The Southern Wastes stretched for hundreds of miles—scorched deserts, spirit-dead zones, and buried ruins older than dynasties. It was a place avoided by sects unless forced by fate or mission.
Li Fan chose to go there willingly.
The Sixth Cauldron called to him.
---
Mu Qiu walked beside him, grumbling.
"Who decides to cultivate in a wasteland? There's no food, no inns, no women—only ghosts and sand!"
Li Fan smiled faintly. "The Cauldron isn't just about strength. It's about what you endure to get it."
Behind them, two more figures followed.
Yun Jian, a quiet alchemist with strange blue eyes, sent by Elder Hanzhou to ensure stability.
And Wen Rourou, a blade maiden from the Moonvine Sect, assigned as "protection," though Li Fan suspected her orders ran deeper.
Together, the group pressed south.
---
By the fifth day, the terrain turned cruel.
The skies grew bronze, the sand coarse as ground bone. Strange winds howled at night, carrying illusions that whispered Li Fan's name.
It was on the sixth night that Yun Jian pulled him aside.
"There's something you should know."
Li Fan raised an eyebrow.
Yun Jian drew a folded scroll. "This came from the Central Authority. A bounty—not public, but circulating through shadow markets. Anyone who sees you is encouraged to 'test your stability.'"
Li Fan's face hardened.
"Someone wants me provoked."
Yun Jian nodded. "Or dead."
---
On the seventh day, the group stumbled upon ruins: jagged spires and broken altars half-buried in the dust.
Li Fan felt it immediately—the pull.
Like gravity, dragging his spirit downward.
Wen Rourou touched her blade hilt. "There's something below."
Indeed, there was.
A stairwell formed from black bone spiraled into the earth, pulsing with remnant Qi.
Li Fan didn't hesitate.
He descended first.
---
Below, the tomb was vast.
Walls etched with forgotten cauldron scripts. A mural of a giant obsidian crucible, devouring gods and beasts alike. And in its center—a dais with a cracked stone cauldron still radiating faint divine pressure.
The Sixth Trial.
As he approached, the chamber shifted.
The doors slammed shut.
His companions vanished.
And a voice whispered:
> "You who dares the Sixth Crucible… what are you willing to burn?"
Flames erupted around him.
The Trial had begun.
---
Above ground, Wen Rourou stood alert.
From the dunes, dozens of figures emerged—rogue cultivators, bounty seekers, and mercenaries.
Mu Qiu swore. "It's a trap!"
Wen Rourou unsheathed her blade.
Yun Jian raised his palm, conjuring freezing smoke.
And from the shadows, one cloaked figure stepped forward holding a seal marked with the Emperor's Crest.
"This is no mere test," he said.
> "The Empire has decided—Li Fan must not rise unchecked."
---