The darkness closed around like a second skin. The absence of sight wasn’t silence anymore. It was a pressure. A space. A landscape I had to walk without feet.
I breathed in, slow and steady, and felt the world unfold around through other threads.
Touch. The tension of damp moss underfoot. The subtle give of earth when a heel shifted its weight. The brush of air that moved just slightly wrong before a strike.
Sll. Morning dew clinging to bark. My own sweat, sour and sharp, thickening with each clash.
Hearing. I could tell when Ren Zhi inhaled through his nose. The way his robe fluttered a heartbeat before his foot pivoted. The ghost-step that always ca three moves before a strike.
Qi sense, barely. It wasn’t Nature’s Attunent; I kept that sealed, shoved down, trying to retrain my instincts away from dependency. That was too much like sight. Too easy to fall back on. Ren Zhi would feel it. And he’d cuss out for that.
A step. A shift. A breath—
I ducked.
Sothing sliced through the air above with barely a whisper. I twisted into a roll, caught the scent of grass mid-turn, pushed off a root I couldn’t see and pivoted sideways. Only to be caught by a sweeping kick I hadn’t accounted for. My ribs folded in on themselves with the impact, and I hit the ground hard, air exploding from my lungs.
A mont later, the flat of Ren Zhi’s foot thudded beside my head. Not on it. A warning. Precision as always.
“You hesitated,” he said flatly.
I gritted my teeth and groaned, arms shaking as I pushed myself upright again.
“Too much weight on your front foot,” he continued. “And your hearing’s still compensating too slow.”
He stepped back. I heard the grass whisper where he moved.
“We’re done.”
“No,” I rasped.
The word ca without thinking. My body scread otherwise, but my mind surged ahead, desperate to hold onto what I’d learned and what I was learning. I was so close. Just a few more tries, and I'd breakthrough.
I sat up straighter, blood thrumming through my ears. “Let go a little longer. Please.”
Ren Zhi didn’t reply. There was a mont of silence, and I feared he'd reject my request.
“You’re not just doing this for yourself, are you?”
It caught off guard.
My breath hitched. “Of course I am. Why else would I be pushing this hard?”
He didn’t answer. Just let the silence draw out like thread between us.
“No,” he said finally. “You’re not. Not really. That’s what you tell yourself. But what is this for, really?”
I started to protest—but the words caught in my throat.
“I...” I hesitated. “If I break through, it’ll give more ti. Less rest. Less strain. I can refine faster. Think faster. Get to the cure quicker. That’s why—”
“Why bear that weight?”
He stepped closer; just enough for to feel the air shift, his voice low.
“Why take it all on yourself? Why run around feeding your garden, treating the sick, explaining to children why the water tastes bitter, when you could be in seclusion right now—purifying yourself? Creating a version of the cure that only works on you?”
I swallowed.
“Because I’d never forgive myself if I let them die.”
“That’s not righteousness,” he said, voice hardening. “That’s fear. And maybe a little arrogance.”
I felt sothing rise in ; sothing quiet but firm. “You think I’m arrogant? For wanting to save lives?”
“I think,” Ren Zhi said, circling again, “you carry people’s expectations like they’re your birthright. Like their hope gives you permission to burn yourself alive. Do you think that’s courage?”
I didn’t answer.
“I’ve seen that kind of burden break people,” Ren Zhi said. “Turn them into statues for others to worship, and graves for themselves to lie in. You think you’re immune to that?”
There was sothing bitter in the way he said that last part. I surmised whoever he was talking about... it hadn't ended well.
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A breeze rustled the leaves around us.
There was no sharpness in his voice. Just weariness.
I looked down at my shaking hands. Without my sight, I couldn’t see them—but I could feel the tremors.
“So what?” I snapped. “You want to give up? You do realize if I fail here, you'll also be affected? This sickness isn't just sothing you can cure with a wave of your hands, no matter how powerful you are.”
Ren Zhi didn’t answer.
“I want to understand,” he said instead. “Why you keep going. Why you refuse to stop, even when your legs are trembling and your lungs can’t draw breath. Enlighten .”
I exhaled. Closed my eyes.
But sothing twisted in my gut. The words that rose weren’t calm or reflective. They were raw.
