---
The sect's central plaza is busier than usual. Mission scrolls float above jade tables, and disciples bustle about in pairs and trios, competing for the best assignments.
Jiang Chen enters alone, drawing quiet stares. His reputation precedes him now—"The One Who Survived Heavenfall", whispered like a curse or prophecy, depending on who you ask.
A clerk in white robes greets him with a bow that is a little too polite.
Clerk:
"Disciple Jiang. The elders have pre-approved a solo assignment for you. Outer Sector—Trial Grounds of Bonefire."
Jiang Chen (flatly):
"That doesn't sound like a farming escort."
The clerk hands over the jade mission token, avoiding eye contact.
Clerk:
"Due to the… Heavenfall incident, all your assignments must be cleared for combat readiness. Elder Xun's orders."
Jiang Chen takes the token. It's warm—strange. It should be cold jade.
Jiang Chen (quietly):
"…So they're sending me to burn."
---
At the outer gate, Jiang Chen prepares his travel gear. Just as he fastens his blade, a soft scritch comes from the bushes nearby.
He draws his sword in an instant.
Out rolls… a fat, fuzzy squirrel-dragon hybrid with three tails and lightning-colored fur.
Jiang Chen:
"…What in the heavens are you?"
Yue Qingshuang (appearing behind him):
"That's a Cloudtail. You earned it."
Jiang Chen raises an eyebrow.
Yue Qingshuang:
"It was watching you train for a week. Picked you. Refuses to leave your side now."
The creature climbs onto his shoulder and curls up like a scarf.
Jiang Chen (deadpan):
"Wonderful. I'm going into a death trap with a pillow."
Yue Qingshuang (grinning):
"Name him. It might be your last act of mercy."
He sighs.
Jiang Chen:
"…Fine. You're Thunderpuff now."
Thunderpuff squeaks proudly.
---
The journey is long, the terrain growing more desolate by the hour. The Trial Grounds of Bonefire rest between two volcanic ridgelines—former sect territory now used to "temper" outer disciples.
Charred trees line the hills. Faint smoke wisps drift skyward.
The closer Jiang Chen gets, the heavier the air becomes.
Not just heat—pressure.
Jiang Chen (inner monologue):
This place wasn't meant for cultivation trials. This… was a battlefield.
He pauses at an abandoned guard post, scanning the land ahead.
He presses two fingers to the earth. Whispering Qi flows out.
A vision flickers:
—Burning bones.
—A lotus blackened and smoking.
—A name etched in flame: Mist of Bone.
He opens his eyes.
Jiang Chen:
"…They're waiting."
Thunderpuff growls—low, electric.
---
Crossing into the Bonefire Trial Grounds, Jiang Chen finds no other disciples. No warding banners. No supply stations.
Only silence, and smoldering dust.
Then—a voice.
Mist of Bone (echoing):
"You are brave to walk into the storm. Or foolish."
A shadow flickers across the rocks.
Jiang Chen:
"Funny. I could say the same to whoever's pretending to be the wind."
No response.
He moves cautiously through the trial maze—twisting paths built with old spirit stones, many cracked or melted. Qi lines are reversed. The leylines beneath his feet feel sick.
Then, he sees it.
> A corpse.
A real one.
A disciple, face burned to ash, still holding his sword in a defensive stance.
Jiang Chen:
"Outer mission, they said. Trial, they said."
He kneels beside the body and draws a blade-sized mark through the ground.
Whispering Qi channels into it, revealing a flicker of memory:
> The disciple stood here.
Fought something fast.
Something that didn't bleed.
---
A scream cuts through the fog—inhuman.
Out of the ash rise three burning skeletons, their bones forged of smoldering iron. Their eyes are cold blue flames. Spirit beasts, yes—but corrupted.
Thunderpuff hisses.
Jiang Chen draws his blade.
Jiang Chen (quietly):
"Time to see if Form V holds under pressure."
The first Bonefire Spirit charges.
Jiang Chen sidesteps and slashes.
> Whispering Form V: Blade Beyond Heaven's Veil.
His sword vanishes mid-strike—reappearing inside the spirit's skull.
It collapses.
The second spirit flanks from the left. The third from above.
He flips backward—leaps off a scorched pillar—and sends his sword flying in a spiral arc, channeling Form II.
> Whispering Form II: Wind Carries Regret.
The curved arc severs both spirits at the spine.
Ash rains down.
Thunderpuff squeaks, visibly impressed.
Jiang Chen (panting slightly):
"They're testing my stamina. This wasn't a random attack."
He looks up.
The air trembles.
---
From the smoke, a girl appears.
Ragged robes. Half-burned skin. A black dagger in one hand, a lotus-shaped birthmark glowing faintly under her eye.
Mist of Bone.
She does not speak at first.
She simply walks forward, dragging her blade through the earth—leaving behind glowing crimson script that hisses and burns away the stone.
Jiang Chen (sword raised):
"Are you the one they sent to kill me? You look half-dead yourself."
Mist of Bone (softly):
"I already died. Black Lotus gave me a reason to stand again."
She attacks—no flourish, no hesitation.
Their blades clash.
Fast. Brutal. Bone-shattering.
Jiang Chen blocks three strikes—then parries a fourth that comes from beneath her arm in an unnatural twist.
She moves like a puppet.
Jiang Chen (thinking fast):
She's been altered. Her meridians don't flow naturally. Her blade's fueled by backlash Qi.
He counters with Form IV: Silence Draws Twice.
Her blade is knocked away—but she flicks a secondary dagger from her sleeve.
It cuts through his side, shallow but burning.
Mist of Bone:
"My flame poisons. You will feel it crawl through your veins."
Jiang Chen:
"Then I'll cut faster than it can crawl."
---
They clash again.
Blades flash.
Blood falls.
Jiang Chen's movements grow sharper, tighter—his control forced to evolve under pressure. The poison Qi burns through his body, but he doesn't falter.
He channels deeper into Form V—too deeply.
> The world stills.
For a breath, he feels his sword stretch beyond the visible.
Beyond mortal speed.
Jiang Chen (low voice):
"…Form VI?"
He strikes—once.
Her dagger is gone. Her mask shattered.
Mist of Bone stumbles, eyes wide, blood at her lips.
Mist of Bone:
"Why didn't… you kill me?"
Jiang Chen (grim):
"You're already dead. I fight the hand that puppets you."
She collapses—not dead, but broken.
---
Far away—in a hidden cavern—a black mirror ripples.
The Black Lotus Lord watches the duel play out.
Black Lotus Lord (softly):
"He advances quickly. Too quickly."
Beside him, another masked figure appears—Mist of Bone's replacement.
Masked Disciple:
"Shall I kill him now?"
Black Lotus Lord:
"No. Let him live. Each step forward digs him deeper into the Lotus's roots."
He closes the mirror.
---
Jiang Chen limps away from the trial grounds, Thunderpuff pressed against his wound with sparks of healing Qi.
He drags Mist of Bone's unconscious body with him, leaving the ruined battlefield behind.
Jiang Chen (in thought):
This wasn't a trial. This was bait. But for what? To see what I'd do? Or to see what I'd become?
As he crests the ridge and sees the sect's banners far ahead, he whispers under his breath.
Jiang Chen:
"Fine. You wanted me to walk into fire. I'm still walking."
---
End of Chapter 12
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