Seph had been chosen to enter the tree portal first, even though he was the newest among the group.

  The elder had said it was his fate since he had reached the tree before them.

  That probably wasn’t the best thing that could have happened to him though, since he’d seen all the newbies looking at him hatefully.

  They were all newbies, devoid of any power or any skill to their name, except for what they knew from their past lives.

  There were a few martial artists in the group. At least that was what he’d heard whispered. That fact only made this worse, since they would inevitably compete against each other.

  Seph had never even been in a fight, aside from that one time a husband had beaten him up after seeing his wife in inappropriate attire while he was delivering water to their house. It had been one-sided, honestly, and he didn’t like to think about it.

  After announcing he was to enter first, the elder had recited some incantation on the tree, causing the cavity to shift and reveal a pitch-black portal that looked like a void in space and time.

  Seph was starting to hate the color black. He couldn’t help but wonder how his life had come to this.

  When he entered the portal, he lost all sensation. Although he knew he was still walking forward, it felt like all his senses had stopped working.

  He could see nothing, hear nothing, and smell nothing. He couldn’t even feel the wind or the ground beneath his feet as he walked. He only knew that he was willing himself forward.

  He found himself within a room, and the first thing he saw was a door, a brown door, with vines climbing over it. It looked old and unused, overtaken by nature, along with the entire room, which was made of white stone and had vines all over it as well.

  “Welcome, disciples. I am Scorn. Never was I known by any other name. This is a trial of my design so that you may prove yourselves worthy of receiving my legacy.

  “You will compete against each other in some rooms.

  “Collaborate to face challenges in other rooms, and you’ll also get the chance to show your individual abilities.

  “Not everyone who has joined this trial will get out alive, but those who do will do so much stronger.

  “I designed this trial to challenge you as much as to reward you. Be alert constantly.

  “The entire labyrinth is hostile, and it wants to get rid of you. Don’t let it.

  “You will learn my story as you go, as that’s the entire purpose I made this legacy—to ensure that I reach my goals, even from beyond the void.

  “But above all, as newbies, you’ll learn more about yourselves. You’ll learn about your strengths and limitations.

  “Time runs differently inside this labyrinth.

  “One year here equals one hour in the real world, and you’ll get only one year.

  “If you don’t make it to the last room before the year is over, the labyrinth will kick you out.

  “But don’t worry, you will live. You will live to regret not reaching the grand prize.

  “The grand prize is a Body Dismantling Cultivation Manual. This manual will cover all levels of the first cultivation stage.

  “Perfect cultivation, the best gains, and the easiest way to the top.

  “It’s very rare to achieve perfect cultivation at any stage.

  “This will give you and the sect after you a significant head start.

  “Let the trials begin, and may the best man win.”

  Seph gulped once he heard the term “Body Dismantling.” He already felt like his body was failing him. Everything was much weaker than before.

  All his senses, all his muscles, and there was even more dismantling to follow?

  The voice of Scorn had come out of nowhere, disembodied. It felt weird to hear an introduction like that from Scorn. The man was a big deal, after all.

  He glanced back at the portal, which was no longer there. I guess I’m stuck here. No turning back.

  He was alone, so either the others would take their time before they spawned in the same room, or they were already in different rooms around this place.

  He had a feeling, though, after hearing this introduction, that he hadn’t lucked out by being the first person here. He would see his peers eventually.

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  He looked around after the introduction. The room was still empty.

  Realizing there was nothing else to do, he braced himself and opened the door to the first room in the trial.

  * * *

  Seph found himself in what looked like a garden. There wasn’t a white stone floor under his feet this time, but soil.

  The walls were adorned with vines, like the last one, and there were three herb plots in the middle, with enough room to walk between the entire garden.

  He immediately recognized one bed as Vitality Grass. He screamed in joy, even though he couldn’t get it to his mother just yet. Each herb plot had eight herbs, and there were three different herbs in the room, one for each plot.

  He noticed a wooden bucket in the clear path and resolved to put the herbs he would gather inside it for now.

  As he reached his hand down to pick his first Vitality Grass, a small creature that looked like a mythical fairy flew towards his face from between the herbs.

  It wore what looked like a skirt made of a colorful flower, and her upper body was bare. It was very tiny, but she was terrifying. It screeched as it flew at him, a look of absolute hate on her little face.

  Its little teeth were very sharp and jagged, her hair looked like a flower sepal of some kind, a little green thing that covered its head, and it had a little wand that was flashing white as it waved it towards him.

  He panicked immediately, but his reaction surprised even himself. He lunged forward and bit the little fairy in half, his teeth cutting clean through its tiny body. He panicked again, spitting out the upper half of its body.