“You really want to know?” I said, voice rising. “Why I don’t stop?”
I pushed myself to my feet, fists clenched at my sides.
“Because if I stop, people die. Tianyi's already sick. Windy too. This village will fall. If I stop, you—even you, start getting sick like the rest of us and end up too sick to hide in your quiet corner. Even with that trick to slow your circulation.”
My voice cracked. I didn’t care.
“So don’t stand there and ask whether I’m doing this for or for them. I don’t have the luxury of asking that question. I don’t get to make it about one or the other. Because if I don't find a cure, everyone dies.”
The words hung between us like smoke.
Just silence.
I breathed hard. My hands were shaking again, not from strain; but from everything that had been piling up for weeks.
Then the storm passed.
And all that was left was the truth.
I let my shoulders drop as all the frustration and anger left my body. My voice softened. This text is hosted at N0veI.Fiɾe
“But you're right,” I muttered. “I’m terrified all the ti. I hate seeing people hurt. I hate burying them even more. But sowhere along the way... I chose it. People stopped looking to Elder Ming, or Jian Feng, or whoever else. They started looking to .”
I inhaled. Steadied.
“I’m not trying to be a hero. Not anymore. Maybe once. I used to believe in stories like that. The ones written by Liang Feng, where the hero would step up to the occasion and deliver every single ti. No matter the odds. No matter the opponent. They never wavered. Not even once.”
For a mont, I heard his breath hitch. A shift in his breathing. But he didn't say anything, so I continued.
“I'm nothing like that. But if I can hold on a little longer... if I can be a light for soone, then I’ll keep going. Not because anyone expects it. Not because it’s written in so prophecy. But because it’s my Dao. And I won’t turn away from it.”
I turned toward him; or where I thought he was since I couldn't see.
“Is that enough of an answer?”
The silence after that was long.
Then Ren Zhi exhaled.
A soft, almost imperceptible laugh escaped him; dry, rough around the edges.
Then, softly, he said, “Get ready. I’m not going easy on you.”
I didn’t respond.
I just dropped into stance.
My breath steadied. My focus narrowed. All the noise, the self-doubt, the whirlwind of thoughts—I let them go.
The world beca sensation.
Every footfall, every gust of wind, every errant vibration through the soil; each one stitched into the map I’d built inside my head. Not perfect. Not yet.
Ren Zhi moved like smoke through branches, silent in ways no man should be. And still, I felt him.
A whisper of breeze to the left. But the warmth of body heat was to my right.
'Conflicting.'
A trick.
I didn’t bite. Instead, I stilled, felt for the next cue.
The moss under my foot compressed unevenly, tension shifting just a hair. A wrongness in the rhythm of the air.
I stepped back.
A blow missed my ribs by a hairsbreadth. I could feel his knuckles brush up my robes.
Then another ca, faster. No sound. No warning.
Just the sudden sll of disturbed grass. The echo of heat displacent. A breath caught in motion.
I twisted, letting my robe swirl around . The Sevenfold Essence Chains beneath my robe jingled as I moved.
At the beginning it had thrown off. The subtle noise of chain links rubbing against each other made it impossible to isolate anything. But now, I listened to it differently.
Every motion I made triggered that sound. Which ant... every place the sound wasn't coming from was a place Ren Zhi could be.
He tried to throw that off, too.
I heard a footstep to my left. But the wind ca from behind. The air shouldn't have been moving that way unless...
I dropped flat, rolled forward on instinct.
Sothing whistled through the space where my head had just been. Too fast. Too smooth.
"Oho!"
I could feel his grin in the air, even if I couldn’t see it.
Another flicker of misdirection; he stepped down hard behind , a stamp that sounded like a preparation to leap.
But my ears told the force was too light. No leap. A feint.
'What was real?'
I stopped trying to guess.
I started to listen to all of it, not in isolation.
Touch, scent, breath, the jingle of my armor, the tension in the dirt, the contradiction between heat and airflow. I began to weave them together; not like a set of individual clues, but as layers of the sa image. The exchanges beca faster and faster; sweat poured down my body as I was forced to utilize everything I had and more, just to keep up.
Like threads of fabric. Woven too loosely at first. But now pulled taut.
And there he was.
