Xiao Yan didn't go back to the city. He couldn't. Walking back into a crowded tavern looking like a burnt charcoal briquette was a great way to get arrested or followed. Instead, he dragged his aching body deeper into the crags of the Outer Peaks, far away from the path the "geniuses" took home.
His ribs were screaming, and his spirit sea felt like a dried-up well.
"Michael, find me a hole," Xiao Yan wheezed, leaning his shoulder against a jagged rock. "Somewhere the demons won't look. Somewhere I can pass out for ten hours."
[Calculating... Master, there's a spatial distortion about three miles up. It's faint, but it smells like that lizard in your head. It might be a sub-dimension of the Azure Dragon.]
"Perfect," Xiao Yan grunted. "A dragon cave. Just what I needed for my vacation."
It took him half the night to find it. Tucked behind a frozen waterfall was a crack in the reality of the mountain. He stepped through, and the air immediately changed. It wasn't cold anymore; it was heavy and humid, smelling of old lightning and ozone.
He was standing in the Azure God Secret Temple.
The walls were made of blue jade that pulsed like a heartbeat. In the center of the hall, a massive statue of a dragon looked down at him, its eyes glowing with a judgmental light.
"You look like a drowned rat, boy," the Azure Dragon's voice rumbled from inside his soul. "But you survived. Barely. If you want to keep that 12th Stage power from blowing your veins apart, you need to open the Second Gate of the Temple. The Gate of Bone and Law."
"Can't I just... nap first?" Xiao Yan asked, falling to his knees.
"The mountain is closing, and the Academy is opening," the Dragon hissed. "Naps are for the dead. Step into the circle."
Xiao Yan groaned and dragged himself into the center of the jade hall. The moment his feet touched the runes, blue chains of light snapped around his wrists and ankles. The Temple wasn't a place for prayer—it was a furnace.
"Oh, come on!" Xiao Yan yelled as the first jolt of draconic lightning hit his spine. "That hurt! A lot!"
He felt his bones grinding together. The 12th Stage Trinity Path was trying to settle into his body, but it was like trying to fit a gallon of water into a pint glass. He had to expand. He had to hurt. He stayed there for days, screaming at the walls until his voice gave out, his body breaking and reforming under the pressure of the Second Gate.
The Shadow in the Capital
While Xiao Yan was being electrocuted for his own good, Haoran was back in the comfort of a private estate. But he wasn't relaxing.
Haoran sat in a dark room, staring at a mirror. His face was gaunt, and the purple veins in his neck were pulsing like worms. He was holding a small, black orb that hummed with the sound of a thousand flies.
"One hundred and two," Haoran whispered. His voice was a dry raspy mess. "That's how many demons I killed to feed this thing today."
He tapped his finger on the table. One. Two. Three.
"The Academy," he muttered. "He'll be there. I can feel his heartbeat from here. I'm going to count every drop of blood he leaks when I finally tear that heavy sword out of his hands."
He crushed a cup in his hand, the ceramic turning to black dust. He didn't care about the trials or the rankings. He only cared about the "Variable."
The Immortal Hall
In the center of the Eternal Gate Academy, far above the clouds, was the Immortal Hall. It was quiet here—too quiet. The air was so pure it felt like drinking cold water.
Yan Bingxue walked through the massive white pillars, her boots clicking softly on the marble. She stopped before a curtain of falling water that glowed with a soft, silver light.
"Master," she said, kneeling and bowing her head. Her white veil fluttered in the light breeze.
"You returned," a voice came from behind the water. It was a woman's voice, sounding like bells in the distance. "And the mountain has claimed its toll. What of the 'Variable' Lord Shen Yuan spoke of?"
Bingxue hesitated. She thought of Xiao Yan—messy, stubborn, and standing in the middle of a crater.
"He is... unusual," Bingxue said carefully. "He reached the 12th Stage of the Mortal Realm within the Forbidden Zone. He has a power that shouldn't exist in someone from a fallen lineage. And... he has made a pact with an Ancient Soul."
The water stopped falling for a split second. A heartbeat of silence.
"A pact?" the voice asked, now sharper. "Then he is a danger to the balance. Or the key to it. Does he know who you are?"
"No," Bingxue said. "He thinks I am just a shadow. He is heading to the Academy as an External Disciple."
"Good," the Master replied. "Let him climb. If he reaches the Inner Gates, we will see if he is a King or a corpse. You are dismissed, Bingxue. Prepare your own cultivation. The Academy trials will be... bloodier than usual this year."
Bingxue bowed and left, her face unreadable. She looked out over the balcony at the vast continent below. Somewhere out there, Xiao Yan was probably doing something stupid and dangerous.
She hoped he was ready for the "snakes" Shuya warned him about.
To be continued!!!