Chapter 22 - The Trial of Nine Bells
The furnace contained forty-seven streams of stolen qi.
I felt every one.
Fear.
Pain.
Memories.
I could not consume it without consuming pieces of the disciples too.
So I reversed the skill.
The system screamed.
[INVALID USE]
I forced the stolen qi back.
One disciple woke.
Then another.
The furnace cracked.
Nine bells rang across Iron Lotus.
Every elder went silent.
Jace stared upward.
"Those are succession bells."
Veyr's face changed.
Fen smiled from the shadows.
"The mountain chose."
A voice older than the sect rolled through the stone.
TRIAL OF NINE BELLS INITIATED.
The plaza split open.
Nine stone pillars rose.
Names appeared on them.
Veyr.
Jace.
Mira.
Me.
Five elders.
The sect's hidden inheritance had awakened because I broke the furnace.
Veyr shouted, "Cancel the trial!"
The mountain ignored him.
My system displayed a new fate.
[Predicted outcome: Elder Veyr becomes Sect Master in 2 hours.]
Then another.
[Alternative outcome detected: Kai Renn becomes Sect Master.]
I laughed.
Veyr looked at me.
"What is funny?"
"Nothing."
I stepped onto the first pillar.
May you like
"I just found a worse idea than dying."
