Chapter 13: Echoes of the Past

The room lay in haunted silence, the Trial of Flames coals fading into the darkness. Li Yan didn't stir, the red gemstone pounding in his palm. His breathing was steady, but his mind was spinning. He had survived the first great test, but an even greater question now hung over him—what lay beyond this trial?

A gentle glow emerged from the gemstone, and it spread shadowy illumination across the blackened ground. Gazing into its depths, a strange sensation washed over him. It was not just power that vibrated within the stone; it was knowledge. The moment his mind brushed against the gemstone, a flood of images and whispers poured into his mind.

Visions were unveiled to him, as though he had been pulled through the veil of time. A grand palace, made of gold and obsidian, stood over an infinite ocean of flame. Knights in armors that were scorched by flame marched through its halls, their voices chanting an ancient hymn. At the midst of it all was a figure encircled in radiating light, an old king, his eyes fixed beyond the horizon.

You have inherited our will," a voice thundered from deep inside the gemstone. "But fire is not enough. You will have to seek out the other elements, or you will burn away before you reach the top."

Li Yan's grip on the gemstone tightened. "Who are you?" he snarled.

Silence followed, but before he could shove again, a shift in the air caught his attention. The room trembled, walls rippling as if the surface of an agitated pond. A doorway of shimmering energy materialized before him, pulsating with another kind of power—colder, more biting. A new route had been opened.

Wasting no time, Li Yan walked ahead, stepping into the portal. The moment he crossed its boundary, a piercing wind howled in his face. Gone were the hot coals of the Trial of Flames; instead, a frozen snowy wasteland lay before him.

There were glaciers rising up from the horizon that went on and on. Somewhere above there was a rumbling storm of blue and white, the sky heavy with the scent of frigid stillness. But amidst this landscape lay a sense that was. familiar. Something long expected.

He moved forward cautiously, the sound of snow crunching beneath his feet the only sound in the vast white sea. The gemstone at his side dissipated, but in its place, another pull urged him forward. An unseen power, cold and ancient, called to him.

And then, a whisper—gentle but unmistakable. "You do not belong here."

Li Yan whirled around, his hand instinctively flying to his sword. But there was nothing. Just the wind, carrying back on its breath the murmur of forgotten voices.

Abruptly, the ground trembled. The ice beneath him groaned and cracked apart, revealing a pit of dark blue energy. A figure began to rise from within—encased in ice, eyes blazing like frozen stars. This figure did not radiate heat, unlike the guardian of fire, but an all-consuming, suffocating cold.

You have passed fire, but ice does not so easily come," the figure intoned, its voice echoing like the cracking of glaciers. "If you are to proceed, you must challenge yourself once more."

Li Yan took a deep breath, steeling himself. His journey was far from over, and the next test had already begun.

With resolve burning in his heart, he steeled himself to survive the Trial of Ice.

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A fierce gust of wind howled across the frozen landscape, tossing a cascade of snow into the air. The ice man moved forward, and with each step he took, frost spread out, engulfing the very air itself in ice. Li Yan instinctively tightened his grip on his sword, but he realized that raw strength was going to be in short supply to win this battle.

"Fire will not be welcomed here," the chill creature continued, raising one hand. The snow that surrounded them swirled up into the air, forming millions of hard shards. "You will break upon the cold, or you will be absorbed into it."

The shards shot out in front of him like daggers, each imbued with lethal power. Li Yan sprang into action, dodging left and right, his breath misting in the chill air. A few shards brushed against his robes, slicing through the fabric with ease. He needed to counterattack, but how? His flame arts, so powerful previously, were weakened in this frozen world.

His mind reeled. *Fire was passion, power, and devastation.* Ice wasn't. Ice was patience, tenacity, a force so potent it bided its time waiting to lash out. Pitting fire against ice would leave him beaten. He needed another choice.

Instead of drawing on his flames, Li Yan slowed down. He watched the way the ice being pushed—the way it tapped into the cold, shaping the battlefield to its form. Then he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He let the cold seep into his body, not resisting it, but embracing it.

The icy shape stopped. "What are you doing?"

Li Yan's eyes widened, his gaze shining with new understanding. "I am learning."

He moved forward, not in rage, but in control. His sword, instead of blazing, shimmered with a frost casing. He flowed like water across the battlefield, his movements keeping time with the guardian's, changing. When the beast launched another wave of ice, he did not merely avoid—he used calculated steps to deflect the shards, turning their own force against them.

The guardian's radiating eyes contracted. "You… are different."

Li Yan exhaled a breath, his breath a foggy cloud. "I will not shatter. I will endure."

One last, controlled strike, and he thrust his sword into the heart of the frozen beast, not to destroy, but to break. His blade went into the heart of the creature and for a moment, all was still.

And then, with an ear-shattering crack, the ice split into two, crumbling into millions of shards that dissolved into the gusts. The trial was accomplished.

As the last remnants of frost vanished, a new jewel, as black as the depths of the sea, appeared within Li Yan's grasp. The second trial conquered.

A hushed voice reverberated all around him. "You tested your will. Now, find the storm."

Li Yan wrapped his fist tight. The following trial awaited him.