Following the late-night conversation with his grandfather, Jun Mo Xie wasted no time. The wheels of his plan had begun to turn, and every moment was a potential advantage—or a risk.
The next morning, the sun rose over the Jon estate with sharp brilliance. In the main courtyard, over ten thousand soldiers assembled, drawn from every branch and corner of the family's influence. Their armor gleamed under the early light, but their formation was loose, their discipline inconsistent. These were not yet warriors—just men with weapons.
Jun stepped onto the dais, his black robes fluttering lightly in the breeze. A silver emblem—a coiled shadow dragon—hung over his chest. Behind him stood tall banners stitched with the new sigil: a serpent-dragon encircling a spiraling flame. A symbol not of tradition, but of rebirth.
> "You are many," he declared, voice calm but firm, amplified by spiritual energy, "but I need the few. The ones who can stand where others fall. The ones who do not flinch in the face of monsters—human or otherwise."
A three-day selection process began. He tested them not merely for strength or skill, but for resilience. They were subjected to grueling physical trials, battles of attrition, blindfolded obstacle runs, meditation under pressure, and even illusions that challenged their sense of reality.
Only one thousand remained at the end. The elite. Their eyes no longer carried confusion—they held purpose.
Jun stood before them again. "You are the shadow within the flame. From this point forward, you are no longer merely men of the Jon family. You are its fangs, its claws, its will."
He handed each of them a black sigil to wear. "Our first mission begins at dawn. Destination: Li Fang Forest."
---
The Li Fang Forest was a forbidden zone an entire empire avoided.
Located two days southeast of the capital, the forest spanned over two hundred square kilometers and was drenched in wild spirit energy. Ancient trees rose hundreds of meters, their bark pulsing with residual qi. No birds sang, and no wind rustled the leaves. Only silence.
As Jun and his thousand warriors approached its edge, even the horses refused to go further. The group dismounted. Jun lifted a hand, releasing a pulse of dark-blue aura that calmed the energy around them. At his side, Yi Yi and Ling Hua accompanied him, while Li Xuan stayed behind to maintain appearances at the palace.
"From this point," Jun said, "each unit of ten will survive independently within the forest for two weeks. You will face beasts that feed on qi, illusions that consume memory, and terrain that swallows the unprepared. If you survive, you will receive a cultivation pill of my own creation—one that grants the essence of ten years' progress in a single breath."
Gasps rose. They had heard of his alchemical feats—of pills that enhanced the spirit root, restored severed meridians, even extended lifespan. But ten years?
He added, "Survive, and you will rise. Die, and your sacrifice will be remembered as part of the rebirth of the Jon legacy."
With no further delay, the units dispersed into the wild.
---
The forest was alive—but not with life as mortals knew it.
Noxious vines reached for ankles. Trees whispered secrets in a language only madmen could understand. Insects with spiritual cores chewed through metal armor. The first night, three units went missing.
But Jun expected losses. This was not a test of mercy—it was a crucible.
He did not remain in camp. Every night, he teleported between units using a secret spatial-folding technique from his former world. He brought herbs to the wounded, adjusted meditation stances, taught field refinement of energy using moss from spiritual stones.
One night, a team encountered a Firefang Tiger, a rank-two spirit beast that spat compressed flame bullets. Three were burned before Jun arrived.
He landed in silence, coat still smoldering from his jump. With one swift motion, he drew a silver-thread needle and embedded it in the beast's throat. The Firefang collapsed, twitching.
"Good," he said to the survivors. "You saw its weakness."
"But we failed..." said one soldier, ashamed.
"No," Jun corrected. "You lived."
---
On the tenth day, a greater threat appeared.
A Stonehide Gorilla, rank-four, ten feet tall and nearly impervious to weapons, charged a night encampment. Its footsteps alone cracked the earth. Qi attacks bounced off its hide. Arrows shattered.
Jun had no choice. He arrived mid-rampage, his hair matted with rain and his eyes glowing with inner light.
He inhaled once, let the qi from the stormy air fill him, and unleashed a technique no one in this world had ever seen—a single open-palm strike, infused with a spiraling wind-glyph from his past life.
A vortex exploded outward. Trees bent. The gorilla staggered, then cracked. A final punch from Jun shattered its core.
Silence.
The soldiers knelt—not in fear, but awe.
> "Our leader is not just a cultivator," one whispered. "He's a force of nature."
---
On the fifteenth day, the survivors returned. Some limped. Others carried the bodies of fallen comrades.
Jun stood at the gate, a silver vial in each hand. He had crafted one thousand cultivation pills—each infused with refined soulstone essence and tempered in moonlight.
He administered them personally. One by one.
As the soldiers meditated, pulses of light exploded from their bodies. Some howled as their meridians expanded. Dozens broke through bottlenecks.
One soldier, long stuck at Stage 2, suddenly surged into Stage 4 – Spiritual Master.
Another reached Golden Core Saint, sobbing from the release of decades of stagnation.
Yi Yi watched silently. "You've made them more than soldiers."
"I made them believers," Jun replied. "Belief is the foundation of an empire."
---
Three days later, Jun summoned them again.
He walked before them in his battle cloak, hands behind his back.
"You have tasted fear," he began. "You have seen death. But you lived. You are now my Shadow Guard. When the city trembles, you will stand firm. When the nobles whisper, you will listen. And when the time comes, you will strike without hesitation."
He held out a new badge—obsidian black, marked with a spiraling flame.
"Wear this with pride. And know that your names are etched not just in history—but in the future."
The soldiers roared. No longer mere men. Now, they were a storm waiting to be unleashed.
---
Cultivation Note:
Jun Mo Xie: Now approaching Stage 8 – Heavenly Lord, though masked as a Stage 7. His unconventional training and dual-world techniques make him unpredictable.
Yi Yi: Stage 5 – Golden Core Saint.
Ling Hua: Solidified at late Stage 4 – Spiri
tual Master.
Li Xuan: Hidden potential; her spirit root responds only to extreme emotion.
---
End of Chapter Twelve.