Chapter 2: The Trials Begin
Morning bells echoed through Ironheart Sect like war drums.
Li Wei stirred from his mat just before the second chime. Though sleep had been shallow, his body buzzed with energy. After days of basic disciple drills—mountain runs, posture stances, spirit breathing—he was finally summoned for his first field trial.
Outside, Ironheart buzzed with excitement. Outer disciples milled around the mission board, where thin slips of jade glowed with posted assignments.
An iron-skinned elder named Instructor Tao Ren, bald as a melon and always gruff, stood in the courtyard and roared,
"Trial groups! Four per team! Report now or don't bother returning!"
Li Wei tucked his wooden badge into his belt. It had his name and status engraved:
Li Wei, Outer Disciple — Qi Gathering Level 2
As he stepped into the courtyard, sneers met him from every direction.
"That's the lightning brat," someone hissed.
"He thinks one lucky fight means he's a genius."
"He'll be crawling back in pieces."
Only one person gave him a nod: a calm, sharp-eyed girl dressed in plain robes, arms folded. Her name was Zhao Yanyun—the only disciple who hadn't laughed when he beat Chen Mu. She was quiet, fast, and reportedly trained in a mysterious blade style from the southern isles.
Next to her was a burly cultivator with arms like tree trunks, Bao Zhen, and a thin, jittery boy who seemed perpetually one sneeze away from disaster, Min Qiu.
"We need one more," Zhao said to Li Wei, eyes unreadable. "You're coming."
Li Wei blinked. "Me?"
"Unless you'd rather mop spirit chicken dung for a week."
He nodded quickly.
Trial Group Three was formed.
---
Instructor Tao Ren raised his voice:
"Spirit beasts have been spotted near Graywater Ravine. You are to investigate and subdue or eliminate them. Return with a core or fur sample as proof."
Min Qiu blanched. "Spirit beasts?! That's usually an inner disciple mission!"
Zhao said nothing. Bao Zhen cracked his knuckles, grinning. Li Wei's stomach tightened.
Yu Long whispered from his sleeve:
"They're sending you to die."
"Why?"
"Too much attention. You embarrassed core disciples and drew Elder Ma's gaze. They want you gone."
"But why would Zhao—"
"Not everyone plays the same game, boy. Trust your instincts, not your eyes."
---
Graywater Ravine
The forest near the ravine smelled of moss, blood, and the wet scent of qi-infused rot.
Li Wei's team moved carefully through thick trees. He followed Zhao's quiet footsteps, noticing how her blade never fully left its sheath, as though it waited to strike in half a breath.
They passed a tree with deep claw marks.
"Too big for a wolf," Bao Zhen muttered.
"Spirit Panther," Zhao said softly. "At least Mid Qi Gathering. Fast. Lethal."
"Lovely," Min Qiu moaned.
Suddenly, the air chilled.
Branches creaked.
Then—
A growl.
From above.
"MOVE!" Zhao shouted.
A massive black panther, its eyes glowing silver, dropped from the canopy like a shadow given flesh. It swiped toward Bao Zhen with claws that shimmered with death qi.
The burly cultivator roared and blocked with his iron-wood shield. The impact shook the earth.
Li Wei didn't think. He launched a golden spear of qi—his own technique, recently refined through nights of practice.
The spear hit the beast in the shoulder, knocking it off balance.
"Split!" Zhao barked. "Min, traps! Li Wei, support!"
The battle was a blur of claws, curses, and clashing light.
Min Qiu activated a talisman that summoned vines to ensnare the beast's rear legs. Bao Zhen smashed it with his war club. Zhao danced in close, slicing tendons with terrifying precision.
Li Wei channeled lightning into his palms and struck the creature's flank—
Crack!
The beast howled.
Yu Long muttered approvingly.
"Not bad for a worm."
The final blow came when Zhao leapt off Bao Zhen's back, spinning mid-air and driving her blade between the beast's eyes.
The forest fell silent.
Li Wei knelt, panting.
"We... we did it."
Zhao wiped her blade. "You fight well."
Bao Zhen chuckled. "Didn't think you had that in you, brat."
Min Qiu collapsed beside a rock. "I think I peed myself."
They laughed.
For a moment, they felt like a real team.
---
But peace never lasts.
As they prepared to skin the beast and harvest the core, Min Qiu suddenly gasped.
"My leg… it's numb…"
They turned.
His calf had a bite mark—barely visible before. The panther had struck him in the confusion.
Zhao's face went pale.
"That wasn't a normal panther."
She knelt, cut a strip of robe, and tied a tight tourniquet.
Li Wei touched the wound. Black qi festered beneath the skin.
Yu Long hissed:
"That's no spirit panther. That's a mutated Fangshade Beast. Poison from the Shadow Realm. It'll rot his veins in an hour."
Li Wei looked at Zhao. "What do we do?"
"There's a plant," she said quickly. "Azure Leaf Bloom. Grows near Shadow Pools. But they're deep in the ravine."
"I'll go," Li Wei said.
Zhao's eyes met his. "It's dangerous."
"I'm fast. And I've got... help."
"Then please be safe .... come back you sense something off".
Yu Long groaned.
---
Mist hugged the air like ghost breath. Every step deeper into the ravine felt like walking through the lungs of a dead god.
The plant glowed faintly near the pool—right where Yu Long said it would be.
As Li Wei approached, something stirred behind the water.
He froze.
A creature with long arms and a face stitched shut by threads of bone crawled from the shadows.
It wasn't alive.
It wasn't dead.
It was watching.
"Don't move," Yu Long whispered. "That's a Stitch-Wraith. They only strike when you run."
Li Wei's knees shook.
"Then what do I do?"
"Do nothing. Let me handle this."
Yu Long leapt from his shoulder.
For the first time since they bonded, Li Wei saw the lizard's eyes blaze with ancient runes.
"Abyssal Tongue." Yu Long's voice was no longer dry and sarcastic—it was a deep, rumbling force that echoed across the ravine.
The Stitch-Wraith bowed.
Then vanished.
Li Wei fell to his knees.
"What... was that?"
Yu Long slithered back, panting.
"An old trick. Costs too much. Don't expect it again soon."
Li Wei grabbed the plant and ran.
---
The Azure Leaf worked.
Min Qiu's color returned after half an hour.
When they returned to Ironheart, bruised but victorious, even Instructor Tao Ren looked impressed.
"Not bad," he grunted. "Your group... may not die after all."
They received small merit tokens—used for cultivating resources. But more than that, Li Wei earned something else:
Trust.
Zhao gave him a single nod that meant more than words.
Min Qiu promised him a spirit chicken feast. Bao Zhen clapped him on the back hard enough to crack ribs.
Yet as they walked back to the dorms, a shadow watched from the towers above.
Elder Ma Qian, eyes cold as ice.
He whispered to himself:
"The boy walked through a Shadow Pool. And lived."
He turned to his raven-spirit messenger.
"Tell the Inquisitor. He must arrive by the solstice."
---