The Door To All Marvels

A Sorrowing Army Prevails

There was zero chance the back to back fights like that were anything but purposeful on Instructor Ceng’s part. She half expected Xinshi’s lackey to have a brain cell or two remaining after the beating she’d just taken and surrender immediately, but no— she pushed herself to her feet, mud and all, and squared up on her side of the arena.Everyone was watching— perhaps even more intently than they had match with Guandong. It only made sense— it the very first time they’d actually get to see Avyr . Truly, actually someone, not the… halfhearted excuse of a battle they’d had at the very start.

A second passed, as Instructor Ceng raised his arm. “Ready, and…” a breath— “” His arm cut through the air like an omen, and— with it came the In a moment the day went from just a little bit warm and a slight bit too muggy to , a vast and dry heat blasting down on them from above. She could the qi wisping off of Avyr as he stood in the center of a great and terrible , a pressure that heaved against her shoulders and sapped her strength— and it wasn’t even at her. The power of a cultivator, the pure of a second step cultivator unleashed for combat—

Guandong dropped like a sack of rocks, impacting the dirt hard enough to leave an imprint. Then, blissfully, the pressure disappeared. Avyr hadn’t even . Such was the dominance of cultivation.

Lily grinned. That had been .

Then her grin faded, as fast as it’d come. Now…

All that remained were the fights that .

………

Most of the other students had finished their matches and left as the last of them came only ever closer. Just like the midterms… fights were the last ones. Her hands were clammy. Her breath, short. She what was coming— had known from before the start and yet still, now, standing there in the center of it all with Zhihu staring down at her and Mingtian watching placidly, and Avyr…

First rank against third. The Young Master Qin Xinshi against Lily Ward of no name and great hope.

Avyr’s paw gently pressed against her arm, smooth fur brushing softly against her skin. “Victory is assured. You’re an entire rank in cultivation beneath him, and the fate of the battle is as of yet uncertain— isn’t that something to be proud of?” It was an empty platitude… but it helped, regardless. Maybe less because of what it was, and more because of who was it.

She breathed out even as Instructor Ceng actually called her and Xinshi forward. Right. . She breathed in, and held it, and let it — fuel to the raging inferno, ablaze with all hope and fear, four steps and rapturous, shivering anticipation, until— she breathed out, and left onlythe calm at the edge of a storm.

A battle. That’s all it was. That was — here, in the arena before her, in the gaze of the man whose burning gaze stared her down unflinchingly, utterly and completely … this was where the course of her future would be written.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!he gold of a burning sunrise— and she would not let it go to waste. “To a cultivator, what is a mere cut? To a cultivator—” she punctuated each and every word with a step to the side, both of them slowly circling each other— “what is mere What is…” she grit her teeth as the agony flared up again, something through her veins— “what is endless agony in the face of I’m not , Xinshi. I simply . I’ll give up! Not while I still—”

Xinshi drew his sword in a single motion and forward—

Lily ignited her formation and felt herself . It was too much. It was so gloriously . She screamed in agony as her entire world became one of —

Boundless.

Radiance.

………

Thunder echoed across an empty sky.