Year 4127 of the Central Calendar
Month of First Frost, Day 14
Mingzhen City, Shen Family Compound
The city bells tolled. The air trembled. From the eastern hills, a tide of black mist slithered toward Mingzhen.
On the walls, soldiers shouted.
Guard Captain: "Shadow Snake! King-ranked! To arms!"
The beast appeared, scales like midnight, eyes glowing red. Its body writhed in coils thicker than houses, smaller serpents dripping from its shadow like liquid venom.
The Battle
Shen Wu (barking): "Form ranks! Hold the gates!"
Soldier: "Its spawn—there are too many!"
Another: "The darkness, it swallows arrows!"
Jian ran forward, dual blades in hand.
Shen Wu (grim): "Jian! The beast devours shadows themselves. You cannot meet it with fear."
Jian (nodding): "Then I will meet it with wind."
The Shadow Snake lunged. Jian's Qi-Skin flared faint green, deflecting its poisoned fangs. He slid beneath its strike with Ghost Walk, blades tracing crescents.
Disciple (watching): "He… he's holding it back? Alone?"
The serpent hissed, spawning dozens of shadowlings. Jian spun into Stormheart Whirlwind, his blades a vortex shredding the spawn mid-air.
The courtyard erupted with gasps.
Soldier: "That stance… it's beyond Wind Dance."
Shen Wu (softly): "No… it is his own."
For four hours they clashed. Jian's Qi shifted hue—deep blue, then green, then shimmering both. Every technique layered Natural Qi as foundation, Wind Qi as edge.
Finally, he leapt high, blades carving runes in air.
Jian (shouting): "Wind God Dance—Sky Requiem!"
A gale tore through the serpent, ripping it from its own shadow and hurling it beyond the gates. It collapsed, body dissolving into black mist.
Silence. Then cheers.
Aftermath
Jian dropped to one knee, breath ragged. But as the mist faded, tendrils of dark Qi slid into his chest. His vision blackened—memories not his own flashing before him.
Endless battles.
A command whispered from the Emperor Beast of the Northlands.
The taste of blood and servitude.
He staggered, gripping his head.
Jian (thinking):Its essence… it's inside me.
Year 4127, Month of First Frost, Day 20
Central Terra, Dragon Clan Tower
Lisa Draconis stood before a Seeker Orb, its surface replaying Jian's battle. The Shadow Snake's death echoed in shimmering fragments.
Her father, Dragon Lord Draconis, loomed beside her.
Lisa (smiling faintly): "Father… I was not wrong about him."
Draconis (low voice): "No. That boy carries more than wind now. Keep your eyes on him."
Invitations
Year 4127, Month of Deep Frost, Day 2
Mingzhen City, Shen Compound
Two delegations arrived within days.
First: Qing Nation emissaries, clad in gilded silks.
Qing Envoy: "Our leaders offer Feng Jian their daughter's hand, and with it, guaranteed entry to the Seven-Star Academy."
Jian's mother Shen Mei's expression hardened, but she said nothing.
Second: emissaries of the Wind Dragon Clan, arriving in an airship wreathed in dragon motifs. They brought not only coin for the Shadow Snake's core but also a sealed letter.
Jian broke it open. Lisa's handwriting flowed across the parchment:
"Find me at the Academy. I'll be waiting. Don't disappoint me."
Beneath it: the Dragon Lord's personal seal, granting him direct recommendation to the Academy trials.
Jian's hands trembled.
Jian: "Mother… what do I choose?"
Shen Mei (smiling faintly): "Do you believe in Lisa's words?"
Jian (after a pause): "I always have."
Shen Mei: "Then follow your heart. The world has already chosen your path."
Training with Master Mark
Year 4128, Month of Blooming Winds
Maribuine Forest, Eastern Territories
The forest was alive with danger. Harpies screeched, monstrous vines slithered, and Qi-heavy fog cloaked the woods.
Beside Jian stood a tall man with a weather-worn cap and mischievous grin—Master Mark, once a Seven-Star Academy prodigy.
Mark (grinning): "Lesson one, kid: monsters don't wait for speeches. They bite."
An S-ranked harpy swooped down. Jian raised his blades, but Mark casually flicked his wrist, sending a throwing knife into its throat.
Mark: "Too slow. Again!"
Days became weeks. Jian sparred, stumbled, bled. Mark mocked him relentlessly, yet saved him at the last moment, each rescue a lesson.
One evening, Jian collapsed against a tree, gasping.
Jian: "Master… why do you push me until death?"
Mark (snorting): "Because death is honest. Either you survive it, or you don't. And if you can't laugh after nearly dying, you'll never make it in the Academy."
Jian chuckled weakly. For the first time in years, his laughter didn't feel forced.
Year 4129, Month of Summer Rain
Mingzhen City, Shen Compound
Two years later, Jian returned with Mark. They carried sacks of monster cores, proof of survival.
Before his grandfather Shen Wu, Jian demonstrated his perfected Wind-Dance Blade. Qi spiraled around him, wind and natural energy fused as one.
Shen Wu's eyes glistened.
Shen Wu: "This child… is no longer the boy we took in. He is the storm itself."
That night, parchment was presented: Jian's formal nomination to the Seven-Star Academy.
And by dawn, he and Mark set off aboard a skyship, the Academy City waiting beyond the horizon.