**Examination Hall**
The day of the younger generation's power examination had finally arrived, the whole clan compound humming since dawn with an energy that felt closer to festival than formality.
"Finally, the time has come," the examination elder whispered, his voice barely audible over the low murmur filling the hall. Before him stood two elders, He Meng and Hu Meng.
They were twin brothers known throughout the clan as the Metal Brothers. Both wore black robes, the fabric stiff and formal, and their short, lion-like hair framed stern faces set in near-identical expressions of watchful patience. Though only middle-aged, their muscular physiques made them look more like seasoned warriors than ordinary cultivators, forearms corded with the kind of muscle that came from decades of disciplined training rather than vanity.
The examination elder was well into old age. A long white beard flowed down to his chest, each strand catching faintly in the torchlight. His calm eyes reflected decades of experience, half-lidded in a way that suggested he'd seen every possible outcome this hall could produce, many times over. He was calm as stone. His ceremonial robes were reserved for only the highest-ranking elders, the fabric heavier and more richly embroidered than anything worn elsewhere in the hall.
His name was Tanzeng.
"I've heard our closest allied clan has a talented girl named Anwesha," He Meng said, leaning slightly closer to be heard over the hall's ambient noise. "Is our clan's talent anything like hers?"
"Anwesha? Yes, I've heard of her. She's remarkably talented, she's awakened two stars, already claimed an ice worm, and already begun cultivation." Elder Tanzeng nodded, the gesture slow and considered.
"Our clan has one such genius as well," he replied calmly, a faint, knowing note entering his voice.
"Really?" He Meng exclaimed, his eyes widening with genuine surprise. "Who is it?"
"His name is Shree Yan," Elder Tanzeng said. "He is the son of our clan leader."
"Then what are we waiting for? Send the boy to me. We'll train him, and he'll surpass her before long." He Meng's excitement was plain now, hands gesturing eagerly as he spoke, already imagining the boy's potential.
"You'll need the clan leader's permission first," Tanzeng reminded him, gentle but firm.
Shree Yan sat on the meditation stage, legs folded, breathing slowed to something deep and deliberate. An hour later, he finished and successfully unlocked one star within his body, the sensation settling through him like warmth spreading outward from a lit hearth.
His body grew far stronger than that of an ordinary human, muscle and bone humming faintly with newly awakened potential.
He opened his eyes slowly and looked around. The room's familiar shapes seemed somehow sharper, more present than before, and his body felt noticeably stronger than it had that morning.
Shree Yan lowered his feet onto the wooden floor, the wood cool against his soles. The destructive path awaited him.
He left the house as morning light slanted gold across the courtyard. Nearly twenty other youths were already making their way toward the examination, voices overlapping in bursts of nervous chatter. Shree Yan joined them quietly, falling into step near the back of the loose crowd.
"Look, in the middle, isn't that Shree Yan?" someone asked, elbowing the person beside them.
"Yeah, that's him. Our clan's pride, and so handsome," a girl of average looks said, staring openly at him, her voice carrying just far enough for several others to hear. Something close to obsession colored her tone.
The other youths couldn't hide their jealousy at her praise, several exchanging sharp, sideways glances. Shree Yan didn't care. He kept walking, his expression untroubled by the murmuring at his back.
Jealousy burned in their hearts, yet none of them dared act on it. Shree Yan's status and talent stood before them like an insurmountable mountain. Challenging him would only end in humiliation.
In the end, they lowered their heads and kept their mouths shut, the group's collective resentment folding quietly back beneath practiced composure.
To everyone else, Shree Yan seemed to have everything: power, status, a respected family, extraordinary talent, all the trappings of someone heaven-gifted.
But that wasn't true. In his previous life, he had faced countless hardships and desperate situations. In this one, he cared nothing for his family's power or standing. To others he looked like a gift from heaven. To him, none of it meant anything at all.
Shree Yan intended to grow stronger by his own effort, not through the trappings of a background he'd never asked for, the conviction settling firm and unshaken behind his calm expression.
