We left the village early. No big goodbye. No looking back. Just the three of us on the road again, bags on our backs, the morning air still cold.

  I reached into my pocket out of habit. Pulled out my phone. Black screen. Dead. Same as yesterday. Same as the day before.

  I stared at it for a second like maybe this time it would be different.

  It wasn't.

  I put it back.

  The path opened up into wide fields after a while. Flat land, tall grass on both sides. Chen Wei and Liu Hao walked ahead in their robes, looking like they belonged in a painting. I walked behind them in my school uniform, collar itching my neck, hoodie tied around my waist because it was getting warm.

  I looked like I got lost on the way to homeroom.

  I fell into step beside Chen Wei. She glanced at me once — at the uniform — then looked forward again without saying anything. I appreciated that.

  "You've been training your body," she said.

  "Kind of hard not to," I said, tugging at my collar. "You two don't exactly give rest days."

  The corner of her mouth moved. Almost a smile. "Your body is your foundation. In cultivation everything starts there. Without a strong body Qi has nothing to work with."

  "Okay," I said. "So my body is the base."

  "Yes. Think of it like a container. The stronger the container the more Qi it can hold. Right now your container is…" she paused, choosing the word carefully, "improving."

  "Improving," I repeated. "Not good yet."

  "Improving," she said again. Final.

  Liu Hao walked behind us, quiet for once. I could feel her listening though.

  "So what are the levels?" I asked. "Like how does it all work?"

  Chen Wei was quiet for a moment. "The first stage is Body Tempering. Strengthening the physical body until it can handle Qi without breaking. Most cultivators spend months here."

  "And I'm…"

  "Past it," she said. "Barely. But past it."

  I blinked. "Wait seriously?"

  "Your physical training was extreme. It counted for something."

  I almost smiled. Then I pulled out my phone again without thinking. Stared at the black screen. Put it back.

  "So what's next?" I asked.

  "Qi Gathering. Learning to collect and hold Qi inside the body. Feeling it. Moving it." She glanced at me. "That is where you are now. In a sense."

  "In a sense," I repeated. "What does that mean?"

  She didn't answer right away. Just looked forward at the road ahead.

  "It means your situation is… complicated," she said quietly.

  I waited for more. Nothing came.

  I looked back at Liu Hao. She shrugged. Not helpful.

  I shoved my hands in my pockets — phone on one side, nothing on the other — and kept walking.

  That night we camped at the edge of the fields. Small fire, simple food. I sat cross legged after we ate and closed my eyes.

  The inner world opened up. Glowing patterns. The sealed sphere. The reddish fog low on the ground.

  And the sword. Right where I left it. Chains wrapped tight. Blood dripping slow.

  I walked toward it. Reached out my hand.

  Nothing.

  Not a pull. Not a warmth. Not even a flicker. My fingers stopped just short of the blade and the space between felt like a wall I couldn't see.

  I stood there for a moment. Then pulled my hand back.

  I came out of meditation and stared at the fire. Chen Wei was already asleep. Liu Hao sat across from me, eyes half closed.

  I didn't say anything.

  Neither did she.

  The next day the road got narrower. Trees on both sides, the fields behind us. I had switched to just the jacket today — unbuttoned, uniform shirt underneath, school pants. Liu Hao had looked at me when we set off and opened her mouth.

  Then closed it.

  Smart.

  She walked beside me now, Chen Wei a few steps ahead.

  "Hold out your hand," Liu Hao said.

  I looked at her. "What?"

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  "Just do it."

  I held out my hand, palm up. She tapped the center of my palm with one finger.

  "Feel that?"

  "You tapping me?"

  "No." She tapped again. "Deeper. Past the skin. Past the muscle. Feel what's underneath."

  I frowned and tried. Closed my eyes a little. Focused on my palm.

  Then — faint, barely there — something. Like a hum. Like a current running just below the surface.

  My eyes opened. "Is that…"

  "Qi," Liu Hao said simply. "Your Qi. Leaking through."

  I stared at my palm. "It's so small."

  "For now." She pulled her hand back. "Most people at Qi Gathering stage spend weeks just learning to feel it. You felt it in seconds." She said it flat, no praise in her voice. Just fact. "That's not normal."

  "Is that good or bad?"

  She looked at me for a second. "I don't know yet."

  She walked ahead to join Chen Wei. I kept my hand out for a few more steps, still feeling that faint hum.

  Then I pulled out my phone. Stared at it. Put it back.

  I really missed music.

  That evening I found a flat rock and sat down. Closed my eyes. Went in.

  The fog was the same. The sword was the same.

  This time I tried differently. Didn't just reach. Focused. Pushed my attention toward it the way Liu Hao had shown me. Tried to feel it the way I had felt my own Qi.

  Nothing.

  I tried harder. My jaw tightened. My hands curled.

  Still nothing.

  I came out breathing harder than I should have from just sitting still.

  Liu Hao was watching me from across the small camp. "You okay?"

  "Fine," I said.

  She didn't look convinced. But she didn't push.

  The river appeared on the third day. Wide, slow moving, catching the afternoon light.

  I was back in the full uniform today. The jacket had gotten dirty yesterday when I tripped over a root I didn't see because I was staring at my dead phone again. Chen Wei had looked at me on the ground, then at the phone in my hand, then back at me.

  She hadn't said a word.

  We stopped at the bank to rest. Chen Wei sat across from me, legs crossed.

  "Give me your wrist," she said.

  I held it out. She wrapped her fingers around it lightly, closed her eyes, and went still.

