The desert stretched endlessly before me, an ocean of pale white sand under the sickly green-black sky of the Fallen Realm. I'd been moving for what felt like hours, following Lin Mei's faint signature through the Mark of Return. Each step sank into the fine powder, making progress maddeningly slow.

"Her signal is growing stronger," I muttered to myself, pausing to wipe sweat from my brow. The desert wasn't hot in the conventional sense, temperature seemed to follow different rules in this realm, but exertion still took its toll.

I checked the crimson number hovering in the sky: 41, which meant that two teams had already found the exit. Whether by luck or skill, I wasn’t sure, but it didn’t matter, time was ticking away faster than I would have liked.

"This realm's geography is inconsistent," Azure observed. "The distance to Lin Mei's signature doesn't correlate properly with your physical movement."

He was right. Sometimes I'd walk for what seemed like miles with no change in her perceived location, then suddenly feel her presence lurch closer after just a few steps.

"Spatial distortion," I replied silently. "Ancestor Tian's inner world isn't following conventional physical laws."

I'd been deliberately avoiding other presences since my arrival. Twice I'd sensed cultivator teams in the distance and altered my course. Once I'd hidden behind a dune when a flock of what appeared to be bone-white birds with too many wings flew overhead, their hollow cries echoing unnaturally across the sands.

The Fallen Realm was aptly named. Everything here carried the taint of death, yet paradoxically, nothing seemed truly dead. The sand itself occasionally rippled as if breathing when I wasn't looking directly at it. The few scrubby plants I'd encountered had translucent leaves through which I could see circulating darkness rather than sap.

"Master," Azure's voice held an unusual edge of concern. "There's a spiritual pressure approaching from the north. It's... unusual."

I extended my senses cautiously. The signature felt wrong, not quite like a cultivator, but definitely sentient. Cold and hollow, like a void moving with purpose.

Before I could retreat, the sand twenty paces ahead erupted upward. A figure emerged, hovering just above the desert floor. It appeared vaguely humanoid but composed of writhing shadows rather than solid matter. Where a face should be, only darkness swirled beneath a hood formed of the same incorporeal substance. Wispy tendrils extended from its form like smoke caught in an unfelt breeze.

A wraith.

What was more concerning was the aura coming off it - Ninth Stage Qi Condensation.

"Oh, wonderful," I muttered, dropping into a defensive stance.

The creature tilted what passed for its head, studying me with unseen eyes. Then it moved, not gliding or walking, but simply existing in a new location five paces closer.

I didn't wait for it to attack.

Turning sharply, I sprinted in the direction of Lin Mei's signature. Running from a fight wasn't my preferred strategy, but the tournament wasn't the place for unnecessary risks, finding Lin Mei was my priority.

The wraith didn't agree with my assessment. It appeared directly in my path, tendrils extending toward me like grasping fingers.

I veered left, then right, zigzagging across the dunes. Each time I changed direction, the wraith would materialize ahead of me, forcing another course correction. It was deliberately herding me away from Lin Mei's location.

"It's clearly intelligent," Azure noted. "It's separating you from your team deliberately."

Sweat beaded on my forehead as I realized we were now moving perpendicular to Lin Mei's signature. The distance between us was growing rather than shrinking.

"I can't outrun it," I decided aloud. "And I can't reach the others like this."

The wraith hovered thirty paces away, almost seeming to wait for my next move. I sensed no malice from it, only cold, calculating hunger.

"Azure, what exactly are we dealing with here?" I asked, using the momentary standoff to catch my breath.

"A wraith is a spiritual entity formed from the residual consciousness of beings who died with extreme regret or unfinished business," Azure explained. "In a normal realm, they're rare, usually confined to ancient battlefields or places of great tragedy. But in a Death Realm like this one..."

"They're practically native fauna," I finished. "Wonderful. Any weaknesses?"

"Fire qi disrupts their essence most effectively, unfortunately—"

"I'm not a fire cultivator," I finished grimly.