A slight intake of breath. Not enough to locate. But enough to warn.
I braced low, let the air guide .
The pressure dipped.
The air twisted.
And without thinking—without hesitation—I moved.
My arm snapped up. Open palm. No flourish. No wild strike.
A purely calculated one.
My fingers curled around his wrist.
It locked into place with a finality I hadn’t felt in hours. Not a desperate parry. Not a hopeful block. A read. A choice.
I read the field. And I chose right.
He didn’t pull back. Didn’t say anything.
And then, it clicked.
Not in the air. Not in the space around . But inside .
A sensation like my entire being lding into liquid. Like sothing that had been locked for years finally yielding. My body surged.
Your Body has reached Qi Initiation Stage - Rank 5
Your overall cultivation rank is now at Essence Awakening Stage - Rank 1
It wasn’t loud.
And suddenly, I understood.
My body didn’t explode with strength. There was no storm of qi, no bright flash like with Tianyi's ascenscion to Essence Awakening. Just... alignnt.
Everything slotted into place.
Mind. Body. Qi. Not equal. Not symtrical. But in harmony.
Every breath felt purposeful. Every heartbeat precise. Qi moved smoother now, too. Not just through my ridians, but with my breath, rising and falling like an undercurrent to everything I did. The blockage Ren Zhi had placed on my third eye acupoint was loosening.
My vision returned.
And the world wasn’t brighter. It was closer.
Edges were crisper. Distances clearer. The dim moonlight refracted off morning dew like a diagram. I could see where a single blade of grass curved wrong. I could feel the inertia of the world. Where everything belonged.
I exhaled, and even that felt different.
Ren Zhi’s wrist was still in my grasp. I released it. For a mont, I could see his hand tremble. It vanished as soon as I noticed.
His eyes remained closed, but he tilted his head slightly, studying .
“Welco to the next stage,” he said.
He didn’t sound surprised.
Just... satisfied.
I stood there, heart steady, my breath asured. The Athyst Plague hadn’t disappeared. The fatigue still gnawed at the edges. But it was distant. Manageable.
“I didn’t think it would feel like this,” I said softly.
Ren Zhi snorted. “What, you expected fireworks?”
“Honestly?” I said, smiling faintly, “I expected to pass out.”
“You still might. You've pushed yourself hard.”
He stepped back, brushing dirt from his sleeve, then paused. I could tell he was about to say more, but didn’t.
Instead, he just said, “Hold onto that feeling. It fades.”
I nodded.
He turned to leave, but sothing in still pulsed with urgency.
“Ren Zhi,” I called.
He paused.
“I ant what I said earlier. This path I’ve chosen... it’s not because I want to be soone. It’s because I’ve seen what happens when no one steps forward. And I won’t let that happen here.”
He didn’t respond imdiately.
Then, over his shoulder, he said, “Then I hope your spine is stronger than mine was.”
And just like that, he walked off back to the Soaring Swallow, leaving alone with my thoughts, and my newfound status.
HEAVENLY INTERFACE: KAI LIU
PERK(S):
Interface Manipulator - Allows manipulation of the Heavenly Interface and access to special features.
Dao Pioneer - Grants a unique status softens the rigid thresholds that usually constrain skill acquisition and evolution, allowing for more fluid and spontaneous developnt of skills and cultivation techniques.
Race: Human
Vitality: Sufficient
PRIMARY
Affinity - Wood and Fire
Cultivation Rank: Essence Awakening Stage - Rank 1
QI: Essence Awakening Stage - Rank 2 (...)
MIND: Essence Awakening Stage - Rank 1 (...)
BODY: Qi Initiation Stage - Rank 5 (...)
SKILLS
Herbal Sage Alchemy - 1 (...)
Nature's Attunent - 9 (...)
Mind's Eye Reading - 1 (...)
Cultivation Techniques:
Rooted Banyan Stance - 7 (...)
Vermilion Lotus Refinent - 1 (...)
Bamboo Reprisal Counter - 1 (...)
Manifold mory Palace Technique - 1 (...)
Refinent Simulation Technique - 1 (...)
Heavenly Fla Mantra - 5 (...)
Black Tortoise’s Endurance - 1 (...)
Currency:
Technique Token - 1
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