The hall beyond the sealed ruin pulsed with old power.
Vast, angular, and quiet—the stone stretched out endlessly beneath their feet, etched in glyphs none could decipher. Statues lined the sides, each a robed figure without a face. The air shimmered with something unspoken. A warning. A hunger.
[System Alert: Host has entered a High-Risk Ruin Layer – Designation: Grave of the Obsidian Order]Trial Conditions Detected – Outcome will affect system evolution.]
Yue Qing's breath misted in the still air. "I've heard of this place… whispered in my exile."
Ye Tian turned, sword already out. "What do you mean?"
She knelt, brushing ash off a crumbled pedestal. Beneath it: a crest. Faded, but unmistakably old—a star broken into three shards, wrapped in thorns.
"The Obsidian Order… they were a sect that studied both the heavens and the abyss. Said to defy the natural cycle. They vanished after they tried to trap death itself in a cage of flesh."
Ye Tian frowned. "Charming."
They didn't get far before a cold, scraping echo dragged across the floor.
A statue turned its head.
The Trial Begins
The chamber sealed shut behind them.
From the center rose a monstrous figure: ten feet tall, forged of stone and abyssal bone, eyes burning like white fire. Its limbs dragged ancient weapons—one a chained halberd, the other a broken staff fused to a blade.
[Trial Guardian Awakened: The Watcher Beneath Dust]Objective: Survive until judgment is passed.]
The thing didn't roar.
It simply moved.
Silence and death followed.
Fighting the Watcher
Yue Qing conjured defensive talismans, her violet aura weaving a shield—but it shattered under one strike.
Ye Tian dove forward, his system blade flashing as he parried a blow that cracked the floor.
[Damage absorbed: 43%]System Skill Activated: Abyssal Shift Lv.2 – Phantom Step Engaged]
He vanished and reappeared behind it, slashing across the joints. Sparks flew, but no blood. Just ash and memory.
The Watcher spun, arms stretching unnaturally.
It wasn't just testing strength. It was studying them.
Yue Qing's Power Spirals
As Ye Tian distracted it, Yue Qing chanted—drawing on the curse she hated.
Chains erupted around her, ghostly and screaming. They lashed onto the Watcher, locking its limbs.
Her nose bled. Her knees buckled.
But the Watcher slowed.
"NOW, YE TIAN!"
[System Option Unlocked: Trigger Trial Execution Protocol – Risk Level: Severe]
He slammed his blade into the cracked symbol beneath the Watcher—power surged up like lightning from the Abyss.
The Watcher convulsed—
—and shattered into a million fragments.
Aftermath
The air cleared.
Only silence remained.
In the center of the room, where the Watcher once stood, a pedestal rose from the ground. On it rested a black gauntlet with crimson runes flickering across the surface.
[Reward: Obsidian Gauntlet of Echoing Trials]Effect: Allows the wielder to absorb one system skill from a defeated enemy. Cooldown: 3 days]
System Update: Trial Integration Node Found.Unlocking deeper Abyssal Tech Tree…]
Ye Tian slipped the gauntlet on. Power pulsed through his veins—not wild, not hateful. Calm. Waiting. Intelligent.
Yue Qing looked up at him, trembling, her voice weak but determined.
"That thing… it didn't want to kill us. It was waiting to see if we were worthy."
Ye Tian's eyes flickered red. "Then we've only just opened the real gate."