The first year was blood.
The second, fire.
The third, shadow.
---
Year One: Baptism by Steel
Feng Xieyun's arrival at the Falling Shadow Sect was met with scorn. Outsider. Bastard child. Demon seed.
Whispers clung to him in every corridor. Rival disciples challenged him daily, sometimes in the open arena, sometimes in ambushes along the dark mountain trails.
And every time, they bled.
He learned quickly that this sect thrived on cruelty. Lessons were carved into flesh, not parchment. Elder instructors taught techniques by demonstration, killing one disciple to show another the flaw in a stance. Those who faltered were cast down the cliff to feed the beasts below.
Xieyun adapted.
The Shadow Step, his first gift from the System, became his blade. He slipped between strikes like smoke, striking where enemies thought him weakest. His body toughened, his qi thickened. From Qi Condensation Ninth Stage, he pierced the bottleneck with fire and fury.
By the end of his first year, Feng Xieyun stood as an early Foundation Establishment cultivator—youngest in the sect to reach it in decades.
The whispers changed. No longer outsider, but monster.
---
Year Two: Flames in the Dark
The System's missions came harder.
> [Mission: Hunt and silence Lotus Hall spies within the sect. Time Limit: 6 months.]
[Reward: Demon Lotus Flame Advancement.]
The task was merciless. Spies lurked everywhere—disciples, servants, even elders with shifting loyalties. Xieyun hunted them in silence, one by one. His Shadow Step grew sharper, his flame darker.
With each death, the Black Lotus within him bloomed further. His qi no longer burned red, but bled into onyx-black petals edged with scarlet. His enemies' corpses were often found as ash, their faces twisted in terror.
Lian Zhi walked beside him through those years, silent but unwavering. Sometimes she fought with him, her Chains of Starlight binding foes in shimmering threads. Sometimes she simply sat beside him on cold nights, both of them staring at the blood moon, saying nothing.
By the end of his second year, he broke through again—Foundation Establishment Late Stage. The sect elders whispered, worried now. Too fast. Too dangerous. Too impossible.
And the Lin Clan's shadow grew heavier. He felt their gaze often, like cold fingers brushing the back of his neck.
---
Year Three: The Crimson Shadow
The third year was different. Not duels, not assassinations, but war.
The System issued a mission unlike any before:
> [Main Mission: Lead a Shadow Squad in exterminating a beast tide. Survivors must not exceed 30%.]
[Reward: Core Cultivation Advancement + Blood Lotus Scripture Fragment.]
It was slaughter, thinly veiled as trial. The Falling Shadow Sect fed its disciples to the beasts to test who was worthy.
Xieyun led twenty. Seven returned.
The survivors whispered of his flame turning the tide, of beasts burning in black petals. They whispered of him walking through rivers of blood without flinching.
And for the first time, they no longer whispered his name in fear. They shouted it in awe.
By the end of that year, Feng Xieyun stood at Core Formation First Stage—a level many disciples never touched in their entire lives. His rise was no longer just fast. It was monstrous.
---
The Sect's Response
The Sect Master watched from his throne of black stone, his eyes narrow. "Three years. From Condensation to Core. The heavens will not allow this to continue unchecked."
An elder bowed. "Shall we restrain him?"
The old man's lips curled. "No. Let him climb. The higher he rises, the greater the fall when Heaven strikes. And when he burns, the sect shall drink the ashes."
---
Xieyun's Resolve
On the eve of his third anniversary in the sect, Xieyun stood alone atop the cliff where failed disciples' bones lay. The wind whipped his robes, carrying the stench of death below.
The System chimed softly.
> [Main Mission Progress: 40%.]
[Next Milestone: Inner Disciple Ranking Trials.]
He clenched his fists, black lotus petals swirling faintly around him. His flame no longer whispered vengeance. It roared ambition.
"I have walked three years in shadow. I have buried blood, bone, and innocence. If Heaven seeks to crush me, let it come. If the Lin Clan seeks to chain me, let them choke on my fire."
His eyes lifted to the crimson scar that still pulsed in the heavens.
"Feng Xieyun will not bow. Not to Heaven. Not to clan. Not to fate itself."
And in the darkness, Lian Zhi's voice reached him, soft but steady. "Then walk forward, crimson shadow. For I will not leave your side."
Her chains glimmered faintly, binding not his body, but his heart.
---
✨ End of Chapter Twenty-Four ✨