reputation.
But he had something else—a secret.
Seal Resonance Trial
The Grand Elder, known only as the Veilmaster, raised a hand. His voice was soft, but it carried through the arena like a blade through silk.
"Let the trials begin. The path to Ashveil is not walked—it is sealed."
Disciples stepped forward one by one, handed blank talismans made of soulweave paper. Their task: imprint their spiritual essence and form a seal. The complexity and resonance of the seal would determine their affinity with Ashveil's sacred art—Sealing Techniques, the power to bind, suppress, and control.
Yan Zixuan, heir to the Thunderblade Pavilion, stepped forward confidently. His talisman flared with a crackling blue seal—lightning-based, aggressive, unstable. The crowd murmured in approval.
Lu Qingmei, the frost-blooded prodigy, etched a crystalline seal that shimmered with icy precision. Her seal was elegant, refined.
Jin Tao, loud and brash, forced his essence into a flame seal that scorched the edges of his talisman. He grinned, basking in the cheers.
Then came Feng Liren.
He stepped forward silently, accepted the talisman, and placed his hand upon it.
Nothing happened.
Snickers rippled through the crowd. "No talent." "Waste of a spot."
But then, the talisman turned pitch black. Not burnt—voided. A single rune appeared, ancient and unreadable. The air around him grew still.
The Grand Elder's eyes widened.
"A Voidlock Seal… impossible."
Only one other disciple in Ashveil's history had ever formed such a seal. That disciple had vanished into legend, leaving behind only whispers and sealed tombs.
The Binding Circle
The second trial tested control. Disciples were placed inside a spiritual circle and asked to bind a summoned spirit using only sealing techniques. Most struggled—spirits resisted, seals broke.
Yan Zixuan summoned a thunder hawk and bound it with a triple-layered lightning seal.
Lu Qingmei froze her spirit into submission.
Jin Tao wrestled his flame beast into a crude binding.
Feng Liren stepped into the circle. He was handed a blank talisman and faced a low-tier shadow beast. It snarled, sensing weakness.
He didn't flinch.
He raised his hand slowly, fingers tracing a pattern in the air. No chant. No flourish.
A seal bloomed beneath the beast—silent, elegant, absolute. The creature froze mid-motion, then bowed its head.
Elder Yao blinked.
"...Pass."
The crowd barely reacted. One more quiet success among many.
But then—
"I wish to take the Inner Sect Exam," Liren said calmly.
Silence.
Someone laughed. "He's joking, right?"
Elder Yao frowned. "You just passed the entrance. The Inner Sect Exam is for advanced disciples. You'll be facing high-tier spirits and layered seal formations."
"I understand," Liren replied. "I'm ready."
The Inner Sect Exam
A new platform was activated—larger, etched with complex runes. A Tier-3 Phantom Drake was summoned, its body flickering between dimensions, immune to basic seals.
Three talismans were placed before Liren. He could use only one.
He chose the simplest.
The drake roared and lunged.
Liren closed his eyes.
He didn't bind the beast directly. Instead, he traced a seal mid-air—a spatial lock, layered with a soul tether. The seal activated just as the drake passed through it.
It froze. Not bound—but sealed within a pocket of void, suspended like a painting.
The elders stood.
"That's a dual-layer Voidbind Seal," whispered one. "That's… impossible at his level."
Elder Yao stepped forward, voice solemn.
"Feng Liren. You have passed the Inner Sect Exam. From this moment, you are an Inner Disciple of Ashveil Sect."
As Liren walked off the platform, whispers followed him.
"Who is he?""No clan, no background…"
"That seal—was it Voidlock?"
But Liren didn't respond.
He returned to the shadows, just as quietly as he had arrived.
In the distance, the Grand Elder watched from behind his veil.
"The quiet ones," he murmured, "are always the loudest when the heavens begin to listen."
=====
"Well, well ,well I did not expect the sealing techniques feared by legends to be nothing more than just some advanced mathematical equations"
Feng Liren murmured softly, his eyes gleaming with a calculative glint as if analyzing his previous decisions.
'Hmmm the aim to get a solid position in the sect was achieved pretty smoothly, but my earlier stunt was pretty reckless as I have already made some cats unnecessarily curious and the way that veiled elder sitting at the second highest position next to a vacant spot was really unnerving.'
Feng Liren was escorted to the Inner Courtyard, a secluded region of Ashveil reserved for elite disciples. The air here was heavier, saturated with spiritual energy and ancient seals that pulsed beneath the stone paths. Statues of past seal masters lined the walkways, their eyes glowing faintly as if watching.
He was assigned a modest residence—simple, quiet, tucked into the shadow of the Ashvault, the sect's forbidden archive.
Most disciples would celebrate. Liren simply sat cross-legged and began meditating.
=====
"Voidbind at his level is unheard of," said Elder Mo, the Soulbinding master.
"He suppressed his aura so tightly, even our arrays missed him," added Elder of Silence.
"He must be tested further," said Elder Yao. "If he's truly Voidborn, the Ashvault may respond."
The Grand Elder remained silent, his veil shifting like smoke.
"Let him walk his path. The seals will speak for themselves."