Chapter 9 – The Forbidden Ground
The forest lay still after Feng Jue's departure, yet Xu Lian's blood still boiled from the clash. His chest ached, and his arm trembled faintly from the single blow he had received.
One strike. Just one.
That was the gap between him and the Seven Realms' prodigies.
Xu Lian tightened his grip on his blade until his knuckles whitened. Too weak. Still too weak.
He refused to be mocked again.
---
For three nights he traveled alone, following fragments of maps hidden within his shattered jade pendant. The whispers of his ancestors had guided him, faint but insistent, toward the Shadowed Abyss—a place no sane cultivator entered.
Legends spoke of it as a graveyard of sovereigns, where failed cultivators' spirits lingered, and where the earth itself rejected intruders. Many who sought fortune within had never returned.
At the edge of the abyss, Xu Lian gazed down into the chasm. Endless darkness stretched below, broken only by rivers of glowing crimson light, like veins of blood running through the world itself.
The wind carried the faint cries of lost souls. Even the trees at the edge twisted unnaturally, their bark scarred with claw marks.
Any other man would have turned back.
But Xu Lian stepped forward.
---
The descent was treacherous. Jagged rocks and whispers pressed at his mind, tempting him to abandon reason. More than once, shadowy figures appeared in the corner of his vision—fragments of dead cultivators, their resentment heavy enough to kill the unprepared.
Xu Lian's aura flared crimson, his will unyielding.
"You think despair can break me?" he muttered, cutting through an apparition with his blade. "I've already lost everything. There is nothing left to fear."
The spirits recoiled, as though recognizing something darker in him than in themselves.
---
At the abyss floor lay ruins—pillars carved with ancient runes, broken palaces swallowed by earth. And at the very center, a stone altar pulsed with faint light.
As Xu Lian approached, the remnants of qi surged violently. A phantom figure appeared, cloaked in black, with eyes burning like molten suns.
( "So… another dares enter my grave. Who are you, boy?" )
Xu Lian met its gaze without flinching. "Xu Lian. Son of a slaughtered clan. The one who will destroy the Seven Realms."
The phantom studied him in silence. Then, laughter like thunder rolled through the abyss.
( "Arrogant… but I like arrogance. Good. If you wish to inherit the power buried here, you must withstand the Trial of Sovereigns. Fail, and your soul will become another shadow in this pit." )
Without hesitation, Xu Lian stepped onto the altar.
"Test me."
---
The trial began.
A storm of killing intent crashed down, pressing on his soul until blood trickled from his eyes. Memories of his family's corpses flashed before him, voices of the dead screaming in accusation:
"Why weren't you there, Lian? Why did you survive when we didn't?"
The weight tried to crush him. Break him. Shatter his will.
But Xu Lian roared, his voice tearing through the abyss. "I will not bend! Not to fate! Not to despair! Not to the heavens themselves!"
His qi erupted like a blazing inferno, crimson light swallowing the altar.
The shadows screamed and dispersed. The altar glowed brighter, sinking its energy into his body.
---
When the light faded, Xu Lian collapsed to one knee, his chest heaving. His aura was sharper, heavier—like a blade tempered in blood and fire. His cultivation surged, breaking past the barrier into the Spirit Core Realm.
The phantom's voice echoed, filled with dark amusement.
( "Good. You have survived the first trial. Remember, Xu Lian… power demands blood. To rule the realms, you must drown them in it. Come back when you dare face the next." )
The phantom vanished.
Xu Lian stood, his crimson eyes gleaming with newfound strength. His lips curled into a cold smile.
"Seven Realms… enjoy your peace while it lasts. Soon, I'll come for you all."
The abyss trembled, as if the world itself acknowledged the rise of a future sovereign.