The Azure Sky Sect's outer region was vast, but for Lin Feng, its boundaries grew tighter each day. After saving Zhi Ruo and progressing to Body Refinement Stage 5, he felt the limitations of his current cultivation method—even with the Heaven-Devouring Manual. He needed more. More resources. More insight. More power.
And fate, once again, listened.
That week, an announcement shook the outer sect.
> "All outer disciples at Body Refinement Stage 5 or above are to participate in the annual Vein-Cleaving Cliff Trial. Entry will determine who is qualified to enter the Inner Sect."
Excitement rippled through the disciples. The Vein-Cleaving Cliff was a place of danger and opportunity. Every year, the sect used it to test promising disciples. The few who passed would be promoted to inner disciples, gaining access to superior resources, techniques—and status.
But few ever returned unscathed.
Lin Feng stood among the crowd outside the mission hall. Elder Su Jian's voice echoed from the stone platform: "You are the future of the Azure Sky Sect. But futures must be earned."
He swept his gaze across them. "The Vein-Cleaving Cliff houses ferocious beasts, fragmented spirit formations, and traces of ancient cultivator energy. You will be sent in alone. You will not be rescued."
Murmurs rose.
"You have three days to prepare."
---
Lin Feng returned to his quarters in silence. His hut was simple—bare earth floor, straw mat, cold walls—but it had become a sanctuary. He sat cross-legged and summoned the Heaven-Devouring Manual.
Black qi rose from his core.
Each time he cultivated, the manual's pages in his sea of consciousness became clearer. Now, a third page had awakened. It showed a meditation posture—a swirling diagram of channels that bypassed normal meridian flow. It was dangerous. Unnatural.
He attempted it.
As he cycled his qi, pain lanced through him—his meridians trembled, bones creaked, and his mind blurred. But he endured. The flow stabilized. Then surged. His body drank the spiritual qi from the air like a beast that hadn't eaten in days.
When he opened his eyes, dawn had broken—and he was at Body Refinement Stage 6.
---
On the morning of the trial, two hundred disciples stood before the Vein-Cleaving Cliff, a vast chasm that pulsed with spiritual and demonic energy. Wind howled up from below, and the air shimmered with the scent of blood and stone.
The cliff was a wound in the earth—scarred from a battle so ancient, even the sect's elders didn't know the truth.
"Step forward," Elder Su Jian commanded. "You will descend alone. If you find the Vein Crystal, bring it out. If you encounter danger you cannot escape, crush your jade talisman. If you die, you die."
One by one, disciples leapt into the abyss.
When Lin Feng's turn came, he didn't hesitate.
The world spun as he fell through thick fog. Then, with a thud, he landed on ancient rock.
The Vein-Cleaving Cliff was not simply a chasm—it was a shattered world below the sect. Towers of stone rose like teeth. Shadows moved. Distant roars echoed.
Lin Feng drew his sword and advanced.
---
For hours, he moved through the ruins—fighting mutated spirit beasts, navigating collapsing paths, and deciphering crumbling formations.
Then he found it.
A cave, its entrance marked by shattered statues of cultivators. Within, a strange light pulsed.
He entered.
Inside, he found a circular altar—its center holding a shard of glowing Vein Crystal, crimson with streaks of gold.
But he wasn't alone.
Another disciple was already there—Lu Chen, a top-tier outer disciple from a noble clan. His armor gleamed, and his qi surged at Body Refinement Stage 8.
"I saw it first," Lu Chen said coldly. "Leave it, or I'll leave you here forever."
Lin Feng stepped forward. "Then we'll see whose fists decide ownership."
Lu Chen sneered and attacked.
Their battle shook the cave. Lu Chen's spear arts were precise and deadly, while Lin Feng's sword moved unpredictably, his body absorbing qi mid-fight to recover wounds instantly.
"Your technique—what is it?" Lu Chen growled as his spear snapped under pressure.
"The path of devouring," Lin Feng answered simply—and struck with a reverse flow technique that shattered Lu Chen's dantian defenses.
With a groan, Lu Chen collapsed.
Lin Feng took the Vein Crystal.
He did not kill him—but he took his jade talisman, ensuring Lu Chen would be found and removed from the trial.
---
Emerging from the Vein-Cleaving Cliff, Lin Feng's return was met with silence.
He held out the Vein Crystal to Elder Su Jian.
A murmur spread across the watching disciples. He was the first to return—and victorious.
"Well done," the elder said, nodding.
That night, Lin Feng's name was officially added to the inner sect registry.
---
But as he stepped through the gates of the Inner Sect for the first time, a strange pressure swept over him—powerful auras, far beyond his current strength, pressed down.
And somewhere within, a pair of golden eyes opened in the darkness—watching him.