Chapter 22, Part 1 — The Trial of the 778th Candidate
The countdown echoed in the empty crater like a hammer striking metal.
"Ten."
The bronze puppet stood motionless several dozen paces away, its surface dull and ancient, its joints covered in faintly glowing runic lines. It did not radiate Qi. It did not leak pressure. And yet, Hao Tian felt as though he were standing before a coiled mountain beast.
"Nine."
He slowly exhaled, forcing his breathing into a steady rhythm.
His grip tightened around his sword.
He had fought beasts stronger than himself. He had hunted predators. He had survived ambushes and near-death struggles.
But this was different.
There was no killing intent from the puppet.
Only certainty.
"Eight."
The crater around them was wide and shallow, its center still marked by the small iron-black ring half-buried in stone. Broken rock, uneven ground, and scattered debris lay everywhere—natural obstacles formed by the impact.
Good.
He would need every advantage.
"Seven."
The puppet's eyes—two dim points of pale light—locked onto him.
For a brief moment, Hao Tian had the absurd feeling that he was not being measured as prey…
…but as material.
"Six."
He shifted his stance slightly, lowering his center of gravity.
Peak 7th-stage body-refining.
Every muscle taut. Every tendon ready.
"Five."
The air felt heavier.
Not from pressure.
From anticipation.
"Four."
He could feel his heart pounding.
Not from fear.
From instinct.
"Three."
He swallowed.
"Two."
The puppet's foot slid half an inch forward.
Silently.
"One."
The world exploded.
The puppet vanished.
Hao Tian's pupils shrank.
He barely had time to twist his body aside—
A bronze fist tore through the space where his head had been, the shockwave alone blasting碎 rock into his cheek and sending him skidding several meters across the ground.
He rolled, barely stopping himself from crashing into a broken stone ridge.
Before he could even stand—
The puppet was already there.
A knee strike.
Hao Tian crossed his arms and blocked—
Crack.
Pain detonated up both arms as he was thrown backward like a rag doll, his boots carving two long furrows in the dirt.
Too fast.
Too strong.
Too clean.
No wasted motion.
No roar. No flourish.
Only killing efficiency.
He forced himself upright—
The puppet was already attacking again.
A straight punch.
He deflected.
A palm strike followed immediately, flowing seamlessly into an elbow.
He blocked the elbow—
And the puppet's foot slammed into his ribs.
Something inside him cracked.
He spat blood and was sent flying, crashing into a slanted rock wall.
This isn't a spar.
This was an execution that hadn't finished yet.
He rolled aside just as the rock he'd been leaning on exploded under another strike.
The puppet advanced.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Each footfall was calm.
Measured.
Relentless.
Hao Tian's mind raced.
I can't match it head-on.
It's reading my movements.
No— it's not reading. It's already calculated.
The realization sent a chill through him.
This thing wasn't reacting.
It was predicting.
He feinted left and threw a handful of gravel with his right hand.
The puppet didn't even blink.
It stepped through the dust and struck.
Hao Tian barely avoided losing his throat.
The blow grazed his shoulder instead—
Bone screamed.
His left arm went numb.
He gritted his teeth and slashed.
The sword struck the puppet's torso.
Sparks flew.
The blade skidded off without leaving more than a shallow mark.
The puppet didn't even slow down.
It caught his wrist.
Twisted.
Pain exploded.
His sword flew out of his hand.
A punch followed—
He used the twist to drop his body backward, the fist missing his face by a hair's breadth.
He kicked at the puppet's knee.
It blocked.
Countered.
A palm slammed into his chest.
He felt his vision blur as he was thrown again, crashing and rolling across the crater floor.
If this continues, I die.
He forced himself up, coughing blood.
His ribs burned.
His left arm barely responded.
His breathing was already ragged.
And the puppet—
The puppet was untouched.
Then he remembered something.
Terrain.
He glanced toward the broken stone ridges and uneven ground near the crater wall.
And toward the iron-black ring in the center.
An idea formed.
A desperate one.
He ran.
Not away.
Toward the center.
The puppet pursued instantly.
Its speed was terrifying.
But it didn't fly.
It still used the ground.
Hao Tian leapt over a broken ridge.
The puppet followed—
He slashed at the rock pillar beside him as he passed.
The already fractured stone collapsed.
The puppet punched through it without slowing—
But for a split second…
Its movement was disrupted.
Hao Tian seized that instant.
He grabbed a loose rock, infused all his remaining strength, and smashed it into the puppet's face.
It did nothing.
But—
The impact shifted its head by a fraction.
He used that fraction to roll past it and sprint toward a narrow area filled with jagged stones.
The puppet turned.
Pursued.
