The cracked bell rang in the dark.
The sound dragged them from nightmares into a world that wasn't kinder.
It was a metallic clang that made their teeth vibrate.
Echoed in their skulls.
Mocked them.
In the dorm, no one spoke.
They rose slowly.
Blankets clung to their shoulders like wet shrouds.
Some cried without sound.
Others simply sat there, eyes dead, until Mu's assistants banged on the door.
Jin Xiu cracked his knuckles, flinching at the sound.
His face was a bruised ruin, one eye blackened and swelling shut.
Liu Qing whimpered as he sat up.
He clutched his ribs with both arms.
Every breath was a wet, rattling gasp.
Wei Lian watched them from the shadows.
He hadn't slept at all.
He didn't need sleep.
He needed to endure.
They shuffled out into the courtyard.
Snow had fallen again in the night.
It lay in uneven drifts.
Filthy from footprints, streaked with old blood frozen black.
Their breath fogged in harsh, ragged gasps.
No one dared speak.
The wind whipped at their thin robes, making them snap and flap like tattered flags.
The cold got everywhere.
Under nails.
Through bandages.
Between cracked lips.
Wei Lian felt it crawl through him.
He let it in.
Pain meant awareness.
He followed them.
Bare feet cracking the icy crust.
Mud oozed cold around his toes.
He ignored it.
Elder Mu waited at the gate.
He was unmoving.
A statue carved from ice and hate.
Snow gathered on his shoulders.
He didn't brush it off.
His staff was planted in frozen mud, frost creeping up its length.
He let them gather in front of him.
Let them squirm.
Jin Xiu glared at nothing, nostrils flaring with every breath.
Liu Qing stood shivering so violently his teeth clicked.
Another disciple sobbed quietly, shoulders shaking.
Wei Lian watched Mu's eyes.
Black.
Empty.
Finally, Mu spoke.
"Look at you."
His voice wasn't loud, but it carried.
It slid into their ears like a cold blade.
"Filth. Trash. Half-broken pigs clinging to breath you haven't earned."
No one answered.
He let silence burn.
"Yesterday, you proved you could fight."
"Some of you."
"Barely."
A coughing fit broke out.
Mu's gaze snapped to the sound.
The disciple froze, hand over mouth.
Eyes wide in terror.
Mu didn't speak.
Didn't have to.
The wind filled the silence, howling over the walls.
"Today is the second trial."
No one moved.
No one dared breathe too loudly.
Wei Lian felt the ember in his dantian glow.
3rd layer.
Steady.
The crack pulsed.
Hungry.
Waiting.
Mu's lips twisted into something like a sneer.
"You want to know what it is?"
He let the words drip slow.
"It's a walk."
Silence.
"A simple walk."
Jin Xiu's lip curled.
Liu Qing's eyes darted to the gate, hope flickering and dying in a heartbeat.
Mu tapped his staff once.
"Follow."
They obeyed.
They always obeyed.
He led them through the frozen courtyard.
Past the arena where blood was still frozen in black lines.
Where ropes still swung in the wind, creaking.
Past the crooked training hall.
Half-collapsed roof, covered in sagging snow.
They walked in silence.
The only sounds were breath.
Coughs.
The wind.
The crunch of ice beneath ragged sandals.
Snow fell in slow spirals.
Landed on cuts.
Melted.
Ran in pink rivulets.
Wei Lian's breath was steady.
He watched everything.
Noted how Jin Xiu walked slightly ahead of everyone.
Shoulders squared.
Breathing loud.
Trying to dominate the space with nothing but posture.
Liu Qing lagged behind.
One arm across his ribs.
Every step a struggle.
He wept silently, breath hitching in ugly little whines.
Wei Lian measured them both.
He wasn't the strongest.
He wasn't the fastest.
But he was the one who watched.
The path led them to the back of the sect.
There was a narrow gap between black cliffs.
It looked like a mouth.
Waiting.
Darkness pooled inside it.
Snow blew through it in curling eddies.
The wind seemed to scream as it funneled through the rocks.
Bones littered the entrance.
Old.
White.
Picked clean.
Frozen rags clung to some.
Rotted belts.
A cracked spirit gourd.
No one missed what they were.
Disciples who had failed.
Someone gagged.
Turned away.
Mu didn't blink.
He waited until they all saw.
Then he spoke.
"Welcome to the Path of Endurance."
Snow fell harder now.
Landed on his shoulders, his hood.
He didn't brush it off.
"This is your second trial."
He let the wind scream between them.
"You will walk through that canyon."
"You will carry your burden."
He gestured behind him.
Assistants dragged heavy sacks forward.
They hit the ground with dull thuds.
They spilled open.
Rough-cut stones.
Heavy.
Jagged.
Some streaked with old blood.
"This is your weight as a cultivator."
"Your obligation."
"Your burden."
He let the words sink in.
Snow crunched underfoot as he stepped closer.
"You will place one on your back or shoulder."
"You will walk the entire canyon."
"If you drop it, you fail."
Silence.
"If you stop moving, you fail."
"If you die?"
Mu's voice went very quiet.
"No one will help you."
He waited.
Watched them squirm.
"Inside the canyon are traps. Spikes. Pits. Poisonous plants and insects."
"The bones of your betters."
"And each other."
Jin Xiu's grin was feral.
He licked blood off a split lip.
Liu Qing let out a broken sob.
Mu's eyes swept over them.
"Yes."
"You can attack each other."
"You can try to kill each other."
"I don't care."
Snow turned to sleet.
Cold needles on skin.
Wei Lian didn't move.
Didn't react.
Inside, the ember pulsed.
The crack in his dantian widened.
Waiting.
Hunting.
Mu's voice dropped even lower.
Almost kind.
"You want to rise?"
"You want to be noticed?"
"You want to survive?"
"Earn it."
He gestured at the stones.
"Choose your burden."
Silence.
Jin Xiu moved first.
He spat.
Picked the biggest rock he could lift.
Heaved it onto his shoulder with a grunt.
Veins stood out in his neck.
He turned and glared at them all.
"Move."
Wei Lian watched him.
Measured him.
Then stepped forward.
He chose carefully.
Not the biggest.
Not the smallest.
He wanted something solid.
Balanced.
He lifted it onto his shoulder.
Felt it bite into bruises.
Blood cracked and ran down his ribs.
He didn't flinch.
Inside, his Qi stirred.
Anchor.
Sink.
Channel.
Infuse.
Others scrambled.
Hands shaking.
Crying.
Cursing.
One boy dropped his immediately.
Screamed.
Begged.
Mu didn't blink.
"Out."
Assistants dragged him away.
His screams echoed off the cliffs, mixing with the wind.
Finally, the survivors stood.
Stones on their shoulders.
Feet already sinking in slush.
Breath ragged.
Faces pale.
Mu watched them all.
Eyes flat.
Black.
"This canyon has no rules except one."
"Finish."
"Or fail."
"Those who finish before sunset become outer disciples."
"Those who don't?"
He let that hang.
"No one will remember your names."
Wind shrieked between cliffs.
Snow whirled.
Wei Lian felt it cut into him.
He welcomed it.
Another cut.
Another test.
Because today wasn't for mercy.
It was for proving he was willing to crawl through hell to see the other side.
Mu raised his staff.
"Begin."
They stepped forward.
Mud sucked at their feet.
Stones bit into shoulders.
Blood ran from fresh wounds.
Jin Xiu laughed once.
Low.
Ugly.
Wei Lian didn't smile.
He adjusted his grip.
Breathed slow.
Inside, the ember roared.
The crack pulsed.
He stepped into the canyon's mouth.
And did not look back.