Wuya walked alone beneath the towering ancient trees, their roots twisting like serpents buried beneath the earth. Morning sunlight filtered through the leaves in broken gold—soft, fleeting, always shifting. The forest was tranquil.
Too tranquil.
The wind did not sing.
Birds did not chirp.
The leaves did not rustle.
It was the kind of silence that felt… wrong.
Wuya stepped lightly, footsteps soundless.
His breathing slow.
His senses extended outward instinctively.
"…I'm being watched."
He stopped under a massive oak.
The shadows around him deepened.
No reply came.
But the forest felt alive.
Breathing.
Listening.
Wuya's fingers tightened around the Clear Sky Token Elder Yun had given him.
He would not break it.
Not yet.
---
THE FIRST SIGN OF DANGER
A faint tremor rippled through the ground.
Wuya's eyes narrowed.
"…Something large. Heavy."
He took one step back—
BOOM
A tree exploded behind him.
Splinters flew like arrows.
Wuya slid aside, avoiding them effortlessly.
A deep, thunderous roar shook the forest.
The dust settled.
And there it stood—
A massive pale white tiger with wings of crackling lightning.
Its eyes glowed with divine pressure.
Wuya recognized it immediately.
"…Heaven sent you."
The divine beast snarled, breath electric, clouds gathering under its paws.
---
THE HEAVENLY OBSERVER WATCHES
Far above, hidden in the veil of clouds, the celestial observer leaned on his staff.
"Yes… yes…" he whispered.
"He is walking right into my test."
He smirked.
"If the beast cannot kill him, it can cripple him.
A crippled forbidden child is no threat."
Thunder rolled in response to his laughter.
---
THE BEAST ATTACKS
The Divine Thunderwing Tiger roared—
and lightning exploded from its wings.
Wuya didn't flinch.
He simply inhaled.
His mind entered clarity.
Wind gathered around his feet.
Wind-Step Art: First Form
He vanished from sight as the lightning struck the ground where he had stood.
Earth trembled.
Soil turned to glass.
Trees erupted into flames.
The divine beast lunged.
Wuya slid behind it.
His fist rose—
Then stopped.
He lowered it.
"…Your body would break my hand."
The beast turned sharply, jaws snapping toward his throat.
Wuya ducked and rolled aside, palm grazing the dirt.
Electricity singed his sleeve, but his skin remained unharmed.
His bones, strengthened by the previous Sign-In, endured the shock.
The beast roared again.
Lightning coiled across the sky like serpents.
Wuya whispered:
"…I cannot kill it.
I must evade."
He stepped lightly, using the wind again.
But the suppression charm Elder Qiong Luo planted still weakened his meridians.
His movement faltered a fraction.
The beast noticed instantly.
It pounced.
BA-DUM
Wuya's heart clenched—
A split-second slow.
And the beast reached him.
---
XUEYI FEELS EVERYTHING
Back at the sect—
Xueyi was sweeping Elder Yun's courtyard, still wiping tear stains from her eyes.
Suddenly—
Her Moonveil Seal pulsed violently.
Xueyi dropped the broom.
"M-Master…!"
Elder Yun emerged instantly.
"What is it?"
Xueyi clutched her chest.
"T-The seal… it's reacting… strongly—too strongly!"
Elder Yun's eyes widened.
"The resonance is too intense… this only happens when Wuya faces—"
Both froze.
"—a fatal threat," Elder Yun finished quietly.
Xueyi panicked.
"No… NO!! He promised—!!"
Her voice broke.
"Master!! Can't we chase him?! Please—!!"
Elder Yun placed both hands on her shoulders.
"Xueyi. Listen to me."
"NO!! I CAN'T LISTEN!! WUYA IS—"
"Xueyi!"
Xueyi flinched.
Elder Yun lowered her voice.
"We follow him…
and he will die."
Xueyi's entire body trembled.
Her breath turned erratic.
"N-No… Wuya…"
---
WUYA'S NEAR-DEATH
The beast's claws grazed Wuya's shoulder—
Blood sprayed.
He was thrown across the forest floor, sliding through dirt and broken roots.
His back slammed into a stone pillar hidden beneath moss.
Pain erupted through his bones.
His vision blurred for a second.
Wuya exhaled sharply.
"…That was close."
The beast snarled, wings crackling with white lightning.
It pounced again.
Wuya stood slowly.
His breathing steady.
His wound stinging.
His meridians still restricted.
And yet—
He did not step back.
"I must reach Moonfall Cliff."
Lightning streaked toward him.
He inhaled deeply—
And braced himself.
---
LADY LINGHAI OBSERVES
A faint shimmer of golden light appeared behind a boulder.
Lady Linghai stood there, watching silently.
She did not intervene.
Her eyes cold.
Focused.
"He fights a divine beast while suppressed.
No fear.
No hesitation."
Her divine aura trembled faintly.
"…This boy is dangerous."
She clenched her staff.
"Much too dangerous."
But she would not interfere.
Not yet.
This was his trial.
---
THE BEAST'S FINAL STRIKE
The Thunderwing Tiger charged.
Lightning gathered in its jaws.
Wuya's stance lowered.
His fist tightened.
His wound bled.
Yet his expression remained calm.
The beast roared.
The forest shook.
Lightning exploded toward him—
Wuya stepped forward.
Straight into the blast.
