The tremor did not stop.
It deepened.
Cracks spread across the incline beneath their feet.
"Move back!" one of the Inner Court supervisors shouted.
Too late.
The stone beneath the wounded disciple collapsed first.
He fell with a sharp cry as the ground caved inward.
Chen Wei lunged instinctively to grab him—
The edge broke further.
Lin Xuan reacted without thinking.
He seized Chen Wei's collar and pulled him backward—
But the entire section of rock gave way.
The world tilted.
Then dropped.
They fell through mist and shattered stone.
Not far.
But hard.
Lin Xuan twisted mid-fall, shielding his injured shoulder.
He hit the ground on his side and rolled, breath forced from his lungs.
Dust rose around them.
For several seconds, there was only coughing and shifting rubble.
"Report!" a supervisor called out sharply.
"Alive!"
"Here!"
"Still breathing…"
One voice did not respond.
The wounded disciple who had fallen first lay unmoving several meters away.
A supervisor rushed to him.
Pulse checked.
Breathing shallow.
Alive.
Barely.
They were no longer on the valley floor.
They had fallen into something beneath it.
The ceiling above them was jagged stone, partially collapsed. The mist did not descend here.
Instead—
The air was dry.
Stale.
Ancient.
Broken stone pillars surrounded them in a circular pattern.
Carvings covered the walls.
Not sect symbols.
Not beast markings.
Something older.
Something structured.
"This is a buried formation site…" one supervisor murmured.
Lin Xuan stood slowly.
His shoulder throbbed sharply from the fall.
Good.
Pain kept his mind sharp.
Inside his consciousness—
The dragon's presence had grown heavier.
This is closer.
"Closer to what?"
No answer.
But he could feel it too.
The faint red glow from earlier pulsed again—
This time from deeper inside the chamber.
A scraping sound echoed from one of the shadowed corridors leading away from the circular chamber.
Not footsteps.
Not claws.
Stone grinding against stone.
The supervisors instantly formed a defensive triangle.
"Protect the injured."
Spiritual energy surged outward, illuminating part of the corridor.
Something moved within the light.
Not mist.
Not flesh.
Stone.
A figure stepped forward slowly.
Humanoid.
But clearly not alive.
Its body was formed from dark mineral rock, veins glowing faint red beneath its surface.
Its face was featureless.
Smooth.
Yet somehow focused directly on Lin Xuan.
"It's not mimicking," Chen Wei whispered.
No.
This one was real.
A guardian.
The stone entity raised one arm.
Cracks formed along its limb as red light intensified.
Then—
It struck the ground.
A shockwave rippled outward through the chamber floor.
The supervisors braced, countering with wind barriers.
The impact was heavy—but controlled.
Testing force.
Not full strength.
Lin Xuan narrowed his eyes.
"It's gauging us."
As if responding—
The stone guardian stepped forward again.
Faster this time.
It did not attack the supervisors.
It moved directly toward Lin Xuan.
Of course.
A supervisor intercepted, blade slashing across the guardian's torso.
Sparks erupted.
But the cut was shallow.
The stone figure swung its arm sideways.
The supervisor barely blocked in time, sliding back several steps.
"This thing's core is reinforced!" he barked.
Lin Xuan stepped forward despite the warning.
If he stayed back—
It would keep targeting him anyway.
The guardian's arm descended in a downward smash.
Lin Xuan pivoted aside, the stone fist shattering the ground where he had stood.
He struck back with his good arm—
A focused blow to the glowing red vein along its side.
The impact reverberated up his bones.
Hard.
Dense.
But he felt it—
A reaction.
The red glow flickered slightly.
Inside—
The dragon's voice sharpened.
There. That line. It channels the residue.
The guardian rotated unnaturally fast and backhanded him.
Lin Xuan blocked—
But the force sent him sliding across the chamber floor.
His injured shoulder screamed in pain.
Cracks spread along the stone where he slid.
This was not an illusion.
Not a corrupted beast.
This was something built.
Designed.
To guard.
The guardian advanced again.
The supervisors attacked simultaneously this time.
Wind blades struck its joints.
One managed to fracture part of its knee.
The guardian staggered—
Then slammed both fists into the ground.
The entire chamber shook violently.
More debris fell from the ceiling.
A supervisor shouted:
"If this continues, the ceiling will collapse fully!"
Which meant burial.
Or worse.
The guardian's glowing veins pulsed brighter now.
It was escalating.
Lin Xuan stood slowly.
Breathing controlled.
Measured.
If he released more—
The elders above might sense it.
If he did not—
This chamber would bury them all.
The dragon's voice came quietly.
Minimal release. Focused.
Lin Xuan exhaled.
Just a thread.
A thin crimson current flowed beneath his skin.
Not explosive.
Not flaring outward.
He dashed forward.
Faster than before—
But not impossibly so.
He stepped inside the guardian's swing radius.
Palm striking directly along the brightest glowing vein across its chest.
This time—
The impact sounded different.
A sharp internal crack.
The red glow flickered violently.
The guardian froze for half a second.
That was enough.
One supervisor drove his blade directly into the cracked seam.
The glow shattered.
Red light dispersed like embers.
The stone body convulsed—
Then collapsed into inert fragments.
Silence filled the chamber.
Heavy breathing.
Falling dust.
No immediate second attack.
Chen Wei stared at Lin Xuan.
"You… moved faster."
Lin Xuan adjusted his breathing deliberately.
"Adrenaline."
Half-truth.
The supervisors were staring too.
Not accusing.
But thinking.
One of them finally spoke.
"That wasn't ordinary formation residue."
He looked around the buried structure.
"This place was sealing something."
Lin Xuan's gaze shifted toward the deeper corridor from which the guardian had emerged.
The red glow was still there.
Fainter.
But steady.
And now—
It felt less like warning.
More like invitation.
Inside his consciousness—
The dragon's voice was low.
The fragment is below.
The ground trembled again.
Not collapsing.
Shifting.
As if something deeper had noticed the guardian's fall.
One supervisor wiped blood from the corner of his mouth.
"We can't retreat upward. The passage collapsed."
He looked toward the darker tunnel.
"There's only one direction left."
Forward.
Into the buried structure.
Into whatever the guardian had been protecting.
Lin Xuan stepped toward the corridor first.
Not recklessly.
But without hesitation.
Because he understood something clearly now.
This was no longer merely a sect test.
This place had reacted to him from the moment he entered the valley.
And whatever lay deeper—
Was not trying to kill him immediately.
It was waiting.