chapter:5 Blood and Bone

Chapter 6: Blood and Bone

The sun rose bloodred over Ironheart Sect, painting the cliffs and halls in ominous hues. Li Wei stood before the towering gates of the Trial Forest, his fists clenched and his heart pounding.

"All outer sect disciples, prepare for the Forest of Bone Trial!" barked Elder Yimo, his voice like cracked stone.

This was no ordinary test. The Forest of Bone had claimed many lives over the years. It was a spiritual hunting ground, left behind by the founders of Ironheart Sect, and seeded with demonic flora, ancient traps, and creatures that fed on fear.

The rules were simple: survive for three days. Those who emerged would receive spirit pills, advancement tokens, and perhaps even a chance to enter the Inner Sect. But the forest didn't promise fairness. Only cruelty.

Li Wei tightened his robe. Since unlocking the Heavenly Vein Ignition scroll, his cultivation had surged to Qi Gathering: Third Level, but he'd hidden this carefully. Too much attention could bring ruin.

Beside him, the ever-lazy voice of Yu Long echoed in his mind.

> "Tsk. If I were still in my prime, I would've flattened this entire forest by sneezing."

> "You said that about the sparring ring."

> "And I was right. You almost died without me."

Li Wei gave the faintest smile.

Nearby, Fei Lan, the aloof inner disciple who had observed him earlier, stood with folded arms. Her eyes briefly flicked toward him and then away. She hadn't spoken to him yet, but she seemed to be… waiting.

Then came a rustle of robes.

A figure stepped out from the crowd. Slender, graceful, his robes torn and patched in places—a disciple once known for his power, now marked with shame.

Jin Zhen.

Once the son of a noble clan, he'd been cast out after a failed rebellion within the sect. Some called him mad, others a traitor.

Li Wei watched as Jin Zhen approached the gate alone. No weapons. No allies. Only a broken sword at his back and a half-limp gait.

Elder Yimo raised his staff. "You may now enter. The forest awaits."

One by one, the outer disciples stepped through the shimmering barrier that opened at the gate. Li Wei's turn came quickly. He took a breath—and stepped forward.

❖

The first few hours were quiet. Too quiet.

Mossy stone trees twisted upward like screaming souls. The leaves whispered when there was no wind. The paths were ever-shifting, and even the sun's position seemed to lie.

Li Wei moved cautiously, Yu Long alert in his spiritual sea.

> "Something stalks you. Two somethings. Wait… no. Four."

> "Bandits?"

> "Worse. Fellow disciples."

They emerged from behind broken roots—Liu Tan, the one who had mocked Li Wei in the sparring arena, along with three cronies. All of them had spears or daggers. All wore smirks.

Liu Tan twirled his weapon. "What's a trash like you doing here, Li Wei? Still dreaming of joining the Inner Sect?"

Li Wei didn't reply.

"Give us your supplies and spiritual pills. And maybe we'll let you go."

Li Wei's eyes narrowed. His hand went to the hilt of his training blade.

Yu Long hissed in his mind.

> "Use the Third Vein. Just enough to scare. Don't expose everything."

He nodded.

Liu Tan lunged, blade aiming for Li Wei's neck—but the next moment, a flare of crimson light erupted from Li Wei's body. His skin steamed. A burning aura of flame coiled around his limbs.

Boom!

The forest trembled as Li Wei kicked forward with explosive speed. His blade met Liu Tan's with a deafening crack. The others scattered in panic.

"You… you broke through!" Liu Tan cried, blood dripping from his mouth.

"No. I burned through," Li Wei replied coldly—and struck him unconscious.

The others fled.

> "Not bad," Yu Long whispered. "But now the forest knows."

Li Wei turned. And felt it too.

A tremor in the ground. A howl in the wind.

Something ancient was coming.

The trees ahead bent and cracked as something massive pushed through the underbrush. Li Wei darted behind a stone root, holding his breath. Even Yu Long had gone quiet.

Then—it stepped into view.

A beast of sinew and bone, nearly ten feet tall. Its flesh was pale and translucent, stretched tightly across its elongated limbs. Antlers of jagged stone jutted from its head, and its eyes were hollow sockets filled with green flame.

