The silence that followed Jian Feng's appearance was a fragile thing, stretched taut by disbelief and exhaustion. It was Hu Jin who shattered it, his rage finally finding a target to latch onto.
"You!" he roared, pointing a trembling, blood-stained finger at Jian Feng. "Azure Dragon rat! How dare you show your face! We fought and bled to bring that beast down! That token is ours by right! You are nothing but a common thief!"
The accusation opened the floodgates. Jian Liwei, his face a storm cloud of public humiliation and personal jealousy, stepped forward. "Jian Feng! Have you no shame? Hiding while your clanmates fight and then stealing the prize? Hand over the Golden Token immediately! It belongs to the clan, not to a coward!"
The disciples from all three clans, emboldened by their leaders, began to murmur and aim their own glares at the lone figure. They saw a weakling, an opportunistic scavenger, and their collective anger began to build.
Only Gui Ren remained silent, his stoic face impassive, but his eyes were narrowed in intense, analytical thought. He ignored the accusations of theft. He was focused on a far more important question. He took a step forward, his voice cutting through the rising clamor.
"Forget the token," Gui Ren said, his gaze locked on Jian Feng. "Tell me one thing. How did you know the nest would fall at that exact moment?"
Jian Feng met their fury and suspicion with an unnerving calm. He looked at each of the three prodigies in turn, his expression as placid as if he were discussing the weather. This was the moment of reckoning he had anticipated.
He addressed Hu Jin first. "The rules, as stated by the Black Tortoise Elder, were that 'he who lands the killing blow claims the Golden Token'. Tell me, Disciple Hu, did you land the killing blow?"
Hu Jin's face turned purple. "I… we weakened it! It was about to die!"
"But you did not kill it," Jian Feng stated simply. "It died when its own attack backfired, triggered by an environmental collapse. By the very rules you agreed to, the token belonged to no one. It was a resource, available to be claimed by the most capable individual on the field. I was that individual."
He then turned his gaze to his cousin, Jian Liwei. "You speak of glory for the clan. This single token is worth two thousand points. Tell me, Cousin, what is our clan's current total? Two hundred? Perhaps three hundred points, earned at the cost of injuries to a dozen of our disciples? My single, 'cowardly' action has secured more glory for our clan than all your reckless battles combined. Judge my methods if you wish, but you cannot argue with the result."
Jian Liwei's face went from white to red and back again. He was left speechless, his appeal to clan honor dismantled by cold, irrefutable logic.
Finally, Jian Feng looked at Gui Ren, a flicker of something akin to academic respect in his eyes. "You ask the only intelligent question," he said. "And the answer is simple. I observed. While you were all observing each other, I was observing the mountain. I noted the instability of the perch when I first arrived. I saw the Wyvern gathering its energy. I merely provided a small catalyst at the most opportune moment. A simple matter of physics and timing."
His explanation, so simple yet implying a level of perception and foresight they couldn't fathom, was more infuriating than any boast.
Hu Jin, having no answer to this battle of wits, resorted to the only logic he understood. "Enough of your clever words! Rules and logic don't matter when you are beaten to a pulp! Disciples, he is alone and his Qi is weak! Take the token from him!"
A wave of killing intent surged from the exhausted disciples. They saw one boy, whose aura barely registered at the 5th Layer. Even injured, the thirty of them could surely overwhelm him. They raised their weapons, Qi flaring to life.
It was at that moment that Jian Feng decided the game was over.
He let the suppression he had maintained for ten long years fall away.
It was not a violent explosion of power. It was like the sky silently opening up at midnight. The weak, flickering aura of a 5th-layer disciple vanished, replaced by a pressure so vast, so deep, and so profound that it felt like the weight of the heavens themselves was descending upon the valley.
It wasn't explosive like Hu Jin's power. It wasn't solid like Gui Ren's. It was… absolute. It was the flawless, self-contained, primordial perfection of a foundation that had been baptized by the Heavenly Dao. The very air grew still. The spiritual energy in the environment seemed to bow in deference.
Every single disciple, from the weakest to the proudest prodigy, froze in place. The weapons in their hands suddenly felt impossibly heavy. The Qi they were so proud of felt like muddy water next to the pure, clear ocean of his presence. Their eyes widened in horror as they finally, truly felt his cultivation base. It was the undisputed, unshakeable Peak of the 9th Layer of the Qi Gathering Realm, but it was a peak none of them had ever conceived of.
The blood drained from Jian Liwei's face. Hu Jin's jaw hung open, his rage vaporized and replaced by sheer, primal shock. Gui Ren's stoic mask finally cracked, his eyes showing absolute disbelief.
All the strange events of the past week suddenly clicked into place with horrifying clarity. The ghost. The impossible feats. The effortless acquisitions. It wasn't an artifact. It wasn't luck. It was him.
Jian Feng's calm voice echoed in the deafening silence, each word landing like a hammer blow on their shattered pride.
"This trial was a test of many things. Strength. Endurance. But most of all, intelligence. You focused on the strength of your fists. I focused on the strength of my mind." He looked around at the sea of stunned faces. "The results speak for themselves."
He turned his back on them—the ultimate display of confidence, an absolute dismissal of any threat they might have posed. He began to walk calmly towards the forest edge.
Not a single person dared to move. Not a single person dared to breathe. They could only watch as the boy they had mocked, pitied, and dismissed as a ghost walked away with their prize, their pride, and the entire victory of the Tri-Clan Trial. The game was over.