The instant Li Yan entered the first level of the White Rank Pagoda, the environment shifted.
Thick fog clung to the moss-covered ground, coiling around gnarled roots like living tendrils. The scent of damp earth and decaying leaves filled the air.
Towering trees rose on all sides, their interwoven branches choking out the fake sunlight, casting the forest into shifting shades of green and gray.
The place wasn't merely dark.
It was observant.
"So this is the trial realm…" Li Yan murmured, eyes narrowing as he took in the oppressive stillness. "Artificial… yet alive."
Ding.
A soft chime drew his attention.
The bracelet on his wrist flickered to life.
[Name: Li Yan Tian
Level: 1
Points: 0
Time Remaining: 1:59:56]
He chuckled and flexed his fingers.
"Two hours?" he said under his breath. "Let's see how far I can push this."
His gaze swept the surroundings once more. Then he nodded to himself.
"For this trial…" he muttered, "the sword will do."
He drew his blade.
A thin thread of dark Qi coiled along its edge, the steel drinking it in eagerly. The sword hummed softly as a pitch-black sheen spread across the blade, shadows pulsing along its length as though alive.
Then—
A low growl tore through the fog.
From between twisted roots, a Shadow Wolf emerged. Its fur shimmered with condensed darkness, muscles taut beneath its sleek frame. Blood-red eyes locked onto Li Yan, filled with predatory hunger.
It did not hesitate.
It lunged.
Li Yan moved simultaneously.
With a sharp twist of his wrist, his sword swept through the air. A crescent of dark energy tore free from the blade, slicing forward like a fragment of moonlight—silent, precise, absolute.
It struck the beast mid-air.
The Shadow Wolf shattered mid-air—its form unraveling instantly. Flecks of shadow drifted upward, dissolving into the canopy like dying fireflies.
Ding.
[+5 Points Added]
The bracelet chimed softly as the score updated.
Li Yan didn't bother looking down.
"So…" he said calmly, stepping forward, eyes gleaming with restrained interest. "These are the pagoda's artificial beasts."
A faint smirk touched his lips.
"Let's see how long they can entertain me."
Li Yan moved with measured efficiency. His steps were light, precise, barely disturbing the moss beneath his boots as he advanced through the tangled forest.
Roots coiled across the ground like serpents, branches intertwined overhead, and faint growls drifted between the trees.
The forest was alive with hostility.
To Li Yan, it was terrain.
____
Outside the pagoda, the arena buzzed with restrained tension. The massive leaderboards hovered in the air, their runic surface shimmering as names shifted and reordered in real time. Each change drew murmurs from the watching disciples.
At the highest viewing platform, Ji Hong sat among the elders, his posture relaxed, a porcelain teacup resting in his hand. Steam curled upward, dispersing into the breeze.
Beside him, Cao Lian leaned forward slightly, her gaze fixed on the white-rank leaderboard. "Husband," she said quietly, "do you think Li Yan can enter the top ten? His performance is steady, but his cultivation is still lower than most."
Ji Hong's lips curved faintly as he set the cup down. "He won't stop at the top ten," he replied calmly. "He'll surpass expectations entirely."
As if in silent response, the leaderboard flickered.
[Rank 2 — Li Yan Tian — Level 2 — 125 Points]
Cao Lian's eyes narrowed slightly. "He cleared level 1 in just three minutes," she murmured.
____
Meanwhile, Li Yan stepped into the second level and halted at once.
The oppressive forest vanished.
Before him stretched an open grassland beneath a pale, empty sky, tall grass rippled in waves as the wind swept across the plain, carrying the faint scent of wildflowers—beneath it, a sharper, metallic undertone.
He glanced at the bracelet.
[Level: 2
Points: 125
Time Remaining: 1:56:43]
A disturbance ahead.
Three wolves burst from the grass, larger than those before, their bodies lean and taut with muscle. Their growls rolled low across the plains as they charged, claws tearing shallow trenches into the earth.
Li Yan's expression did not change.
He moved.
Phantom Dash.
