Chapter four: Whispers of Power, Trial by Fire, and the Watcher in the Clouds
Rumors in the Wind – Mu Yuelan Watches
In the Cloud Crystal Sect, Mu Yuelan meditated on a peak of frost and silence. Her beauty was untouchable, her aura sharp like falling snow. The daughter of a hidden clan in the Upper Plane, she carried the weight of impossible expectations—and darker secrets.
A shadow kneeled before her, whispering:
"That beast… the one we discarded… he's alive."
Her eyes opened. Cold lightning flickered in her irises.
"Impossible," she said, but her voice wavered.
"He joined the Demonbone Sect. He's risen in a single week. The technique he drew broke the altar. They call him Lin Yu now."
Mu Yuelan's breath caught.
"That shouldn't be possible…"
She remembered Long Tian's bloodied body, broken in the forest.
She remembered choosing her daughter's survival over her guilt.
She had sealed his fate. And yet…
Now his name echoed through the abyss.
Trial by Fire
Entering the Inner Sect
After the arena battle, Lin Yu was summoned to the Trial Pagoda. Normally, Outer Disciples waited years for this chance.
He waited minutes.
"Enter," the Elder grunted. "If you survive the fire mirrors, you may qualify."
Lin Yu stepped into a chamber of burning glass. Ten Fire Phantoms, crafted from the spiritual residue of dead cultivators, rose before him. They mirrored his strength.
But they could not mirror his rage.
[Wish System: Boost – Phantom Breaker Permission Granted]
Condition: Must defeat them with raw body, no spiritual weapons.
Lin Yu bared his fists. "Come."
The battle was brutal. Each phantom struck like his past self—Long Tian's noble spirit, naïve and hopeful. He broke them one by one.
When the last shattered, the Elder who had sent him in clutched his robes with shaking hands.
"He… he's not human."
"He is... something older."
Cultivation and Cost – The Dragon Awakens Deeper
Back in his cave, Lin Yu sat cross-legged.
The Eternal Hellfang Dragon Art pulsed with hunger.
To ascend to the Second Layer—"Infernal Maw of Bonefire"—he needed a sacrifice: the essence of a Nascent Soul cultivator.
Impossible for most.
But not for him.
The Wish System whispered:
[Quest: "Feast of the Forgotten"]
Target: Yao Hanzhi, exiled Inner Disciple (Nascent Soul: Early stage). Location: Bonefield Ravine.
Reward: Unlock 2nd Layer. Mutation chance: 12%.
Lin Yu rose. His claws glimmered.
Yao Hanzhi was a known cannibal. A disgrace. A predator.
Tonight, the predator would be prey.
Mu Yuelan's Secret
That night, Mu Yuelan stared at her daughter—Xue'er—practicing sword forms.
She whispered into the wind: "Forgive me, Long Tian… I only wanted her to live…"
She hadn't told Xue'er the truth. That her father had been sacrificed. That the entity from her clan demanded a bloodline culling—one survivor only.
"I couldn't kill you," she said to the cold stars. "So I killed him instead."
But now…
He was coming back.
Mu Yuelan meets secretly with her clan's enforcer… and is warned: "You should have killed the dragon completely."