Xueyi's scream echoed across the world—
though it was miles away.
---
THE SIXTH SIGN-IN REACTION
The world slowed.
Lightning froze inches from his chest.
The Codex burned inside him.
His heart pounded.
Symbols flooded his vision—
[Life and Death]
[Condition Met: Critical Moment]
[Sixth Sign-In: Preparing]
The Codex whispered:
[Resist death once.
Or die.]
Wuya exhaled softly.
"…I choose to live."
He twisted his torso with unnatural precision—
dodging the lightning line by a hair's width.
The blast tore through a boulder behind him.
Stone shattered into dust.
Wuya crouched low.
His footwork improved.
His breath sharper.
Even under suppression, he could still—
Move.
He rose.
---
THE TURNING POINT
The tiger lunged—
Wuya stepped aside—
The beast passed him—
And Wuya slammed his palm into its ribs, redirecting its momentum toward a rock face.
BOOOOM
The beast crashed into stone.
The cliffside crumbled.
Thunder echoed.
Wuya stepped back, chest heaving once.
Not from exhaustion—
from pain.
His shoulder wound pulsed with heat.
But he remained standing.
The Beast rose again, trembling.
Its lightning dimmed.
Its strength fading.
It could kill him if lucky—
but it would die trying.
The beast hesitated now.
For the first time.
It recognized the aura of something impossible.
Something Heaven feared.
Wuya.
---
THE BEAST WITHDRAWS
The tiger backed away—
Slowly—
Then turned—
And fled into the clouds.
The Heavenly Observer's voice thundered from above.
"Cowardly creature!!
Return!!
RETURN!!"
Lightning shook the sky—
but the beast did not obey.
It escaped.
Defeated not by force—
but by fear.
Wuya staggered slightly.
He sat down on a fallen log.
Blood dripped from his shoulder.
His breathing slowed.
"…I survived."
---
THE CODEX SPEAKS
Symbols filled his vision again.
[Sixth Sign-In — 80%]
[Condition: Reach the Moonfall Cliff]
[Time Limit: 12 hours]
Wuya exhaled.
"…So that's how it is."
He stood up.
Pain rippled through his body.
Blood stained his robe.
But his steps remained steady.
He whispered:
"…I don't have time to rest."
He began walking again.
---
THE FIRST VOID RIPPLE
After an hour of walking, the air changed again.
Not silence.
Not killing intent.
Something stranger—
Something… hollow.
Like the world was missing a piece.
The ground vibrated slightly.
A ripple of distortion spread out—
A ripple that bent the light around it.
"…The Void."
Wuya stepped closer.
A stone fell into the ripple and—
Vanished.
No sound.
No splash.
No mark.
Just gone.
Wuya stared at it calmly.
"…Moonfall Cliff is close."
He placed his hand on his wounded shoulder.
Pain shot through him again.
He inhaled.
Exhaled.
And walked forward.
---
LADY LINGHAI'S DECISION
Hidden behind a cracked boulder, Lady Linghai watched him again.
Her voice was barely audible.
"…He fought a divine beast alone.
And still moves."
She touched the air above the injured shoulder—the divine energy left behind.
It stung even her finger.
"…And he did it with suppressed meridians.
Ridiculous."
She narrowed her golden eyes.
"Why is Heaven so afraid of him?"
But she did not chase him.
She let him walk.
"…Prove your fate, Hao Wuya.
Or die."
She vanished into golden mist.
---
THE FOREST THINS
Wuya continued his march.
Time passed.
His wound bled, but slowly.
His breathing sharpened.
The forest thinned.
The air grew cold—
unnaturally cold.
Mist gathered.
The ground beneath his feet felt unstable.
The trees bent away from a certain direction—
As though refusing to point at Moonfall Cliff.
Wuya whispered:
"…I'm close."
He stepped forward—
And the ground trembled beneath him.
---
Elder Qiong Luo's Trap Activated
Deep underground, near the trail—
A black crystal pulsed.
The Demon Vein Resonator awakened.
Dark tendrils of Qi shot into the ground.
Into the air.
Into Wuya.
His breath stuttered.
His knees buckled.
His meridians screamed.
Wuya grabbed a tree trunk to steady himself.
"…A second suppression?"
His vision blurred.
Pain exploded inside his body.
"…Someone wants me dead."
The Codex pulsed wildly.
[Warning: Fatal Meridian Collapse Imminent]
Wuya pressed his hand to his chest.
"…Not now."
He sank to one knee.
The ground beneath him cracked.
His vision dimmed.
Then—
He looked up.
Light barely visible through the mist—
A cliff edge.
Moonfall Cliff.
He forced himself up.
His legs shaking—
But he stood.
"…Just a little farther."
---
The Sixth Sign-In Nears
The Codex whispered:
[Moonfall Cliff Detected]
[Completing Sixth Sign-In soon]
Wuya exhaled hard.
Pain ripped through him.
The void ripples ahead danced.
The meridian suppression inside him pulsed violently.
Death lingered around him like cold breath.
He took one step.
Another.
A third.
His foot reached the cliff's boundary—
And time slowed.
Void currents swirled.
The Codex blazed.
The void seemed to open its jaws.
Wuya looked at the abyss below.
Then whispered:
"…I'm here."
The Codex answered:
[Sixth Sign-In — Begin]