The instant Devor's battered body emerged from the small world where the competition had taken place, he crumpled onto the circular platform, utterly spent. His limbs, drained of strength, refused to move. Exhaustion crushed down on him, yet beneath the weight of fatigue, a flicker of triumph still burned—his gamble had paid off.

  The medical team, already on standby, sprang into action. Dressed in white robes inscribed with shimmering runes, they rushed to his side, hands glowing with healing energy as they assessed his injuries. Threads of golden light wove through torn flesh and battered meridians, sealing wounds and soothing the damage.

  From the stands, Yulin’s breath caught in her throat. Her chest tightened as she watched Devor slump, unmoving, against the platform. Every instinct screamed at her to run to him, to shove past the healers and feel for herself that he was still breathing. But the shimmering barrier separating spectators from competitors held firm, leaving her helpless. Her nails bit into her palms as she fought the urge to cry out.

  Devor hovered on the edge of unconsciousness, but even through the haze of pain, a sharp thrill shot through him. That world—so deceptively small—was no ordinary trial ground. The officials had downplayed its significance, but he knew the truth now. He hadn't just survived it.

  His Spiritual Root had undergone a profound transformation, refined beyond anything he had imagined. Power pulsed through him, raw and unrestricted, his cultivation flowing with an ease he'd never known. The Foundation Building Realm was no longer a distant dream—it was within reach.

  By the time the medical team had stabilized him, Devor’s body had already been transferred to the Rejuvenation Chamber—a vast, crystalline sanctuary designed to accelerate recovery. At its center, a pristine, blue-hued pool shimmered, its surface pulsing with waves of restorative energy.

  Other injured competitors were already submerged in its depths, their wounds visibly mending. Among them, Sugu and Manty floated in meditative silence, their eyes shut as they absorbed the pool’s healing essence.

  A medic carefully guided Devor into the water, allowing his body to drift weightlessly. With practiced efficiency, they activated a specialized Qi-guiding formation, stimulating his body’s natural absorption process.

  A surge of vitality rippled through him. Torn muscles wove themselves back together. Overstrained meridians pulsed, regaining their former strength. But the pool wasn’t just healing him—it was refining him.

  ??????

  Meanwhile…

  Deep within the Fragment World, in the competition grounds, Team Azure Sky was making their final move.

  Before them stood a fully matured Heavenly White Lotus—a towering Sky-Grade plant whose petals shimmered with ethereal light. Revered by cultivators, it held near-limitless energy, enough to power an entire formation—if one knew how to harness it.

  This was their gamble. Their last chance. And they had no intention of walking away empty-handed.

  Nyuru, Reeva, and Torni had spent the past hour in careful preparation. Torni’s fingers moved with practiced precision, carving intricate runes into the ground as he completed the formation’s framework. Meanwhile, Nyuru and Reeva worked in sync, mixing rare herbal essences to amplify its effects.

  Finally, everything was ready. The team gathered at the formation’s core.

  Torni took a steady breath and raised his hands. “Activating now.”

  With a single command, the formation blazed to life.

  The lotus trembled. A pulse of energy erupted from its core, cascading into the engraved patterns below. The sacrificial plants placed at the edges withered instantly, their essence devoured by the spell. Moments later, delicate blue crystalline powder formed in the air, shimmering as it drifted down over them.

  The effect was immediate.

  A surge of raw energy roared through their bodies, igniting every fiber of their being. Fatigue vanished. Qi flooded their meridians, swelling beyond their natural limits.

  This was the power of the Heavenly White Lotus—a temporary, overwhelming wellspring of energy. But the price was steep. When the hour ended, their bodies would pay the toll, collapsing under the weight of the borrowed power.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Nyuru exhaled sharply, already bracing for what was to come. “Make every second count.”

  Then—something unexpected happened.

  Sparks of lightning crackled across their bodies.

  Nyuru’s eyes widened. “This… this wasn’t supposed to happen.”

  Somehow, the lotus had absorbed lightning essence, amplifying its effects far beyond what they had planned. Instead of merely restoring their stamina, it had awakened something more—raw, untamed lightning energy now surging through their veins.

  And then, all at once, the realization hit them.

  The creatures in this world—their enemies—were undead.

  And what was the natural bane of the undead?

  Lightning.

  Torni flexed his fingers, a wicked grin spreading across his face as arcs of electricity danced between his knuckles. “Well, this just got interesting.”

  Reeva nodded, a fierce glint in her eyes. “We didn’t just get an energy boost—we got a divine advantage.”

  With renewed confidence, Team Azure Sky turned toward the battlefield.

