Core disciple privileges were immediate and substantial.

A private cultivation pavilion with Qi density ten times normal. Personal training facilities. Access to the Sect Treasury's restricted section. A monthly stipend of 5,000 contribution points. And most importantly, a personal elder mentor.

"I've been assigned as your mentor," Elder Hu said the day after my promotion. "Given our existing relationship, the Sect Master deemed it appropriate."

"I'm honored, Elder."

"Don't be. I'm a demanding teacher." He handed me a jade slip. "Your first assignment: master Void Step to fifty percent proficiency within two weeks. The Inter-Sect Tournament is in one month."

[INTER-SECT TOURNAMENT MENTIONED]

[TIMELINE: ONE MONTH]

[THIS SOUNDS IMPORTANT]

"Inter-Sect Tournament?"

"Every three years, the five major sects compete. Combat tournaments, formation challenges, treasure hunts. It's where sects prove their strength and disciples make their reputations." Elder Hu's expression was serious. "Azure Peak traditionally places third or fourth. This year, with our losses from the Crimson Wastes, expectations are low. You'll be expected to change that."

[PRESSURE: SIGNIFICANT]

[REPRESENTING ENTIRE SECT]

[NO STRESS AT ALL]

The next two weeks were training hell. Elder Hu pushed me mercilessly, drilling Void Step until I could execute fifteen consecutive spatial jumps without disorientation. Heaven's Judgment Palm reached twenty-three percent proficiency, enough to use the second form reliably.

[VOID STEP: 14% → 51%]

[HEAVEN'S JUDGMENT PALM: 11% → 23%]

[STAGE 7: FULLY CONSOLIDATED]

[PROGRESS TO STAGE 8: 31%]

Yun Xia had been promoted to inner sect elite status after our return from the Wastes, and she trained alongside me when possible. Our paired combat techniques had become frighteningly effective, we could anticipate each other's movements perfectly now.

"You're different," she observed during a break. "More focused. Sharper."

"Core disciple responsibilities," I said. "Can't slack off when representing the sect."

"It's more than that." She studied my face. "Lin Tian, are you okay? Really?"

[CONCERN: GENUINE]

[SHE SENSES SOMETHING]

"Just stressed. Tournament pressure."

She didn't look convinced but didn't push. "Just... don't lose yourself in the cultivation race. Power isn't everything."

[WISDOM: REPEATED]

[GIRLFRIEND: WORRIED ABOUT YOU]

[MAYBE LISTEN?]

That evening, Team 7 gathered for what had become our weekly dinner. Chen Rou had been promoted to inner sect commander, leading combat operations. Han Feng and Su Mei were both Stage 7 now. Zhou Ming had reached Stage 6, incredible growth for someone who'd started as a terrified junior.

"To Team 7," Chen Rou raised her cup. "Still undefeated. Still together."

"Still alive," Han Feng added. "Most importantly."

[TEAM BONDING: STRONG]

[RELATIONSHIPS: DEEPENING]

[FOUND FAMILY VIBES]

The celebration was interrupted by urgent bells, the sect's emergency alarm.

[ALERT: SECT-WIDE EMERGENCY]

[ALL DISCIPLES: SUMMONED]

[THIS IS BAD]

We rushed to the main plaza where hundreds of disciples were already gathering. Elders stood on elevated platforms, their expressions grim. Sect Master Liang's Nascent Soul cultivation radiated tension.

"Disciples," the Sect Master's voice carried across the plaza. "We have received intelligence of an imminent threat. The Blood Moon Sect—"

Shocked gasps rippled through the crowd. The Blood Moon Sect had been broken during their failed invasion two months ago. Their leader was dead. They should've been scattered.

"—has reformed under new leadership. They are marching on Azure Peak with an army estimated at three thousand cultivators. They will arrive within three days."

[BLOOD MOON SECT: RETURNED]

[ARMY SIZE: 3,000]

[ARRIVAL: 3 DAYS]

[OH SHIT]

"Three thousand?" someone shouted. "That's triple their previous force!"

"Their new leader has united multiple demonic sects under one banner," the Sect Master continued. "We are issuing emergency mobilization. All disciples Stage 5 and above will assist in defensive preparations. Core disciples will serve as team leaders. This is not a drill."

[WAR: INCOMING]

[DEFENSIVE MOBILIZATION: ACTIVE]

[CORE DISCIPLES: LEADERSHIP ROLES]

Elder Hu found me immediately. "Lin Tian, you'll command a mixed team, inner and outer sect disciples. Your responsibility is holding the eastern wall's northern section. Coordinate with Chen Rou who'll be on your southern flank."

"Elder, three thousand cultivators—"

"I know the odds." His expression was grave. "But we have no choice. Azure Peak stands or falls here."

The next two days were chaos.

Defensive formations erected everywhere. Weapons distributed. Disciples drilled in defensive tactics. The sect transformed into a fortress, but tension hung thick, everyone remembered the last invasion's forty percent casualty rate.

I was assigned thirty disciples, a mix of Stage 5 through 7 cultivators, most of whom I didn't know. Making them function as a cohesive unit in two days seemed impossible.

[TEAM COMPOSITION: MIXED EXPERIENCE]

[COHESION: MINIMAL]

[TIME: INSUFFICIENT]

[THIS IS GOING TO BE ROUGH]

But I had Team 7 as examples. I organized them into smaller five-person squads with clear roles, practiced basic formations, and emphasized teamwork over individual heroics.

"Survival depends on coordination," I told them repeatedly. "Watch each other's backs. Follow orders. Stay alive."

