The mountain loomed ahead like the open jaw of some colossal beast.
A canyon split its base, sheer walls rising like twin fangs around a deep scar that pulsed with faint violet mist.
Rael studied it from the treeline, crouched low beside Yue Qingshi. His cloak was dust-streaked. His blade, now bound with crude crimson leather, hung across his back like a dormant whisper.
[System Notice: You have entered an Unaligned Zone.]
Region: Hollow Vein Ridge
Status: Outside Dominion of Major Clans or Sects
Warning: Danger Level Unstable – fluctuating between Tier-Two and Tier-Four Threats.
"Looks like no one's claimed this zone yet," Rael murmured.
Yue gave a short nod. "Which means either it's worthless… or something here kills everyone who tries."
Rael smirked. "Let's hope it's the second."
---
They moved down the slope with deliberate care.
Rael had begun to walk like a predator—low, silent, aware of every twitch of the leaves and bend of the stone. He used roots for leverage, traced scent trails in the air.
He was still learning, but the body remembered more with every step.
That trait he'd stolen—Echo of the Lost Path—it hadn't given him power.
It had retrained him.
Taught his muscles to recognize battlefield rhythm.
Taught his instincts to adapt.
Taught him when to move—and when to wait.
He was changing.
And he knew it.
---
Halfway down the slope, they heard the fighting.
Not far—just past a cluster of pale-flowered trees whose petals smelled like frost.
Rael motioned to stop, crouching behind a thick boulder. Yue followed, her fan half-drawn.
The canyon's edge was in view now, and so was the chaos within.
A group of six—young cultivators, no older than twenty—stood surrounded by warped, feline-shaped beasts. The creatures dripped with black ichor, their skeletal tails writhing like snakes.
[Entity Identified: Ridgebone Wraithcats]
Class: Tier 2.5 Demibeast
Trait: Spinal Poison / Shadow Phase
Warning: Beasts are half-phased. Physical attacks must be infused with energy or bound through force constructs.
Rael's eyes sharpened.
One of the cultivators already lay crumpled near the rocks—his leg missing, blood soaking the dirt.
Another one—a boy with wild white hair—was desperately drawing flame seals into the air.
Too slow.
Too panicked.
Yue glanced at Rael. "We move?"
Rael was already gone.
---
He hit the ground with a whisper.
A beast lunged.
Rael twisted beneath its jaw and drove his blade upward—not to kill, but to anchor.
The blade pierced half-phase flesh.
Then Rael channeled bloodforce—raw, unstable energy that surged from the scarred channels he'd built along his ribs.
The wraithcat screamed, flickered, and fully manifested.
Rael's hand slammed its skull.
Its body dissolved into ash.
The other five turned.
[Combat Trait Gained: Ghostpierce Surge (Temporary)]
Duration: 2 hours
Effect: Your next three attacks force Phase creatures into material state. Requires energy activation per strike.
Note: Trait will burn a portion of nervous system upon expiry unless stabilized with beast essence.
Rael's pulse thundered.
Perfect.
---
The cultivators stared in shock.
Rael didn't wait. He moved like shadow, flickering between beasts, striking the same way—anchor, activate, eliminate.
Yue danced through the chaos beside him, her fan now blazing with threads of blue lunar silk. Each flick of her wrist stitched light through the beasts' limbs, slicing tendon from nothing.
Three minutes.
That was all it took.
Then silence.
Ash scattered over the canyon wind.
---
The white-haired boy stumbled forward. "T-Thank you! We thought we were—"
Rael cut him off. "What are you doing down here without any phasing countermeasures?"
The group flinched.
The boy lowered his head. "We're… unaffiliated."
Yue's eyebrow rose. "Rogues?"
"No!" a girl snapped defensively. "We're applying to the Wandering Vein Sect. They hold their recruit trials here every new moon. We just—arrived early."
Rael blinked.
So did Yue.
That name… was not minor.
[Data Retrieved: Wandering Vein Sect – Rogue Cultivation Institute]
Known For: Unorthodox techniques, body modifications, and scavenger warfare.
Affiliation: None. Known to reject Heaven-tier Clans and Major Sect oversight.
Notable Alumni: None confirmed.
Rael's smirk returned. "Perfect."
---
They helped the wounded.
Yue treated the worst of them using refined cooling Qi while Rael drained the ash of the slain beasts into an empty beastcore crystal.
[Resource Extracted: Wraithbone Essence x2]
Stored for later forging or technique refinement.
He handed one to the white-haired boy. "Feed this into your blade. It'll give you one strike worth of phase-forcing. Use it wisely."
The boy hesitated. "Why help us?"
Rael's smile was thin. "Because we're going in too."
Yue blinked. "We are?"
He nodded. "We missed the Heavenspire Sect's external trials. But if this place is unaligned…"
Yue stared at him. Then laughed softly.
"You really plan to join a band of madmen and salvagers?"
Rael's eyes gleamed.
"No," he said.
"I plan to use them."
---
They arrived at the trial site by dusk.
A half-buried shrine lay cracked open at the canyon's base, surrounded by stone monoliths carved with talon marks.
Dozens of others had arrived—groups and solo figures alike, each gathered in circles or sharpening blades or chanting low.
No one looked weak.
All of them had something in their eyes that matched Rael's:
Desperation.
Hope.
And teeth sharpened by failure.
---
The wind shifted.
A low hum echoed through the canyon.
And then—they arrived.
Figures in gray robes and bone-stitched masks. Seven in total. Each one radiating Qi so sharp it split stones beneath their steps.
The leader raised one hand.
"Children of the castoff path," he said, voice like dry wind.
"We welcome you to the Trial of Veins."
No ceremony. No banners.
Only the faint taste of blood in the air.
Rael stepped forward with the others, Yue at his side.
He wasn't a sect disciple.
Not yet.
But that would change.
And when it did—
So would everything.