Heavenly Trial Arc (Part II)
The world shimmered as the lotus gate flared once more, its petals spreading into a radiant passageway. The Protagonist stepped forward, breath steady, robes whispering against the polished stone floor.
One instant, he was within the sanctified hall of the Ethereal Heaven Palace. The next—
—he stood upon a battlefield of eternity.
The sky bled crimson. Shattered weapons lay scattered like broken stars, and the air carried the metallic tang of forgotten wars. Across the endless plain, countless figures stirred—warriors without faces, shadows carrying blades forged from despair itself.
"Another illusion," he murmured, but his heart tightened. The Trial was no mere phantom dream; its wounds would carve deep into both spirit and Dao heart.
A voice rolled across the heavens like thunder:
"Resolve is not tested in silence. Resolve is forged when the heart trembles."
The faceless army surged.
The Illusion of Temptation
He raised his lotus aura, golden-white petals spiraling into being, yet for every shadow he struck down, three more appeared. Their blades whispered, not of death, but of surrender.
> "Lay down your path… let go of hardship…"
"You could rest… you could live without burden…"
The whispers dug deeper than any wound.
Suddenly, the battlefield melted into something else.
A small village under a sunlit sky. Children laughed. Fields of grain rippled like golden oceans. And there—his parents, smiling, untouched by age or suffering.
"Come home, child," they called, voices warm, tender, achingly real.
His steps faltered.
Could this be enough? To abandon the endless climb, to remain in peace forever? Was not happiness the truest cultivation?
The Spark of Memory
His hands trembled—until another memory surfaced.
The Ethereal Heaven Palace. Masters who had placed their faith in him. The starry-eyed junior disciples who whispered of his future with awe. The weight of destiny not for himself, but for all those who dreamed under heaven's vast sky.
His lotus aura flickered, wavering—then steadied.
He whispered, voice firm despite the illusion tugging at his heart:
> "Resolve… is to walk the path even when peace is offered. True peace comes not by escaping burden, but by carrying it."
The sunlit world cracked. The smiling figures of his parents dissolved, their warmth replaced by shattering light. The battlefield returned, and with it, the faceless army—now trembling before the glow in his eyes.
Breaking the Illusion
Lotus petals unfurled behind him, radiant and inexhaustible. Each step forward was an oath; each breath, a declaration.
"Even if I fall ten thousand times, I will rise ten thousand and one."
He struck once, and his lotus flame consumed the horde. Shadows scattered like dust in a storm. The battlefield rumbled, dissolving into pure brilliance.
The voice of the Trial resounded once more, this time resonant with approval:
"Resolve unshaken. Heart unyielding. You pass."
The Protagonist exhaled, sweat dripping from his brow. His body trembled with exhaustion, yet his spirit burned brighter than ever. He stepped through the vanishing battlefield, emerging into the lotus gate's glow.
Outside, in the Ethereal Heaven Palace, elders whispered among themselves, astonished at the brilliance of the blooming lotus now recorded upon the Heavenly Stele.
And still, the path stretched higher.
He knew—the hardest trial was yet to come.