Yu Xuan slowly lifted his gaze toward the woman seated before him.
Under the pale, icy radiance of her presence, he quietly removed his bamboo hat and stored it away. His long black hair, dark with streaks of white fell down his back.
His heart did not waver.
Not even for a breath.
Cold beauty?
Overwhelming aura?
Piercing eyes?
He faced all of it head-on with perfect calm.
Bing Xin observed him from her seat, expression unreadable.
Behind her, the elite disciples of the Discipline Committee — those below the 3rd tier (Core Formation) swept their spiritual senses over him. They evaluated everything: his bearing, his Qi, his composure.
And more than one of them felt sothing peculiar:
This disciple... was too calm.
Bing Xin’s eyelashes lowered a fraction as she gently flicked sothing with her fingers.
A mory crystal shot toward Yu Xuan like a razor of cold light.
Its speed, deadly enough to pierce boulders, cut across the hall.
SHWIP!
Yu Xuan simply raised one hand.
He caught it between two fingers.
Not a ripple of discomfort crossed his face.
The hall was silent.
The disciples exchanged faint looks.
Catching a crystal thrown by Bing Xin, the Committee Head was no easy feat.
The force behind it must be terrifying.
Yu Xuan closed his eyes and his spirit sense swept into the mory crystal.
Information flooded into his mind.
The deeper he saw, the harder his expression beca.
Monts later, his eyes opened, serious and sharp.
These Gates...
These sky-borne portals...
Were not rely trials.
"Really... sacrifice," Yu Xuan muttered under his breath.
Because the information inside the crystal was far beyond what anyone would call a normal Gate.
It wasn’t rely dangerous.
It wasn’t rely a bridge.
It was the foundation of the bridge.
A living, growing anchor.
As Yu Xuan had continued absorbing the details within the crystal, each line making his brows tighten further.
These Gates, floating high in the sky served a unique and horrifying purpose:
They were buffers. Pre-stabilization zones.
A precursor to the real cross-realm bridge.
And what was used to stabilize them?
Corpses.
Or rather sacrifices.
The deaths of those inside, whether monster or man were absorbed as fuel.
But the crystal clarified one thing:
99.99% of the deaths inside so far belonged to the enemy side. Those monsters.
Their bodies... were harvested by the Gate itself, refined, and converted into structural stability.
Only monstrous beasts had erged from the Gates up until now.
There had been no sight of intelligent life.
That was the only saving grace.
For now.
The most troubling part was that the Gate Capacity was capped at Tier 3 (Core Formation).
Anyone above this realm was forcibly rejected by the gate’s Laws.
Elders had attempted to breach it using special artifacts and formations but failed.
Either the Gate resisted entirely or demanded a price too steep.
Thus, the sect decided.
No reckless entry. No unnecessary loss of resources.
Even mortals, the entry-level disciples with no cultivation could step through the portal... but with ferocious monsters waiting, their survival rate would be near zero.
And worse, the Gate did not close.
It was permanent.
Then he read the line that made his expression darken.
’If the Gate is not cleared within two weeks, the monsters inside will double.’
A chilling implication.
It ant the other side required two weeks to "refresh" or "grow" its forces.
Which also ant...
This wasn’t simply an invasion pathway.
It was a training ground.
A test field.
A cultivation furnace for monsters.
So, the sect had ford a temporary system.
Clear monsters → Stabilize the Gate → Earn rit.
A dangerous but necessary cycle.
A battlefield disguised as opportunity.
Yu Xuan kept the mory crystal, with him.
Then he turned toward the Committee Head, who was still reading the letter in her hand.
After a mont, she placed the letter down and lifted her gaze.
Her eyes were as calm and cold as frozen lakes.
"Yu Xuan," she said, voice devoid of all humanity, "I am Bing Xin, and from this mont forward, you are my assistant."
"I refuse," Yu Xuan replied instantly.
Not a mont of hesitation.
He wanted to explore the Gates.
He wanted to understand the other side.
He did not want to handle paperwork, monitor troublemakers, or beco shackled under the rigid Discipline Committee.
And certainly not under her, who appeared so cold.
The surrounding disciples stiffened.
So glared fiercely, how dare this junior reject their Committee Head?
Bing Xin’s eyes narrowed slightly.
There was no anger on her face, no displeasure.
Just coldness.
Then—
BOOM.
A mountain like pressure descended on Yu Xuan.
A pressure that could crush most core formation cultivators to their knees.
But Yu Xuan stood there.
Not even blinking.
Not even his robes fluttered.
Bing Xin’s gaze sharpened.
’A special physique.’
She dismissed the pressure with a single thought.
"I was not asking for your acceptance," she said, voice still flat, still calm.
"Your master has already agreed. Your personal opinion holds no value."
Yu Xuan’s eyelid twitched.
’Of course she did... Master just loves throwing work at .’
With a defeated sigh, he nodded.
Bing Xin clapped her hands once.
"Good. Now that everyone is prepared, let’s depart."
The Formations covering the pagoda flickered and peeled away, revealing the bright sky beyond the windows.
Bing Xin walked to the center of the room.
"Let’s go."
Her words were soft, but her authority carried imnse weight.
The elite disciples imdiately responded, forming organized aerial units as they leapt out of the pagoda and flew toward the massive floating island where the Gates hovered.
Tier 3 cultivators led at the front, each bringing other disciples behind them.
Yu Xuan too followed suit, rising into the air effortlessly.
He too is a Tier 3, Core Formation Realm cultivator!
He too has the ability to fly!
For the first ti in a while, he felt the wind on his face properly, without any threats.
The world beneath shrinking.
The unknown ahead opening.
And he couldn’t help but grin slightly.
Despite being "assigned," this was exactly where he wanted to be.
***
[A/N: Sorry for the extra day off! Gon-na-Sorry Desu~]
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