The day of the Inner Sect exam dawned bright and clear, a stark contrast to the turmoil within the Soaring Cloud Sect. The main training ground was transformed, with viewing stands for elders and a series of complex formation circles etched into the stone. The air crackled with anticipation and the raw, nervous energy of several hundred Core Formation disciples.
Li Yao stood among them, a figure of quiet controversy. The story of his "failed seclusion" and lost arm was common knowledge. Whispers followed him like a shroud.
"…spatial rift, they say…"
"…arrogant,thought he could tame the deep forest…"
"…a cripple now,what use is he to the Inner Sect?"
"…look,he's even got some shiny stump-cover…"
He ignored them. His focus was internal, maintaining the delicate weave of his spatial-prosthetic. It was a constant, low-level drain on his concentration, a reminder of the price he had paid and the power he had gained.
His enhanced perception, a gift from the orchid, scanned the competition. He saw a sea of brilliant, but crude, auras. Most were in the Early or Mid Stages of Core Formation, their energy roaring but undisciplined. A few, like Wang Jin, stood out. Wang Jin's aura was a turbulent, silver-and-black storm, powerful but unstable, the spatial flaw a screaming dissonance that only Li Yao could hear. He stood surrounded by sycophants, his chest puffed out, casting occasional, triumphant glares in Li Yao's direction.
Then there were the true monsters. The disciples who had been in Core Formation for years, honing their skills in secret missions and death-defying trials. Their auras were not loud; they were deep, like still oceans hiding leviathans. One, a woman named Xuan with hair white as snow and eyes the color of glacier ice, stood completely alone, the air around her frozen and silent. Another, a hulking young man named Tie, seemed to be made of living stone, his every breath a rumble of tectonic power.
These were his real competition.
Elder Guo presided over the proceedings, his kind face belying the sharpness in his eyes. "Disciples," his voice rolled out, silencing the crowd. "The path to the Inner Sect is paved with talent, will, and comprehension. Today, you will be tested on all three."
The first trial was the "Mirror of Will." Disciples entered a formation that subjected their minds to increasingly potent psychic assaults—phantoms of their deepest fears, illusions of crippling failure, the seductive whispers of power offered for the price of their loyalty.
Li Yao watched as disciples stumbled out, pale and trembling, some having activated the emergency ejection talisman in a panic. Wang Jin emerged sweaty but defiant, having brute-forced his way through with his powerful, if chaotic, core.
When it was Li Yao's turn, he stepped into the formation. The world dissolved into a nightmare. He saw himself back on Earth, old and forgotten, the Eternal Ascension Path a fading dream. He saw Wang Jin standing over his broken body, laughing. He saw the System failing, its voice stuttering into silence.
A lesser will would have shattered. But Li Yao's will had been forged in a gutter, tempered by betrayal, and honed by staring into the raw face of spatial annihilation. The illusions were vivid, but to his law-enhanced perception, they were just that—illusions. Flawed constructs of energy playing on his memories. He saw the seams in their reality, the weak points in their spiritual programming.
He didn't resist them. He observed them, and then he simply… stepped through them. He walked out of the formation after what felt like minutes, his face as calm as when he entered.
The proctors exchanged glances. His time was the shortest on record.
The second trial was the "Gauntlet of Elements." A long corridor where disciples had to navigate through zones of raging fire, freezing ice, howling wind, and crushing earth, all while fending off automated elemental constructs.
This was a test of adaptability and energy control. Disciples blasted their way through, their Cores flaring brightly. Wang Jin was a spectacle, his spatial-tinged energy ripping through constructs with brutal efficiency, though his movements were wasteful, his defense full of holes only Li Yao could perceive.
Li Yao's approach was different. He didn't fight the elements; he flowed with them. Using his comprehension of the [Law of Energetic Resonance], he identified the harmonic frequency of the fire and adjusted his own aura to match, walking through the flames untouched. He found the stagnant node in the ice zone and shattered it with a pinpoint burst of Qi, causing the entire area to collapse. He moved through the gauntlet not like a warrior, but like a master musician, playing the environment itself. He finished with his energy reserves barely touched.
The whispers were changing now. The pity was being replaced by a wary confusion.
The final trial was the "Pillar of Comprehension." Before each disciple stood a stone pillar inscribed with a fragment of a profound sutra, a piece of cultivation theory that touched upon the edges of natural law. They had one hour to study it and then demonstrate their understanding.
Most disciples sat in deep concentration, their brows furrowed. Some managed to make their pillar glow faintly, a sign of basic comprehension. Wang Jin, after a long struggle, caused his pillar to hum with a discordant energy, the spatial flaw in his core making his understanding twisted but powerful.
Li Yao's pillar contained a fragment on the "Interdependence of Form and Void." To the others, it was abstract philosophy. To him, with his arm of solidified space and his perception of cosmic law, it was a beginner's textbook.
He didn't just read it; he saw the truth it pointed to. He placed his hand—his real hand—on the pillar. He didn't channel energy into it. Instead, he gently manipulated the space immediately around the inscribed characters.
The pillar didn't just glow. It vanished.
Not destroyed, but perfectly erased from reality, leaving behind a pillar-shaped void of absolute nothingness.
A collective gasp went through the training ground. Elders leaned forward in their seats. Elder Guo's eyes widened fractionally.
A moment later, Li Yao released his hold, and the pillar snapped back into existence, unharmed. He had demonstrated not just comprehension, but application. He had used a fragment of law to temporarily alter a fundamental property of his environment.
Silence.
The results were announced without fanfare. The top hundred would enter the Inner Sect. Wang Jin placed 48th, his raw power securing him a spot. The snow-haired girl, Xuan, placed 3rd. The stone-like Tie, 2nd.
The name called for 1st place echoed in the stunned quiet.
"Li Yao."
He stood alone in the center of the field, his one-armed silhouette stark against the sky. The cripple. The heretic. The first-place ascendant.
Wang Jin's face was a mask of pure, undiluted hatred, his earlier triumph ashes in his mouth. He had won entry, but he had been utterly, completely overshadowed.
As the newly minted Inner Sect disciples were called forward to receive their new tokens and robes, Elder Guo approached Li Yao personally.
"That was a… unique demonstration, Disciple Li," the Elder said, his voice low. "The Law of Space is a dangerous path. Few walk it without losing themselves." His gaze flickered to Li Yao's spatial arm, a sight only those with high-level perception could truly see. "It seems you have already paid a toll. The Inner Sect will provide you with the resources to walk it further. See that you walk it for the Sect."
The leash was now made of silk and spirit jade, but it was a leash all the same. He was in the inner circle now, closer to the sect's secrets and its scrutiny.
As he accepted the deep blue robes of the Inner Sect, Li Yao knew the game had changed again. He was no longer an anonymous outer disciple or a promising talent. He was a recognized force, a cultivator who danced with cosmic laws. The attention he had would be immense, the expectations high, and the enemies—like a certain spatially-flawed Young Master—would be more motivated than ever.
The Energy Path was not yet complete, but the Law Path had begun. The Eternal Ascension stretched before him, more brilliant and more perilous than ever.