"But your Primordial Woods Arts should still be effective," Azure suggested. "Living qi opposes death essence naturally, though not as dramatically as fire would."

The wraith seemed to tire of waiting. It slid forward, moving across the sand like oil spreading across water. Its form expanded and contracted rhythmically, almost like breathing.

I reached into my storage ring and withdrew a handful of small green seeds. They weren't particularly special, just common spirit grass seeds I'd collected from the sect's gardens, but they'd serve my purpose.

With a quick flick of my wrist, I scattered them in a wide arc around me, infusing each with a trace of my qi as they landed on the sand.

"Verduring Step anchors," Azure noted approvingly. "Good thinking.”

The wraith paused, its shadowy form rippling as if in confusion at my actions. Then it resumed its approach, more cautiously now.

I reached into my storage ring again, this time withdrawing several coils of dark green vines. These were specialty spirit vines I'd purchased specifically for combat, tough as steel cable but responsive to Primordial Wood Arts.

"Let's see how you handle this," I murmured, uncoiling the vines with a flick of my wrists.

The wraith surged forward suddenly, its form elongating into a spear-like shape aimed at my chest. I activated Verduring Step, my body dissolving into particles of green light that flowed instantly to one of the seeds I'd scattered behind the wraith.

As I rematerialized, I sent the vines whipping forward, infusing them with my qi. They shot toward the wraith like living whips, wrapping around its shadowy form.

For a moment, they seemed to catch, then the wraith simply phased through them, becoming momentarily transparent. It turned toward me, its form rippling with what I could only interpret as amusement.

"Well, that's inconvenient," I muttered.

"Try timing your attacks for when it's tangible," Azure suggested. "It can't maintain intangibility constantly."

The wraith rushed me again. This time, I stood my ground until the last possible moment before using Verduring Step to teleport to a seed directly behind it. As I reformed, I launched a powerful palm strike at its back.

My hand passed through empty air as the wraith phased again, but I caught a glimpse of it solidifying just after my attack missed. There was indeed a pattern, it could only maintain intangibility for brief moments.

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We fell into a deadly dance across the white sands. I would teleport using Verduring Step, attack, then immediately relocate before the wraith could counter. The wraith would phase through my attacks, reposition, then attempt to strike when I rematerialized.

Knowing that I didn’t have time for a drawn-out battle, I decided to try a more aggressive approach. I teleported directly in front of the wraith, preparing to time my strike for when it reappeared.

But the entity was learning my patterns. It remained intangible, and then, with timing that surprised me, one shadowy hand suddenly solidified while the rest of its body remained insubstantial.

The now-tangible claws shot forward for my chest before I could react, but at the last instant, something thin and green shot from beneath my robes.

A concealed vine I had woven into my inner garments, a precaution I'd taken before entering the tournament, lashed out at the wraith.

For a brief moment, the plant and spectral claws clashed in midair, an eerie sight as wood essence met death essence.

But the confrontation ended quickly; the wraith's claws sliced through my defensive plant like it was paper, shattering it into withered fragments.

The attack continued, raking across my chest with horrifying coldness even as I teleported away to safety, but the damage was done.

"That was too close," I gasped, teleporting away and pressing a hand to my chest. The wound wasn't deep, but the flesh around it was already turning an unhealthy gray color, qi circulation slowing. "This is concerning, the damage isn't just physical."

"Death essence," Azure confirmed. "It's disrupting your energy pathways. You need to isolate it quickly before it spreads."

I channeled qi to the area, creating a makeshift barrier around the infected tissue. It wasn't a permanent solution, but it would slow the spread until I could properly treat it.

A movement in the distance caught my eye, another cultivator had crested a dune about two hundred paces away, likely drawn by the spiritual fluctuations of our battle. He wore the outer disciple robes of Azure Peak Sect, and from his aura, I estimated he was at the seventh stage of Qi Condensation.

