Shadow stepped off the arena platform, body aching, but heart steady. The crowd parted before him like a tide, eyes wide with awe and disbelief. Some cheered. Others whispered in hushed voices. Few dared meet his gaze directly.
Jian Wu rushed forward and caught him in a half-embrace, grinning. "You absolute lunatic! You actually took down Yun Qiang!"
Shadow gave a weak chuckle, blood still dripping from a reopened wound beneath his robes. "And nearly lost my arm doing it."
They moved to the edge of the competitor's waiting area, where a small group of supportive disciples waited.
"You should be celebrating!" Jian Wu said, pulling out a flask of spirit water and helping Shadow wash the blood from his hands.
"I am," Shadow said softly. "But…"
He looked up at the Sect Master's pavilion.
"But I've completely offended the Sect Master. He tried to break me three times and I walked out standing. I don't think he'll let it go."
Jian Wu's grin faded. "Yeah… he was smiling, but not the good kind."
Shadow nodded. "I have a bad feeling. It won't be that simple next time."
"What if…" Jian Wu hesitated, "what if you give up? Step down now. No one would blame you. You're injured. You've already made history."
Shadow shook his head. "He needs an excuse. If I give up, he'll use it to send me away to one of the allied sects. You know how sects work—loyalty is currency. If I'm not a core disciple, I'm expendable."
Jian Wu frowned. "And if you are?"
"He can't touch me without losing face," Shadow replied. "If I make it to the core ranks, then any move against me would be seen as betrayal. The other elders won't accept it. And neither will the allied factions watching this tournament."
Jian Wu gave a low whistle. "So that's the plan. Become untouchable."
Shadow's lips curled into a faint smile. "Exactly."
"Then let's get you to that stage," Jian Wu said, clapping his shoulder gently. "You've beaten the odds before. One more storm won't stop you."
Shadow looked toward the horizon where the sky was beginning to shift toward gold.
"One more storm," he murmured. "But this time, I'm not walking through it—I'm becoming it."
---
A deep gong sounded through the skies.
All heads turned toward the central arena.
The Sect Master stood, arms raised, his robe billowing gently in the wind. The smile on his face was warm, graceful—yet hollow, as though carved from polished stone.
"Honored disciples, esteemed elders, and respected guests from our allied sects," he began, voice magnified by spiritual projection. "This has been a tournament unlike any other. Heroes have risen. Legends have been forged."
His gaze swept across the battlefield… and landed directly on Shadow.
"But now, we approach the final stage. Seven competitors remain. Seven warriors who have proven themselves beyond expectation."
A hush fell over the crowd. Even the wind seemed to still.
"The rules… shall now change."
Murmurs erupted. Confusion rippled like thunder through the audience.
The Sect Master continued, tone smooth and elegant.
"The final stage shall be an all-out elimination battle. All seven shall enter the arena simultaneously. No allies. No teams. No second chances. Only the last three standing shall be granted the right to become core disciples."
The uproar was immediate. Gasps, shouting, accusations of unfairness. Even among the elders, eyebrows furrowed.
Jian Wu clenched his fists. "He's trying to erase you without leaving a mark."
Shadow exhaled slowly. "This is it," he murmured. "The final trap. A battlefield where he doesn't have to pull the trigger—he just needs the others to do it for him."
---
A radiant projection ignited in the air above the sect, revealing the names and ranks of the final seven disciples. Each name shimmered with the authority of survival and power.
1. Ren Shun The current top disciple. A direct heir of the feared Ren Family, known for his ruthless Heaven-Dominating Fist and unbreakable Steel Bone Physique. No one had ever forced him to draw blood. Cold, calculating, and dominant.
2. Xue Mei The graceful and silent wielder of the Silken Blade Art. Her threads could slice a person apart without ever seeing the blade move. Elegant yet lethal. The breeze never felt more dangerous.
3. Lu Fan The wind-hearted swordsman. Always smiling, always elusive. His Wind Step Swordplay was fast, erratic, and danced like the breeze—making his path impossible to predict. Behind the smile was a hurricane.
5. Jiang Fei – The Iron Staff Demon. Loud, brash, and brutal. His Heavy Mountain Staff Style had left more bones broken in the tournament than any other competitor. He craved brawls, not finesse.
7. Han Yu The Firestorm Maniac. He wielded volatile flame arts and was known for destroying platforms in past duels just to force a rematch. His Burning Spiral Flame Wheel had incinerated more than one opponent.
10. Lian Hua The time-variant enigma. Her Petal Drift Technique allowed her to blink unpredictably through micro-moments of time, making her impossible to lock down. No one knew her full strength. She observed, waited, struck like a phantom.
100. Shadow – The thunder-wielding anomaly. The storm-walker. The challenger who had defeated four peak disciples in a row. Once overlooked, now unavoidable. His signature techniques Thunder Step, Flash Blade Art, and Thunder Slash had carved his name into the sect's future.
The projection lingered.
The audience fell silent.
The pressure of the final round wasn't just physical—it was political, spiritual, historic.
The final seven stood as titans.
But only three would rise.
Jian Wu stared at the projection, then back at Shadow.
"You're going to fight all six of them?"
Shadow's gaze didn't waver.
"Yes."
"Even Ren Shun?"
"Especially Ren Shun."
---
The Sect Master's voice rang one final time.
"Prepare yourselves. The arena shall be reforged. The final battle begins… at sunset."
As the sun dipped below the distant ridges, casting fiery halos across the peaks, the wind stirred.
The air changed.
And in the growing silence, only one truth pulsed through the clouds:
The storm was no longer coming.
It was already here.
And it bore a name the entire sect would remember.
Shadow.
---
**End of Chapter 72**