His figure blurred, vanishing for a fraction of a second before reappearing inside their formation—one clean horizontal cut—no wasted motion. The first fell mid-stride, its form scattering into ash.
Pivot.
The second fell before its claws left the ground.
The third leapt, jaws wide, but Li Yan was already moving. A sidestep. An upward arc. The blade passed through empty air an instant before the beast disintegrated.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
[+5 Points Added] [+5 Points Added] [+5 Points Added]
Li Yan exhaled once, slow and controlled.
"Too slow."
He broke into a sprint, crossing the grassland without hesitation. His senses reached outward, locking onto new energy signatures ahead.
Four Fire Panthers emerged, their crimson fur wreathed in smokeless flame. Their presence pressed heavier on the air, their growls deeper, more dangerous.
Li Yan did not slow.
He moved without interruption.
The first panther struck, claws igniting as it slashed downward. Li Yan dipped beneath the attack and drove his blade straight through its core. Flame erupted outward before collapsing inward.
The second and third attacked together.
Li Yan rotated smoothly, releasing a wide, dark arc. Both were cleaved mid-stride, their forms unraveling before they hit the ground.
The fourth leapt, maw open.
His blade met it mid-air—splitting it cleanly.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
[+5 Points Added] [+10 Points Added] [+5 Points Added]
Li Yan stood alone amid drifting embers, his sword humming softly as residual Qi dispersed along its edge.
"Nothing hard," he murmured.
His gaze had already shifted.
Five Earthly Bears materialized next, their hulking bodies slamming into existence with heavy force. Their thick hides and massive frames radiated defensive pressure—but their movements were slow. Predictable.
The ground shook with each step—but it wasn't enough.
Li Yan closed the distance.
The fight ended quickly.
Heavy bodies struck the ground one after another, dissolving into light before they could settle. Size and endurance meant nothing when speed, precision, and targeting converged perfectly.
Li Yan wiped the blade clean with a flick of Qi.
The ground beneath his feet glowed as inscriptions ignited, signaling completion. Space warped subtly around him as a familiar pull seized his body.
Ding.
The grassland dissolved.
Golden dunes replaced it.
Heat shimmered across endless sand as Level Three began.
The sun hung mercilessly overhead, its glare turning the desert into a sea of shimmering distortion. Heat rolled across the dunes in visible waves, each step sinking slightly into the loose sand as it scorched beneath Li Yan's boots.
A dry wind howled endlessly, tugging at his robes and carrying the scent of charred stone and mineral dust.
"A desert," Li Yan muttered, tone even.
Despite the oppressive heat, not a single bead of sweat appeared on his body. Fire-aligned environments held no threat to him. Compared to the Fire Mine, this was nothing.
He adjusted his grip on the sword and kept moving. "Let's maintain pace."
The bracelet pulsed softly.
[Level: 3
Points: 285
Time Remaining: 1:50:08]
Ahead, the air shimmered.
Five figures materialized through the heat haze, their outlines wavering as they solidified. Reptilian forms emerged—lizard-like beasts clad in molten obsidian scales. Ember-bright eyes locked onto him as crimson steam hissed from between jagged teeth.
They snarled.
Li Yan didn't wait for them to advance.
Phantom Dash.
His figure blurred in a flicker of shadow and reappeared between the first two beasts mid-materialization. Steel flashed. Both were cleaved apart before their muscles could even tense, dark Qi erupting along the blade's path.
He pivoted seamlessly, dragging his sword through a clean crescent arc. The remaining three were cut down in a single motion, guttural screeches cut short as their bodies dissolved into smoke and cinders.
Ding. Ding.
[+10 Points Added] [+15 Points Added]
He didn't pause—he advanced.
The sand churned again.
Three more packs of five manifested in rapid succession, their snarls overlapping as they surged forward across the dunes. The heat thickened, waves of distorted air rippling outward with each appearance.
To Li Yan, they were nothing more than increments.
Dark Qi coiled along his blade, black tendrils wrapping around his forearms like restrained living shadows. He advanced with swift, brutal efficiency.
No wasted movement. No flourish.
