A deep,primal DRUM begins.
Not one,but SEVEN, in seven different places beating in a slow, dissonant rhythm across the mountain range.
Each has a distinct character:
· Green Maple Valley's drum: A resonant BOOM like a great tree falling in an ancient forest.
· Blazing Sun Sect's drum: A sharp, cracking THUD like splitting stone in desert heat.
· Misty Lake Palace's drum: A deep, watery GONG that seems to ripple the air.
· Masked Moon Sect's drum: A muffled, echoing THUMP from deep within a cavern.
· Spirit Beast Sect's drum: A raw, skin-stretched POUND like a giant heart.
· Water Flowing Sect's drum: A rhythmic, cascading PATTER like a waterfall on rock.
· Iron Peak Fortress's drum: A metallic, grinding CLANG like mountains grinding together.
Together, they form a heartbeat of impending doom.
At GREEN MAPLE VALLEY ASSEMBLY PLATFORM - DAY
All disciples of the Valley are assembled in a vast green plain . They sit in orderly rows, a sea of forest green.
AT THE FRONT, , stands the SECT MASTER of Green Maple Valley. He is young for his position, middle-aged, with sharp eyes that hold the weight of centuries. His green robes are simple but seem woven from living leaves, shifting subtly in the wind.
Sect master speaks,,
His voice is calm,yet it carries over the fading drums, landing on each disciple like a drop of cold water)
Everyone.Today you are gathered here for the information about Trial of Life and Death and all that you need to know .
,HAN LI.sits in the front row, a position he chose not for prominence, but for clear sightlines. His posture is straight, his gaze fixed ahead.
. On the far opposite side sits CHEN MING. Her face glowing like the jade . Her eyes, however, drift across the space, finding Han Li. They linger for a heartbeat—a complex flash of memory, debt, and hardened resolve. She looks away before he can notice.
Han li does not notice. His entire focus is a funnel aimed at the Sect Master.
Sect master... ,, This is not a child's game.It is throwing yourself into a furnace. Death waits on each step. You will not only contend with disciples from our seven righteous sects... but also with the scions of hidden cultivation families...
He pauses, letting the gravity sink in.
...and with the disciples of theSix Demonic Sects.
A collective, subtle intake of breath sweeps the platform. Demonic cultivators. They fight with poison, soul-snatching, and arts that are very vicious .
Though, They will be transported to a separate entry point... They can't meet you but you must be extra care ful .
QUICK INTERCUTS OF OTHER SECT
Far in MASKED MOON SECT. Disciples in deep purple robes, their lower faces hidden by silken veils. Their GRANDMASTER, an androgynous figure , a eye catching beauty in her thirties,,.
shrouded in moonlit silvery mist, speaks,..
Once you pass the seal,your life is in your own hands. It is a canvas. Paint it with blood or be painted upon.
Far in SPIRIT BEAST SECT: A rugged arena surrounded with thick forests . Disciples wear animal skins type robe though not actually animal skins but looked alike . Their ELDER, a massive man with a bear pelt across his shoulders and eyes that glow faintly yellow, roars.
One month!You have one month to hunt, to grow, to survive! The strong will return with bonded beasts! The weak will be bones!
BACK TO GREEN MAPLE VALLEY
SECT MASTER saying,,.
So,be the masters of your own actions. Last time...
Now in WATER FLOWING SECT: A platform over a misty lake. Disciples in watery blue. Their elder, a serene woman with hair like flowing ink, finishes the grim sentence.
ELDER of water flowing sect speaks
...the death toll among our disciples was over seventy percent.More than half. You must be extra careful.
BACK TO MASKED MOON SECT
GRANDMASTER (MASKED MOON)
Those with the will to grasp fortune,step forward. Those whose hearts tremble... step down. I think those who know they are weak and steps down, it is the most sensible you have made ever,
NOW ACROSS ALL SEVEN SECTS:
A stark,silent division. In each sect, a visible wave of movement. Roughly half of the assembled disciples in each group, their faces pale with fear or shame, rise and step backwards, melting into the crowds behind the assembly areas. They are out.
BACK TO GREEN MAPLE VALLEY. The remaining disciples sit straighter. The air is thinner, charged. Han Li hasn't moved a muscle.
SECT MASTER
Raise your dominant hand.
