The golden runes on the trial platform shimmered like stars as one participant after another stepped forward and vanished into the glowing formation. Each vanished into their personal illusion crafted by the ancient Seven Heavens Array — a spiritual test designed to measure a cultivator's mental strength, heart clarity, and inner will.
Su Yang, standing beside Jin Hao, took a deep breath. He clenched his fists slightly as he stepped forward. Max barked softly from outside the formation, as if trying to warn him — but Su Yang had already vanished into a ripple of golden light.
The moment his body disappeared, Su Yang's consciousness was pulled into a completely different world.
It was raining.
Cold wind blew against his skin as he stood on a familiar street — one he hadn't seen since his past life. It was the world of Earth, or more precisely, the memory of his previous life as the original Su Yang. A teenager with no spirit root, humiliated, discarded by Su Yan, and forgotten.
He stood in front of an old, broken-down courtyard house. The air smelled like damp soil, and the sky was gray.
Inside the courtyard, he saw a figure kneeling in the mud — it was him, or rather, the former Su Yang — weak, pitiful, blood on his lips.
And there she was.
Su Yan.
Wearing her sect robes, glowing with power, and looking down at him like he was nothing.
"You're useless," she said coldly. "A man without talent has no right to love me."
Su Yang's eyes narrowed.
He knew this wasn't real — it was an illusion — but it felt real. The pain. The humiliation. The weight in his chest. All of it came flooding back.
"She's just a fragment of memory," Su Yang muttered, clenching his fist. "I am not that person anymore."
But then the illusion changed.
Suddenly, Lu Ying appeared behind Su Yan — but her expression was cold too.
"You saved me. So what?" she said emotionlessly. "Do you really think someone like you can protect someone like me? You were just a tool — an opportunity to awaken my power."
"No..." Su Yang whispered.
This wasn't right.
He trusted Lu Ying. He remembered her tears, her letter, her soft smile.
But this illusion was testing his trust, trying to tear apart the thin line of faith he had in others.
"You're alone," Su Yan's illusion whispered. "You will always be alone. Everyone who gets close to you is only here to use you."
The scene changed again.
Now Su Yang stood at his parents' graves — from his past life. Rain poured. Thunder echoed.
"Why did you work so hard, Su Yang?" a younger version of himself asked bitterly, appearing beside him. "What did it bring you? Love? Respect? No — only betrayal."
Su Yang looked at the boy, eyes sharp. The wind howled around them.
"...I worked hard because I had hope," Su Yang finally answered. "I may have been betrayed, but I never gave up on becoming someone better."
The boy disappeared.
The illusion began to break apart — the sky cracking like shattered glass. He was resisting. He had faced this pain before — and this time, he wouldn't be trapped in it.
Suddenly, he heard a voice — his own voice.
"You are no longer the discarded Su Yang. You are a cultivator now. You have a system. You have Max. You have your own path. Your worth is not tied to the people who hurt you."
A surge of light exploded from within his body.
The illusion shattered.
When Su Yang opened his eyes again, he was standing alone on a golden platform, floating in a mist-filled space. A glowing number appeared beneath his feet:
Stage One – Cleared.
Just ahead, a silver gate shimmered.
The second illusion awaited.
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