Chapter 75: The Sacrifice

The ice chains around Lin Tian’s wrists hummed with a persistent chill. They didn’t just bind his body; they felt like they were slowly freezing his spiritual circulation, turning the vibrant lake of his qi into a slurry.

Elder Shen walked ahead, her back straight, not once looking back to see if he followed. The two silent guards flanking him made sure of that.

They didn’t take him to the towering spire of the Reflection Tower immediately. Instead, they marched him back to the main assembly square, where the pale light of the clouded sky glared off the polished ice-stone tiles.

A crowd was already gathering, disciples filtering in from all directions. The air buzzed with nervous energy and the sharp scent of snow.

The trial results, Lin Tian realized. His mind, hazy with the aftermath of the legacy room and the shock of Elder Shen’s discovery, snapped into focus. This was the reckoning for the Sunken Caverns.

Elder Shen ascended the low platform at the square’s head. She didn’t dismiss the guards or remove Lin Tian’s chains. She simply left him standing at the edge of the platform, in full view of everyone, a silent exhibit of her authority. A scribe beside her unrolled a long scroll that shimmered with faint characters.

“The preliminary inner disciple trials are concluded,” Elder Shen announced, her voice cutting through the murmurs like a blade. “Points have been tallied based on Frost Core retrieval and conduct within the caverns. Rankings will be adjusted accordingly.”

She began reading names. Disciples stepped forward, some triumphant, others pale with anxiety. Points were announced, and the massive ranking slab at the side of the square glowed, names shifting up and down with soft chimes.

Lin Tian watched, his own heartbeat a dull thud in his ears. He saw Feng Jian near the front, arms crossed, a smug cut on his lip. He saw Lu Cang, who gave him a barely perceptible nod.

Then his own name was called.

“Lin Tian. Frost Core retrieved: one. Verified.” The scribe made a note. “Additional points awarded for… surviving a Cave Wyrm encounter and navigating complex terrain. Total contribution points: eight hundred.”

A ripple went through the crowd. Eight hundred was a high score for a single core. It spoke of efficiency, of survival against high odds. The ranking slab shimmered. His name, which had been at Seventeen, dissolved and reappeared.

Lin Tian – Rank #14.

He had climbed three ranks without even fighting. A cold satisfaction warred with the deeper dread in his gut. This rank meant nothing if he was going to be locked in a tower and dissected.

“However,” Elder Shen’s voice sliced through the muted reactions. All eyes swung back to her. “Candidate Lin Tian is currently under disciplinary review for unauthorized entry into a restricted legacy site. His ranking is provisional, pending the outcome of that review.”

The satisfaction died. The dread solidified. He was a prisoner with a number.

The recitation continued. Lin Tian barely listened, until a name near the end made him stiffen.

“Xu Wen.”

His neutral ally, the one who had warned him about Feng Jian, stepped forward. Xu Wen’s face was carefully blank, but Lin Tian saw the tightness around his eyes.

The scribe consulted his scroll. “Xu Wen. Frost Core retrieved: zero. Record indicates he abandoned his assigned search and was later found disoriented near the western area. No contribution points awarded. Furthermore, he is implicated in the incident at the central chimney, and suspected of inciting conflict to cover his own failure.”

Xu Wen’s shoulders slumped just a fraction. The blankness on his face cracked, revealing pure, raw fear.

“The penalty for zero contribution and conduct detrimental to the trial is immediate disqualification,” Elder Shen said, her tone utterly impartial.

“Your current rank will be forfeited. You will be stripped of outer disciple privileges and reassigned to the mining outposts for one year, after which you may request for re-entry.”

A death sentence for his cultivation dreams. The mining outposts were spirit-quenching labor. No one came back from them the same. The crowd stirred, some with grim satisfaction, others with pity. Feng Jian’s faction looked particularly pleased.

He was trying to find a way out, Lin Tian thought, remembering He Lian’s betrayal and the mad scramble in the dark. He wasn’t inciting chaos. He was trying to survive.

Elder Shen looked out over the disciples. “Does anyone here speak for Xu Wen? Does anyone have evidence to mitigate this failure?”

