# Chapter 23: Azure Mountain's Trial
The Azure Mountain Sect's recruitment office occupied an entire floor of the External Affairs building, but unlike the sterile efficiency of the assessment center below, this space radiated the disciplined serenity of a formal cultivation environment. Meditation gardens grew in impossible defiance of the building's interior architecture, while spiritual energy flowed in patterns so refined they created barely audible harmonies in the air itself.
Xìng Huáng was greeted by a receptionist whose Gold-level cultivation aura was so carefully controlled it felt like standing next to a mountain lake—immense depth hidden beneath perfect stillness.
"Chen Ming's referral?" she asked, somehow having sensed his purpose before he could speak. "Master Liu has been expecting you. Please, follow me."
The path to Master Liu's office wound through a series of chambers that each demonstrated different aspects of cultivation mastery. One room contained disciples practicing synchronized combat forms that channeled spiritual energy through weapon techniques. Another showed advanced practitioners engaged in what appeared to be philosophical debate, their words creating visible ripples in the ambient spiritual pressure.
But it was the purification chamber that caught Xìng Huáng's complete attention.
Three sect members surrounded a corruption victim—a recent merger survivor whose essence-theft infection was so advanced that dark veins were visible through his skin. The purification process they employed was sophisticated, methodical, and clearly effective, but also obviously exhausting for everyone involved.
"Standard treatment for mid-stage corruption," the receptionist explained, noting his interest. "Requires three Gold-level practitioners working in rotation for approximately six hours per patient. We can handle perhaps a dozen cases per week at current capacity."
"And the outbreak involves how many infected individuals?"
"Confirmed cases in the hundreds. Suspected cases in the thousands."
The mathematical reality was stark. Even at maximum capacity, Azure Mountain Sect couldn't possibly handle a corruption outbreak of that scale using conventional methods.
Master Liu's office was a study in controlled power. The elderly man who rose to greet them possessed a spiritual signature that radiated authority without aggression—the kind of presence that came from decades of successful cultivation advancement combined with genuine wisdom about its application.
MASTER LIU TIANSHAN
Cultivation: PLATINUM - MID *(Estimated)*
Specialization: PURIFICATION MASTER
Authority: AZURE MOUNTAIN SECT ELDER
Assessment: EXTREMELY CAPABLE, CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC
"Blood Seeker Xìng Huáng," Master Liu said, his voice carrying the kind of resonance that suggested decades of spiritual development. "Your timing is fortuitous. We face challenges that conventional purification methods cannot address effectively."
"So I've been told. Organized infected humans establishing territory Violently Through Wild Swarming Tactics ."
"More than that." Master Liu gestured for him to sit in a chair positioned within what Xìng Huáng's enhanced perception recognized as a subtle analysis array. "They've developed techniques that actively resist purification attempts. Our standard methods not only fail to cleanse the corruption—they sometimes make it stronger."
The implications were disturbing. Normal essence-theft corruption was chaotic and self-destructive. Organized corruption that grew stronger when challenged suggested something approaching cultivation methodology rather than simple infection.
"Tell me about your purification capabilities," Master Liu continued. "The reports from your wilderness journey mention techniques that suggest training we'd like to understand better."
This was delicate territory. His divine heritage provided purification abilities that operated by completely different principles than conventional cultivation techniques, but explaining that would raise exactly the kind of questions he was trying to avoid.
"My Blood Seeker class includes natural opposition to essence theft," he began carefully. "When I encounter corruption, my spiritual energy naturally asserts the principle that power should be earned rather than stolen."
" That is Why we give you, your abilities are like a natural Achilles heel to the Corruption, With the help of your traits in combination with the sect energy manipulation"
"What if both approaches were combined?"
Master Liu's interest sharpened considerably. "Elaborate."
"Your technical mastery provides the framework for effective treatment. My philosophical assertion provides the principle that makes the framework effective against organized resistance."
It was a reasonable explanation that acknowledged his unusual capabilities while suggesting collaborative application rather than independent operation.
"An intriguing theory," Master Liu replied. "But theory requires practical demonstration before we can commit resources to untested methods."
He stood and moved toward a section of his office where spiritual energy patterns suggested something significant was concealed behind privacy arrays.
