Morning training resumed under new rules.
The bells rang earlier than usual.
Outer disciples gathered on the eastern grounds, weapons in hand. No lectures. No encouragement. Just cold instructions posted on wooden boards.
Mission Trial: Live Combat Simulation
Objective: Hold formation for ten minutes
Failure Condition: Line break, panic retreat, unconsciousness
Lin Ruyin stood near the back, arm still wrapped in cloth. She had not been exempted.
Jin Haru swallowed hard.
"This isn't training," he muttered. "This is punishment."
Liang Yuefeng shook his head.
"No," he said quietly. "This is reality."
A horn sounded.
The gate on the far end of the yard opened.
Beasts rushed out.
Not spirit beasts.
Not monsters.
Bandits.
Captured criminals from the Crooked Fang Lodge, armed and desperate.
Gasps spread through the formation.
"They're using people?!"
"They're going to kill us!"
Someone stepped back.
The line wavered.
Aurelius's voice echoed across the grounds, cold and distant.
"Hold."
The bandits charged.
Steel met steel.
A scream rang out as one outer disciple took a blade to the thigh and fell. Blood soaked into the dirt.
No one stopped the trial.
Lin Ruyin raised her sword with shaking hands.
A bandit lunged.
She reacted too slow.
Pain exploded across her shoulder as she was knocked aside.
She hit the ground hard, gasping.
The bandit raised his weapon.
And froze.
Not from fear.
From pressure.
Lucina stood between them, blade angled down.
"Back," she said calmly.
The bandit retreated instinctively.
Lucina did not kill him.
She turned to Lin.
"Get up," she said. "If you fall here, it's your fault."
Lin forced herself upright, teeth clenched.
Blood dripped down her arm.
She didn't scream.
The line held.
Barely.
When the horn sounded again, ten minutes had passed.
Three disciples lay injured.
One unconscious.
None dead.
Gu Wenhai arrived as medics rushed in.
He surveyed the field once, then nodded.
"This is acceptable."
Some disciples stared at him in disbelief.
Jin Haru snapped.
"Acceptable?! They almost died!"
Gu Wenhai met his gaze without anger.
"And next time," he replied, "they won't."
Silence followed.
Later that evening, the inner disciples were summoned.
Liang Yuefeng stood among them, bruised and exhausted.
Gu Wenhai addressed them directly.
"You will be assigned independent missions. Failure will no longer be erased. Success will be rewarded proportionally."
He paused.
"Those who cannot accept this may step down."
No one moved.
Aurelius spoke next.
"I will oversee battlefield discipline."
Minn added quietly.
"Records will be permanent."
Auntie Bao folded her arms.
"I'll heal you," she said. "But I won't protect you."
That night, Lin Ruyin sat alone by the training grounds, shoulder bandaged, staring at her bloodstained blade.
Liang approached silently and sat beside her.
"I was scared," she admitted.
"So was I," he replied.
She looked up.
"But we didn't break."
Liang nodded.
Across the sect, something subtle shifted.
Dustwind was no longer waiting for salvation.
It was learning how to survive.
And somewhere beyond the valley,
Enemies noticed.
Because the weakest sect had stopped relying on miracles.
And that made it dangerous.