6 — Before the Descent
The announcement did not create chaos.
It created calculation.
For three days after the joint evaluation notice, the outer court of Azure Wind Sect changed in ways subtle but undeniable. Training intensified. Conversations shortened when certain names approached. Resources shifted quietly from one dormitory to another.
The Northern Forest Boundary was not deep wilderness.
It was controlled danger.
Which meant danger could be arranged.
Li Yuan felt the shift immediately.
He trained at dawn as usual, striking the wooden dummy in steady rhythm. He did not increase visible intensity. He did not challenge anyone. He did not absorb fragments greedily.
But he watched.
And he listened.
Behind him, two disciples whispered while practicing spear forms.
"Chen Hao's group will move together."
"Zhang Wei's people too."
"And the unaffiliated?"
"They'll be… dispersed."
Dispersed meant isolated.
Isolated meant vulnerable.
Li Yuan exhaled slowly.
He already knew what would happen in the forest.
Officially, they would subjugate rogue beasts.
Unofficially, factions would reduce liabilities.
And rising anomalies.
He was both.
—
That afternoon, Xu Ren approached him again.
No smile this time.
"They're drawing lines."
"I expected that."
"You're not aligned," Xu Ren said quietly. "Which makes you movable."
"By whom?" Li Yuan asked calmly.
"Anyone."
Xu Ren glanced toward Chen Hao's side of the yard.
"Your growth threatens his narrative. He can't suppress you openly. But in the forest—"
"I understand," Li Yuan replied.
Xu Ren studied him carefully.
"You're calmer than you should be."
Li Yuan did not answer immediately.
Because he was not calm.
He was prepared.
Inside his consciousness, the system panel responded faintly as if sensing elevated environmental tension.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━[ ORIGIN FRAGMENT SYSTEM ]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Realm: Body Tempering — Early StageProgress: 63%
Origin Trace — Martial Body (Sealed 97%)
Integration Stability: 86%
Environmental Alert: Elevated Hostility Probability━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The Origin Trace seal percentage had decreased.
Ninety-eight to ninety-seven.
Small.
But measurable.
Pressure was feeding something.
"I don't intend to be alone in the forest," Li Yuan said at last.
Xu Ren's eyes sharpened slightly.
"That's the first intelligent thing you've said."
"I won't join Chen Hao," Li Yuan continued. "And Zhang Wei would never accept me."
"Correct."
"So what remains?"
Xu Ren smiled faintly.
"Temporary alignment."
Not a faction.
Not loyalty.
Just shared survival.
Li Yuan nodded once.
"That will suffice."
They did not shake hands.
They did not formalize anything.
But understanding settled between them.
—
Above the outer terrace, Elder Qian observed the training grounds once more.
He had received the evaluation notice along with the others.
He had not ordered it.
But he had quietly adjusted one detail.
An inner disciple would accompany the group.
Unofficially.
To observe.
Not to intervene—unless necessary.
His gaze lingered on Li Yuan.
The fluctuation around the boy had grown denser.
Still not spiritual qi.
Still not demonic.
Something structural.
Something old.
"If the forest reacts to you," Elder Qian murmured softly, "I will see it."
—
Two days before departure, a subtle incident occurred.
During evening conditioning, Li Yuan noticed a difference in the air near the water storage pavilion.
Fragments drifted there as usual.
⟡ Endurance +0.01 ⟡⟡ Balance Control ⟡
But beneath them—
Something darker.
Not golden.
Not blue.
Gray.
Thin.
⟡ Residual Malice ⟡
He did not touch it.
The system responded immediately.
[ Unknown Fragment Classification ]
[ Host Advised: Avoid Integration ]
He looked up.
Across the yard, one of Chen Hao's associates was watching him.
The moment their eyes met, the associate looked away.
Sabotage would not be direct.
It would be gradual.
Contaminated fragments.
Subtle destabilization.
If Li Yuan had been absorbing carelessly—
He might have taken it.
The Origin Trace pulsed faintly inside him.
He understood now.
The mountain did not only leak strength.
It leaked intention.
He walked away without reacting.
—
That night, in his dormitory, he did something new.
He did not cultivate.
He filtered.
He closed his eyes and intentionally summoned the system panel.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━[ ORIGIN FRAGMENT SYSTEM ]━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Manual Query: Fragment Filtration
Response: Origin Trace Assisting
Filtering Capability: LimitedPurification Efficiency: 12%
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
So the trace could refine fragments.
Not fully.
But partially.
He focused inward.
Visualized a fragment.
The gray malice fragment.
The system simulated integration.
[ Simulation Result: Minor Emotional Instability Risk ]
He canceled it.
Good.
This was the true battlefield.
Not fists.
Not beasts.
Information.
He exhaled slowly.
The forest would be filled with fragments.
Some pure.
Some tainted.
Some ancient.
If something like the Windless Chamber existed beneath Azure Wind Sect—
What might exist in the Northern Boundary?
The sealed module flickered again.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━[ Origin Recovery Protocol ]Progress: 4%Condition: External Catalyst Approaching━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
He did not consciously read it.
But a faint tension built inside his bones.
—
The night before departure, all participating outer disciples gathered in the lower courtyard.
Twenty-eight in total.
Chen Hao stood near the front.
Zhang Wei on the opposite side.
Xu Ren positioned himself loosely between neutral disciples.
Li Yuan stood near the middle—not front, not rear.
Balanced.
An instructor addressed them.
"You will enter the Northern Boundary at dawn. Beast classification: Tier One and Two. Avoid deeper penetration."
Routine warning.
Then—
An unfamiliar figure stepped forward.
Inner disciple.
Calm expression. White-trimmed robes.
"I will accompany the exercise."
The courtyard shifted slightly.
Inner disciples rarely descended for outer evaluations.
His name was introduced briefly.
Lin Xun.
Ranked among the lower inner disciples.
But still far above outer level.
Li Yuan studied him carefully.
Lin Xun's gaze swept the group once.
When it passed over Li Yuan—
It paused.
Only for half a second.
Then moved on.
Observation.
Not random.
Elder Qian had placed him.
Li Yuan understood immediately.
There would be witnesses in the forest.
Official ones.
That complicated sabotage.
But did not eliminate it.
Chen Hao noticed the inner disciple too.
His expression did not change.
But calculation deepened.
—
That night, Li Yuan slept lightly.
And dreamed.
Not clearly.
But fragments.
The ancient battlefield again.
A hand striking the sky.
But this time—
The sky did not crack.
It resisted.
And something beyond it looked back.
He woke before dawn.
Breathing steady.
Heart calm.
He stepped outside as the first light touched the mountain.
The forest line in the distance appeared darker than usual.
Thicker.
Waiting.
The air felt heavier.
Not ominous.
Anticipatory.
Inside his consciousness, the system whispered quietly.
[ Boundary Condition Nearing ]
He adjusted his robe.
Centered his breathing.
And walked toward the gathering point.
The mountain had judged him.
The sect had watched him.
Now—
The forest would test him.
And in places where witnesses were few—
Origins often resurfaced.