  Frantic, he began spitting out the blood when he realized that it tasted good.

  He steeled his heart, swallowing what little blood was still inside his mouth, and felt the energy within him grow, albeit slightly. He couldn’t explain it; this phenomenon was completely alien to him.

  Now that he thought about it, nobody had told him how yin cultivation worked, not even the other newbies, to make sure that nobody cultivated before entering this place.

  Did I turn into a carnivore killer when I died and become a yin immortal?

  Seph tried not to do it; he tried not to eat the little fairy, but unconsciously his hand reached out towards it. He couldn’t help picking up its upper half and putting it in his mouth.

  When he realized what he was doing, he gulped it down in panic. He gained a little more energy this time. He was constantly gaining energy little by little now.

  He couldn’t stop the terrifying thought that emerged inside his mind. It’s delicious!

  He let go of his inhibitions, picked up its lower half, and put it in his mouth. This time he chewed slowly, savoring the taste as he did.

  He was getting way more energy. He was feeling satisfied, as if he were eating mundane food, and his actions didn’t feel unnatural at all!

  He swallowed the little fairy after thoroughly chewing it and got back to his original task of picking the herbs. He picked all the Vitality Grass, then moved to the second bed, which had grass that looked like it was going to combust. It was even hot to the touch.

  This must be Fire Grass. I’m not sure what it’s used for, but I’ll collect it as well.

  He started picking, and when he reached for the final one, he noticed another little fairy hiding in there as well.

  It’s fearful of me. I can see it, but this one isn’t trying to attack me. The issue is, I don’t think I satiated my hunger by eating that last one.

  He then lunged for it, but it screamed and flew away, the wand in its little arms lighting up. He sprinted after it until a ball of light hit him straight in the face.

  He felt his forehead burning, but it didn’t feel like a severe injury at all. He stopped for a second, pondering his next move, but the screams he heard didn’t give him a chance to do that.

  Two more screams came from the second herb plot, along with two more lit wands flying towards him. They were rather low from where he stood. Thinking fast, he did the first thing that came to his mind and threw himself at them in a weird angle to crush them.

  True enough, he landed on both, and although his back hurt from the landing, they had it much worse. He clutched both groggy fairies in his hands and bit their tiny heads off.

  The remaining fairy saw all this and took off frightened, but there was no other way out of this room but through the single, closed door.

  He threw one of the two fairies in his mouth, started chewing, and ran after the surviving one, feeling refreshed by the energy entering his body. He caught it in no time and bit its head off.

  Seph sat on the ground, panting, thinking about what he had done. He didn’t feel any remorse at all. He closed his eyes and started breathing in and out. Calm washed over him after the intense fight. Although it had been easy, it hadn’t been any less intense.

  He felt the pain disappear from his back and forehead, followed by extreme pain when the right half of his rib cage popped back into place as it healed. The process was very painful, but an extreme sense of relief came over him right after. As he healed, the energy inside his body slowly dwindled until it disappeared, as if it had been consumed to heal him.

  He wasted no more time at this point and ate the last two fairies.

  He meditated again right after, and the rest of his chest popped back into place, fully healed. He was back to his former self, as back as he could be anyway, since he still looked like a walking corpse.

  He opened his eyes, trying to make sense of what he knew so far. Eating other creatures energized him. Chewing them gave him instant energy, but if he swallowed them whole, the energy trickled in for a while at much slower amounts, as if he were digesting food.

  This energy wouldn’t leave his body. He could sense it to an extent, and with meditation, he could heal himself by consuming this energy.

  Was this how cultivation worked for the yin cultivators?

  Seph had no clue, but he would need to run more tests in the future as he moved forward.

  His mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. His ruthlessness in the fight worried him. He’d never had that in him before becoming a yin cultivator. He had done the unthinkable by eating those fairies, but when the danger bells blared in his head, he had lost it and gone with his instincts. That sense of losing himself in the act, then that exhilarating, refreshing feeling after eating the fairies—they were all alien, mysterious, and he wondered what was really happening to him.

  He headed for the last herb plot and looked at it warily. Wondering if there were more of those fairies inside, he thought to himself, it’s great that monsters can get scared that way. It would have been annoying to continue running after that last fairy.

  The herbs in the last plot looked weak, just straight strings of grass sticking out of the ground. He kneeled and tried to pluck them out, only to be met with a force he wasn’t expecting from the frail grass. Grabbing the herbs with both hands, he pulled, only for a bulb root to come out of the ground, which looked like it was made of soil. He didn’t know what it was, so he put it in the bucket and continued towards the closed door in front of him.

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