The cavern still smoldered with the ruin of the Ember Bloom. Smoke clung to the ceiling, ashes drifted like black snow, and the acrid stench of burned chitin poisoned every breath. Survivors limped in silence, faces pale, some still clutching wounds. Where dozens had stood, fewer than half remained.
None looked at Shen Hao for long. Their gazes flickered, then slid away, as though meeting his eyes might ignite another inferno. They muttered under their breath, some too quietly to catch, others with tones laced in fear. Shen Hao felt their distance like a wall. He was not one of them anymore, he was a blade too sharp to touch.
Only Yao Jun stepped forward. His robe was torn, blood streaked faintly at his jaw, but his posture was flawless, his smile still resting in place. His two companions flanked him like shadows, their eyes unreadable beneath their hoods.
"You wield destruction as if it were breath itself," Yao Jun said softly, his tone carrying no fear, only measured admiration. "I must confess, Shen Hao of Earth, I am impressed. That technique… it has weight beyond power. It is presence. Authority."
Shen Hao clasped his fist in palm, his voice steady though his body still trembled faintly from the Bloom. "It was necessary. Nothing more."
"Perhaps," Yao Jun replied, his smile deepening. "But sometimes necessity reveals destiny. And destiny… shapes leaders."
The other cultivators kept their distance. They bandaged wounds, checked their weapons, but not one dared speak to Shen Hao. In their silence, fear grew roots.
"Come," Yao Jun said at last, turning toward the tunnel beyond the ruined nest. "The swarm is gone. The mountain calls us deeper. The chamber lies ahead."
The descent was endless.
The tunnel narrowed and stretched downward, deeper and deeper into the mountain's heart. The air thickened with every step, heavy as iron, forcing each breath like swallowing molten lead. The heat of the upper caverns faded, replaced by a cold that gnawed at bone, the kind of cold that whispered of graves. Shadows clung to the walls, and the faint sound of dripping water echoed like a heartbeat.
Hours blurred. No one spoke. Even Lingfeng kept his voice low, a rare thing. "Master… this place doesn't just test strength. It eats at courage."
Mo Han's voice followed,"The mountain peels away illusion. At the end of this road, only truth will remain."
At last, the path opened.
They stepped into a chamber so vast it defied belief. The ceiling arched higher than sight, swallowed in darkness, and the floor spread wide enough to house a city. At the center stood a door.
It was colossal, towering ten men high, carved of black stone veined with molten gold. Ancient runes crawled across its surface, glowing faintly like embers waiting to flare. The air around it thrummed with restrained power, and just standing before it pressed on the chest like a mountain's weight.
Even the boldest cultivators froze.
"This…" one whispered.
Yao Jun's smile faded into focus. "The door to the final chamber." His eyes lingered on it with rare intensity. "This is what the mountain guards. This is why we bled."
Shen Hao's gaze swept the runes. They twisted and pulsed, shifting until they spilled across the floor in a spiral pattern. Five concentric circles etched themselves into the stone, glowing with golden light, humming like plucked strings.
Then the voice came.
Not of man. Not of beast. The mountain itself spoke.
"Five circles, five trials. Qi in balance. Harmony in discord. Blood, if harmony fails."
The air vibrated. The runes flared brighter. The five circles glowed expectantly.
Yao Jun's eyes narrowed, his tone low. "A puzzle. The door demands not force… but unity."
The cultivators exchanged wary looks. Unity was the one thing they did not have.
The five circles pulsed brighter, each ring humming with a low vibration that rattled teeth. They spread evenly across the polished stone floor before the door, glowing like molten brands carved into the mountain itself. The runes along the door shifted again, glowing in rhythm with the circles.
One cultivator stepped forward, his face pale but defiant. "What is this trick supposed to mean? Do we… stand in them?"
As if answering, the closest circle flared suddenly, its light sharp and demanding. Shen Hao felt it tug at his Qi, pulling faintly, whispering for balance.
Mo Han's voice stirred in his mind. "It seeks resonance. Each circle must be filled. Five cultivators, channeling Qi in harmony. If the balance falters… the door will take blood instead."
"Blood?" Lingfeng muttered. "Master, I don't like puzzles that come with a side of corpse offerings."
The cultivators shifted uneasily. Cooperation was rare among them, they were rivals as much as allies, competitors who had already bled to survive. To entrust their Qi, their essence, into the same test? It was madness.
Yao Jun raised a hand. His voice was calm, steady, carrying over the tension like a soothing current. "We have no choice. Five must step forward. Shen Hao, myself, and three others." His eyes swept the group, sharp behind his smile. "If you fear sacrifice, stand aside. If you seek the chamber, step forward."
For a long moment, silence. Then, slowly, four others moved into position, Shen Hao, Yao Jun, and three cultivators whose eyes betrayed unease but determination.
The five took their places, each within a circle. The runes flared, the hum deepened.
Shen Hao felt it instantly. The circle drank at his Qi, not violently, but insistently, drawing it into the pattern. He guided the flow carefully, controlling its rhythm, its pulse. Around him, beams of energy stretched from circle to circle, weaving a net of light across the chamber.
The door rumbled.
But the balance wavered.
One cultivator faltered, his Qi jagged, uneven. The circle hissed, sparks spitting outward as the net trembled. Shen Hao gritted his teeth. "Steady your flow!"
"I....I can't!" the man gasped. Sweat poured down his brow as his knees buckled. His Qi surged unevenly, clashing with the others.
The runes along the walls flared crimson. The chamber's voice thundered again.
"Harmony fails. Blood is owed."
Before anyone could move, the circle beneath the faltering man erupted. A spear of golden light impaled him through the chest, burning him from within. His scream echoed once before his body crumbled into ash, scattered across the glowing circle.
The light did not fade. Instead, the circle steadied, now glowing stronger, as if the sacrifice had strengthened it.
The cultivators froze, horror flickering in their eyes.
Lingfeng's voice cracked the silence. "Well… that's one way to pay your entry fee."
Yao Jun's voice cut sharp through the fear. "Do not falter again. The mountain has no mercy. Balance your Qi. Now."
Shen Hao drew a sharp breath, forcing his mind steady. He poured his energy into the circle with precision, letting it resonate with the others. The hum deepened, the net brightened, threads of light weaving tighter. Yao Jun's Qi flowed smooth as a river, calm and deliberate, guiding the others like a hidden hand.
One by one, the circles aligned. The patterns pulsed in unison, the chamber vibrating as though alive. The door's runes flared, every line blazing gold.
The hum became a roar.
Light exploded from the five circles, beams converging on the door in a torrent of energy. The stone shuddered. Cracks spiderwebbed across its surface. Molten light bled from the seams.
Then, with a sound like the mountain itself splitting in two, the door opened.
Stone ground against stone, slow and thunderous. A gale of ancient Qi swept outward, blasting hair and robes back, stinging skin with its raw intensity. The opening widened, spilling golden light into the chamber, a light so pure it drowned the smoke, the blood, the fear.
The final chamber lay beyond.
Every cultivator stood frozen, eyes locked on the widening threshold, breaths caught in their throats. Whatever lay past that door was the reason they had survived this far, the reason so many had fallen.
Shen Hao's heart thundered, blood rushing in his ears. Mo Han's voice whispered, low and steady. "At last. The mountain reveals its heart."
And as the door opened fully, silence swallowed them all.