The door closed behind Long Chen with a heavy thud that echoed far longer than it should have.
He stood in darkness for three breaths. Then light flared—not from torches or spiritual stones, but from runes carved into every surface. They pulsed in waves, spreading from floor to ceiling, illuminating a circular stone arena easily fifty meters across.
Long Chen's chest tightened.
The architecture felt familiar. Too familiar. The oppressive weight pressing against his skin, the faint hum of spiritual energy saturating the air, the sense of something ancient watching from the walls.
The Sword Saint's inheritance trial.
This was on a smaller scale and a little less refined. But the foundation was the same, an environment designed to test, break, and measure worth.
'Great,' he thought. 'Another gauntlet.'
A notification appeared in his mind.
[Tower of Trials: Floor 1]
[Objective: Defeat the demon beast]
[Time limit: None]
The ground beneath him cracked.
Stone split apart in jagged lines, spreading from the center of the arena. Dust rose in thick clouds. Something growled from below—low, guttural, and hungry.
[Good luck not dying, trash.]
Long Chen's eyes twitched. "System, I swear.."
[Friendly advice: refrain from using your sword techniques.]
"Why?" Long asked, a little puzzled.
[Cause while you may have caught up with your peers in cultivation you lack fighting experience.]
Long Chen nodded in understanding as his hand went to the hilt of his blade. Not Dragonfang. The weapon he'd taken from the dead assassin—a simple, straight sword with a worn grip and a chipped edge. Dragonfang stayed strapped to his back.
The growling grew louder.
Then the beast emerged.
It crawled up from the crack like a nightmare pulling itself into reality. Gray hide stretched over corded muscle. Bone spikes jutted from its spine in uneven rows. Its eyes burned red, reflecting the rune-light in a way that made them look like coals.
A demon beast.
Long Chen knew about them. Creatures twisted by demonic energy, stronger and more aggressive than normal spirit beasts. While it was at the peak of the first rank it could tear through three cultivators of the same realm easily
The beast's head swung toward him. Its lips peeled back, revealing rows of jagged teeth.
Long Chen drew his blade.
The beast charged.
It moved fast—faster than Long Chen expected. Its claws tore into the stone as it closed the distance, each step leaving gouges in the floor.
Long Chen's instincts screamed at him to dodge. Phantom Step activated, and his body blurred to the right. The beast shot past him, momentum carrying it into the wall with a bone-rattling crash.
It recovered instantly, twisted mid-air, and lunged again.
This time Long Chen didn't move. He planted his feet, angled his blade, and coated the edge with sword aura. The invisible energy coated the steel, sharpening it beyond what metal alone could achieve.
The beast's claws met his blade.
The force rattled up Long Chen's arms, but he held firm. His sword cut through the beast's hide like wet paper, spraying blood everywhere. The creature howled and jerked back, clutching its wounded paw.
Long Chen didn't give it time to recover. He stepped forward, blade already moving. The beast tried to dodge, but it was too slow. His strike slashed across its neck.
The beast went limp and collapsed in a heap.
Long Chen stood there, blood dripping from his sword onto the stone floor.
[Floor 1 Complete.]
[Proceed to Floor 2.]
[Did you see what I was saying? With your current strength you should have taken it down with one strike.]
A doorway opened in the far wall, glowing faintly.
Long Chen wiped his blade on the beast's hide and walked through, ignoring the system's last comment.
Outside the tower, the crowd had grown. What started as a handful of curious disciples had swelled into dozens. Servants whispered behind their hands. Outer disciples leaned against pillars, arms crossed, watching the tower's entrance like it might explode.
Even a few inner disciples had shown up, their expensive robes and polished weapons marking them as the clan's pride.
"How long has he been in there?" someone asked.
"Ten minutes, maybe."
"He's probably dead already."
"No way. The tower takes at least an hour to kill someone on the first floor."
Laughter rippled through the group.
Zhang Wei, the servant supervisor who'd tormented Long Chen for months, stood near the front with his arms crossed and a smug grin plastered on his face.
"I give him fifteen minutes," Zhang Wei said loudly. "Then the tower spits him out in pieces."
More laughter.
