Jiang Xuan stood silently at the edge of the Lingyuan Plaza , his expression unreadable beneath the morning light. 

Around him, dozens of outer disciples sat cross-legged in neat rows, their minds focused, awaiting the spirit sense test that would determine their fate for the next quarter. 

The air buzzed faintly with spiritual pressure as elders activated the formation, their robes rustling like dry leaves in the breeze.

Three months had passed since Jiang Xuan had been cast down into the servant ranks, discarded like refuse by those who saw him as nothing more than a broken soul. 

Today marked the quarterly retest , a ruthless ritual where failure meant exile. 

Fail to show adequate spiritual resonance, and you’d be stripped of your disciple status and cast off Canglei Mountain without mercy. 

No exceptions.

A sneer curled across Liu Tianyi’s face as his gaze landed on Jiang Xuan. 

“You dare show your face here?” he spat, arms crossed arrogantly over his chest, his lackeys snickering behind him like obedient hounds.

Jiang Xuan didn’t deign to respond. 

His outward calm masked the storm within , deep in his dantian, spiritual energy churned like a coiled serpent, silent but potent.

 The so-called ‘crippled’ disciple everyone mocked had, three nights ago, swallowed the lethal Reverse Spirit Incineration Pill , a poison designed to destroy the weak.

 Instead, it had forged him anew. 

His shattered spirit sea had stabilized.

But he hadn’t revealed it. Not yet. He wasn’t about to show his hand until the moment it mattered most.

Elder Feng Yuan shuffled toward the testing altar, his cloudy eyes sweeping over the gathered disciples with cold indifference. 

A miserly old man, always eager to curry favor with the powerful factions, his loyalty belonged only to gold and influence. 

Jiang Xuan caught the subtle exchange , Liu Tianyi flicked a pouch of high-grade spirit stones into the elder’s sleeve with practiced ease.

Feng Yuan cleared his throat. “Begin the test. One by one. 

Touch the Spirit Resonance Stone , let’s see who’s truly worth keeping.”

One by one, the disciples stepped forward. 

Some triggered radiant bursts of light, others barely stirred the stone’s surface. When Liu Tianyi placed his palm upon it, a brilliant silver glow erupted from the crystal, drawing approving nods from several elders.

“Excellent! Early-Stage Spirit Condensation already. As expected from the Liu family.”

Liu Tianyi smirked, casting a mocking glance at Jiang Xuan. “Let’s see you humiliate yourself now, rat.”

Jiang Xuan stepped up. Conversations hushed.

The Spirit Resonance Stone shimmered faintly, as though sensing something… unusual.

He pressed his palm against it, deliberately suppressing his true power. 

A thin, almost invisible wisp of spiritual energy emerged. 

The stone barely lit up.

Feng Yuan sneered. “As expected , trash remains trash. Barely detectable.”

The gathered disciples burst into laughter, sharp and cruel. Liu Tianyi laughed loudest of all.

Jiang Xuan, however, paid them no mind. Because in that instant, as his restrained spiritual energy brushed the stone, a faint hum resonated from deep beneath the plaza , so low only he could feel it.

No one else noticed. But he did.

A pulse.

Thump.

It came from the earth itself.

A strange, ancient sensation washed over him. In his mind’s eye, countless cryptic symbols flashed , remnants of an ancient formation buried beneath the sect grounds. His system interface flickered to life, lines of text scrolling rapidly.

[Hidden Relic Fragment Detected.]

[System Synchronization: 27%...]

Jiang Xuan’s pupils contracted. So that was it.

The resonance wasn’t with the testing stone , it was with something buried far below. 

A relic, long forgotten by the sect, slumbering beneath Canglei Mountain . 

And his mutated spirit root , reborn through the Reverse Spirit Incineration , had matched frequencies with it.

He withdrew his hand swiftly. The Spirit Resonance Stone dimmed.

“Useless,” Elder Feng Yuan muttered dismissively. “Next.”

Jiang Xuan returned to his spot calmly. 

The mockery and jeers rolled off him like wind against stone. Inside, however, a cold smile spread across his lips.

So there's a hidden relic buried here…

[System Synchronization: 39%...]

That pulse had revealed more than anyone could guess. 

If the relic awakened fully, it might tear open half the mountain , and he was the only one attuned to it now.

His gaze flicked toward Liu Tianyi, still basking in smug self-satisfaction.

Keep laughing, dog. The day will come when you kneel and beg to be spared.

The testing continued, but Jiang Xuan’s mind was elsewhere. 

He replayed the sensation of the pulse, memorizing its pattern. There was a leyline beneath this place, bound to an ancient formation.

[System Notice: Partial Access Unlocked.]

[New Function: Relic Tracing , Active.]

A subtle arrow appeared in the corner of his vision, pointing southeast , toward the edge of the plaza, where a weathered stone pagoda stood, forgotten and crumbling.

That’s the entrance.

He smirked.

Let them believe he was still a waste. The longer they underestimated him, the better.

Soon enough, the entire sect would realize the ‘cripple’ they mocked was the only one capable of awakening what lay beneath this mountain.

And when that day came, those who’d sneered would have nowhere left to run.

[System Synchronization: 51%...]

Jiang Xuan closed his eyes, letting the jeers fade into the background. The game had only just begun.