Every remaining disciple, including Han Li, raises a hand—a forest of right arms.
The Sect Master flicks his sleeve. From it flies a stream of green light, resolving into hundreds of small, intricate JADE SLIPS that shoot through the air and land gently in each raised palm.
Han Li catches his. It is cool, etched with a glowing, three-dimensional map.
SECT MASTER
This is a sector map.Each sect's is different, showing areas our predecessors have charted. It will guide you to regions where ingredients for the Foundation Pill, and other rare herbs, have been found. It can also, within a limited range, sense the location of your fellow sect disciples.
Han Li's mind races. A guide to treasures. And a beacon to allies...
Use it wisely.Now. All of you. Go. Make your final preparations. Refine your last pills. Sharpen your blades. Say your farewells.
He looks over the young faces, his gaze unreadable.
SECT MASTER (FINAL WORD)
In ten days,we depart for Black Shadow Mountain and the entrance to the seal. Dismissed.
The assembly erupts in a wave of noise—tense chatter, hurried footsteps, the clatter of weapons. Disciples stream away, clutching their jade maps like lifelines.
HAN LI stands smoothly. He does not look at Chen Ming. He does not speak to anyone. He looks down at the jade slip in his hand, its glow reflecting in his eyes. Not with hope, but with cold, analytical strategy.
He turns and walks against the current of the crowd, not toward the dormitories or the alchemy hall, but back up the silent, winding path to his cave. His sanctuary. His forge.
The ten-day countdown has begun.
Back to , MASKED MOON SECT -
On a flying small mountain,,. The air is cold . The Sect Master of the Masked Moon Sect, the woman shrouded in shifting moonlight, stands with her back turned, looking at the full moon.
Before her, sitting , is YING YUE. Her beauty is extravagant—a breathtaking, almost surreal loveliness that seems carved from moonlight itself. Her skin is pale as glacial ice, her hair like a waterfall of liquid night, and her eyes hold a deep, chilling luminescence. Yet, a faint, painful blue tinge lives beneath her skin, a visible sign of an internal, frozen imbalanc
sect master speak Her voice is like wind chimes made of ice
Ming'er.You wish to enter the trial.
It is not a question.
YING YUE speak
Her voice is clear,melodic, but underpinned with a steely resolve
Yes,Senior Sister.
The Sect Master turns. Her face beautiful but cold like a ice figure , but her eyes hold a millennia of weary knowledge.
Then speaks
It will ravage you. If you wish to go to trail you must loose your cultivation till qu redining it will almost take you two years or so to get back to your your normal cultivation,,,.
CLOSE ON Ying Yue's face. The extravagant beauty is marred not by fear, but by a desperate, burning determination. A fragile, crystalline smile touches her lips.
YING YUE
Senior Sister,I must go. The 'Frozen Soul Chill' within my dantian is not an ailment to be cured by patience. It is a time-locked execution. It requires a high-grade, lifelong Cold Yin cultivation art to not just suppress, but to harness and turn into my foundation.
She takes a shallow breath, the air frosting before her.
Two hundred years ago,during the last opening, I was a hair's breadth from finding the lost Yin inheritance of Senior Moon-Cradler within the valley. I failed. This time... it is not a choice. It is my only path. If I do not go, the chill will consume my core within two this centuries, I will be a beautiful statue, forever.
A heavy silence hangs between them, broken only by the sigh of the wind through flying mountain .
The Sect Master looks at her most talented, most cursed junior. She sees the lethal frost in her veins and the unyielding fire in her spirit.
Sect master speaks,,.
If you insist on walking into the furnace...then go.
Ying Yue's head bows slightly, a wave of relief so profound it makes her shimmer.
SECT Master said ,.,,
But you will not go into the core of shadow Mountain alone must take desciples with you..
Ying yue , Looking up,the smile now more genuine, though still tinged with frost
Yes,Senior Sister.
SECT MASTER then speak
And Ying Yue...do not harm yourself recklessly.
YING YUE speaks
I understand.Thank you, Senior Sister.
She then smiles in happiness of getting permission , her extravagant figure seeming both fragile and indomitable. She turns and walks towards other side of the mountain and sat cross legged.
The Sect Master watches her go, then turns back , her expression inscrutable.