"We have a test case—a corruption victim whose infection has proven completely resistant to our standard techniques. Multiple attempts at purification have not only failed, but appear to have strengthened the underlying corruption."
The privacy arrays dissolved, revealing a containment chamber where a figure sat in perfect lotus position. At first glance, the occupant appeared to be meditating peacefully. But Xìng Huáng's enhanced perception immediately detected the wrongness beneath the surface.
CORRUPTION ANALYSIS: ADVANCED ORGANIZED INFECTION
SUBJECT: FORMER MERGER SURVIVOR
Infection Level: LATE STAGE *(Normally terminal)*
Special Properties: PURIFICATION RESISTANCE, STRUCTURAL ENHANCEMENT
Threat Assessment: EXTREME *(If released)*
"This individual was brought to us three weeks ago," Master Liu explained. "Initial assessment suggested standard mid-stage corruption treatable with conventional methods. But every purification attempt has made the corruption more sophisticated rather than weaker."
"What makes you think my approach might succeed where yours has failed?"
"Because your purification methods aren't based on energy manipulation techniques that can be adapted and countered. Philosophical assertion operates at a fundamental level that organized corruption may not be able to resist."
Master Liu's expression grew more serious. "But understand—if your methods prove ineffective or dangerous, we will terminate the experiment immediately. This corruption represents a threat to the entire city if it continues to evolve unchecked."
Xìng Huáng studied the containment chamber and its occupant. His divine heritage was responding to the corrupted presence with instinctive opposition, but also with something approaching anticipation. This was exactly the kind of philosophical challenge the lord of Greed class was designed to address.
HIDDEN INTERFACE: OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS
CORRUPTION TYPE: ORGANIZED ESSENCE THEFT WITH ADAPTIVE RESISTANCE
DIVINE AUTHORITY COMPATIBILITY: MAXIMUM
SUCCESS PROBABILITY: HIGH *(With proper application)*
ADVANCEMENT POTENTIAL: SIGNIFICANT *(Major breakthrough possible)*
"I'll need direct contact for philosophical assertion to be effective," he said. "Physical proximity and spiritual engagement, not remote manipulation."
"Absolutely not," Master Liu replied immediately. "Direct contact with advanced organized corruption would risk your own infection. We can provide proximity, but physical contact is impossible."
"Then the effectiveness will be limited. Philosophical assertion requires authentic engagement, not distant projection."
They stood in silence for several minutes, Master Liu clearly weighing the risks of allowing direct contact against the potential benefits of a new purification method. Finally, he spoke.
"We will allow proximity engagement under controlled conditions. Full containment protocols, immediate extraction if corruption shows signs of spreading, and automatic termination of the experiment if your spiritual signature shows any sign of infection."
"Acceptable."
The preparation took another hour as sect members established additional containment arrays, monitoring equipment, and emergency response protocols. When everything was finally ready, Xìng Huáng found himself standing at the edge of the containment chamber, close enough to speak directly with the corruption victim but still separated by spiritual barriers that could theoretically contain the infection if his methods failed.
The corrupted individual opened eyes that glowed with the unnatural light of stolen essence. When it spoke, its voice carried harmonics that shouldn't have been possible from a single throat.
"Another purification specialist," it said with amusement that felt genuinely malevolent. "Come to cleanse the corruption through superior technique and righteous spiritual pressure?"
"No," Xìng Huáng replied, allowing his divine heritage to color his voice with absolute conviction. "I've come to remind you what it feels like to earn power rather than steal it."
The corrupted being's amusement faltered as his words struck something fundamental in its spiritual structure.
"You're different," it observed, leaning forward with predatory interest. "Your purification isn't technique—it's authority."
"Authority earned through worthy struggle," Xìng Huáng confirmed, letting his Divine Greed trait fully manifest for the first time since his escape. "Authority that recognizes theft for what it is and rejects it completely."
The containment chamber filled with golden light as his divine heritage asserted itself against organized corruption that had thought itself immune to conventional purification methods.
And for the first time in weeks, the corruption began to truly recede rather than simply adapting to resist new attacks.
Master Liu's expression was one of profound satisfaction as he watched impossible results manifest through principles that Azure Mountain Sect had never encountered before.
The trial was proving that some challenges required more than conventional cultivation techniques—they required the kind of fundamental authority that could only be earned through climbing the azure peaks of worthiness itself.