The streets of Yancheng buzzed with whispers as Four Treasures perched regally on Lin Hao’s shoulder. Women in silk veils sighed at the parrot’s iridescent plumage, while their suitors glowered at the attention lavished on a bird.
“Where’d you get that creature?” A mountain of perfumed flesh blocked Lin Hao’s path. Madam Zhu—wife of a tax minister and collector of exotic pets—clutched a trembling green parrot to her bosom. “Name your price.”
“Not for sale.” Lin Hao sidestepped the odorous obstacle.
A powdered gigolo in peacock-feather robes lunged. “How dare you refuse Madam Zhu? That bird belongs to her by divine right!”
White fur blurred. The gigolo screamed as Xiao Bai’s claws etched crimson hieroglyphs across his cheeks.
Chaos erupted.
“Beast! Savage beast!” Madam Zhu’s shrieks summoned armored boots pounding cobblestones. A patrol captain astride an obsidian stallion surveyed the scene, recognition flashing as he noted the gaudy pearl collar strangling Madam Zhu’s neck.
“Apprehend this ruffian!” she commanded, jowls quivering. “Confiscate his animals!”
The captain hesitated. Lin Hao’s milky eyes held the glacial calm of winter lakes. A flicker of spiritual energy coalesced into wind-glyphs at his fingertips.
“Mage!” a guardsman hissed.
“Level two at best,” the captain sneered, though his knuckles whitened around his sword hilt. “Net formation!”
Chains clattered. Steel links wove a spiderweb midair—a tactic designed to cripple spellcasters. Lin Hao’s broken sword flashed. Dragonfang’s edge parted enchanted alloys like rice paper.
The captain’s greed warred with dread. “You… you’re here for the Tianyan trials?”
“Naturally.”
Chainmail clinked as the patrol retreated. Madam Zhu’s threats dissolved into spittle-flecked rage. “My husband will have your head! Your bird! Your—”
Crack.
Lin Hao’s palm left a constellation of fractured teeth embedded in her flabby cheek. The crowd erupted in cheers—a cathartic roar from merchants and laborers long oppressed by the Zhu family’s corruption.
———
Dusk found Lin Hao on a rooftop overlooking the Ministry of Revenue’s compound. Xiao Bai gnawed candied walnuts while Four Treasures preened.
“Power.” Lin Hao traced the scar bisecting his palm—a relic of childhood beatings in the Lin clan’s dog kennels. “They fear power.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
The parrot cocked its head. “Fear. Respect. Same-same.”
Zǐ Yè materialized from shadow, her dagger sheathed in frost crystals. “Sentiment breeds weakness.”
“Weakness?” Lin Hao gestured to the city sprawling below. A drunkard stumbled from a brothel—Qin Yu, robes stained with wine and lip rouge. “Look at our ‘nobility.’ Decadent. Fragile.”
His fingers closed around a spirit stone. Crimson veins pulsed within the mineral as he crushed it to dust. “Tianyan’s halls will burn brighter with the right spark.”
Four Treasures spread wings that caught moonlight like prismatic blades. “Burn. Rule.”
The seed took root.
———
Deep in the Vermilion Pavilion’s vaults, a jade tablet inscribed with Lin Hao’s name flared. Elder Wen—overseer of the academy’s admission scrolls—stroked his beard.
“Interesting,” he murmured, watching the character for ‘ambition’ glow blood-red. “Very interesting indeed.”
Somewhere beyond the city walls, a lich priest raised a goblet of molten gold. “To kindling.”
The toast echoed through crypts where ten thousand skeletal fingers twitched in anticipation.
Shattering the Third Meridian
The Azure Phoenix Inn’s luxury suite reeked of scorched ozone and ambition. Lin Hao sat cross-legged atop a snow leopard pelt, ten crates of Spirit Sun Stones glowing like hellish coals at his feet. Four Treasures perched on a jade incense burner, talons etching fractal patterns into the metal.
"Begin."
The parrot’s beak snapped. Stones levitated in a crimson helix, their crystalline structures dissolving into streams of liquid fire that poured into Lin Hao’s palms. His meridians screamed—two existing channels bloated to bursting as primal energy flooded his system.
Too slow.
Lin Hao’s mind split like quicksilver. One strand guided the molten energy through muscle fibers, reforging them into carbonized steel. Another calculated risk thresholds—10 stones? 50? All.
The remaining crates exploded. A pyroclastic storm of spiritual energy engulfed the room. Xiao Bai yowled, retreating to claw at the doorframe as Four Treasures’ feathers ignited into phoenix plumes.
——
Dawn found Lin Hao encased in a chrysalis of crystallized sweat. His skin pulsed with topographical maps of glowing meridians—two rivers of gold converging on a dam of cracked obsidian.
Now.
The third meridian shattered.
Energy tsunamis crashed through newly opened floodgates. Lin Hao’s spine arched as his skeleton sang with the harmonics of a thousand tuning forks. When the resonance faded, charred skin sloughed away to reveal flesh threaded with luminous veins.
"Two days?!" Lin Hao stared at the water clock’s drained reservoir. The Tianyan Academy’s gates would close at noon.
——
Chaos reigned at Yancheng’s western gate. A thousand hopefuls bottlenecked before armored inspectors scanning faces against wanted posters. Four Treasures circled overhead, infrared vision tagging nervous pulses in the crowd.
"Priority lane!" A captain barked as a gilded carriage bearing the Qin family crest rolled through unimpeded. Qin Yu lounged within, nibbling grapes off a courtesan’s fingertips.
Lin Hao shouldered past a merchant’s son clutching ancestral swords. "Move."
"Who do you think—?" The youth paled as Xiao Bai bared fangs that gleamed like scalpels.
The line convulsed. Someone’s ceremonial dagger clattered to cobblestones. Four Treasures dive-bombed a pickpocket, thunder-tongue charring his sleeve.
"Demonic beast!" A matron shrieked.
"Merely pets." Lin Hao tossed the gate captain a jade token stolen from the Ministry of Rites’ vault. "Official business."
The man squinted at the engraved phoenix. "P-pass!"
——
The Academy’s trial grounds sprawled across seven square miles of terraformed wilderness. Obsidian monoliths hummed with containment wards as applicants clustered before a floating elder in constellation robes.
"First test: survival." The elder’s voice boomed without amplification. "Those who reach the Hall of Ascension by sunset proceed."
Mountains shimmered in the distance—a mirage hiding fractal labyrinths. Lin Hao cracked his knuckles. Somewhere beyond those peaks, Zǐ Yè’s weapons cache awaited.
Four Treasures landed on his shoulder, whispering in synthesized tones: Thermal signatures detected. 87% hostile.
The game began.
