Inside the cave, time flowed like molten lead—slow, heavy, suffocating.
A year had passed.
The cultivation chambers that had once housed hundreds of participants now stood mostly empty.
Over the months, those who had grasped even the most basic understanding of the Nine-Slaughter Blood Meridian Technique had eagerly abandoned their chambers, venturing deeper into the cave toward the second trial.
They thought themselves clever. Thought that getting ahead would give them an advantage.
They did not realize the mistake they had made and how big of an opportunity they had let slip by.
The technique was not meant to be rushed. Without proper understanding, using it in battle was reckless to say the least.
Those who rushed ahead with only surface-level understanding would find their blood and qi unstable, their meridians prone to rupture, their bodies gradually breaking down from the inside.
