The training field behind Class D's dorm had changed.
No longer an overgrown patch of weeds, it was now a pit of agony, reshaped by Han Li's madness.
"Again!" Han Li's voice cracked like thunder as Shen Yu collapsed.
She coughed blood, wiped her mouth, and forced herself up.
Nearby, Lei Jin was vomiting spirit energy—literally. His veins glowed, his body twitching uncontrollably.
Han Li didn't blink.
"You thought this was cultivation?" he muttered. "You thought power came from pretty hand seals and inherited bloodlines?"
He stepped between his gasping students.
"No. Power comes from pain. From drowning deeper than anyone and choosing not to die."
Then he moved to Bai Wei, who was trembling under a gravity seal.
"You've reached the third layer of Body Reinforcement," Han Li said. "Too slow."
"But I—"
Han Li pointed a finger. Boom! The seal's weight tripled.
Bai Wei screamed.
Xuan Mu watched silently, his fingers twitching with dark energy. A cursed blade he'd been forming for days hovered at his back, unstable.
Han Li suddenly appeared behind him.
"Unleash it."
"But I'll lose control."
"Then lose it."
The cursed blade shrieked as it flew into the air, tearing a scar into the sky.
For a moment, the whole academy felt it.
High above, other instructors paused mid-lecture.
Han Li calmly deflected the outburst with two fingers, then leaned close. "If you can't control madness, let madness become your blade."
Xuan Mu fell to his knees, panting.
Han Li stood before them all.
"One month until the tournament trials."
He smiled, that terrifying grin.
"I will make you into monsters."
The class, beaten and broken, said nothing.
But their eyes…
Their eyes burned.