Dong Chen lay sprawled on the cold ground, bloodied and bruised. Shadows surrounded him, stretching endlessly in every direction. Their faces were familiar—too familiar. Wide grins split their featureless, shifting forms, their eyes hollow voids of mockery.
He knew them.
He had always known them.
"Still weak," one shadow rasped, its voice an echo from the past.
"Still useless," another sneered.
Dong Chen stared at them, but there was no surprise in his gaze. How could there be?
After all, these were the same voices that haunted him in the outer disciple area. The same voices that laughed when he failed, that jeered when he struggled. Every humiliation, every insult—they had never left him.
A soft, shrill laughter rippled through the void, then another. The grins of the shadows stretched wider, twisted into something inhuman.
"You should have stayed at the bottom," a voice hissed.
"You're still the weakest here," another whispered, their words crawling into his ears like insects. "Not in cultivation. But in mind."
The laughter became a chorus—dozens of voices merging, mocking, howling in twisted amusement.
Dong Chen gritted his teeth.
So this was what Shen Yuan meant by a test of will.
His fists clenched as something flickered in his heart—a fire that had long been smothered, reignited.
He slowly rose to his feet.
The laughter faltered. The shadows shifted uneasily.
He took a slow breath, then met their empty gazes.
"You can say whatever you want," his voice rang out, steady and sharp.
The shadows froze.
"Mock me, curse me, remind me of my failures," he continued. "Because that's all you can do. You're just shadows."
The air trembled.
"Shadows can haunt," he said, his voice rising. "But they can't hold me back."
The void shattered.
A deafening crack split the air as reality fractured like glass. The shadows screamed as their forms dissolved into dust, spiraling away like ashes in the wind.
Then—silence.
Dong Chen's eyes snapped open.
He was still in the elite disciple area. It had already been night.
The cold ground beneath him was real. The dim lantern lights flickering overhead were real.
And in front of him, Shen Yuan sat cross-legged, his golden eyes returning back to his usual light purple hue.
Around him, the other disciples watched in relief—some exhausted, some still shaken. But none of them looked at him with mockery.
He had done it. He had won.
Dong Chen exhaled, his chest rising and falling. Then, without hesitation, he knelt.
His forehead touched the ground before Shen Yuan.
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
Even Shen Yuan—ever composed, ever unreadable—blinked. His smirk faltered just slightly before returning.
"What are you doing?" Guo Bohai murmured, his voice thick with disbelief.
"What the hell?" Xiang Xiaoli muttered, stunned.
"I don't need this," Shen Yuan said, his voice flat. "Get up."
Dong Chen didn't look up and stayed where he was.
"Thank you," he said, his voice steady. "You didn't have to help us, but you did, even if it was due to other reasons. I swear—I won't hold anyone back."
Silence.
No one knew how to react. Gratitude was one thing, but kneeling? Bowing his head to that sly bastard?
Shen Yuan finally regained his composure. A slow smirk curved his lips as he stood up and walked toward Dong Chen. The moonlight caught his sharp features, making him seem even more unfathomable.
"Stand up," Shen Yuan said, his voice calm, unlike before. " As I said, I don't need your servitude. I don't need your acceptance."
Dong Chen hesitated.
Shen Yuan's eyes darkened.
"I just don't want to feel guilty for your deaths," he continued. "I hate that feeling."
Dong Chen's breath hitched.
Slowly, he rose to his feet.
Before he could say another word, Shen Yuan cut him off.
"Enough sentimentality," he said, his smirk widening. "Because with this… your test is over."
The moment the words left his lips, cheers erupted.
Some disciples collapsed in relief, others clapped each other on the back. The suffocating pressure they had felt during the trial had finally lifted.
For the first time in a long time, they could breathe.
But their relief was short-lived.
Shen Yuan cleared his throat.
"Of course," he said lazily. "Since I helped you, it's only fair you pay me back."
The celebration froze.
"...What?" Guo Bohai, the eldest among them, frowned. "What do you mean?"
Shen Yuan's smirk sharpened.
"You didn't think this was free, did you?"
Silence.
Everyone exchanged looks. Here it comes—the real challenge.
But… none of them complained.
Because deep down, they knew.
If it weren't for Shen Yuan, they would have still been the weak, directionless fools they were before.
The first to break the silence was Tang Jiyan.
"I don't mind," he said, shrugging. "You need something for your cultivation, right? Fine by me. Besides…"
His blue eyes glinted with hidden excitement.
"We have unfinished business from 300 years ago, don't we?"
Shen Yuan's smirk widened.
"Glad to see you remember," he mused.
Then he turned to the group.
"You'll be hunting something for me," he said. "Something… special."
He let the words hang in the air.
"A creature that soars through storms," he continued. "A beast whose feathers are worth more than flight or special artifacts."
Xiang Xiaoli's face paled.
"Wait… no… don't tell me—"
Shen Yuan cheekily smirked.
"That's right," he said. "An adult Tempest Falcon."
The reaction was instant.
Everyone stiffened. Even Tang Jiyan's usual arrogance faltered.
"Are you crazy?" Xiang Xiaoli blurted out. "That's a peak Grade 7 beast! Equivalent to ninth-layer Nirvana Realm! Even a baby to a semi-mature one is considered grade 6. And you want to hunt a full adult one?!"
Shen Yuan ignored her question.
"I don't just plan to hunt it," he said. "I plan to absorb its essence."
Silence fell over them.
Shen Yuan's smirk deepened.
"And then," he continued, "I'll reforge my body with its wings."
The disciples stared at him, their expressions ranging from shock to horror.
Body reforge.
A method where the flesh, bones, blood, and nerves were torn apart and replaced with something foreign. A technique so brutal that even powerful sects hesitated to use it.
Only those truly desperate for power would attempt it.
Now, they understood.
Shen Yuan wasn't just trying to advance to the Nirvana Realm.
He was trying to tear through the expectations and his limits in one leap.
Madness.
But no one objected.
Because deep down… they knew he was capable of it.
And that was what terrified them the most.