By noon, the sky remained a dull gray—heavy, unmoving, full of pressure, as if the heavens themselves were holding their breath.
Zhou Shan was still trembling from the morning's encounter with the inner sect genius.
"Bro… we now officially have a ranking of threats. Number one: masked killer. Number two: Gu Xiang. Number three: inner sect geniuses. Number four: everything else in the world."
Lian Hong ignored him.
He held Lin Qianyi's jade ring in one hand and Wei Feng's training plaque in the other.
Two gifts—one from warning,one from danger.
He pocketed the ring.
Then he headed toward the south mountain again.
Zhou Shan scrambled after him.
"Bro!! You just finished almost dying last night! Why go back so soon!?"
The cavern entrance was darker than yesterday.
As if the void inside had grown.
Or perhaps—
it had begun reacting to him.
The moment Lian Hong approached, the air turned cold.So cold Zhou Shan sneezed violently.
"Bro… are you sure Wei Feng didn't just find a haunted cave and decided it's a training ground…?"
Just then—
a single pebble rolled out of the cave.
Smooth.Silent.
Followed by a faint voice:
"Come."
Wei Feng.
Zhou Shan turned pale instantly.
"You go, bro. I'll—I'll guard the entrance. From outside. Very far outside."
Lian Hong stepped inside.
And the darkness closed around him like a mouth.
Wei Feng stood deeper within the cavern.
No lantern.No flame.No light.
Only darkness and shifting stone.
His voice was calm, but something in it was tighter than before.
"Stage One taught you how to sense absence."
He raised two fingers.
A faint ripple passed through the cavern—not noise,not movement.
Something subtler.
"Stage Two teaches you how to sense intention that does not manifest."
Lian Hong frowned.
"Intention without presence?"
Wei Feng nodded.
"Shadow Continuum."
He stepped forward.
"In Stage One, there was a ripple when something moved.In Stage Two…"
The air around him vanished—
or rather,the meaning of his presence vanished.
"You must sense when a shadow would move—before it decides to."
The system chimed:
[Warning: Training difficulty increased beyond safe parameters][Probability of injury: extremely high]
Wei Feng didn't look at the system window.
His expression sharpened.
"Begin."
The cavern shifted again.
Stone platforms rotated.Air currents fractured.The void thickened.
Then—
a sense of almost movement brushed Lian Hong's skin.
Not an attack.
The thought of an attack.
A directionless "maybe."
But—
Lian Hong stepped left.
At the same instant—
SHHH—!!
A blade shot through the space he had been standing in.
Wei Feng's voice echoed:
"Good."
He flicked two fingers.
The cavern changed again.
A dozen currents of "possible" movement emerged.
Some faded instantly.Some lingered briefly.Some intertwined.
But only one—
would become real.
Lian Hong closed his eyes.
And listened to the silence.
One shadow thickened.
He moved—
CLANG—!!
He deflected another invisible blade.
Wei Feng finally spoke:
"You are adapting faster than expected."
Then he raised his hand—
and darkness responded.
Dozens of "maybe" movements filled the cavern.
Dozens of possible attacks.
Dozens of potential kill trajectories.
Zhou Shan watched from outside, terrified:
"Bro, I can't even see you anymore! I just hear metal and pain and more metal!!"
Lian Hong didn't respond.
He stepped.Turned.Shifted.Leaned.Raised an arm.Lowered a shoulder.
Each motion—
reacting not to attacks,but to intent projections without intent,to shadows without movement,to possibility without reality.
It was maddening.
Exhausting.
Yet exhilarating.
Because slowly—the darkness unfolded for him.
[Bloodline Instinct Resonance: 58% → 63%]
A new sense awakened.
Not sight.Not hearing.Not qi perception.
But the sense of shadows choosing to exist.
Wei Feng stepped forward.
For the first time, he drew a real blade.
A slender, curved weapon with a faint echo of frost.
Zhou Shan screamed from far away:
"BRO NOOO—HE TOOK OUT A REAL SWORD—!!! WE'RE DOOMED—!!!"
Wei Feng held the blade loosely.
Then—
he erased himself again.
Presence gone.Sound gone.Intent gone.Shadow gone.
The system choked.
[ALERT: Opponent unreadable]
Wei Feng whispered once:
"Block me."
Then he moved.
Fast.
Too fast.
Too silent.
Too perfect.
This was not training.
This was a killing strike.
Even Lian Hong felt a moment of dread.
Then—
the world slowed.
The void thinned.The shadows stretched.The "maybe" movement became inevitable.
He saw it—
The faintest choice of direction.
Not motion.
Not intent.
Just—
decision.
He raised his hand.
Wei Feng's blade stopped—
pressed between Lian Hong's two fingers.
Sweat fell from Lian Hong's jaw.
Wei Feng stared at him.
Silence filled the cavern.
Then—
for the first time—Wei Feng smiled.
"You learned it."
Wei Feng sheathed his blade.
"No need to continue today.Your body won't survive it."
Lian Hong exhaled.
A long, painful breath.
Wei Feng added softly:
"You are now among the few in this sect—who can sense the masked killer."
A pause.
"But sensing him does not mean defeating him."
Lian Hong nodded.
"I know."
Wei Feng stepped past him.
"Tomorrow is Stage Three.The last preparation."
He paused at the exit of the cavern.
"And if you fail Stage Three…you will not be alive to attempt Stage Four."
Zhou Shan immediately turned to leave.
"We're going home! We're packing! We're leaving the sect!!"
Wei Feng added:
"Stage Three begins at dawn."
Lian Hong tightened his grip on the plaque.
Tomorrow.
The final training.
The last chance.
The eve of death.