They weaved through uneven ground.
Hao Tian stumbled deliberately, letting his foot catch on a rock—
The puppet lunged—
He twisted sideways—
The puppet's foot landed on a loose slab.
The stone cracked.
Its balance shifted.
Only slightly.
But enough.
Hao Tian drove himself forward and slammed the puppet's torso into a sharp stone spike.
Metal rang.
The spike snapped.
But the impact forced the puppet back half a step.
It can be moved.
He didn't hesitate.
He circled.
Lured.
Dodged.
Every second, his body screamed.
Every breath tasted like blood.
Another exchange—
The puppet's fist grazed his shoulder.
He felt flesh tear.
But he cut across its leg joint.
Sparks flew.
No damage.
But—
The angle of its movement changed.
Just a little.
Enough.
He retreated toward the iron-black ring.
The puppet followed.
Always.
Always.
When he reached the center, he kicked at the loose stones around the ring.
They shifted.
The ground here was more unstable.
He deliberately let the puppet push him.
Let it drive him backward.
Then—
He jumped aside at the last moment.
The puppet's foot slammed down—
The ground partially collapsed into the shallow, fractured pit around the ring.
Its leg sank in.
Only for an instant.
But that instant—
Hao Tian roared and gathered every remaining ounce of strength.
He picked up his fallen sword.
Poured everything into one strike.
And stabbed.
Not at the torso.
Not at the head.
But at the joint of the neck.
At the seam.
At the place that had shown the faintest glow.
The blade sank in.
Metal screamed.
Runes flared violently.
The puppet froze.
Then—
It stepped back.
Slowly.
It raised its hand.
And placed two fingers on the blade.
Pulled it out.
The wound did not bleed.
But the light in its eyes flickered.
It looked at Hao Tian.
And for the first time—
It stopped attacking.
"Trial condition satisfied," it said calmly.
"Candidate 778 has demonstrated sufficient combat judgment, adaptability, and lethal output."
Hao Tian's legs gave out.
He collapsed to his knees.
Then forward.
The world spun.
The last thing he saw was the bronze puppet standing silently in the crater.
Then—
Darkness.
Chapter 22 – Part 2: The Voice from the Ring
Pain was the first thing Hao Tian felt.
Not the sharp, tearing pain of battle, but a deep, lingering ache that seemed to seep into his bones. It was the kind of soreness that came after pushing the body far past its limits, when every muscle protested even the smallest movement.
His eyelids fluttered.
Light.
Dim, gray, and unfocused.
He lay there for several long breaths, listening to the faint rustle of leaves somewhere above and the distant, hollow silence of the crater. His mind felt heavy, like it had been soaked in water and left to drip dry.
"…I'm… alive?"
The memory of the battle crashed back in fragments.
The bronze puppet.
The merciless strikes.
The desperate roll across broken stone.
The final, all-or-nothing thrust.
He inhaled sharply and tried to sit up.
A wave of pain surged through his back and shoulders, forcing a low grunt from his throat. His body was wrapped in a dull, constant ache, but when he focused, he could tell—nothing was broken. No limbs twisted at unnatural angles. No sharp internal pain.
Just exhaustion. And bruises. And the kind of soreness that came from surviving something he probably shouldn't have.
Hao Tian slowly propped himself up as his gaze shifted to his hands.
He froze.
A black ring sat quietly on one of his fingers, its surface etched with faint, ancient-looking patterns. He did not remember ever putting it on.
"…What?"
He tried to pull it off.
It did not move.
No matter how he twisted or tugged, the ring remained firmly in place, as if it had always belonged there.
"What…?"
He reached up and tried to pull it.
It didn't move.
Not even a little.
His heartbeat quickened.
"…Did that puppet… do this?"
He scanned the crater.
The bronze puppet was gone.
The crater was the same desolate pit of gray soil and broken stone, silent and empty. The strange pressure that had filled the area before was gone too. The air felt… normal. Still thin, still weak in Qi, but no longer oppressive.
Hao Tian swallowed.
He tried again to remove the ring.
Nothing.
No pain. No resistance. It was simply… part of him.
"Great…" he muttered. "So this is what an 'inheritance' gives you. A piece of scrap metal stuck to your body."
The moment the thought finished—
[Binding complete.]
A calm, emotionless voice echoed directly inside his mind.
Hao Tian's entire body went rigid.
He nearly fell backward in shock.
"…Who's there?!"
[Initializing interface…]
[Checking host condition…]
[Body Refined: 7th Stage (Peak).]
[Condition: Moderate exhaustion. Multiple bruises. Minor internal strain. No critical injuries detected.]
The voice wasn't loud.
It wasn't soft either.
