"The mountain does not move for man. Man moves because of the mountain."
— Stone Sutra, First Engraving
🪨 The Mountain Lord Appears
The arena rumbled as if entire continents had shifted.
From the storm-cleaved void rose the Mountain Lord, a titan forged of obsidian and molten rock.
Its footsteps left glowing fissures across the storm-forged platforms, anchoring them in place despite the lightning's chaos.
Standing over fifty spans tall, its presence was suffocating, not because of movement—but because of stillness.
Every breath Jin took felt weighed down by boulders.
The Mountain Lord's voice rolled like an avalanche:
"To wield flame and tide, to bend storm and shadow—you are quick. But speed shatters against the eternal stone.
Show me endurance, or be buried."
🪵 The Trial Begins
The platforms froze into place.
The lightning arcs dimmed.
Instead of chaos, there was immovable solidity—an arena of absolute resistance.
Jin gripped the Leviathan Blade, but each swing felt sluggish. His strikes struck the Mountain Lord's obsidian armor, leaving not even a scratch.
Every counterstrike from the titan was simple: a fist, a step, a weight—but each one shook the marrow of his bones.
⚔ Clash of Scales and Stone
The titan raised both hands, slamming them into the arena floor.
Stone walls erupted around Jin, closing him in like a tomb.
He slashed at them, water qi flooding the blade, but the walls simply grew thicker with every cut.
"Struggle deepens the grave," the Mountain Lord intoned.
Jin's chest heaved. Sweat stung his eyes.
This wasn't a trial of victory—it was a trial of survival.
🌊 Remembering the Depths
His mind drifted to the sea again.
The tide never fought the cliff face head-on.
It eroded, patient, inevitable.
Jin shifted his stance, dropping the blade.
He pressed his palms against the stone, letting his qi seep into it.
Instead of breaking it, he let the Tidebound Sutra wear into the cracks—slow, steady, each wave deepening the fissures.
The walls didn't collapse dramatically. They crumbled, grain by grain, until air once more reached his lungs.
🐉 The Sixth Seal
The Mountain Lord knelt, an earthquake folding his massive form into a bow.
"You understand patience. Endurance is not stillness—it is persistence.
Bear the Seal of Stone."
A rune like a mountain peak appeared across Jin's back, glowing faintly.
Six runes now blazed upon the arena, and the dome of elements cracked like glass about to shatter.
The Gathering of Dragons stirred restlessly—their roars overlapping across realms.
⚠ The Seventh Challenger
The arena's air grew hot, suffused with the smell of burning incense and blood.
From a crimson gate at the far end emerged a figure draped in red battle-robes, holding a spear tipped with dragonbone. His eyes blazed with unending fire.
The herald's voice echoed:
"The Trial of War… the Blood-Spear Marshal arrives."