His eyes widened as he took in the scene: a ninth-stage cultivator battling what appeared to be a ninth-stage wraith. The blood drained from his face, and without hesitation, he turned and fled back the way he had come.

"Smart man," I commented, returning my full attention to the wraith.

The creature suddenly shot upward, hovering twenty feet above the desert floor. Its maw opened impossibly wide, and a sound unlike anything I'd ever heard tore through the air, a shriek that carried both physical and spiritual force.

The sound wave hit me like a physical blow, disorienting my senses and disrupting my qi circulation. I staggered, momentarily unable to distinguish up from down as my inner ear rebelled against the spiritual assault.

Through my disorientation, I saw the wraith descending, claws extended for a killing blow.

"Master!" Azure's voice cut through my confusion. "Left seed! Now!"

I blindly activated verduring step toward where I recalled placing a seed to my left. My body dissolved just as the wraith's claws slashed through the space I'd occupied. The teleportation, usually smooth and controlled, became chaotic as my disoriented state affected the technique's execution.

I rematerialized awkwardly, stumbling as my feet found sand again. The world still spun, but the immediate danger had passed.

From my inner world, a wave of protective intent washed over me, accompanied by images of Yggy emerging to confront the wraith. The message was clear: Yggy wanted to help.

"No," I responded silently. "The entire sect is watching these battles. We can't reveal your existence."

I could feel Yggy's frustration, but it respected my decision, retreating back to the depths of my inner world.

My mind raced through options. I couldn't keep this up indefinitely, the wraith was draining my energy with each glancing blow, and eventually, I'd make a mistake. I needed something to disrupt its intangibility.

An idea began to form. The Qi Disruption Array was a relatively simple formation that temporarily destabilized spiritual energy within its boundary. It wasn't particularly effective against cultivators who could quickly regain control of their qi, but against an entity made primarily of spiritual energy...

"It could work," Azure encouraged, following my train of thought. "But you'll need to make it tangible first."

I nodded, already formulating a plan. While evading the wraith's next series of attacks, I subtly directed several vines to burrow beneath the sand in a specific pattern around our battle area. Each vine carried a trace of my qi, forming the groundwork for what I needed.

Then I made a deliberate mistake, or at least, what appeared to be one. I slowed slightly, wincing from my injuries as if more severely hurt than I actually was. The wraith took the bait, rushing forward with its claws extended for what it clearly thought would be a finishing blow.

At the last possible moment, I triggered Verduring Step, vanishing from its path.

"Now!" I commanded, reappearing a safe distance away.

The vines I'd hidden beneath the sand erupted upward, wrapping around the wraith's still-tangible form. The creature screeched and tried to phase through them, but lines of green energy flared to life between the vines, forming a complex array of interlocking triangles and spirals around the wraith's body, disrupting its qi and preventing it from escaping.

"Master, the vines won't hold for long against something this powerful,” Azure warned.

Indeed, the wraith was already straining against its bonds, the formation's lines flickering as its considerable power pushed against the constraints. I had seconds at most.

"It’s okay, I only need a moment," I replied, teleporting directly in front of the trapped wraith, while channeling qi into my palm for a fatal Phantom Strike.

The wraith’s hollow eyes widened in what might have been the first real emotion I'd seen from it, fear, perhaps, or simply surprise. As it opened its mouth to unleash another disorienting shriek, one of my vines whipped across its face, covering the gaping maw.

My palm drove through its solid chest with devastating force, bursting through where a heart would be in a human.

The wraith froze, then, from the wound my palm had created, cracks of white light began to spread across its shadowy body.

With a final shudder, the wraith burst into countless particles of light that scattered across the sand before fading away completely.

I stood there, palm extended through empty air where the wraith had been, breathing heavily. The wounds on my chest and side throbbed painfully, but I was alive and still in the tournament.

"I didn't expect you to find me first," I said, slowly turning to greet the new arrivals.