The creature raised both massive fists, clearly intending to crush me as I approached. At the same time, I palmed a single spirit grass seed, channeling my qi into it before flicking it high into the air in a perfect arc that would carry it directly over the creature's head.

The creature's fists came crashing down with devastating force. I watched the seed reach its apex above the towering sand monster, timing everything perfectly. The massive sandy hammers descended toward me, close enough that I could feel the displaced air rushing past my face.

At the exact moment before the crushing blow would connect, a hair's breadth from being pulverized, I activated Verduring Step. My body dissolved into green light that flowed instantly upward to the airborne seed just as the creature's fists slammed into the sand where I'd been standing with earth-shaking force.

As I rematerialized in mid-air directly above the creature's head, I drove both hands downward, channeling every bit of qi I could muster into a devastating double-palm strike aimed at the creature's head and shoulders.

But instead of striking outward, I drove my qi directly into the creature's sandy form, forcing my energy deep into its body. It was a desperate gambit, trying to inject foreign qi into another being's form and wrestle control of their very essence.

Under normal circumstances, against a prepared opponent, such a technique would be impossible. A Peak Ninth Stage cultivator's spiritual defenses would easily repel such an intrusion.

But my qi wasn't trying to dominate the creature's sandy particles, but was simply trying to interfere with the death essence that animated them. For one critical second, the creature's own control wavered as it struggled to expel my foreign energy.

In that moment of confusion, I activated the vines I'd scattered earlier. They erupted from the sand around the creature, wrapping around its legs, torso, and arms into the pattern of a Qi Disruption Array.

The formation pulsed with light, and immediately the creature's control over its sandy form began to break down. The array was interfering with its spiritual energy, disrupting the death essence that let it command every grain of sand.

With the creature's own qi scrambled, my foreign energy could finally take hold. I seized control over more of the sand grains, forcing them to compress and stay solid.

For the first time since the battle began, the creature couldn't flow away or disperse, it was trapped in a dense, solid form, but it wouldn't last long.

"Now!" I shouted.

Wei Lin was already moving. Fire qi erupted from his hands, but this time he wasn't holding back or trying to conserve energy. He poured every bit of flame essence he possessed into a single, concentrated blast.

The superheated attack struck the compressed creature dead center. With its particles forced into close proximity by my technique, the fire didn't simply pass through gaps in its form. Instead, it fused vast sections of the creature's body into solid glass.

The creature's anguished shriek echoed across the desert as half its torso transformed into immobile, crystalline material. It tried to expel the damaged sections, but the glass had formed in such large, interconnected chunks that removing them would leave it critically weakened.

Wei Lin pressed his advantage, placing both hands directly on the creature's glassy chest. His Black Market stall activated, and I watched in fascination as dark tendrils of energy began to drain the death essence that animated the creature.

"Just like with Meng Jiao," he said grimly, his eyes cold with concentration. "But you're much stronger. This might take a moment."

The creature thrashed desperately, its remaining sandy portions whipping around like angry serpents. But with half its mass trapped in glass and its death qi being steadily drained, it was fighting a losing battle.

Lin Mei, still positioned at the edge of the combat area, took the opportunity to contribute. She sent a barrage of water needles toward the creature's sandy portions, not trying to cause damage but rather to keep it distracted while Wei Lin worked.

The extraction took nearly a dozen seconds. I watched, mesmerized, as wisps of dark energy flowed from the creature into Wei Lin's cultivation base. The Black Market stall in his inner world was clearly working overtime, processing and storing the foreign energy.

Finally, the creature's struggles ceased. Its form began to collapse, sand flowing away like water as the death essence that had animated it was completely drained. Within moments, nothing remained but ordinary sand and scattered chunks of glass.

Wei Lin staggered backward, his face pale but triumphant. The amount of death essence he'd just absorbed was clearly substantial.

"Well," I said, pressing a hand to my still-aching ribs, "that was unpleasant. Everyone still in one piece?"

Lin Mei nodded, though she was cradling her injured shoulder. "I'll be fine. Just a bruise."

Wei Lin was studying his inner world intently, his eyes unfocused as he examined the changes within his spiritual realm. After a long moment, he looked up with a mixture of satisfaction and frustration.

"The death essence from this creature was significant," he said. "But it's not quite enough to complete the formation of the tenth stall."

I frowned. "How much more do you need?"

Wei Lin considered the question, clearly calculating spiritual quantities and energy exchange rates. "At least two more ninth stage entity, possibly three if they're on the weaker side.”

I looked around at the empty desert, noting how the number in the sky had dropped to 33 while we'd been fighting. More teams were finding the exit, and we were still no closer to locating it ourselves.

"Well," I said with a tired smile, "I suppose we'd better continue hunting."

