As Lin Tian stepped through the shimmering veil of the third trial, the light around him dimmed and gave way to shadows. A familiar cold crept against his skin, not of danger, but of memory—a weight from the past that tightened around his chest like invisible chains.
When his vision cleared, his breath caught in his throat.
He was standing in an alley.
Not just any alley.
The same narrow, mud-filled alley where his first life had ended.
The air smelled of wet stone and rotting fabric. The sky above was nothing but grey, heavy clouds that never cleared. Old bricks, cracked and dark, loomed over him like tired sentinels.
He felt his heartbeat quicken.
"No," he muttered, scanning the space. "Not this place again..."
But the trial had no intention of letting him leave. This floor wasn't built of illusionary beasts or traps. It was far worse.
It was memory.
A soft splash echoed ahead.
Lin Tian's eyes locked onto the figure that appeared from the corner.
Barefoot. Dressed in a tattered grey dress. Thin arms, sunken cheeks, long black hair tied with a simple string.
Mei.
His only friend from his first life. The one he'd left behind.
She smiled softly when she saw him, her eyes clear and familiar.
"Lin Tian," she said gently. "You finally came back."
He stared, the weight of years pressing into his chest.
"This is the trial playing tricks," Lin Tian said, his voice low, cautious. "You're not real."
Mei stepped closer. The puddle beneath her bare feet rippled as she moved.
"Does that matter?" she asked. "I remember you. I remember every promise you made. You said you'd get us out of here. You said you'd make us immortal… together."
Lin Tian gritted his teeth. Her voice was the same as he remembered. The way she used to speak to him in the dead of night, whispering dreams while the world forgot them.
"I couldn't save you," he said, voice cracking slightly. "You died before I had the strength."
Her expression didn't change.
"But you lived. You left us behind and climbed higher. You wanted power. You wanted freedom. And we—" She glanced at the shadows gathering behind her. "We stayed here. Forgotten."
Figures began to appear. Faces Lin Tian knew too well.
Old Wei, the crippled stone-sharpener.
Liang, the coughing boy who never saw twenty.
Shao, the thief who'd starved behind the baker's wall.
They stared in silence, pale and accusing.
"You let us fall, Lin Tian," Mei whispered.
He clenched his fists until his nails dug into his palm.
"I had no choice!" he barked. "I was nothing! Weak! Dying! I couldn't save anyone… I couldn't even save myself!"
She didn't blink.
"Is that why you forgot us? Buried us in the back of your mind and chased the Dao? Did you ever think of us while you stood on those high mountains?"
The world pressed inward. The shadows darkened. The alley closed like a cage.
Lin Tian felt his knees tremble.
No. This wasn't like the fights of the first floor. This wasn't temptation like the second.
This was guilt.
The hardest trial.
He breathed deeply, raising his head.
"I never forgot," he said softly.
Mei stilled.
"I remember all of you," he continued, voice growing stronger. "Every step I've climbed… I've carried you. Every wall I've broken… you pushed me. I left you behind, but I never abandoned you."
The shadows paused. The darkness eased slightly.
"I killed that weakness," Lin Tian said. "I buried the boy who wanted to escape—but I never forgot why. You gave me the reason to rise. I swore no one would live like us again. That's why I fight. That's why I climb."
Mei's eyes shimmered.
"And what about me?" she asked quietly. "Do you leave me here, in this alley, forgotten forever?"
He smiled gently.
"I leave you where you belong," he said, stepping toward her. "In my heart. In the reason I keep going."
The alley shuddered.
Light cracked through the sky.
The ghosts wavered, their forms breaking apart into mist.
Mei smiled softly.
"Then keep climbing, Lin Tian. Don't stop for anyone."
Her body dissolved into silver light.
The trial's heavy presence lifted.
A voice echoed in the empty space.
"Truth faced. Burden accepted. Third Floor passed."
Lin Tian stood in the silence that followed, his chest tight, his heart strangely light.
"Goodbye, Mei," he whispered.
He turned toward the glowing gate that appeared at the far side of the chamber.
The Fourth Trial awaited.
But he paused.
This trial hadn't weakened him.
It had cleansed him.
The weight of the past was no longer a chain around his soul. It was armor.
He walked forward, taller than before.
Azure Moon Sect – Council Hall, the same moment.
The storm in the Elder Council chamber had reached its peak.
Elder Shen stood surrounded by glowing formation seals, pale and sweating as Su Meiyu addressed the gathered elders.
"You all saw the evidence," she said coldly. "He tampered with the sacred Trial Formation. He risked Lin Tian's life to preserve his precious order."
"He's lying!" Shen snarled. "I did what was necessary! That boy is chaos! He'll destroy the sect—"
Yue Qingyan's voice cut him short.
"You have destroyed your own future, Shen."
The Sect Mistress stepped forward, her aura radiating frost. "Your position is stripped. Your cultivation sealed. You will stand trial for betrayal against the sect."
The room fell silent.
Even Shen could only gape.
Then Jiang Yuyan's soft voice echoed from the side.
"And let this serve as warning. Azure Moon's future has already chosen its path. You can stand in its way... or be swept aside."
Shen said nothing.
The chains tightened.
The old order was broken.
Crimson Pavilion – That night.
Jiang Yuyan stood beneath the moon, her gaze distant as she watched the sealed portal of the Trial Realm from her high balcony.
"Three floors cleared," she murmured. "And the sect has chosen its side."
She closed her eyes.
"Come back stronger, Lin Tian… or don't come back at all."
Trial Realm – Gateway to the Fourth Floor.
Lin Tian stood before the shimmering light of the next gate.
The Trial's voice whispered in his mind.
"The Fourth Trial awaits. The trial of future and fate."
He smiled faintly.
"Then let's see what my future looks like."
And stepped into the light.
End of Chapter 41