Four days later, I stood up from my meditation position and stretched, feeling like a new being. I had reached the Qi Foundation stage.
My dantians became a fully united part of my meridians. Qi flowed through them all in a natural rhythm, which aligned to the rhythm of my heartbeat and breathing.
My senses felt sharper than ever, and my body became three times stronger than before. The world around me was bright with all the extra sunlight and Qi I could see. My ears could catch even the scurrying of a mouse underneath my barracks.
It was incredible and overwhelming, yet everything was as clear and simple to me as before this transformation. The robust flow of Qi improved all my organs, including the brain.
I could become an inner disciple. I will have the freedom to walk around the compound and more strength—finally, I will be able to escape the Lin clan and the Purple Dragon Sect.
Something that I dreamed of doing since I was a child, but never had the means for.
Fu Zhou opened her eyes and looked at me. Her eyes widened in shock, then she smiled.
"Big Brother, you did it. I will reach the Qi Foundation soon, too, and you will keep being my Big Brother."
I smiled back at her. After realizing what a monster she was underneath the cute face, I treated her especially well. The last thing I wanted was for that monster to turn against me!
"Yes, Little Zhou. Only one small thing left. The trial…"
The trial that happened at the end of the year. The New Year Festival was a major celebration for a Purple Dragon Sect, and trial fights of outer disciples were a part of it. A fight to the death for us, and a bloodsport for the entire clan. Awful, awful thing I couldn't abolish or even avoid.
"I hope Master Lin lets us live together until then," Fu Zhou said.
I shrugged. "There are only a few weeks left until the celebration, anyway. Even if we get separated, you won't have enough time to miss me, Little Zhou!"
***
The New Year celebration was an incredibly grand affair. I heard that in the main body of the Purple Dragon Sect the festivals lasted for an entire week, but even here, in Lin Manor, they took two days and were incredibly impressive.
Ghost lanterns, endless purple flags in the shape of a dragon, fireworks, food stalls. Cultivators that passed the Qi Foundation stage and reached the Qi Condensation stage competed in flying on their fancy flying swords. Cultivators who couldn't fly yet showed off their best techniques. Invited troupes played spectacles on the grand stage of the Lin Manor.
And I could only watch everything happen from the window in my cell. It was actually called a room, but I was forbidden from exiting.
At least the cell looked out at the main stage, so I wasn't too bored. And I was only there since the celebrations began—until that day, I and other Qi Foundation outer disciples were living back at Lin Tan's compound.
Eventually, the stage grew quiet. However, the spectators kept gathering, and even most of the big shots of the clan took their seats near the stage.
A short while after, several tarp-covered metal cages were brought near the stage. Then Lin Tan walked onto the stage and began talking over the clamor of the crowd. My cell was too far to catch all the words, but I got the gist.
The trials had started.
Soon, the first disciple was brought out—Jie Xun. I remembered her as a fierce girl, who was bullied a lot because of her mismatched "cursed" eyes. A cage was placed opposite of her, and Lin Tan removed the tarp.
Inside was a massive beast that resembled a wolf that was stuffed with pure anger until it became twice the normal size. It was clawing at the bars of the cage and growling, staring down at the girl with its blood-red eyes.
The girl was given a choice of weapons—she took a sword—and Lin Tan walked the safe distance away from the stage. Then he waved his arm, and the cage opened.
When the wolf pounced, I almost closed my eyes, not wishing to see the girl's throat being torn out. But she was faster, dodging and slashing the monster's paw.
Now that I had some assurance that Jie Xun wasn't about to die, watching her fight became interesting, since I could appreciate the movements of fighters. Besides, I was going to fight a similar beast soon enough, and learning its moves could save my life.
Jie Xun killed the wolf while getting only a few scratches herself. She was led away from the stage by one of Lin Tan's disciples.
The next youth wasn't so lucky. As soon as he saw the wolf in front of him, he froze in panic, and the beast tore out his guts, covering half the stage in gore and blood.
Lin Tan captured the wolf into a bubble of water and put him back in the cage, but it was too late for the dead youth. The stage was hastily cleaned.
The next disciple was even more scared.
I counted the disciples remaining, knowing already that Fen Chun wasn't among them. My turn was second to last, but it arrived eventually.
A soldier opened my door and led me to the stage. However, when I got there, there was no cage brought out for me.
Confused, I looked at Lin Tan, the master of this show. He smiled at me with false benevolence and turned toward the big shots watching.
There were several cultivators at the Qi Condensation stage, but even among them, two stood out.
Both were young men wearing elaborate blue and purple robes, but their auras were as different as iron and opium.
Lin Deng had an air of someone enjoying life without a care in the world. There was a servant next to him, who held a tray of wine and snacks for him. Despite his attitude, Lin Deng was the heir of Elder Xiao—the most influential and the only living elder of the Lin clan.
The other person, a man with a cold and stoic expression, was Lin Chu.
He was Lin Deng's cousin, the second in line to becoming a new Elder, and the person whom I blamed and thanked for being a disciple of this thrice-cursed clan.