"Begin."
Mu's voice was cold.
Snow fell in slow, silent sheets, settling on their heads and shoulders, turning hair to dripping ice.
The wind howled.
They moved.
Stones on their backs.
Some staggered forward immediately, trying to get ahead.
Others hesitated.
Frozen.
Eyes wide.
Breath shaking.
One boy dropped his rock right at the start.
It rolled in the mud.
He fell after it, screaming.
Mu didn't even look.
"Out."
Assistants dragged him away by the arms.
He kicked.
Begged.
Vanished.
Wei Lian didn't spare him a glance.
He adjusted the stone on his shoulder.
Felt it grind into old bruises.
His robe ripped under the weight.
Blood soaked the cloth.
He exhaled.
Fog rolled from his lips.
He stepped forward.
The canyon swallowed them one by one.
Black rock walls loomed high on either side.
Snow clung to jagged edges.
Icicles stabbed down like teeth.
The wind screamed.
A thin, high whine.
Like something alive.
Mud turned to frozen sludge underfoot.
Every step cracked through a thin crust of ice.
Ahead, Jin Xiu laughed once.
Low.
Ugly.
He shouldered past another disciple, nearly knocking him down.
"Move."
No mercy.
The boy he hit stumbled, trying to keep his rock on his back.
He slipped.
A dull thud.
The stone crushed his leg.
He screamed.
Wei Lian walked past him.
Didn't even turn his head.
He heard Mu's voice, echoing from the entrance.
"Out."
Cold.
Uncaring.
Snow drifted in ghostly curtains.
The path twisted.
Narrowed.
Roots clawed out of the walls like black fingers.
Meltwater dripped in slow, rhythmic beats.
Each drop icy as death.
Ahead, the ground dipped.
A depression in the mud.
Covered in a false layer of snow.
Wei Lian's eyes tracked it.
He shifted.
Stepped to the side.
Another boy didn't see it.
He ran.
Breath ragged.
The snow caved.
He fell screaming.
Spikes waited below.
Wei Lian didn't slow.
He moved past the hole.
Didn't look back.
The boy's screams died in wet, choking gurgles.
Snow fell on the blood.
Turned pink.
Then froze.
The wind carried the smell of iron.
Wei Lian adjusted the rock.
Fingers numb.
His shoulder burned.
Split open under the weight.
Blood ran down his arm, steaming in the cold.
He breathed.
Slow.
Anchor.
Sink
Channel.
Infuse.
The path twisted again.
Icicles broke above them.
Shards fell
A disciple screamed as one buried in his collarbone.
Blood sprayed.
He dropped his stone.
"Out."
Mu's voice again.
Always listening.
Wei Lian's eyes flicked up.
He timed his steps.
Avoided the next fall.
Snow crunched underfoot.
His breath fogged.
Inside, the ember in his dantian pulsed.
The crack there widened.
He felt it.
Heat.
Pain.
Break.
Break.
Voices whispered.
Fail.
Drop it.
He didn't.
He forced another step.
The stone slid.
He caught it.
His shoulder screamed.
Blood leaked onto the rock's cold surface.
He pressed forward.
The canyon narrowed more.
Poison vines hung from the walls.
Thick, green-black.
They dripped sap that hissed as it hit the stone floor.
One disciple stumbled into them.
The vines wrapped.
Thorns stabbed.
He shrieked.
His stone fell.
"Out!"
Wei Lian sidestepped carefully.
The poison hissed close to his face.
He didn't flinch.
He kept moving.
A fork in the path.
Left: Wider.
Packed snow.
But rusty stakes glinted just beneath the surface.
Right: Narrow.
Sheer walls.
Black ice.
He chose right.
He climbed.
Ice cracked underfoot.
His sandals tore open.
Bare feet on frozen stone.
He slipped.
Stone nearly tumbled.
He slammed it into his shoulder.
Ribs cracked.
He didn't scream.
He hissed.
Breath burned.
Blood dripped onto the rocks.
He heard fighting below.
Jin Xiu's voice.
Laughing.
Bones breaking.
A wet, choking sob.
Wei Lian didn't look back.
He climbed.
Fingers numb.
Stone biting deep.
He felt the crack in his dantian widen.
Qi leaked.
Burned.
Voices inside.
Weak.
Drop it.
Break.
He ignored them.
The path leveled.
Ahead, fog drifted low.
Thick.
Yellow-green.
He coughed.
Poison.
He wrapped his sleeve over his mouth.
Eyes burned.
He pushed through.
Breath rattling.
Felt his heart stutter.
The rock seemed to weigh ten times more.
His knees shook.
He fell once.
Stone slammed onto his chest.
Air left him.
He lay there.
Blood dripped from his mouth.
Snow landed on his cheek.
Melted.
Freezing water ran into his collar.
The crack inside yawned.
Give in.
Drop it.
Fail.
Break.
He felt it.
Felt it widen.
A hairline fracture in the seal.
Qi flooded him.
But it burned.
Agony.
He bit his tongue.
Blood filled his mouth.
He spat.
Forced his fingers to move.
He grabbed the stone.
Lifted it.
Hands shaking.
Arms screaming.
Shoulder raw meat under the weight.
He stood.
Swayed.
Breath sobbed out.
He moved.
Step.
Another.
He stumbled into a pit.
Shallow.
Rusty spikes scraped his leg.
Blood flowed.
He didn't drop the stone.
He climbed out.
Ribs grinding.
Lungs burning.
Break.
Break.
BREAK.
Inside, the crack in his dantian pulsed.
He felt it straining.
Something wanted out.
Qi roared in his veins.
He choked.
Coughed blood.
He staggered.
Stone slipped.
He caught it with his neck.
Agony burst like lightning.
He saw stars.
He kept moving.
He would crawl if he had to.
He would die before dropping it.
The wind howled.
Snow became needles.
Froze the blood on his face.
The canyon narrowed further.
Walls pressed in.
Black rock.
Roots.
Bones.
He stumbled over a skull.
It cracked.
Teeth scattered.
He kept going.
Breathing.
Slow.
Steady.
Anchor.
Sink.
Channel.
Infuse.
Inside, the crack in his dantian yawned.
Voices shrieked.
Break.
Give in.
He smiled, bloodied teeth bared.
"No."
He forced another step.
Another.
Until even the canyon seemed to watch him.
Waiting.
Judging.
He didn't care.
He would make it.
Because tomorrow wasn't for mercy.
It was for proving he would crawl through hell and not break.