  For the next hour, they were unstoppable.

  Their path to the top three was no longer just within reach—it was inevitable.

  ??????

  Devor body lay unconscious, suspended in healing, but his mind was far from still. It drifted deep into the sea of his consciousness, where fragmented memories and emotions swirled like an endless tide.

  Here, in this liminal space, he faced the past.

  Devor relived every grueling battle he had fought in the competition—six months of relentless combat. A cycle of blood, exhaustion, and survival that had honed him into something sharper, something more aware. The echoes of battle still clung to his nerves, his muscles tensing instinctively, anticipating the next strike. Even now, in forced stillness, the weight of those months pressed down on him.

  It wasn’t just fatigue. It was conditioning.

  His body had adapted to war. His mind had been forged in fire.

  But beneath it all, something else stirred. A pull. A whisper, insidious and relentless, urging him deeper into a mindset where only battle mattered.

  "There’s no way the sect or the captains would send ordinary disciples into this competition," Devor murmured within his consciousness. "Fighting every single day would break someone too easily."

  Then, the scene shifted.

  Beastbound Hollow.

  The memory struck like a hammer, raw and unrelenting. The punishment. The isolation. The suffocating weight of injustice.

  Even now, after everything, it still felt unfair.

  But… was it truly a punishment?

  Or had the sect chosen his path long before he ever realized it?

  "So Beastbound Hollow… was meant to temper the mind and heart of a cultivator?" Devor murmured, the anger he once held unraveling into something else. "And the garden inside my cave… was that part of the plan too? Did the sect orchestrate all of this to prepare me for the competition?"

  The more he thought about it, the clearer the picture became.

  Unfair? Absolutely.

  Brutal? Without question.

  But fairness had never existed in any world.

  Even back on Earth, justice was nothing more than a comforting illusion.

  And this? This was the cultivation world—a place where a single sword swing could split mountains, where men slaughtered each other over the treasures inside a spatial ring. If a cultivator couldn’t accept the world’s cruelty, they had no place in it.

  A memory surfaced—his grandfather’s warning.

  "Maybe my grandfather…" Devor’s thoughts drifted, reaching for memories long buried. "Maybe he wasn’t just afraid that I’d kill if I became a cultivator. Maybe he feared the life I’d be forced to live just to survive in this ruthless world."

  His grandfather had always been a quiet man, never speaking more than necessary. He had never outright forbidden Devor from pursuing cultivation—but the way he had looked at him, the sadness in his eyes whenever the topic arose…

  Maybe that sadness hadn’t been about Devor’s potential for violence.

  Maybe it had been about what he would have to become.

  The Azure Sky Sect wore its prestige like a polished mask, but beneath the surface, its philosophy was brutally clear—harden its disciples for the realities of cultivation or let them perish.

  Devor exhaled.

  “No, it’s not just cultivation,” he realized. “Even back on Earth, every man eventually learns—the world is unfair and merciless.”

  A strange sensation rippled through his consciousness. A pull.

  Something deep inside him was shifting.

  For too long, he had clung to an illusion—that if he stayed within the safe confines of his knowledge, of his love for Spiritual Plants, he could avoid the greater battle. That his world could remain small, contained.

  But now he saw the truth.

  Cultivation wasn’t just about plants. It wasn’t just about Qi or power.

  It was about survival. It was about control.

  He had seen it in Sugu—the one who had changed the most over these past months. Arrogance stripped away, pride tempered, replaced by something steadier. A man who had once scoffed at teamwork now placed his trust in others.

  And Devor?

  His transformation wasn’t as obvious to outsiders.

  But within himself, it was undeniable.

  He was still quiet, still observant. But it wasn’t detachment anymore—it was awareness.

  It reminded him of his time on Earth.

  Back then, he had been the quiet one among his friends, speaking only when he understood the topic. If he didn’t, he would listen. Watch. Learn who people were—not through their words, but through their actions.

  That habit had given him an edge, a way to see beyond facades and understand people’s strengths, weaknesses, and true selves.

  And without realizing it, that same instinct had returned in this world.

  For too long, he had buried himself in cultivation plants, believing that was all that mattered.

  But now, he knew better.

  He needed to start seeing the bigger picture.

  And to do that…

  He had to stop running from the past.

  His sealed memories of Earth—he had locked them away, convinced they would only bring pain. That they would make him weaker.

  But now, he had made his decision.

  “It’s time to unlock them.”

  Not to dwell on the past.

  But to use it—to sharpen his mind, to strengthen his resolve, to survive and thrive in this unforgiving world of cultivation.