The Sky Vine Court was quiet the next morning.
Too quiet.
Word of Li Fan's trial within the Ember Lotus Array had spread like wildfire. Whispers drifted through the training halls, sect inns, and market alleys.
> "He shattered his own inner demon..."
"He hasn't even reached the Fifth Cauldron, yet the array almost cracked…"
"Is he really human?"
Some called it luck. Others called it madness. But those who had seen the light burst from the array… they said one thing:
> "The heavens fear him."
---
In a shaded corridor near the examination pavilions, Yue Xin walked alongside her elder brother, Yue Liuhan, a white-robed cultivator with jade eyes and a calm expression.
"You've seen him?" he asked.
"I have," Yue Xin replied. "He's not just gifted. He's… wrong. Like the world wasn't prepared for him."
Liuhan gave her a sharp look. "Should we intervene?"
She shook her head. "If you move too soon, the storm will fall on us. Better to watch. Let Ren Tian test him first."
---
Elsewhere, in the darker corner of the sect grounds, the masked disciple from the Mountain Ghost Sect met with a robed elder whose face remained hidden in shadow.
"He's resisting the Fifth Cauldron," the elder said. "That's dangerous."
The disciple nodded. "Dangerous for him."
"No." The elder's voice was cold. "Dangerous for us."
---
Meanwhile, Li Fan sat cross-legged on a quiet plateau overlooking the Sky Vine Court.
Below, disciples trained, vendors sold talismans, and sect elders drank tea under peach trees.
Above, the clouds were beginning to turn dark again.
He ignored them.
Mu Qiu sat beside him, chewing on a spirit root.
"They all think you're a ticking time bomb," he said.
Li Fan exhaled slowly. "They're not wrong."
"You're going to face Ren Tian again. Maybe even Yue Xin. You can't hold back forever."
"I have until the semifinals," Li Fan replied. "Then I'll face the tribulation. Until then…"
He clenched his fist. "I sharpen the blade."
---
Later that evening, Elder Hua summoned the remaining competitors.
Only six disciples remained.
Li Fan, still at the Fourth Cauldron.
Ren Tian, supreme swordsman and storm-blooded genius.
Yue Xin, whose Qi arts could freeze spirit fire.
Mu Qiu, who had narrowly survived the previous trial with wit and medicine.
The masked Mountain Ghost disciple.
And a quiet archer girl named Ling Yao, who rarely spoke but never missed.
> "Tomorrow," Elder Hua said, "will be the sixth trial—The Mirror of Judgment. There, your past, present, and future will be laid bare. False ambition will crumble. Only true intent survives."
---
That night, as Li Fan lay awake beneath the stars, the pressure in his dantian flared again.
The Fifth Cauldron trembled.
He closed his eyes.
> Just a little longer...
But above, in the heavens, lightning flickered.
Waiting.
---