When Stephen opened his eyes, the valley was gone.
The towering peaks of White Moon Valley, even the pale stretch of sky overhead, had vanished as if they had never existed.
Silence pressed in.
He stood alone.
Before him rose a staircase, its steps narrow and pale, climbing endlessly into the clouds. The upper reaches dissolved into mist, unreachable and unreal. Stephen hesitated for only a breath before stepping forward.
The instant his foot touched the first step, the staircase unraveled.
The world folded inward.
Stephen staggered as the scenery tore itself apart and reassembled around him.
He found himself standing in a mountain forest.
Towering trees enclosed the space, their canopies whispering softly as sunlight filtered through layers of leaves. Warm light scattered across moss-covered ground. Somewhere, birds sang lazily, unbothered by his presence.
It was serene.
Too serene.
His instincts flared a heartbeat too late.
A sharp whistle ripped through the air behind him.
Stephen spun, swinging his sword backward and bracing the flat of the blade just as something struck it with brutal force.
Clang!
The impact sent him flying. Pain burst through his ribs as he slammed into the ground, breath knocked from his lungs. His vision blurred, the world tilting as he forced himself to stay conscious.
He grit his teeth and looked up.
A monkey crouched among the branches above him. Bone-white spikes jutted from its limbs and spine, and two sets of elongated, metallic claws flexed as it watched him with cold, calculating eyes.
A Steel-Clawed Monkey.
Rank-2.
Stephen recognized it instantly. Fast, vicious, and lethal only to the careless.
He rolled to his feet, ignoring the ache in his side, and settled into a guarded stance.
The monkey vanished.
Leaves rustled.
Stephen circulated his qi and activated his movement technique just as the beast reappeared behind him.
Claws crashed against steel.
Sparks sprayed into the air as they exchanged blows in rapid succession, sharp clangs echoing through the trees. Stephen shut out the pain, narrowed his focus, and let the world shrink to motion and intent.
There.
He deflected the next strike and moved in one fluid breath.
The sword swept across.
The monkey split cleanly in two before hitting the ground, its body dissolving into motes of light that scattered into the forest air. In their place remained a single red scale, glowing faintly.
The forest responded.
Far ahead, branches twisted and wove together, bark creaking softly as they formed a wooden door etched with delicate leaf patterns.
Stephen approached and pushed.
Nothing.
Only then did he notice the shallow groove at the center of the door. Its shape was unmistakable.
He lifted the scale.
It snapped into place with a quiet clatter.
The door opened without a sound.
Stephen stepped through, sword raised, senses taut.
The world rippled, as though he were passing through a sheet of clear glass.
Heat struck him like a hammer.
A vast desert stretched endlessly in every direction, dunes rolling beneath a blazing sun. The light was harsh, unforgiving, forcing him to shield his eyes as sweat immediately beaded along his skin.
Second floor, he judged calmly.
The wind rose, whipping sand into the air.
Something blurred toward him.
Stephen turned and struck.
The collision rang dull and heavy. His arms went numb as he was flung backward, crashing into the sand nearly a hundred meters away. Grit exploded around him as he hit the ground.
Blood seeped from his palm, soaking into the hilt of his sword.
The sand ahead shifted.
A massive armored scorpion emerged, its body plated in thick, dark chitin. Dozens of eyes fixed on him as its pincers flexed and its stinger arched high.
Stephen's breath caught.
An Armored Sand Scorpion.
Peak mid-stage Apprentice Realm.
Rank-2.
He turned and ran.
There was no hesitation, no pride clouding his judgment. These beasts hunted in swarms. Once blood was drawn, they would pursue without rest, overwhelming even beings far stronger than themselves.
This was a test.
Not a place to be foolish.
Miles passed before he finally slowed. The pursuit never came, but the desert offered no mercy. The heat pressed down relentlessly, sweat soaking through his clothes as he continued forward.
Stopping here would be suicide.
Minutes later, the ground ahead dropped away.
A deep pit yawned before him.
At its center coiled a massive Red Stone Serpent. Its aura surged and faltered, unstable as it attempted to break through into the late-stage Apprentice Realm.
Stephen's gaze sharpened.
Opportunity.
He leapt down.
The serpent hissed, its tail thrashing wildly, but its body remained anchored. During a breakthrough, it could not move freely.
Stephen sprinted forward, dodged the sweeping tail, and leapt onto its back.
The serpent writhed violently.
Stephen clung to the gaps between its scales, fingers burning as he climbed higher. The ground below blurred into insignificance. A fall from this height would cripple him, if it didn't kill him outright.
He forced himself upward.
Time mattered.
They had not given a limit, but he knew better. Tens of thousands had entered. Only ten thousand would pass. Only the top hundred would earn true choice.
Stephen wanted Grand Sword Mountain.
He reached the serpent's head.
Qi surged into his legs as he steadied himself. At the crown of its skull gleamed a diamond-shaped scale.
Its fatal weakness.
He struck.
Again.
And again.
Cracks spread across the surface as the serpent roared, its body beginning to sink into the sand.
Stephen poured everything he had left into one final strike.
The blade plunged to the hilt.
The serpent collapsed, dissolving into light as Stephen slumped aside, chest heaving. His qi was nearly gone, his body trembling on the edge of collapse.
If not for the Azure Phoenix intervening at the final moment, he would have drained himself dry.
He released the suppression on the Blue Sapling.
A soft, ethereal glow spread through him, easing the pounding in his head and knitting his strength just enough for him to rise.
A petal-shaped fragment lay where the serpent had fallen.
Stephen pocketed it and stood.
Without looking back, he moved forward.
His father's words echoed quietly in his mind.
Only on the edge of life and death does true potential awaken.
Stephen stepped onward, intent on walking that edge for as long as it would take.