***

Hong's knuckles were white as he gripped the armrests of his cushioned seat, watching the tournament screen with the intensity of a man whose very soul was invested in what he saw. Beside him, Lixue pressed one hand protectively over her rounded belly while the other clutched his arm so tightly he was losing feeling in his fingers.

They had just watched their son and his teammates defeat what Liu Chen had identified as a "sand elemental", a creature of compressed sand and death essence that had nearly crushed them alive in a prison of glass and fury.

The battle had been terrifying to witness, even through the safety of the viewing screens.

"He's hurt again," Lixue whispered, her voice barely audible as they watched Ke Yin press a hand to his ribs where the creature's attacks had connected. "That's the second time in an hour."

Hong nodded grimly, unable to speak past the tightness in his throat.

When the sand creature had finally collapsed into ordinary grains, dissolved by Wei Lin's strange energy-draining technique, he'd allowed himself a moment of relief. His son was alive, victorious, moving forward with his teammates toward whatever exit they were supposed to find.

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That relief had lasted exactly nine minutes.

"Another one," Liu Chen said quietly, his face creased with confusion as a new signature appeared on their screen. "That's... that's a bone serpent. Ninth stage again."

Hong's heart sank as he watched a massive creature of yellowed bones slither across the sand toward his son's team. The thing was easily thirty feet long, its skeletal form held together by threads of dark energy that pulsed like veins through the gaps between ribs.

"Why does this keep happening?" Lixue asked, her voice rising slightly with panic. "This is the third one!"

Over the next hour, this pattern continued, and they watched Ke Yin's team face challenge after challenge: the bone serpent, then a pack of shadow wolves that had emerged from what looked like solid ground, followed by some kind of floating skull wreathed in green flames. Each enemy had been at the ninth stage of Qi Condensation. Each battle had pushed their son and his friends to their limits. And each opponent had found them

.

"Liu Chen," Hong said urgently, turning to the young Core Disciple who had been their guide and translator for the increasingly horrifying spectacle. "Is this normal? Should they be facing so many powerful enemies?"

Liu Chen shook his head, his expression troubled. "No, Uncle Hong. This isn't normal at all." He gestured toward the other screens floating around the arena, each displaying different areas of the Fallen Realm. "Look at the other participants."

Hong followed the boy's pointing finger, his eyes jumping from screen to screen. On one, he could see Yuan Zhen's team walking calmly through what appeared to be a forest of bone-white trees, occasionally stopping to examine strange fruits hanging from the branches. No enemies in sight.

Another screen showed Ming Yue's team carefully navigating around a sleeping creature that looked like a giant bat made of shadow. They were avoiding it entirely, not engaging in combat.

On a third screen, Chen Feng and his "Shadow Wraith Squad" were facing what appeared to be a single opponent at the eight stage of Qi Condensation, some kind of ghostly figure that flickered in and out of visibility. Only one enemy, and they seemed to be winning handily.

"Brother Ke's team has faced more ninth stage enemies in the past hour than most teams will encounter in the entire trial," Liu Chen said, his voice filled with genuine bewilderment. "It doesn't make sense."

"But shouldn't they face similar challenges to the other participants?" Lixue asked desperately, as if logic could somehow protect her son.

Liu Chen's frown deepened. "That's what I thought too, Aunt Lixue. But look." He pointed to another screen where Luo Yichen and Wu Kangming were visible. "Wu Kangming is ninth stage, and Luo Yichen just broke through recently. They've encountered exactly one ninth stage enemy this entire time, and that was over thirty minutes ago."

Hong felt a chill that had nothing to do with the mountain air. "So, it's not about cultivation level."

"No," Liu Chen confirmed. "Something else is drawing these creatures specifically to Brother Ke's team."

Around them, other spectators were beginning to notice the pattern as well. Murmurs of confusion and concern rippled through the viewing areas as people compared what they were seeing on different screens.

"The boy with the plant techniques," Hong heard someone say behind him. "His team can't catch a break."

"Fourth ninth stage enemy in an hour," another voice added. "That's unprecedented."

Even some of the Core Disciples in their elevated section were looking puzzled. Hong caught snippets of their conversations as they tried to understand what they were witnessing.

"...never seen targeting this specific before..."

"...realm's behavior is completely abnormal..."

"...should we alert the elders?"

But when Hong looked up at the platform where the sect's leadership stood, he could see that the elders were already aware something was wrong. Several of them were speaking in low, urgent tones, their eyes fixed on the screens displaying his son's ongoing struggles.

Elder Chen Yong, whom Liu Chen had identified for them earlier, looked particularly troubled. The man's usually jovial expression was replaced by a deep frown as he watched Ke Yin dodge an attack from another ninth stage Qi Condensation being.