[LEADERSHIP: DEVELOPING]

[RESPECT: EARNED THROUGH COMPETENCE]

[MORALE: CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC]

On the eve of battle, Yun Xia found me on the eastern wall, staring at the darkening horizon.

"Three thousand," she said quietly. "We barely survived fifteen hundred last time."

"I know."

"Some people are saying we should evacuate. Abandon the sect and scatter."

"Would you?"

She thought for a moment. "No. Azure Peak is home. Worth fighting for."

"Same."

We stood in silence, hands intertwined, watching the sunset paint the sky in shades of red that looked too much like blood.

[ROMANTIC MOMENT]

[BEFORE POTENTIAL DEATH]

[CULTIVATION WORLD TIMING: STILL TERRIBLE]

"Lin Tian," she said eventually. "If something happens—"

"Nothing's going to happen."

"But if it does—"

"It won't." I turned to face her. "We survived the Crimson Wastes. Elder Shen's ambush. The guardian serpent. We'll survive this too."

"Promise?"

I hesitated. I'd made too many promises I couldn't guarantee. But looking at her face, I couldn't help myself.

"I promise."

[BOSS]

[YOU REALLY NEED TO STOP MAKING PROMISES]

'I know.'

[BUT YOU'RE GOING TO KEEP DOING IT ANYWAY]

'Probably.'

Dawn of the third day arrived too quickly.

I stood with my thirty disciples on the eastern wall's northern section, watching the horizon. Beside us, Chen Rou commanded her own team. Across the sect, hundreds of disciples manned their positions.

And then we saw them.

The Blood Moon army appeared like a crimson tide, thousands of cultivators in dark robes, corrupted beasts lumbering among them, and at their center, floating above the army...

[DETECTING: NASCENT SOUL CULTIVATION]

[NO... THAT'S WRONG]

[THAT'S...]

A figure in elaborate crimson and gold robes. Female, young, radiating power that made the air itself feel heavy. Her cultivation wasn't Nascent Soul.

It was Soul Formation, an entire realm above.

[BLOOD MOON LEADER: SOUL FORMATION STAGE 2]

[POWER LEVEL: CATASTROPHIC]

[SECT MASTER LIANG: NASCENT SOUL STAGE 6]

[HE CANNOT WIN THIS]

The woman's voice carried across the battlefield, amplified by overwhelming power: "Azure Peak Sect. I am Blood Empress Xia. You killed my predecessor. Destroyed my sect's foundation." Her smile was visible even from this distance. "Today, I return the favor. Surrender now, and I'll make your deaths quick."

Sect Master Liang rose to meet her, his Nascent Soul cultivation impressive but clearly outmatched. "Azure Peak does not surrender to demons."

"Then Azure Peak dies." Her Qi erupted, and the sky itself turned blood red. "Kill them all."

The army charged.

[BATTLE: INITIATED]

[ENEMY FORCES: 3,000]

[DEFENDING FORCES: 900]

[ENEMY LEADER: SOUL FORMATION]

[OUR LEADER: NASCENT SOUL]

[ODDS: CATASTROPHIC]

[SURVIVAL PROBABILITY: 23%]

[BOSS... THIS IS BAD]

[REALLY, REALLY BAD]

The first wave hit our wall like a tsunami. Corrupted beasts and Blood Moon disciples crashed against our defenses with suicidal fury. The air filled with screams, Qi explosions, and the sound of steel meeting flesh.

"Hold the line!" I shouted, directing my team's defensive formation.

But I could already see it, we were outnumbered three-to-one. Positions were being overrun. Disciples were dying. The defenses wouldn't hold.

Above us, Blood Empress Xia and Sect Master Liang clashed, and with each exchange, it became clearer: he was losing.

[SECT MASTER LIANG: INJURED]

[BLOOD EMPRESS: TOYING WITH HIM]

[TIME UNTIL DEFEAT: MINUTES]

[WHEN HE FALLS, THE SECT FALLS]

A massive explosion rocked the southern wall, a section collapsed entirely, Blood Moon forces pouring through the breach.

"Southern wall compromised!" someone screamed. "Retreat! Retreat!"

Panic rippled through our ranks. I saw disciples breaking formation, running, dying as they fled.

[DEFENSIVE LINE: COLLAPSING]

[MORALE: BREAKING]

[THE SECT IS FALLING]

Then I felt it, a surge of foreign Qi unlike anything I'd experienced. Not from Blood Empress Xia. Not from our sect.

Something else entirely.

Above the battlefield, space itself tore open.

A spatial rift, massive, unstable, wrong. And through it stepped a figure in white robes marked with golden script, radiating power that made even Blood Empress Xia pause.

[DETECTING: UNKNOWN CULTIVATOR]

[CULTIVATION: CANNOT MEASURE]

[POWER LEVEL: EXTREME]

[SYSTEM ERROR: DATA INSUFFICIENT]

[WHAT... WHAT IS THIS?]

The figure looked directly at me. Through the chaos, through the hundreds of combatants, his gaze locked onto mine with impossible precision.

And he spoke, his voice carrying only to me despite the battlefield's noise:

"Lin Tian. The one who doesn't belong. I've finally found you."

[ALERT: IDENTITY COMPROMISED]

[UNKNOWN ENTITY: KNOWS YOUR NAME]

[KNOWS YOU'RE NOT FROM THIS WORLD]

[HOW?!]

[BOSS, RUN]

[RUN NOW]

The figure raised his hand, and reality bent around him.

Everything went white.

[CONNECTION LOST]

[SYSTEM ERROR]

[UNABLE TO PROCESS]

[WHAT IS HAPPENING]

[BOSS?]

[BOSS?!]

[LIN TIAN?!]

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