Six days had passed. The air in the Myriad Beast Mountains was thick with tension and paranoia. The initial arrogance of the disciples had been weathered away by the relentless dangers of the valley and, more potently, by the unnerving whispers of the ghost that haunted their trial. Disciples from all three clans reported finding evidence of its passage: a high-level beast slain with a single, impossibly precise wound; a patch of rare herbs harvested so cleanly it left no trace; a glimpse of an azure-robed figure vanishing into the mist.
The leaders—Hu Jin, Gui Ren, and Jian Liwei—were at their wits' end. Their grand hunts for the ghost had yielded nothing but exhaustion. They had secured a few Dragon's Vein Tokens of their own, but the cost in spiritual energy and healing supplies had been immense. They knew, with a gnawing certainty, that they were losing a game they didn't fully understand.
Meanwhile, in a sun-dappled glade on the far eastern edge of the valley, Jian Feng calmly cataloged his latest acquisition: the blood of an Iron-Skinned Pangolin, carefully stored in chilled jade vials. His total point count, if it were to be tallied, would be an astronomical figure, far surpassing the combined totals of the other clans. His seclusion and peripheral strategy had been a resounding success.
But now, it was time for the final act.
"Phase three," he murmured to himself, consulting the intricate timetable he had set in his mind. "The Convergence."
His objective was the single greatest prize of the trial, a prize he had read about in the clan's most secret records. In the exact center of the valley stood a jagged, spear-like mountain known as the Dragon's Spire. At its peak, the elders had placed a single Golden Dragon's Vein Token, worth an incredible two thousand points. But it was guarded by the valley's apex predator: a Wind-Winged Wyvern, a fearsome beast whose power touched the very edge of the Core Formation Realm. It was an opponent no single team could hope to defeat.
Jian Feng had no intention of fighting it. He intended to make the others fight it for him. He needed to lure them all to the Spire.
He packed away his supplies and began to move, his path now leading back towards the valley's center. From his pouch, he withdrew one of the normal Dragon's Vein Tokens he had acquired. He stopped near a ridge overlooking the territory where his tracking disk indicated the Tiger Clan was active. He placed the token on a rock and, with a strand of his Origin Qi, subtly altered the formation within it, causing its energy signature to flare up like a beacon for precisely ten seconds before returning to normal.
To anyone with a treasure-seeking artifact, it would feel like someone had just uncovered a token, revealing its location in a momentary burst. He then repeated the process twice more, in different locations, creating a trail of "pings" that all pointed towards the same general direction: the Dragon's Spire.
He had cast his lure. Now, he just had to wait for the fish to bite. He traveled to the Spire, arriving hours before anyone else, and settled into a perfectly concealed vantage point he had chosen from his maps days ago—a small, windswept cave on an adjacent cliff, offering a flawless view of the Wyvern's nest.
The bait was taken even faster than he had anticipated. Hu Jin and his disciples were the first to arrive, their faces grim with determination.
"This is it," Hu Jin growled, looking up at the fearsome peak. "The energy pulses came from this direction. The ghost must have found a major cache!"
Shortly after, Gui Ren and the Black Tortoise clan emerged from the forest, their defensive formations already partially active. Moments later, the Azure Dragon contingent, led by a frustrated and haggard-looking Jian Liwei, also arrived. The three most powerful groups of the trial now stood in a tense, three-way standoff at the base of the Dragon's Spire.
Their eyes were all drawn upward. High on the peak, in a nest of shattered trees and bleached bones, they could see it: a massive, serpentine creature with leathery wings and a reptilian head. Its scales shimmered like polished steel. This was the Wind-Winged Wyvern. And nestled amongst the bones in its nest, gleaming like a fallen star, was the Golden Dragon's Vein Token.
The sight of it stole their breath. They all instantly understood. This was the final prize.
The realization was immediately followed by a wave of cold dread. The Wyvern's aura was immense, a crushing pressure that dwarfed any beast they had yet encountered. They were the proudest geniuses of their generation, but they were not fools. To challenge that creature alone would be suicide.
Jian Liwei glared at Hu Jin. "This is your fault, tiger! Your reckless search probably woke it up!"
"My fault?" Hu Jin roared back. "Maybe if your Azure Dragon ghost hadn't been slinking around, none of us would be here! Where is he? Is he too cowardly to show his face?"
Gui Ren ignored them both, his sharp eyes scanning the terrain. "Arguing is pointless. The situation is clear. No single clan can defeat that Wyvern. And no single clan will allow another to claim the prize."
A heavy silence fell over them as the truth of his words settled in. They were at an impasse. Their pride, their rivalry, and their ambition had all led them to this single point, drawn by the strings of a puppeteer they couldn't see.
High above, hidden from the world, Jian Feng watched the three groups gather. The pieces were all in place. His expression was as calm and placid as the surface of a deep lake. He had set the board and lured the players to the final encounter. Now, all he had to do was wait for the chaos to begin.