The greatest change...
Wasn't my cultivation.
Nor my strength.
It was my understanding.
The Shadow Realm had taught me something I never expected.
Not every battle was won by overwhelming power.
Sometimes...
Understanding achieved what force never could.
The seven ancient panthers had proven that to me time and time again.
The first year...
I lost.
Every.
Single.
Battle.
Not because I was weaker.
Not because my techniques were inferior.
But because I couldn't understand shadows.
Every strike I landed passed through empty darkness.
Every attack I thought had connected struck nothing but an illusion.
They appeared where they shouldn't.
Disappeared when they shouldn't.
Moved through shadows as naturally as fish swam through water.
To them...
Distance was meaningless.
Direction was meaningless.
Even common sense became meaningless.
I died hundreds of times before landing my first successful hit.
...
The second year...
Things became worse.
The seven stopped teaching techniques.
Instead...
They erased my assumptions.
Everything I believed I knew about Shadow Energy...
Was wrong.
"Shadows are not darkness."
The leader had said countless times.
"They are the absence left behind by light."
I spent months trying to understand those words.
Months...
Only to realize I had been asking the wrong question.
Shadow Energy wasn't created by darkness.
Darkness merely revealed where shadows already existed.
That single realization completely changed how I fought.
I no longer searched for shadows.
I searched for where they would naturally be born.
The improvement was immediate.
For the first time...
I forced one of the seven to retreat.
...
The third year...
They began teaching me movement.
Not techniques.
Movement.
Every step.
Every shift in posture.
Every breath.
Everything possessed meaning.
I learned how to sink into shadows.
How to emerge from them.
How to hide my presence.
How to erase killing intent.
How to move without disturbing the flow of Shadow Energy.
At first...
I looked like an amateur stumbling through darkness.
The seven laughed mercilessly.
Every mistake earned another beating.
Another lesson.
Another defeat.
Slowly...
Those defeats became victories.
One after another.
...
The fourth year...
They finally permitted me to fight the Shadow Legion.
Not thousands.
Only one.
One ordinary Shadow Warrior.
The result...
Was humiliating.
I underestimated them.
I believed ordinary soldiers would be simple opponents.
Instead...
I found myself surrounded by flawless teamwork.
Perfect discipline.
Every warrior fought as though they shared the same heartbeat.
The moment one moved...
Every nearby warrior adjusted instinctively.
There was no hesitation.
No confusion.
No wasted motion.
It was beautiful.
It was terrifying.
By the end of that year...
I no longer viewed them as mere soldiers.
Every single member of the Shadow Legion...
Was an elite warrior worthy of respect.
...
The fifth year...
Training became true combat.
The seven stopped holding back.
Broken bones became common.
Destroyed organs became routine.
There were days I couldn't stand.
Days I questioned whether continuing was worth it.
Then...
The next morning...
I stood up again.
Because every defeat taught me something new.
Every scar became another step forward.
...
The Shadow Realm wasn't my only battlefield.
Whenever my body reached its limit...
Whenever my mind demanded rest...
I entered the System Space.
Time barely flowed there compared to reality.
Sometimes...
Only a heartbeat passed outside.
While I spent months inside.
The Trial Tower.
The Forge Tower.
The Ascension Tower.
One challenge after another.
Without end.
The Ascension Tower remained the cruelest.
Unlike ordinary trials...
Strength meant almost nothing there.
Understanding decided everything.
There were floors where I willingly allowed myself to be beaten to the brink of death hundreds of times.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Only after comprehending the lesson hidden within each defeat...
Would the Tower finally acknowledge my progress.
It wasn't testing my body.
It was refining my perspective.
The Forge Tower...
Was completely different.
It cared nothing for enlightenment.
Nothing for talent.
Nothing for bloodline.
Only determination.
Every floor demanded absolute perfection.
Failure meant starting again.
Sometimes...
One mistake erased weeks of effort.
I cursed it more times than I could count.
Yet...
Looking back...
It was also the Tower that strengthened my will the most.
As long as I refused to give up...
Victory was only a matter of time.
Even the Eleventh Floor...
The floor I once believed impossible...
Eventually yielded.
Not because it became easier.
But because...
I refused to stop climbing.
As for the Trial Tower...
I had already reached the Twentieth Floor.
Curiously...
I hadn't encountered another Administrator for a very long time.
Whether they had lost interest...
Or were preparing something greater...
I couldn't tell.
Either way...
I welcomed the challenge.
My cultivation had naturally advanced during those seven years.
Without realizing it...
I had reached the peak of the Law Comprehension Realm.
Great Perfection.
Completion Stage.
I slowly smiled.
Caelion's cultivation method...
Had exceeded every expectation.
When cultivators carrying traces of our bloodline reached this Realm...
They naturally began comprehending the Laws connected to their blood.
For me...
That Law was unmistakable.
Azure Flames.
No longer were they merely divine fire.
No longer were they simply hotter...
Or stronger.
They had become something greater.
A Law.
A fundamental truth acknowledged by the Universe itself.
Every flicker of Azure Flame now carried Authority.
Its destructive power had increased beyond comparison.
Its purification had reached an entirely new level.
Looking back...
Those seven years...
Had truly forged me into someone entirely different.