The great bells of the Azure Tower rang at dawn.
Their echo rippled through the city like a call from heaven itself, deep, cold, and final.
Every disciple knew what it meant.
The Trial of the Tower was about to begin.
The Gate of Light
Jian Wu stood at the edge of the courtyard, his cloak fluttering in the morning wind. Before him rose a massive gate made entirely of light, a barrier that shimmered like living glass. Beyond it, faint shapes moved in the mist: shadows of the trials that waited inside.
Yue Shan stood beside him, her gaze fixed on the gate. "Once you step in," she said quietly, "the Tower will show you what you fear most. It will strip your spirit bare. No one can help you inside, not me, not the elders, not even the heavens you want to defy."
Jian Wu looked at her, calm but determined. "Then maybe that's for the best."
She studied his face for a moment, then nodded. "Remember this: the Tower never lies, but it never shows the full truth either."
He stepped forward without another word. The light swallowed him whole.
The First Trial.. The Weight of Weakness
Darkness.
When Jian Wu opened his eyes, he was standing in a barren field beneath a gray sky. Wind howled across the cracked earth.
He knew this place, it was the outskirts of his old village, the place he once called home.
And there, not far ahead, a small boy knelt in the mud.
Thin, trembling, barely able to lift his head.
Jian Wu froze. It was himself, years ago.
The boy's hands bled as he tried to gather fragments of a broken bowl. Behind him, villagers watched with cold disdain.
"A child without a core," one spat.
"A curse born to shame his bloodline."
The words echoed through the wind. Jian Wu wanted to move, to shout at them, but his body refused to obey. The scene played on, cruel and unchanging.
The younger Jian Wu looked up suddenly, his eyes empty. "No matter how hard I try," he whispered, "I'll never be enough, right?"
Something inside Jian Wu cracked.
He dropped to one knee, gripping his chest. The mark there pulsed painfully, reacting to the storm of emotion within him.
"No," he whispered back, voice trembling. "You're wrong."
The boy's shadow flickered, and smiled sadly. "Then prove it."
A surge of black wind swept across the plain, swallowing the boy whole. When it cleared, Jian Wu was alone again — but his chest felt lighter, as if a chain had been cut loose.
The Second Trial ..The Voice of Power
He blinked, and the world changed.
Now he stood inside a vast void filled with floating shards of glass. Within each shard, scenes of battle played endlessly, warriors with glowing eyes, beasts that shattered mountains, gods who burned skies with their palms.
And in the center of it all floated a single, pulsing core of obsidian light.
You seek control, a voice whispered.
But what you truly crave… is power.
The core began to spin faster, forming a dark storm that reached toward him.
"I don't want your power," Jian Wu said through gritted teeth.
Then why do you keep reaching for it?
The storm struck him. He fell to one knee as invisible claws tore into his soul. Images flashed, himself destroying everything he loved, himself standing above corpses, himself laughing with eyes that weren't his.
He screamed, pressing his palm against his mark, trying to push the darkness back.
You are the vessel. You will overflow.
"No," he shouted, "I am still me!"
Light erupted from his chest, clashing with the darkness. The void shook. For a heartbeat, the obsidian core wavered, then shattered into dust.
Silence.
The shards around him slowed and faded, leaving only the faint hum of his heartbeat.
Jian Wu fell forward, gasping.
And this time, when he stood again, his steps were steadier.
The Third Trial .. The Sky Itself
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing on the very edge of the Azure Tower, at its highest point, above the clouds.
The air was thin and freezing. The sky stretched endlessly, painted in gold and blue.
And in front of him stood Yue Shan, or rather, something that looked like her.
"Finished already?" she asked, her voice calm, but her eyes glowing faintly. "Impressive. But tell me, Jian Wu, what will you do when the heavens strike you down again?"
"I'll stand up," he replied simply.
She tilted her head. "Even if you stand alone?"
He nodded. "That's what I've always done."
Her smile was sharp. "Then prove it."
In an instant, her form blurred into light. The wind roared. Swords of pure azure energy appeared in the air around him, hundreds of them, all pointed at his heart.
The first blade came down. Jian Wu dodged, barely. The second slashed across his shoulder, spilling blood.
He gritted his teeth, eyes burning.
He didn't have a weapon, only his will.
He caught the third sword with his bare hand. Blood ran down his arm, but he didn't let go. The sword's light flickered, trembling.
Then, for the first time, the mark on his chest flared with blue light, not dark, not corrupted, but pure.
He swung. The air itself split.
The remaining swords shattered into motes of light, dissolving into the wind.
When the world steadied again, the illusion of Yue Shan smiled faintly.
"Not bad, boy without a core."
"Not a boy anymore," Jian Wu said quietly. "And not without a core."
Her form dissolved into light, leaving only the sky, wide and silent, as the Tower began to hum around him.
Awakening
Outside the Tower, Yue Shan stood with the Grand Elder, watching the gate of light flicker.
"He's been inside too long," one of the guards murmured. "Should we.."
"No," Yue Shan said sharply. "He's still fighting."
The Grand Elder's old eyes narrowed. "You can feel it too, can't you?"
She nodded. "The Tower's reacting to him."
A shockwave suddenly burst from the gate, sending ripples of blue energy across the courtyard. Several disciples stumbled back in fear.
When the light faded, a lone figure stepped out.
His robes were torn, his body covered in blood and dust. But his eyes, they glowed faintly, the same deep azure as the tower itself.
The wind stirred around him, carrying whispers of awe and disbelief.
Yue Shan stepped forward, expression unreadable. "You survived."
Jian Wu's voice was hoarse, but steady. "The Tower didn't want to kill me."
"No," she said slowly. "It accepted you."
The Grand Elder approached, his gaze heavy. "Tell me, Jian Wu… what did you see?"
Jian Wu lifted his head, the morning light glinting off his scarred face. "Everything I needed to."
The Sky Trembles
Far above, thunder rumbled though the sky was clear. Clouds twisted into strange spirals, and a faint blue mark appeared high above the sun, the same mark glowing on Jian Wu's chest.
The Grand Elder's eyes widened. "The heavens are moving again…"
Yue Shan looked up, a cold shiver running down her spine. "Then his existence has already reached them."
Jian Wu turned toward the sky, blood still dripping from his hands.
"If they're watching," he said softly, "then they should remember my name."
He took o
ne step forward, then another, the wind swirling around him like a living thing.
"Jian Wu."
"The boy who defied heaven."
And somewhere, beyond mortal sight, the heavens truly trembled.