The wind over Sky Vine Arena was uneasy.
Stormclouds lingered, refusing to scatter. Spiritual pressure hung thick in the air, so dense that even high-level elders had to shield the spectators.
Li Fan sat in the healing ward, wrapped in talisman-bound gauze, his body thrumming with suppressed power.
He could feel it—the Fifth Cauldron was on the brink.
Each breath felt like a war between his will and the heavens.
"Any longer, and you'll snap," Mu Qiu muttered from the bed beside him, still pale from his duel with Ren Tian.
Li Fan closed his eyes. "One more match to finish. Then I'll stop holding back."
---
That night, Elder Hua summoned him privately to the upper sanctum of the sect.
The room was lit by soul lamps, each flame representing a disciple lost in past tournaments.
Hua's gaze was heavy. "The sect is watching you. The world is watching."
Li Fan stood silent.
"You've defied expectation. Overpowered tribulation. But there is a price to holding the heavens back."
"I know."
"You will face Ren Tian tomorrow."
Li Fan nodded.
Elder Hua leaned in. "If you do not break through, you will lose."
"I won't," Li Fan said calmly.
"Then…" Hua's voice lowered. "Do you fear what will come after?"
Li Fan didn't answer immediately.
But then he said, "I don't fear the heavens. I fear what I might become if I defeat them."
Elder Hua stared at him for a long time.
Then he whispered, "Good."
---
Meanwhile, deep within the Sky Vine Sect's forbidden library, Yue Xin stood before a crystalized mirror of fate. Her gaze reflected not her face, but Li Fan's.
"You're still holding back," she murmured.
Behind her, Yue Liuhan stepped out from the shadows.
"You knew he would win," he said.
Yue Xin nodded. "But tomorrow, the tribulation comes. And when it does, everyone will see it."
"See what?"
"That we've been preparing for the wrong kind of war."
---
Elsewhere, far to the north, across misty mountain ranges, deep inside the Celestial Thunder Temple, a monk opened his eyes from a centuries-long meditation.
"The boy has reached the threshold," he said.
A disciple nearby bowed deeply. "Should we send an envoy?"
"No," the monk said. "Send a warning."
"To who?"
"To the heavens."
---
As dawn broke across the arena, Li Fan stood alone at its center.
Across from him, Ren Tian waited, sword drawn, silent as death.
Elder Hua raised his hand—but paused.
Because the sky had darkened. Not with clouds.
But with celestial will.
The Fifth Cauldron shook inside Li Fan.
The ground beneath him cracked.
Lightning gathered like serpents in the sky, hissing with anticipation.
The tribulation had come.
And it would wait no longer.
---