He kept walking, the other youths trailing behind him. In the Rana clan, tradition held that the clan's prince always entered first. At every ceremony, the prince stepped through the doorway before anyone else was permitted to follow.
When Shree Yan reached the entrance, he touched the door and pushed it slowly open, the heavy wood swinging inward with a low, resonant creak that echoed briefly through the space beyond.
The hall itself rose seven floors, each level ringed with balconies overlooking the massive space below. Elder Tanzeng stood on the seventh floor, the highest point in the hall, while the Metal Brothers watched from the sixth, their position giving them a clear view down onto the examination stone.
His father was not there to see him. It didn't sting the way it might have once. His father hadn't come in his previous life either, so why should it matter to him now?
The Metal Brothers kept their eyes fixed on him from the sixth floor, their attention sharpening the moment he entered.
"Every family's young masters, please adjust your line," the examination elder called, his voice carrying easily across the vast, echoing hall. "I'll call you by number. Please stay silent, and don't talk too much."
The young masters shuffled into place, robes rustling as they adjusted their positions. Shree Yan stood last, not out of disrespect, but because clan tradition required it, every clan member set last in line, so that their potential might be revealed to everyone watching, for the future's sake.
At the center of the hall stood a massive circular stone, its surface worn smooth by centuries of palms pressed against it. Behind it towered two gigantic statues, the clan's founding ancestors, one male and one female, clad in silver armor and gripping enormous swords planted firmly into the ground. They radiated an ancient and mysterious aura that filled the entire hall, a presence so heavy that even seasoned elders instinctively lowered their voices in its shadow.
"One. Yu Yang," the examination elder called.
Yu Yang stepped forward, sandals scraping softly against stone, hands trembling faintly at his sides. He touched the stone. Nothing happened. The surface stayed stubbornly dark beneath his palm.
Laughter rippled through the youths, sharp and unkind, echoing off the walls.
Yu Yang lowered his head, shoulders curling inward, and stepped quietly back into the anonymity of the waiting line.
"Next. Two. Wu Yan," the elder called out.
Wu Yan stepped forward with confidence, chest puffed out, chin already lifted before he'd even reached the stone.
He glanced at Yu Yang. "Loser." Yu Yang said nothing, eyes fixed firmly on the floor.
Wu Yan had a strong physique, his broad shoulders straining faintly against the seams of his robe. Cheers erupted through the hall. Several youths shouted his name while the elders nodded in approval, murmuring low to one another.
Wu Yan touched the stone, and it began to glow, light pulsing outward in slow, deliberate waves.
Black.
Green.
White.
Blue.
The glow held there, steady, at blue, and the hall erupted into cheers, the sound rolling up through all seven floors at once.
"Wu Yan, boss, you're truly amazing!" someone roared, fist raised in celebration.
A confident smile spread across Wu Yan's face as he lifted his chin, basking openly in the noise around him.
Shree Yan looked at him and felt something surface, a flicker of memory rising calm and unbidden behind his composed expression. In another life, Wu Yan had gone on to become the strongest of them all, known across the land as the first king.
Interesting, Shree Yan thought, watching the other boy's triumphant posture with something closer to quiet calculation than admiration.
One by one, the young cultivators stepped forward for their turn. Some displayed remarkable talent and sent the hall into cheers, while others failed to awaken even a single star and stepped quietly aside with lowered heads, the line thinning slowly as names were called.
"Now, finally. Last. Number twenty. Shree Yan."
The examination elder called his name loudly and with unmistakable respect, his voice carrying a weight the previous names hadn't quite earned.
Several youths cheered the moment his name was spoken, the sound rising eagerly through the hall.
Elder Tanzeng and the Metal Brothers fixed their eyes on him, leaning forward slightly over their respective balconies, their expressions filled with anticipation.
Shree Yan walked forward with calm confidence, his footsteps unhurried against the worn stone floor, the eyes of the entire hall settling onto him at once.