When the light returned to his eyes, he was already standing before the final gate.
The Gate of Silence.
Shrouded in eerie black mist, it loomed without sound, as though even the heavens dared not breathe in its presence.
Kai did not hesitate. With the same calm composure he had carried through the first two trials, he stepped forward and vanished into the veil.
Outside, atop the Dragonbone Platform, Wu Jiang remained still, arms folded behind his back. A faint gleam flickered in the depths of his gaze as he stared toward the vanishing mist.
"Interesting… This boy passed the first two trials far easier than anticipated," Wu Jiang muttered to himself, a rare note of approval in his otherwise detached tone.
A trace of surprise crossed his face as he recalled Kai's mirror battle. "To suppress one's own reflection without flaw... And his martial intent… it has no gaps. It is as though his entire path was carved in stone before he ever began."
