The Tribulation Begins, a Powerful Enemy Attacks

At the center of the camp, Qin Tian sat cross-legged. Powerful Blood Qi Power and black deathly energy swirled around him, one bright and one dark, as the two opposing forces clashed fiercely within his body.

The Flesh Trial, the first stage of the Five Declines of Man and Heaven, had quietly begun.

The black energy coiling around Qin Tian's body writhed and spread as if it were alive. It crept from his limbs to his torso, then from his torso to his head, devouring him inch by inch.

His skin changed first. Once firm and smooth, it visibly darkened and dried out, turning into something like old bark drained of water and covered in layer upon layer of wrinkles.

Then came his hair. Within a few breaths, his thick black hair lost all its color and became brittle white strands.

More shocking still were the black patches.

Coin-sized spots surfaced on his arms, neck, and cheeks like mold left by the passage of years, giving off a scent of decay.

His once handsome, sharply defined young face seemed to age decades in an instant, covered in deep wrinkles and a weathered gray pallor.

The tall, imposing young general had become a frail old man at death's door in the blink of an eye.

The smell of decay drifted from him, a sign that his body was failing. His Qi and Blood were withering, his muscles and bones weakening, and his life force was slipping silently through every pore like sand through an hourglass.

This was the Flesh Trial, the first stage of the Five Declines of Man and Heaven.

It did not test the depth of his Psionic Energy or the strength of his will. It tested only one thing: whether the foundation of his body could withstand the