The basin shook as the inheritance light thickened, turning the air heavy and sharp. Every strike from the gathered geniuses sent ripples through the silver haze. Lin Qing moved through it unharmed, the Mirror Heart Lotus absorbing each distortion and smoothing the path before him.
Fang Jian's spear swept an arc of pressure that would have split a hill. Lin Qing stepped aside without thinking, letting the force bend around him like water meeting glass. Jiang Tianlong crashed through a wave of moonlight meant for Yue Qianhan, his laughter shaking dust off the stone. Qi Hongxuan glided past all of them, each footfall impossibly quiet.
Despite the chaos, the four central contenders were all aiming for the same thing—the monolith's core. It pulsed brighter with every heartbeat, its cracks shining like molten veins.
Lin Qing frowned. "Why do all ancient things explode, glow, or scream? Can't one of them behave normally?"
He didn't get an answer. Yue Qianhan appeared beside him, her presence soft but cold. She wasn't attacking—she was observing, and her gaze lingered on the way the ground folded neatly under Lin Qing's steps.
"Your movement," she said. "It's not simple body technique."
"I'd prefer if everyone stopped studying me while trying not to die," Lin Qing replied.
She drifted away, moonlight swirling around her, but her attention remained fixed. Others noticed as well.
Nie Xuan's voice floated across the battlefield, amusement in every word. "Heir Lin Qing walks like the realm belongs to him."
Xu Hong glared at him. "Focus. If he reaches the center first, we're done."
Wu Lian didn't speak. He radiated a calm that pressed faintly at Lin Qing's mind, testing boundaries. Lin Qing's Mirror Heart Lotus responded instantly, closing around his consciousness like an unbreakable shell. Wu Lian blinked, startled, and withdrew.
"Interesting," the mind cultivator murmured.
Lin Qing sighed. "Can everyone stop poking at my everything?"
He reached the halfway point, where the air thickened into something almost solid. The monolith's pulse reverberated through his bones, resonating with the lotus and sending faint heat up his spine.
Another shockwave erupted. The basin floor cracked. Silver dust rose in spirals.
Yan Yue leapt over a fissure and shouted, "Second phase! The core's waking!"
The monolith split another inch, light leaking from it like breath from a sleeping beast.
Fang Jian changed tactics immediately. His spear thrusts shifted from brute force to rapid precision, each strike angled to tear through the silver turbulence. Yue Qianhan spun her moon halos in tight circles, shielding herself from flying shards. Jiang Tianlong braced against another explosion of sand, using raw strength to bulldoze forward. Qi Hongxuan moved like a brushstroke—sharp, controlled, impossibly fast.
And Lin Qing… simply kept walking, letting the Mirror Heart Lotus adjust every pressure wave before it touched him.
The others noticed that too.
Nie Xuan's voice dropped. "He's not resisting the realm. The realm is bending for him."
Yan Yue swallowed. "That means—"
"—he's special," Xu Hong muttered tightly. "We knew that."
"That's not what it means," Wu Lian corrected quietly. "It means the realm recognizes him."
That froze the air.
Even Fang Jian paused a fraction of a second.
The ancient secret realms of Azure Heaven rarely recognized anyone.
Lin Qing pretended not to hear. He had enough problems.
He reached the final stretch, only thirty steps from the monolith. The sand here glowed faintly, patterns shifting underfoot in ways that made no sense. The pressure reached a level that should've flattened anyone below Divine Origin.
Lin Qing felt only a faint tugging sensation, like someone pulling at the edge of his sleeve.
Jiang Tianlong roared and hurled himself forward, lightning bursting from his skin. Yue Qianhan darted beside him, moonlight cleaving a path through the turbulence. Fang Jian soared overhead, spear cutting a streak of silver. Qi Hongxuan vanished from sight entirely.
Lin Qing took another step.
A shadow dropped from above, blocking his path.
Xu Hong slammed both palms down, igniting the silver sand with violent qi. The ground erupted in a plume of flames that forced even Fang Jian to retreat. The silver haze twisted, revealing a circle of scorched terrain around Lin Qing.
Xu Hong stared at him, chest rising with adrenaline. "You're not walking past me."
Lin Qing sighed. "I probably am."
Behind Xu Hong, Yan Yue stepped in with her sword raised. Nie Xuan's shadows spread across the ground. Wu Lian's mind force hovered like invisible smoke.
Four geniuses. All directly in Lin Qing's way.
Tian Ke shouted from the edge of the basin, voice panicked. "Heir Lin Qing! Maybe… take a step back?"
Li Chun cupped his hands around his mouth. "Heir Lin Qing! If they kill you, I'll have to lie to Elder Hei and I'm not emotionally ready!"
Lin Qing ignored both of them.
The four in front of him braced to strike.
He inhaled. The Mirror Heart Lotus turned silently, adjusting the world's rhythm around him.
And he walked forward.
Xu Hong struck first. Flames roared toward Lin Qing—yet the fire bent at the last second, sliding to either side as if meeting an invisible slope.
Yan Yue's sword descended. The blade shimmered with frost, but the surface rippled when it touched the air near Lin Qing, losing its momentum.
Nie Xuan's shadow coil wrapped around his leg, only to unravel as if pulled apart by unseen hands.
Wu Lian's mind-force pressed down—and simply slid off the lotus barrier before he even realized he'd lost control.
The four retreated instinctively.
Xu Hong hissed. "What… was that?"
Yan Yue whispered, "The realm refuses to harm him."
Nie Xuan's grin faded. "This is going to be troublesome."
Wu Lian stared at Lin Qing with new calculation. "He is not an invader to this place. He is part of it."
Lin Qing stopped two steps ahead of them, expression calm.
"Are we done?" he asked.
None of them answered.
Far ahead, the monolith cracked completely open with a sound like a giant exhaling, and a column of silver light burst upward, tearing into the sky.
Everything in the basin froze.
Li Chun screamed from somewhere behind them, "THE CORE IS OPEN!"
The inheritance truly began.