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Chapter 14 - Chapter 14: DustWind Pass

The wind never stopped.

It howled through the canyon like a dying god. Sharp, dry, and full of secrets. The rocks were carved with scars. The air stank of iron and sand. No animals. No birds. Nothing but the sound of wind rubbing against stone like an old whetstone.

Sim Gwan stood at the edge of the pass.

Baek-Ha was behind him, arms crossed, hood drawn.

"This feels like a graveyard."

"It probably is knowing our luck,"

She didn't smile.

Didn't speak again.

Just handed him a pouch of water, two pills, and a small talisman with her handwriting carved into the wood.

He tucked it into his sleeve.

She didn't hug him.

She didn't say good luck.

She just said:

"Don't come back unless it's you."

Then she turned.

And left.

---

He walked into Dustwind Pass alone.

The trial didn't announce itself.

There were no doors. No scrolls. No elders waiting on stone thrones.

Just a narrowing canyon.

Red cliffs.

Wind.

And then a whisper.

Not words. Not language. Just the pressure of thought. Something ancient pressing against the edge of his mind.

> "Who are you?"

He didn't answer.

The ground cracked.

His foot sank into sand that wasn't sand it was ash. Burnt qi. The residue of old cultivations gone wrong. Bones lay scattered across the cliffs. Some buried. Some still fresh.

Another whisper.

> "Why are you still carrying him?"

Sim Gwan stopped.

The canyon shifted.

Ahead, the dust swirled rose shaped itself into a figure.

A man.

His face was Sim's.

But his posture was old.

Tired.

A man who flinched when doors closed too loudly. Who drank too much vending machine coffee. Who lived for other people's goals.

The man wore an office ID badge around his neck.

"Sim Gwan."

The past stepped forward.

"You think you're better now?" the reflection said. "Because you can fight? Because you can bleed louder?"

Sim didn't speak.

The reflection smirked.

"You're still me. You still hesitate. Still want someone to save you. That girl? That old man? The umbrella witch? You keep waiting for a mentor. A system. A prophecy."

He stepped closer.

"You don't want power. You want permission you selfish bastard."

Sim drew his blade.

The reflection laughed.

"You can't kill me. I am you."

Sim's voice was low.

"No."

He pointed the sword.

"You were a scared man who waited for his life to mean something."

He stepped forward.

"I'm not waiting anymore."

---

The battle wasn't fair.

The reflection didn't fight like a warrior.

It fought like doubt.

Every strike came with memory. The sound of keyboard clacks. The smell of old ramen. The echo of deadlines missed and potential wasted.

Sim fought back with instinct.

With pain.

Every hit that landed made his qi burn hotter. Brighter. Sharper.

Until the reflection cracked.

And begged.

> "Please. Don't leave me behind."

Sim Gwan raised his sword.

"I already did."

And cut.

---

The dust scattered.

The wind fell silent.

His knees buckled.

He didn't cry.

Didn't laugh.

He just breathed.

And in that breath.

his core pulsed.

Not just qi.

Not just energy.

But resolve.

---

[Stage Ascended: Foundation Establishment – Solid Core Formed]

[Qi Signature Stabilized – Veil Root Path, Phase 2 Initiated]

[Name recognized by path: Sim Gwan]

---

He walked out of the canyon at dawn.

Barefoot.

Blood on his lips.

Dust in his hair.

Baek-Ha waited at the ridge. She didn't say anything. Just stared at him like she was trying to memorize every inch of his silhouette.

He stood beside her.

She asked, "What did it cost?"

He said, "Only everything that held me back."

---

They didn't return to the city immediately.

They found a hill. Camped. Slept under stars.

And that night, she rolled over, eyes open in the dark.

"I knew from the moment you stopped flinching," she whispered.

He didn't answer.

"I'm not in love with who you were," she said. "But I think I'm starting to fall for who you're becoming."

He rolled to face her.

"Then I'll try not to disappoint him."

She touched his hand under the blanket.

And for once, there was no tension.

Only warmth.

---

Far across the peaks, in a fortress carved into obsidian cliffs, a masked figure finished reading a scroll.

Sim Gwan's name had reached the Demon-Wreathed Sect.

The figure whispered:

> "The first stable Veil Root user…

Sooner or later, you'll come to us.

They all do."

---

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