The Edge of the Storm
"Affirmative!"
As one, they secured the final clasps of their Cloud Titanium armor. The plates settled with soft, definitive clicks, a second skin of cool, resilient metal.
"Clever lads," Wu Changkong murmured from the observation room, a rare smile touching his lips. In his philosophy, a true soul master's wisdom lay in leveraging every possible advantage. Yao Xuan's preparedness earned his silent approval.
"All positions, execute the plan," Yao Xuan commanded, his voice low but carrying through the charged forest air.
The team moved. Gu Yue's silver eyes glimmered as she invoked a whisper of power. "Wind's Embrace." A soft, azure luminescence enveloped all six of them, not as a forceful gust, but as a gentle, persistent current that lightened their steps and sharpened their reflexes. She was conserving her deeper reserves, but even this subtle enhancement was palpable.
Tang Wulin responded in kind. Soul power surged at his feet, and five thick, rope-like tendrils of Blue Silver Grass shot forth, not to entangle a foe, but to weave a living network around the waists of his five teammates. It was a flexible tether, connecting them into a single, responsive entity.
Finally, Zhang Yangzi raised a hand. Soul power coalesced into the form of a sleek, black-feathered eagle that took to the air with a silent beat of spectral wings. It circled above, becoming their eyes in the sky. "Perimeter clear for now, Boss," he reported, his voice focused as he interpreted the shared vision.
"Good. We hold here and use the terrain. But remember," Yao Xuan's gaze was sharp, "the moment we make a kill, we move. Blood and death are beacons in this place."
A chorus of "Understood!" confirmed the order.
For the first ten minutes, the forest held its breath, tense but quiet. Then, the undergrowth ahead rustled violently. A low, guttural growl vibrated through the earth as a massive form shoved its way into the clearing.
It was an ape, standing three meters tall, its fur a coarse grey-black, muscles coiled like steel cable. A foul, bestial odor preceded it. Its eyes burned with a mindless, crimson rage.
"A six-hundred-year Frenzied Ape," Yao Xuan identified instantly via the [Eye of Observation]. "Zhang Yangzi, Wang Jinxi, Xie Xie, Wulin—it's yours. Standard takedown."
The designated four broke from formation with practiced synergy. Tang Wulin's Blue Silver Grass tendrils, already connected, now whipped out, not to bind the ape's waist, but to snare its ankles as he charged, his Thousand Refined Heavy Silver Hammer a blur of dark metal aimed at its sternum.
Xie Xie was already a phantom, using the Wind's Embrace to enhance his natural agility. He appeared behind the beast in a blink, the Light Dragon Dagger materializing in his grip, its edge humming with the concentrated energy of his first soul skill, Light Dragon Blade, aimed for the base of the skull.
Zhang Yangzi and Wang Jinxi closed from the front, their martial souls manifesting. Claw met claw—eagle against bone dragon—as they harried the ape, drawing its furious attention.
The coordination was seamless, a brutal ballet. The Frenzied Ape, powerful but outmaneuvered, swung its massive arms in wild, futile arcs. Tang Wulin's hammer blow staggered it; Xie Xie's dagger found its mark a moment later with a precise, sickening shunk.
A final, choked roar escaped the ape as the light in its red eyes died. Its colossal body teetered, then crashed to the forest floor.
From its dissipating form, a stream of warm, yellow spiritual energy—the soul beast's essence—separated into four strands, flowing into each of the four attackers.
"Prepare to displace. Now," Yao Xuan ordered, his senses alert to the spreading scent of blood and the sudden, attentive silence from the surrounding woods.
The team reconverged without a word. Tang Wulin's Blue Silver Grass tethered them once more, and they melted away to the left, leaving the site of the kill behind, ghosts in the gathering twilight of the riotous forest.
Two hours passed in a heartbeat of controlled tension and sporadic violence. The Riotous Period lived up to its name; the forest teemed with aggression. Dozens of decade-level beasts, driven by some primal frenzy, attacked in skittering waves and were dispatched with efficient, collective effort. A handful of century-level creatures fell to the coordinated strikes of the four vanguards, their spiritual energy further nourishing the team.
Only once did the true danger of the deeper wilds brush against them—a Duck-Billed Fire Python, over a millennium in cultivation, its scales shimmering with heat haze. It emerged from a peat bog, jaws distended.
This time, Yao Xuan and Gu Yue moved as one. He was a golden thunderclap, the Millennium Sky-Rending Claw tearing through its fiery aura. She was the counterpoint, walls of frost erupting to quench its flames and sheets of hardened air slowing its coils. The battle was intense but brief; the python fell, yielding a dense, pale purple stream of spiritual power.
Yao Xuan, true to his word as their leader, directed the energy to be shared among all six. The act was both practical—their spirit's capacity to absorb was not infinite—and deeply symbolic. It reinforced unity, building the trust and goodwill that would allow him to claim larger shares later when their vessels were full. He noted, with quiet satisfaction, that the System's yield of Gold Evolution Points from these kills was indeed tripled, a hidden bounty within the storm.
"The basic assessment is complete," Yao Xuan announced as the two-hour mark passed, the ambient pressure of the simulated trial subtly shifting. "We have survived. Now, we choose to advance. Our goal shifts to harvest. Deeper we go, for greater reward, but with greater caution. Stick to the formation. Watch each other's backs."
With renewed purpose, Class Zero turned their faces from the relative safety of the fringe and moved as one entity into the heart of the Riotous Period forest, where the shadows grew longer, the energy richer, and the guardians far more ancient and terrible. The test of survival was over. The trial of ambition had just begun.