Mount Sangzhao loomed ahead, its silhouette rising jagged and defiant against the morning sky. Clouds swirled like gray silk around its summit, whispering echoes of thunder—a storm held back by invisible hands.
The valley below was transformed. Spectral banners flickered at its edges, woven from qi and history. Ancient ruins rose like skeletons from mist-laden earth, silent sentinels to long-forgotten wars. Here was the crucible where legends were forged—or shattered.
Kai Jin stood at the threshold, Yue, Bai Ru, and Lin Su at his side. The air felt thin, sharp enough to cut the skin.
"This place," Bai Ru breathed softly, her eyes tracing the tangled web of ley-lines, "it rejects peace."
Lin Su chuckled, stretching her fingers languidly. "Good. Peace is tedious."
Yue didn't speak, her gaze locked forward, shoulders set in resolve.
Kai exhaled slowly. His pulse quickened, the familiar hum of the World Eye vibrating at the back of his skull, guiding, warning.
Step forward, and your past dies. Step back, and your future withers.
He stepped forward.
⸻
At the center of the valley, a great stone platform floated inches above the ground, etched with glowing runes. Around its perimeter, cultivators gathered—proud, anxious, hungry. Elders and officials from every sect watched from raised stands, eyes narrowed, voices murmuring calculations and odds.
Then silence.
A figure appeared on the platform, robed entirely in black silk. The Imperial Herald's voice echoed with unnatural clarity:
"Welcome, contenders, to the Crownless Tournament. You who seek the Sovereign Blade—know this: the blade does not choose its master. It claims them."
His hand lifted. The storm above rumbled in response.
"Your first trial awaits—Path of Echoes. You must pass alone. Survive what it reveals or be lost within."
The runes flared bright.
Kai met each woman's gaze, one last unspoken promise passing between them, then stepped onto the platform.
The world fractured.
⸻
He stood in darkness, suspended.
Then, slowly, the void filled with sound—soft, weeping.
Yue's voice.
"Kai. Please. Don't leave me."
He turned, heart pounding. She knelt, blood pooling beneath her, reaching toward him. He moved, but chains bound him fast.
"You cannot save everyone," whispered a voice from nowhere. "Choose, Kai Jin. Strength or compassion."
He screamed, struggling against chains forged from his own guilt, his failures, his fears.
"No," he whispered fiercely. "Both."
The chains shattered.
⸻
He stumbled into sunlight, gasping.
He wasn't alone. Yue, Bai Ru, Lin Su—they stood, pale and shaken, their eyes haunted but defiant.
"We saw," Yue whispered.
Kai nodded, breathing steady. "But we chose."
Lin Su wiped her eyes angrily. "If this was just the start, we better brace ourselves."
Bai Ru touched Kai's arm gently. "We'll face it. Together."
A new horn sounded—deep, resonant, ancient.
The second trial was ready. And behind the echoes of the valley, thunder roared like applause.
The Crownless Tournament had truly begun.
⸻
End of Arc III.
[The Crownless Tournament Arc continues in Chapter 81.]