Each strike found a vital point—neck, heart, spine.
The sword moved like a whisper through the desert air.
One of the beasts twisted mid-strike—faster than the rest.
Li Yan adjusted instantly.
The correction was minimal. The result was the same.
Beast after beast burst apart into cinders, their existence erased almost as quickly as it had formed.
When the final lizard collapsed, the sand beneath Li Yan's feet pulsed faintly. Ascending energy surged upward as heat waves fractured, the environment splitting apart under spatial distortion.
Ding.
The world tore away.
[Level: 4
Points: 485
Time Remaining: 1:40:35]
Li Yan didn't slow down and continued to move forward.
____
Outside the Pagoda — The Grand Arena
The coliseum hummed with restrained intensity. Murmurs rolled through the vast seating like ocean tides as disciples, elders, and sect elites fixed their attention on the hovering leaderboards. Names flickered, reordered, vanished.
Among the seventy-three white-rank disciples, ten had already been ejected from the trial. Their expressions ranged from relief to quiet humiliation. The first trial was cutting them down with methodical cruelty.
The top sixty-four threshold loomed closer with every passing minute.
And above them all—
[Rank 1 — Li Yan Tian — Level 6 — 1,195 Points]
Gasps rippled across the ejected white-ranked disciples.
Mu Fan, in second place, sat far behind at 765 points. A gap of over four hundred. An unheard-of disparity for white-rank disciples.
At the highest viewing platform, Ji Hong sat composed, his porcelain teacup suspended halfway to his lips. His gaze rested on the leaderboard, sharp and unwavering—not surprised.
Expectant.
Turning slightly toward Cao Lian, he spoke calmly. "Do you still believe someone can take first place from him?"
Cao Lian shook her head, lips curving into a knowing smile. "His pace is frightening, I'll give you that. But even you must admit—levels eight and nine are different entirely. Hundreds of enemies. At that point, he won't have the luxury of maintaining a gap with his cultivation."
Ji Hong chuckled softly and set the cup down. "Maintain a gap?" he echoed. "At that stage, I doubt anyone will even see his back."
A steady voice joined them.
Elder Shen Tao, head of the Shadows Knowledge Pavilion, folded his hands within his sleeves. "At this rate," he said calmly, "he's not merely clearing the trial. He's aiming beyond it."
Ji Hong nodded. "The Hidden Level."
"You're certain?" Shen Tao asked.
Ji Hong's expression did not waver. "This boy doesn't slow when pressure mounts. He accelerates."
The surrounding elders exchanged glances. Ji Hong rarely spoke with such conviction about any disciple.
Cao Lian tilted her head, tone light but probing. "Level eight has one hundred beasts. Level nine has even more. That's not a battle—it's a siege. Can he truly face that alone?"
Ji Hong's smile deepened, quiet and confident. "He won't be facing them alone."
She raised a brow.
"He fights with experience. With intent," Ji Hong continued. "I've watched him in the Hunting Ground. When enemies swarm, he doesn't retreat—he adapts."
His gaze remained locked on the glowing board.
"For him, more beasts mean more targets. And for him… more targets…"
His voice trailed off, the implication clear.
"…mean more points."
____
With one hour, one minute, and thirty-five seconds remaining on the clock, the massive spirit-forged leaderboard rippled—and refreshed.
White Rank Leaderboard
[Rank 1 — Li Yan Tian — Level 7 — 1,540 Points]
[Rank 2 — Mu Fan — Level 5 — 895 Points]
[Rank 3 — Wen Hai — Level 5 — 770 Points]
A wave of gasps rolled through the white-ranked disciples, who had already been ejected from the pagoda trial, like a ripple across still water.
"Fifteen hundred already…?"
"He's two full levels ahead!"
"Is he really a white-rank disciple?!"
Spectators leaned forward instinctively, eyes fixed on the floating leaderboard. It wasn't just that Li Yan was in first place—it was how he achieved it.
Level 7, reached in record time, with a gap so large it seemed surreal. Nothing like this had ever been seen in the current generation's pagoda trials.