Harem Link Cultivation System-Chapter 54: Contribution Trial: Snowfield Hunt [2]

He turned from the slab and scanned the crowd until he found them.

Xu Wen stood a few paces away, reading the list with a calm expression. He was average height, plain face, eyes steady. The kind of man who didn’t draw attention but noticed everything.

Zhao Yuming was easier to spot.

He stood with his arms crossed, jaw tight, gaze fixed on the slab like he wanted to carve the names off it. His robes were neat, his sword polished. His cultivation felt solid—Seventh or Eighth, compressed.

He looked like someone who had worked hard for his rank and hated that an outsider was climbing too near it.

He Lian—low-rank—stood behind them, half-hidden, wearing a faint smile that didn’t reach his eyes. His gaze flicked from Lin Tian to Zhao Yuming and back, measuring.

Bait.

Lin Tian felt it immediately. He Lian had the subtle hunger of someone who wanted advantage more than dignity.

The three men approached in slow, careful steps, as if closing distance was a negotiation.

Xu Wen bowed first, clean and polite.

"Provisional Candidate Lin Tian," he said. "Xu Wen."

Lin Tian returned the bow. "Lin Tian."

Zhao Yuming did not bow.

He looked Lin Tian up and down, eyes lingering on his wrists, then on his calm face.

"So you’re on my team," Zhao Yuming said.

Lin Tian answered evenly. "It seems so."

Zhao Yuming’s lip curled faintly.

"You climbed fast," he said. It wasn’t admiration.

Lin Tian didn’t respond emotionally. "I fought who was in front of me."

"And now you’ll fight frostbeasts," Zhao Yuming replied. "Good. Maybe the mountains will do what we can’t."

Xu Wen’s eyes flicked to Zhao Yuming, a quiet warning.

Zhao Yuming ignored it.

He Lian stepped forward with a smile that was almost friendly.

"Senior Brother Zhao," he said smoothly, "we shouldn’t waste breath. A contribution trial is about tokens, not pride."

He turned to Lin Tian.

"I’m He Lian," he said. "Don’t worry. I’m not here to cause trouble. I just want to do well."

Lin Tian met his gaze.

The smile was too quick.

The words were too smooth.

The kind of man who said "I just want to do well" usually meant "I will step on you if it helps."

Lin Tian nodded politely anyway.

"Then we share the same goal," he said.

He Lian’s smile tightened for a fraction—like he had expected a different answer.

Xu Wen cleared his throat softly.

"The trial begins at midday," Xu Wen said. "We should discuss roles."

Zhao Yuming snorted.

"Roles?" he said. "We go in, we take tokens, we come out. If someone can’t keep up, they don’t."

His gaze slid toward Lin Tian when he said it, as if daring him to react.

Lin Tian didn’t.

He let the words land and pass.

Xu Wen spoke again, calm.

"Formation nodes require stabilization," he said. "That takes time. Frostbeasts are faster for tokens but riskier. We should decide whether we prioritize safety or speed."

He Lian shrugged.

"Frostbeasts," he said. "More tokens, faster. If we’re careful, it’s fine."

Zhao Yuming’s eyes narrowed.

"Careful?" he repeated, like the word offended him. "This is Azure Snow. If you want careful, stay in the outer quarters."

He looked at Lin Tian.

"You’ve been careful so far," Zhao Yuming said. "Let’s see if you stay careful when something bites your throat."

The trace under Lin Tian’s bracer twitched faintly.

A tiny pulse.

Not enough to show, but enough to remind him the mark listened when people tried to provoke him.

Lin Tian’s breath stayed steady.

"I’ll stay alive," he said simply. "That’s usually a good start."

Xu Wen’s eyes shifted, faint appreciation flickering.

He Lian laughed softly.

"Good," He Lian said. "Then we won’t have to carry you."

Zhao Yuming’s jaw tightened.

He didn’t like that He Lian had taken the line first.

Elder Qiao’s voice carried again across the courtyard.

"Teams will assemble at the western gate in ten minutes," he said. "Equipment inspection. Formation band issuance. Then entry."

The crowd began to move.

Lin Tian followed his team without hurry.

The western gate was carved into the cliff wall, leading to a broad stone bridge that stretched toward a neighboring peak shrouded in white mist.

Beyond that bridge lay the trial zone.

The gate area was lined with elders and attendants holding jade tablets. Each participant received a thin band—pale blue, made of condensed frost qi and formation ink—that wrapped around the wrist like a bracelet.

It would record token count, formation violations, who attacked whom. It would also, Lin Tian suspected, record unusual things.

Everything was being watched.

An attendant approached Lin Tian and bowed slightly.

"Name," the attendant said.

"Lin Tian."

The attendant pressed a jade tablet against Lin Tian’s wrist.

The bracer hummed faintly..

Lin Tian kept his breathing calm.

The attendant’s eyes narrowed slightly, then smoothed.

He wrapped the formation band around Lin Tian’s left wrist.

Cold settled into the skin like a thin ring.

"Band issuance complete," the attendant said. "Do not remove until trial end."

Lin Tian nodded. "Understood."

The attendant moved on.

His team gathered near the bridge entrance. Wind whipped across the stone span, carrying biting cold and the thin scent of snow.

Xu Wen checked his sword strap quietly.

Zhao Yuming stood at the edge, looking toward the mist as if he wanted to cut it apart.

He Lian rolled his shoulders and smiled again, too relaxed.

Lin Tian stood still.

He felt the cold density ahead.

It wasn’t just weather.

It was spiritual pressure, thickened by formation arrays in the trial zone.

The kind of pressure that made meridians itch and invited reckless absorption.

The kind that could agitate the trace.

A soft chime sounded faintly in Lin Tian’s mind.

The System interface slid into view.

[ Trial Zone Detected: Snowfield Hunt ]

[ Environmental Spiritual Density: Very High (Cold-Aligned) ]

[ External Signature: Suppression Stress Risk Elevated ]

[ Recommendation: Maintain Breath Anchor Protocol ]

He dismissed it.

He didn’t need the System to tell him what he already felt in his bones.

Elder Qiao lifted a hand at the gate.

"Enter," he said.

The bridge opened.

Teams stepped forward in staggered intervals, moving like streams of white robes into mist.

When Team 17’s turn came, Xu Wen led. Zhao Yuming followed. He Lian walked behind them, still smiling faintly.

Lin Tian stepped last.

End of Chapter 54