  Her brow moved. Just slightly. A small crease that came and went.

  "What?" I said.

  She opened her eyes. "Your Qi level is… Qi Gathering. As expected." A pause. "But the quality is wrong."

  "Wrong how?"

  She looked at my wrist then at me. "The amount is small. But the pressure behind it…" She stopped. "It feels like trying to hold back a river with your hand. The water that gets through is only a trickle. But you can feel the weight of everything behind it."

  I didn't know what to say to that.

  Liu Hao sat nearby, sharpening her blade. She had gone very still when Chen Wei started talking. Not looking up. Just listening.

  "So what does that mean?" I asked.

  "It means," Chen Wei said slowly, "that measuring you normally is difficult. Your true level is… unclear."

  I laughed a little. "Unclear. Great."

  She let go of my wrist. Looked at the river. Said nothing else.

  I pulled out my phone. Stared at the black screen. The river reflected in it like a tiny mirror.

  I put it back.

  That night I sat by the water and went in.

  The fog was thicker. The sword waited.

  I walked up to it. Reached out. Pushed my hand closer until it was almost touching the blade.

  Nothing. Not even cold. Just absence.

  I pulled back and stood there staring at it.

  "What are you?" I muttered.

  The blood dripped.

  Drip. Drip.

  That was the only answer I got.

  I came out and sat by the river for a long time after.

  The second village was smaller than the first. One inn, a few shops, people who glanced at us and looked away fast when Chen Wei passed.

  I was in the uniform again. Hoodie on top this time. The collar of the uniform poking out above the hoodie like it was trying to announce itself. Liu Hao looked at the combination when we walked into the inn and pressed her lips together.

  "Don't," I said.

  She didn't.

  We got a room. Ate. Liu Hao sat beside me after dinner, leaning back against the wall.

  "You want to know about breaking through," she said.

  "Sure," I said, pulling out my phone and staring at it. Old habit. I put it on the table face up like maybe the inn had wireless charging somehow.

  It didn't.

  "Breaking through means pushing past a cultivation barrier. Moving from one level to the next. It takes time, pressure, and enough Qi built up to force the gate open." She glanced at the phone on the table, then at me. "For normal people."

  "And for not normal people?"

  "For someone with a seal…" She exhaled slowly. "The Qi can't build up properly. It leaks out before it can accumulate. So the pressure never gets high enough to break through naturally."

  "So I'm stuck," I said.

  "Not stuck. Just… the path is different for you. The seal has to crack enough to let the pressure build."

  I thought about the crack I had seen inside. That thin fracture in the sealing lines.

  I didn't mention it.

  "And if the seal just… stays?" I asked.

  She was quiet for a moment. "Just a feeling," she said finally. "But I don't think that's what's going to happen."

  I picked up my phone. Put it back in my pocket.

  That night I went in before sleep.

  The sword was waiting. Chains. Fog. Blood.

  I walked up fast. No hesitation. Reached out and pushed my hand straight toward the blade.

  Nothing.

  I pushed harder. Like I could force it to react.

  Nothing.

  I pulled back. Stared at it. My chest felt tight.

  "Fine," I said out loud. My voice sounded flat in the fog. "Fine."

  I turned and walked away.

  Came out of meditation. Lay down. Stared at the ceiling.

  Didn't sleep for a long time.

  We left the village before sunrise.

  The road changed after a few hours. The dirt path got smoother, wider. The trees on either side were taller, older. Faint lines of light moved between the branches — arrays, barely visible, woven into the bark like the forest itself had been cultivated.

  Something about the air felt different here. Heavier. Like we were getting close to something that had a lot of weight behind it.

  I was in the uniform again. Just the uniform. No hoodie, no jacket. I had given up trying to look different. I was a kid from Oriethion in a school uniform walking through a cultivation world. That was just my life now.

  I reached into my pocket. Pulled out the phone. Stared at it.

  Then I just held it for a while as I walked. Not hoping anymore. Just… holding it.

  Mia was probably going crazy wondering where I was. Mom was probably… I didn't finish that thought.

  I put the phone back.

  "Where exactly are we going?" I asked.

  "Close," Chen Wei said.

  Of course.

  That evening we stopped just inside the tree line. A small clearing, the arrays in the branches above humming faint and steady.

  I sat down to meditate without being asked.

  The inner world opened up.

  The fog was everywhere now. Thick and reddish, moving slow like something breathing.

  The sword stood in the center. Massive. Chained. Blood running down the blade steady as always.

  I walked toward it.

  Stopped in front of it.

  Looked at it for a long time.

  Then I reached out one last time. Slow. No force. No focus. Just my hand moving toward the blade.

  Nothing.

  I stood there with my hand out for a long moment.

  Then I let it drop.

  "Okay," I said quietly. Just that. Okay.

  I turned around and walked back through the fog. Didn't look back.

  Came out of meditation.

  The clearing was quiet. The fire crackled low.

  Chen Wei sat across from me, eyes open, watching the flames. But as I settled back her gaze shifted to me. Just for a second. Something passed through her expression — quiet, careful, like she was filing something away.

  She looked back at the fire.

  Liu Hao was leaning against a tree to my left. Arms crossed. Eyes on me. When I glanced at her she didn't look away. Just held my gaze for a moment — and for once there was no teasing in it, no sharpness. Just something that looked almost like worry.

  Then she looked up at the arrays humming in the branches above.

  Nobody said anything.

  The fire crackled.

  And somewhere behind us — faint, just barely visible through the trees — lights. Warm and steady. Like lanterns.

  A lot of lanterns.