The announcement of the Outer Disciple Trial spread through the Azure Cloud Sect like wildfire. For most, it was an opportunity to rise. For servants, it was a joke.
Li Shen stood at the edge of the registration hall, listening as disciples laughed openly.
"Servants are allowed again this year?"
"What a waste of spirit stones."
"They should test rocks instead."
Li Shen kept his head lowered, but his fists tightened. He had trained in silence for years, enduring humiliation without resistance. But now, something inside him burned—not rage, but certainty.
He stepped forward.
The elder recording names barely glanced at him. "Name?"
"Li Shen."
The elder paused, frowning slightly. "The spiritless one?"
"Yes."
A ripple of laughter spread through the hall. Someone deliberately bumped his shoulder as they passed.
"You're brave," a disciple sneered. "Or stupid."
Li Shen said nothing. He signed his name and turned away, heart pounding. This was not recklessness. This was a line he had chosen to cross.
That night, beneath the stars, Li Shen sat alone. Jade Qi pulsed quietly within him, restrained by sheer will. He thought of the broken dragon statue, the lightning, the voice.
I will not hide forever.
Far above, unseen clouds slowly gathered.