One of the elders—Elder Gan, responsible for overseeing the tower—stood off to the side with a small jade token in his hand. It glowed faintly, pulsing in rhythm with the tower itself.
His expression was unreadable.
Then suddenly the second floor of the tower lit up, and the crowd went silent.
Zhang Wei's grin faltered. "Already?"
"He cleared the first floor in five minutes," Elder Gan said calmly. "Faster than most outer disciples."
Whispers erupted. Doubt crept into the mocking expressions.
"Maybe he got lucky," someone muttered.
"Yeah. Luck."
But the whispers didn't sound convincing anymore.
Floor 2 opened into an arena identical to the first. Same runes. Same oppressive weight. Same sense of being watched.
This time, two beasts at the peak of first rank emerged.
They flanked Long Chen immediately, circling in opposite directions. Coordinated. Intelligent.
Long Chen's grip tightened on his blade. 'Two at once. Fine.'
The beast on his left lunged first. Long Chen blocked, Sword Aura flaring. The impact jarred his arm, but he held firm. Before he could counter, the second beast attacked from behind.
Phantom Step.
His body flickered. The second beast's claws tore through empty air. Long Chen reappeared three meters away, already moving. He closed on the first beast and drove his blade through its throat before it could react.
One down.
The second beast snarled and charged. Long Chen met it head-on, their clash sent sparks flying. Sword Aura against demonic hide. His blade bit deep. The beast thrashed, but Long Chen twisted the weapon and pulled it free.
The beast collapsed.
[Floor 2 Complete.]
[Proceed to Floor 3.]
Long Chen didn't pause. He stepped through the doorway immediately and onto the third floor, where three beasts rushed him the moment his foot touched the ground, faster and more aggressive than anything below. Steel flashed, bodies fell, and he didn't stop moving.
The fourth floor slowed him down.
Only one beast waited there, its hide plated like armor and its aura matching his own realm. His blade struck twice and rebounded both times, the impact jolting up his arm, until he adjusted and drove Sword Aura into a narrow weakness, ending the fight with a sharp, decisive blow.
By the fifth floor, there were four beasts—three of the first rank and one of the second—and they came from different angles at once. He felt the pressure then, the space closing in around him, Phantom Step carrying him out of danger before their claws could tear into him.
On the sixth floor, his arms burned and sweat soaked through his robes. His breathing turned rough, each inhale scraping his lungs, yet something had shifted. The movements of the beasts no longer felt chaotic. He could read them now, respond faster, and strike cleaner.
The seventh floor tested that confidence. Five beasts rushed him together, the numbers threatening to overwhelm him, but he met them head-on and cut them down quickly, refusing to give them time to surround him.
The eighth floor was different.
A single massive beast stood there, twice the size of the others and at the peak of the second rank, its claws long and sharp like swords. The moment it moved, Long Chen knew brute force wouldn't be enough. He leaned heavily on Phantom Step, pushing its mastery higher with every near miss as the battle dragged on, each mistake punished immediately.
When the ninth floor doors opened, Long Chen rested against the wall for a full minute before forcing himself to stand.
[You're doing better than I expected, I finally see the difference between you and the geniuses of this word .]
"Shut up," Long Chen muttered.
Outside, the crowd had tripled.
Word had spread through the compound. Long Chen—the rootless servant, the trash who failed his awakening—was climbing the Tower of Trials.
And he was on the ninth floor
Elder Gan stood silent, staring at the jade token in his hand. His expression had shifted from mild interest to genuine surprise.
"Nine floors," one of the inner disciples said, disbelief bleeding into his voice. "How is that possible?"
"He's in Qi Gathering Stage 4," another replied. "That's why."
"Stage 4?!" Zhang Wei's face went pale. "That's… that can't be right, he doesn't have a spirit root how can he cultivate"
"Apparently not anymore."
The whispers grew louder. Speculation ran wild. Some said he'd stolen pills from the clan's treasury, others claimed he'd made a deal with a demon. A few even suggested he had a fruitious encounter.
No one knew the truth, and Long Chen wasn't around to explain.
The ninth floor had the largest arena yet. Six beasts emerged from the floor simultaneously. Four of them were peak first-rank and the rest, at the second. Their eyes burned brighter and their movements, sharper.