A Bone Wraith.

"Void-born corruption," Yu Long whispered. "That thing shouldn't be here... this isn't just a trial. Someone awakened the Wraiths."

"Can we fight it?" Li Wei asked.

"We can stall it."

He didn't like the sound of that.

The Wraith let out a screeching cry that cracked bark and shattered dead branches. Then it charged.

Li Wei raised his hands and activated the Third Heavenly Vein, burning through Qi like fire through dry grass. Flames wrapped his arms, forming temporary gauntlets. As the beast lunged, Li Wei leapt, meeting it midair with a devastating downward kick.

Boom!

The Wraith reeled back, half its chest caved in, but no blood spilled—only bone dust.

It hissed.

Then it regenerated.

"NOW!" Yu Long screamed.

In a moment of desperation, Li Wei channeled Qi into his dantian and unleashed a burst technique he had not yet mastered: Blazing Fist of Sundering Flame.

His entire right arm turned gold with heat. He drove his fist into the Wraith's center—right between its ribs—and a shockwave erupted, blowing apart nearby trees.

The Wraith gave one final shriek.

And crumbled.

Li Wei collapsed to one knee, gasping. The Qi backlash hit him hard—he wasn't ready for that move. Not yet.

But he was alive.

"That was foolish," Yu Long muttered, though not unkindly. "Foolish… but necessary."

"It wasn't alone, was it?"

"No. That was the weakest one."

Elsewhere in the forest, Fei Lan stood motionless beneath a rotting tree, her jade eyes narrowed. She had seen the explosion of Qi. She recognized the fire signature—it didn't belong to any known Ironheart technique.

"That wasn't just a common technique," she murmured. "That was… ancient."

From behind her, another voice spoke.

"He's hiding something. And not just talent."

Fei Lan turned to see Jin Zhen, the disgraced heir, standing with arms folded.

"You've been following him," she said flatly.

"So have you."

They stared at one another. A strange, unspoken understanding passed between them.

"He's not from any noble clan I recognize," Jin said. "But his spiritual flame is something else. He may be the key to all of this."

Fei Lan frowned. "To what?"

Jin Zhen looked past her, toward the east—toward where the forest deepened.

"To the true trial. Beneath the Trial Forest lies a ruin. An ancient battlefield. The elders sealed it long ago—but the seals are breaking. The appearance of a Bone Wraith proves it."

Fei Lan's brows furrowed. "And you think Li Wei… is tied to it?"

"I think," Jin Zhen said, walking away, "he may be the reason the ruin is waking up."

Night fell.

Li Wei set up camp near a ravine, hidden behind thick roots. He sealed the area with a crude barrier technique Yu Long had taught him, then sat cross-legged to meditate.

But sleep evaded him.

Instead, his thoughts were filled with fragments of dreams—of roaring dragons, golden temples, and a name whispered across centuries:

Akashic…

He jolted awake.

"You felt it, didn't you?" Yu Long said.

"That dream again… What is Akashic?"

"Not what. Who. Or… maybe both. I don't fully remember. But if those dreams have started, it means the scroll's awakening has begun."

"What scroll?"

Yu Long didn't answer.

Instead, he fell into a strange silence. A warning silence.

Suddenly, a shriek tore through the trees—not from a beast, but a disciple.

Li Wei dashed toward the sound.

He found a girl, bloodied and terrified, stumbling into a clearing. She pointed back toward the darkened trees, where something glowed with eerie blue light.

"It's coming," she gasped. "Not… not a beast. A person. But not."

Before she could say more, an arrow of black bone pierced her back, and she dropped silently.

From the trees walked a figure clad in bone-plated robes. His eyes glowed with sickly green fire. And when he opened his mouth, his voice echoed in two tones—one human, one monstrous.

"I smell ancient blood," he said. "And you reek of it, boy."

Li Wei raised his sword.

Yu Long whispered in his mind with an urgency Li Wei had never heard before.

"That… that's a Revenant Cultist. We need to run. Now."