Elder Yue's training was not instruction—it was survival.
She threw Li Shen into a spirit beast ravine with no warning.
"Come back alive," she said. "Or don't come back at all."
For seven days, Li Shen fought, bled, and starved. Spirit beasts tore at his flesh. Poison seeped into his veins. More than once, he collapsed, convinced death had come.
But each time, the Jade Vein responded.
His bones hardened. His muscles refined. His endurance surpassed reason.
On the seventh night, surrounded by corpses, Li Shen roared into the sky.
Something ancient answered.