The Sect Master gathered himself as he looked at Tian Lei. Raising his hand, he gestured for the other elders to remain silent.
"Tian Lei," he said solemnly, "you have passed the final trial."
As his words echoed through the hall, the other elders paused—and then, one by one, began to dissolve into mist, their forms fading like candlelight in the wind.
"If you had lived in our era," the Sect Master murmured, his tone tinged with nostalgia, "perhaps the Myriad Sect would never have fallen."
Tian Lei looked at him in silent awe, but the old master smiled faintly. "I know what you're thinking. Every major figure of the Myriad Sect bound their souls to this legacy, so that one day—if someone exceptional were to appear—we could at least witness them. To see the culmination of all that our Sect once stood for… and the very thing that led to its destruction."
