Black Serpent Hall's Cultivation Rankings
Mortal Realm
1. Skin Tempering – flesh hardened by venom baths.
2. Bone Marrow Refinement – bones infused with poisons, marrow thickened.
3. Blood Qi Awakening – meridians unlocked, qi begins to flow.
Foundation Realm
4. Poison Fang Stage – qi condenses into "fangs," short bursts of venom attacks.
5. Venom Core Stage – qi gathers into a small "core," techniques become longer and deadlier.
6. Coiling Serpent Stage – qi moves like a serpent, flexible, constrictive, alive in battle.
Core Formation Realm
7. Poison Core Condensation – only elites achieve this; their poison qi becomes semi-living, forming techniques that persist outside their body.
🌑 Shen Lian's Current Rank: Early–Mid Venom Core Stage, BUT his devouring lotus gives him bursts of strength that let him fight like late Coiling Serpent Stage—for short, unstable periods.
⸻
🥋 Example Martial Arts in the Sect
• Serpent Fang Palm → A venom qi strike that injects toxin like a fang bite.
• Venom Flooding Strike → Pushes qi into the opponent's meridians, rupturing them from inside.
• Coiling Serpent Grip → Qi wraps like a python around the enemy's limbs, constricting and breaking bones.
• Molting Scale Guard → Defensive art, venom qi hardens like scales around the user's body.
• Nine Coils Serpent Dance → Advanced spear art, strikes like nine serpents at once.
🌑 Shen Lian, because of the lotus, doesn't "learn" in the normal way—he steals fragments of these arts from those he devours and mutates them into strange hybrids.
⸻
⸻
The Second Match Called
The drums boomed.
"Next—Shen Lian versus Liu Feng!"
The crowd hissed and muttered. Liu Feng was a Coiling Serpent Stage fighter, one of the outer sect's deadliest, famed for his Serpent Bone Breaker Technique. He was taller than Shen Lian, his arms wrapped in black bandages soaked with venom that shimmered faintly in the sun.
As he stepped onto the platform, he cracked his neck, his smile cruel.
"The cripple who drinks qi," Liu Feng sneered. "I'll snap your spine and see if your demon tricks save you then."
The crowd cheered, eager for Shen Lian's humiliation.
⸻
The Opening Clash
"Begin!"
Liu Feng surged forward, his bandaged fists glowing with venom qi. He struck with Serpent Fang Palm, the air hissing as poison energy streaked through it.
Shen Lian barely twisted aside, but even the wind of the strike burned his sleeve. He countered with his own palm, qi coiling like a serpent. Their hands met, venom hissing against venom.
The stone beneath them cracked.
Liu Feng grinned. "Not bad. But too slow!"
He unleashed Coiling Serpent Grip, his qi wrapping around Shen Lian's arm like a python, constricting. Shen Lian's bones creaked under the pressure.
The crowd roared approval.
⸻
The Near Collapse
Inside Shen Lian, the lotus surged. The four petals whispered furiously.
Break him. Drink him. He is yours.
Let go. Let us devour him.
His vision blurred. He saw not one Liu Feng, but four: one sneering, one weeping, one howling, one shrieking. His body trembled as the petals tried to move his limbs for him.
For a heartbeat, he almost let them. Black tendrils of qi flickered along his arm, writhing toward Liu Feng's body.
The crowd gasped. "Demonic art!"
Up in the stands, Sect Master Hei Zong's scowl deepened. But Elder Mo Xuan leaned forward, smiling faintly.
"Show me," Mo Xuan whispered.
⸻
The Suspense
Liu Feng's grip tightened, his venom qi crushing harder. "Break!" he shouted, veins bulging.
Shen Lian's arm shook, his bones screaming. The petals inside him roared louder.
Now. Take him. Or die.
His lips parted. His hand trembled. The black tendrils quivered at the edge of eruption.
The entire courtyard held its breath.
Would he break?
Would he devour?
Would he reveal himself fully?
Shen Lian's gray eyes flickered with slit pupils. His lips curved faintly.
And then—
⸻
Cliffhanger
The stage shook. A scream cut the air.
But when the smoke cleared, neither elder nor disciple could say for certain what they had just seen. Only that Liu Feng lay sprawled on the stone, gasping, his qi shattered, his eyes wide with terror.
And Shen Lian stood above him, blood dripping from his sleeve, his expression calm—too calm.
The whispers in the crowd erupted into chaos.
"What happened?!"
"I didn't see—did he drain him? Did he kill him?"
"He didn't move—how—?"
Above, Sect Master Hei Zong's eyes narrowed dangerously. Elder Mo Xuan's smile only widened.
Su Rou's hands trembled in her lap, her heart hammering. She had seen his hand flicker black for an instant. She knew.
He hadn't just won.
He had almost lost himself.