Silence. Heavy and complete. No one moved. To speak for a disqualified disciple was to invite suspicion onto yourself. To share points was to lose your own hard-won standing.

Lin Tian felt the icy chains bite into his wrists. He looked at Xu Wen, who was staring at the ground, his hands clenched into white-knuckled fists. He remembered the quiet advice in the library, the warning about Chen Rui.

Xu Wen had never asked for anything. He had just been… decent. In a sect that valued frost above all, a little decency was a rare warmth.

I am already in chains, Lin Tian thought. My fate is sealed. What does Rank Fourteen matter if I’m to be a specimen in a tower? What does any of it matter?

But saving Xu Wen wouldn’t free him. It would only cost him. It was a terrible, practical, stupid trade.

He heard his own voice before he fully decided to speak.

“I speak for him.”

The words rang out in the silent square. Every head turned. Hundreds of eyes locked onto him, the prisoner in chains on the platform. Elder Shen’s gaze was like twin drills of ice.

“Explain,” she said, a single word.

Lin Tian took a shallow breath, the cold air scraping his throat. “In the caverns, I was separated from my team. I encountered Disciple Xu Wen near the western fissures. He was not disoriented. He was assessing an alternative route after the main chimney was blocked by Feng Jian and his followers.”

He didn’t look at Feng Jian, but he felt the man’s glare like a physical pressure. “He shared his findings with me. That intelligence allowed me to avoid a dead-end and continue my search. His actions contributed to my eventual retrieval of a Frost Core.”

It was a stretch. It was mostly a lie wrapped around a tiny truth. But it was plausible.

Elder Shen’s expression didn’t change. “You claim his actions contributed to your success. Therefore, you believe a portion of your contribution points rightfully belong to him.”

“Yes,” Lin Tian said, the word final.

“The transfer of points is permitted,” Elder Shen said, her voice still neutral. “But know this, Lin Tian. The points you gift will be subtracted from your total. Your ranking will fall. His punishment will be commuted to a rank demotion, but he will remain a disciple. Are you certain?”

He could feel the System in his mind, a silent, watchful presence. It did not advise him. It only observed. This was a choice outside its parameters.

He looked at Xu Wen again. The man was staring at him now, his eyes wide with disbelief and a desperate, fragile hope.

I have so little left to lose, Lin Tian thought. Except her. And this won’t bring me closer to her.

But letting Xu Wen be broken for no reason… that would be a different kind of loss. A colder one.

“I am certain,” Lin Tian said.

Elder Shen gave a minute nod to the scribe. The man’s brush flashed. The ranking slab glowed again. Lin Tian watched as his name dissolved from the fourteenth position. It reappeared much, much lower.

Lin Tian – Rank #30.

A collective murmur, part shock, part derision, swept the square. From the heights of the top twenty to the edge of the top thirty in a single moment. He was back where he started, surrounded by the hostile and the mediocre.

Xu Wen’s name, which had been fading into obscurity, stabilized near the bottom of the top fifty. He was saved.

Elder Shen’s eyes held Lin Tian’s. “An interesting calculus,” she said, too softly for the crowd to hear. “Sacrificing temporal advantage for a loyalty. A noble weakness, or a deeper strategy? The Reflection Tower will help us determine which.”

She turned away. “Proceedings are concluded. Guard, take the candidate to his new quarters.”

The icy chains tugged, and Lin Tian was marched off the platform. As he passed through the crowd, disciples parted, their expressions a mix of awe, contempt, and confusion. He kept his eyes forward.

Just before he was led out of the square, a figure stepped close. Xu Wen. His face was pale, his voice a tight whisper. “Why? You didn’t have to. You have your own troubles.”

Lin Tian didn’t stop walking. He just glanced at the man. “You gave me good advice once. Consider the debt paid.”

He didn’t wait for a response. The guards guided him away, not toward the Outer Candidate Quarters, but toward a narrow, isolated path that led up to the stark, needle-like silhouette of the Reflection Tower, piercing the grey sky.

His rank was thirty. His freedom was gone. All he had left was the fragile, fraying bond in his chest, and the System’s silent watch.

End of Chapter 75

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