Chapter 10: Into the Heavenfall Trial
Three nights after Lin Xuan erased the White Mirror Envoy, the stars shifted.
Not visibly.
Conceptually.
The constellations realigned—not for navigation, but judgment.
Across the sky, a single line of celestial decree was etched into the firmament:
"Phase Three: Heavenfall Trial Initiated."
What Are the Heavenfall Trials?
A pocket reality, fabricated by the celestial bureaucracy, stitched from fragments of destroyed heavens and failed timelines. Within it, laws are mutable. Cause and effect may reverse. And time does not guarantee sequence.
Its purpose?
To trap those the heavens cannot judge by karma, nor defeat by divine force.To erase them by collapse, trial by trial, until their Dao shatters.
The Pull Begins
It started with whispers.
Lin Xuan's reflection flickered in every pool of water.
His footsteps echoed where they shouldn't.
Then—on the fourth day—space twisted around him.
A sigil formed beneath his feet: silver, angular, and wrong.
Heavenfall Anchor Detected.
Target: Lin Xuan.
Before he could resist, the world inverted.
Arrival: The Shattered Sky Domain
Lin Xuan awoke standing on a jagged floating continent under a night sky filled with broken stars.
Islands drifted in the void. Each piece bore fragments of destroyed Dao: crumbling palaces of flame, rivers that flowed upward, bridges that connected thoughts rather than places.
He wasn't alone.
Scattered across the domain were other cultivators—some confused, some defiant, others already half-mad.
But they shared one trait:
All had defied Heaven.
The Rules of the Trial
A voice echoed in their minds—not from a speaker, but the law of the trial itself.
"Welcome, Anomalies. You walk outside the Dao. For this crime, you shall be judged."
"You will pass seven Trials. Or die unremembered."
"Survive, and you will walk free. Fail… and you shall be rewritten."
Rivals Reappear
To Lin Xuan's surprise, he was not the only familiar face drawn in.
Nie Qing stood on a separate floating isle, her bone puppets hissing with malice.
She tilted her head slightly.
"So Heaven made us classmates now?"
Further away, Ji Yunlan stood, half-conscious, marked by divine fire scars.
He looked at Lin Xuan with a mix of terror and hatred reborn.
"You… you're why I'm here. I'll kill you, even if it's in hell."
Trial One Begins: The River of Origin
A glowing, unnatural river appeared across all floating islands.
The law-voice spoke:
"Trial One: Step into the River. Cross to the other side without forgetting who you are."
"Each step backward is safe. Each step forward will strip a part of your identity. Lose too much… and you vanish."
Lin Xuan stepped forward.
First step—his name flickered.
Second—his face began to blur in the reflection.
Third—his voice cracked.
The others faltered, some already turning back in panic.
But Lin Xuan…
He smiled.
"I have walked the path of erasure long before Heaven noticed me."
He activated Void Pulse Circulation—not resisting the erosion, but embracing it.
"I do not need to remember who I am."
"I am the absence."
Step by step, he crossed—each time letting a false part of himself fall away.
And when he reached the other side?
He was more complete than before.
Because what remained was only truth.
The trial shuddered.
The floating domain dimmed.
Heaven itself hesitated.
"Error.""Anomaly adapted."
"Proceed to Trial Two."
Lin Xuan turned, glancing back.
Nie Qing crossed next—bloodied, but smiling.
Ji Yunlan stumbled halfway, screaming as his arms turned to light. Someone else—a wandering monk—vanished midstep, forgotten by the realm.
Lin Xuan's Thought
"If Heaven cannot destroy me with tribulation…"
"And cannot erase me with divine law…"
"Then it will send me through a trial where the world itself is false."
"So I'll do the one thing Heaven cannot—"
"Walk through falsehood unchanged."