It was… precise. Flat. Like someone reading numbers from a ledger.
Hao Tian's breathing grew rapid.
"Speak. Who are you? Where are you hiding?"
[Query invalid.]
[I am not a physical entity.]
[I am the Heavenly Fate-Devouring System.]
He stared blankly at the empty air.
"…A system?"
[Correct.]
His first instinct was to think he had finally passed out from blood loss and was dreaming.
But the pain in his body was too real.
The cold stone under his palm was too real.
And the ring against his chest was very real.
"…What do you want with me?"
[Primary directive: Assist host in growth and survival within permitted parameters.]
[Current operational level: Severely restricted.]
Hao Tian frowned. "You're the inheritance?"
[This unit is bound to the inheritance artifact.]
[This unit is not the inheritance itself.]
"…Then what is the inheritance?"
There was a brief pause.
[Insufficient authority.]
[Current realm too low to access this information.]
Hao Tian: "..."
"…Then at least tell me what that puppet was."
[Trial guardian construct.]
[Function: Evaluate compatibility.]
"Compatibility with what?"
[Query exceeds accessible information threshold.]
[Current realm too low.]
A vein twitched on Hao Tian's forehead.
"…Then what can you tell me?"
[Opening basic interface.]
A translucent panel seemed to appear directly in his mind.
Host: Hao Tian
Realm: Body Refining – 7th Stage (Peak)
Meridian Completion: 79 / 108
Body Tempering: 68%
Condition: Moderate exhaustion, minor internal strain, multiple bruises
Hao Tian blinked.
"…You can see inside my body?"
[Correct.]
"…And that 'Fate-Devouring' thing the puppet mentioned?"
[Ability unlocked: Fate-Devouring.]
[Status: Active.]
He tensed. "What does it do?"
[When host kills a living being with karmic weight, residual fate is absorbed automatically.]
[Process is undetectable below Celestial-level fate perception.]
"…Fate?"
[Definition beyond current authority.]
"…What happens to the fate you absorb?"
[Currently stored in inaccessible form.]
[Conversion function will unlock at next realm: Qi Refining.]
"So right now… it just absorbs it?"
[Correct.]
Hao Tian fell silent for a long moment.
"…Why me?"
This time, the System answered without refusing.
[You are the first detected lifeform with sufficient compatibility to bind to the artifact.]
"Compatibility with what exactly?"
[Chaos-aspected adaptability.]
[Mental profile: High stability under pressure. High tolerance for conflicting states. Low rejection response to disorder.]
"…That sounds like nonsense."
[Simplified explanation:]
[Your mind is both stable and flexible.]
[This is a rare combination.]
"…And everyone else?"
[Non-compatible lifeforms experience instinctive repulsion.]
Hao Tian thought of the hunters' rumors.
The animals avoiding this place.
The unease.
"So that pressure…"
[Passive rejection field from the artifact.]
[Deactivated after successful binding.]
He exhaled slowly.
"…Is the being who left this behind… dead?"
There was a longer pause this time.
[Insufficient authority.]
[Query locked.]
"…Where is he?"
[Insufficient authority.]
"…What is he?"
[Insufficient authority.]
Hao Tian let out a dry laugh.
"So basically… I know nothing."
[Correct.]
"…Are you at least trying to turn me into someone who fights the heavens or something?"
[Incorrect.]
[Primary objective: Support a compatible successor.]
[No hostile directive toward external entities detected.]
"…Successor to what?"
[Insufficient authority.]
He stared at the gray sky above the crater and sighed.
"…Figures."
He shifted slightly, wincing at the soreness in his ribs.
"So what can you actually do right now?"
[Functions currently available:]
[1. Status Interface.]
[2. Fate-Devouring (passive).]
"…That's it?"
[Correct.]
"…You're really living up to the word 'restricted,' aren't you."
[Statement acknowledged.]
Hao Tian was quiet for a while.
Then:
"…Can you help me heal faster?"
[No.]
"…Can you make me stronger?"
[No.]
"…Can you give me techniques?"
[No.]
He sighed again.
"…Then I guess you're just a very fancy mirror."
[Current evaluation: Acceptable analogy.]
Despite himself, a corner of his mouth twitched.
He looked down at the black ring embedded in his chest.
"…You're stuck with me now, aren't you?"
[Binding is permanent.]
"…Great."
He slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, ignoring the protests of his muscles.
Whatever this thing was…
Whatever inheritance he had just stepped into…
It clearly wasn't something meant to make his life easier.
He glanced toward the forest beyond the crater's edge.
"…Then I'd better not die before I even reach Qi Refining."
[Statement: Logical.]
And for the first time since waking up, Hao Tian let out a quiet, genuine laugh.