"Even the elders don't understand what's happening," Liu Chen said softly, following Hong's gaze. "This isn't how the Fallen Realm is supposed to behave."

Meanwhile, the number in the sky continued to drop steadily. What had been 43 available slots when the trial began was now down to 25. Teams were finding the exit at a remarkable pace.

"How are so many teams succeeding if the realm is this dangerous?" Hong asked, gesturing toward the decreasing number.

Liu Chen's expression brightened slightly as he explained something he actually understood. "Most of it is luck, Uncle Hong. The Fallen Realm is vast, and the exits can be anywhere. Some teams just happened to be transported near one when they entered."

He pointed to one of the screens where they could see a group of three disciples walking through what appeared to be an archway made of twisted metal. The moment they passed through, they vanished, clearly having found their way out.

"Others have special treasures," Liu Chen continued. "Compass artifacts that can detect spatial disturbances, or family heirlooms that respond to dimensional gateways. Those teams have been systematically searching and finding exits within the first hour."

"And the rest?" Lixue asked.

"Following the successful teams," Liu Chen said with a slightly amused tone. "Once word spread that certain areas contained exits, other teams started stalking the treasure-holders. They'd watch from a distance, then rush the exit right behind them. As long as they make it through, they advance."

Hong's eyebrows rose. "Following them? That seems..."

"Completely legal according to tournament rules," Liu Chen finished with a slight smile. "Elder Wan specifically mentioned that alliances and cooperation were permitted. He didn't say anything about preventing teams from shadowing each other.”

"That's... actually quite intelligent," Lixue admitted, though she looked slightly troubled by the implications. "Though it seems unfair to those who found the exit through their own efforts."

"Fairness is a luxury in cultivation," Liu Chen replied with the sad smile of someone who'd had a difficult childhood. "The tournament rewards success, not methods. A team that reaches the exit through following others has still demonstrated useful skills: tracking, stealth, timing, and strategic thinking."

Hong nodded, understanding the logic. But it also made their son's situation seem even more unfair. While other teams were able to focus on finding exits or following successful groups, Ke Yin's team was constantly under attack, forced to fight for their lives instead of searching for their way out.

On the screen, the a dragon-like being had wrapped its massive coils around Wei Lin, who was struggling to break free while flames danced around his hands. Lin Mei was attacking from a distance with her water techniques, but the creature's scales seemed largely immune to her attacks.

Ke Yin was teleporting around the battlefield, appearing and disappearing in flashes of green light as he tried to find an opening. But even from this distance, Hong could see the exhaustion in his son's movements.

The constant battles were taking their toll.

"He's getting tired," Lixue whispered, her hand moving unconsciously to her throat where the jade pendant Ke Yin had given her rested beneath her dress. "They all are."

It was true.

While other teams were conserving their energy for the challenges ahead, Ke Yin's group was being forced to expend their strength in battle after battle. Even if they survived each encounter, they were being worn down while their competition advanced with full energy reserves.

“Brother Ke is strong, and he has good teammates. If anyone can overcome this challenge, it's them,” Liu Chen replied.

The words were meant to be comforting, but Hong could hear the uncertainty beneath them. Even Liu Chen, young as he was, understood that luck could be just as important as skill in situations like this.

On the screen, Ke Yin had managed to create some kind of formation around the pseudo-dragon using his vines. The creature thrashed violently as green energy lines pulsed between the plant restraints, clearly disrupting its movements. Wei Lin broke free from its coils and immediately placed his hands on the creature's skull, that same dark energy beginning to flow from the monster into the young merchant's body.

"They're going to win this one too," Liu Chen said with relieved certainty.

But Hong felt no relief. Because even as they watched the false dragon begin to dissolve under Wei Lin's energy drain, his parental instincts were screaming that this couldn't continue. His son was strong, but no one could face endless challenges without eventually reaching their breaking point.

The number in the sky dropped to 22.

"Please," Lixue whispered beside him, so quietly that only Hong could hear. Her eyes were closed, her hands clasped tightly together in her lap. "Please, whatever powers guide the heavens, don't let them break my boy."

Hong found himself echoing her prayer silently, his own hands clenched into fists as he watched his son stand victorious over another fallen enemy, already scanning the horizon for the next threat that would inevitably come.

Around them, the crowd continued to cheer and comment on the spectacular battles they were witnessing, treating it as entertainment. But for two parents from a small village, watching their child face death again and again, there was nothing entertaining about it at all.

As Ke Yin's team began moving again, searching for an exit that seemed further away with each passing moment, the number in the sky once again changed, and now only 21 slots remained.

Hong closed his eyes and added his own silent prayer to his wife's, begging whatever cosmic forces governed this realm to show their son mercy, to let him find his way home safely.

But deep in his heart, he feared that something was hunting his boy specifically, something that wouldn't stop until it claimed its prize.