Chen Xin's senses returned in shards—like shards of glass scattered across a boundless void.
The first thing he noticed was the cold. Not the biting chill of winter, but a deep, ancient cold that
seeped into his bones, reminding him he was no longer in the mortal realm.
He opened his eyes.
Before him stretched an endless sea of pale mist, swirling and restless, like smoke from a dying
fire. There was no sun, no sky—only this gray vastness and the faint glimmer of broken shapes
beneath the fog.
His hand instinctively reached for his sword.
But his fingers closed on... nothing.
He tried again, grasping the air. The weight of his blade—the companion he had wielded for so
many years—was gone.
Panic flickered inside, but Chen Xin quickly stilled himself. He was a swordsman. And a sword
could be found even in the darkest places.
As his eyes adjusted, he noticed faint shapes half-buried in the mist—shattered fragments of
weapons, half-forgotten echoes of blades long broken. Some pulsed faintly with residual spirit
energy. Others lay dull and silent.
He knelt and reached down, his hand closing around a cold shard of metal. The edges were
jagged, chipped, but unmistakably part of a sword's blade.
The instant he touched it, a sudden wave of memories surged—fleeting visions of battles,
comrades, and faces he loved. The pain of loss. The warmth of home.
But with those memories came a whisper, soft and yet unmistakable."You are not done."
Chen Xin's heart hammered. His training, his honor, his will—everything he had been forged
into—still burned somewhere deep within.
A voice suddenly spoke from the swirling mist.
"Who dares disturb the Realm of Trial?"
Chen Xin spun around.
A figure emerged—translucent, shimmering with sword-like energy. It was neither man nor spirit
but something in between. The aura it radiated was cold, ancient, and full of unyielding
discipline.
"I am Chen Xin," he said quietly. "A swordsman who refuses to fade."
The spirit's eyes narrowed. "Then prove it. Prove you are worthy of the blade once more."
The Trial Realm had begun.