After bidding a warm farewell to Qingling and Ruan, who needed to return to the Red Lotus Sect headquarters to fulfill their inner disciple duties, Feiyin and his family made their way back home under the soft glow of the evening sky. Baiyu, coiled at her usual place on Feiyin's shoulders, occasionally snuggled with Mei Liao while making Meimei laugh with little tickles with her snout. The warmth of the day lingered, and even the breeze that swept through the city felt gentle, as if it too wished to extend their time together.
The next seven days passed in a rhythm Feiyin hadn't known in years. A week of laughter, quiet conversations, and a precious sense of peace.
Feiyin spent the mornings with his little sister, making silly faces that sent her into a fit of giggles. They played tag around the inner courtyard, her squeals echoing like wind chimes. Sometimes, she would fall asleep in his lap, one small hand clutching a lock of his hair while Baiyu coiled protectively around them both. At other times, they built little toy towers from wooden blocks, which Feiyin would let Meimei knock over triumphantly.
In the afternoons, he helped Mei Liao prepare meals, occasionally stealing bits of fruit or roasted nuts that earned him playful scoldings. Sometimes, Cai Feng would join them, and the three would sit down to enjoy a late tea while Feiyin shared stories of his travels and struggles. His parents would often exchange looks of quiet awe and pain, seeing how much he had endured.
The evenings were reserved for conversation and quiet reflection. Sun Ke and Jiang would drop by, and they'd talk for hours- sometimes joking, sometimes speaking of battles, and sometimes just sitting in silence, enjoying the moment. It was in these unguarded spaces that Feiyin felt the embers of home rekindle inside him.
And as each day passed, he could feel his mind calming, his spirit stabilizing. That week wasn't wasted. It was a healing balm, one that made his future path feel clearer.
On the eighth night, Feiyin sat cross-legged in the courtyard, his body surrounded by the faint pulse of essence qi. His mind had settled into stillness as he directed his focus inward, following the rivers of essence qi flowing through his meridians. Among them, one in particular stood out- the Conception Meridian. It coursed upward from his perineum, curving through his torso and rising toward the area between his brows, where the Mind Eye resided.
He had sensed it before in the last few days but never studied it deeply. Now, the energy within it pulsed differently. It felt subtler yet far more profound. He furrowed his brow.
With a silent thought, he drew out the Cultivation jade slip obtained during the trials and activated the section detailing the Yin Refining Phase.
'Essence is birthed by the heavens and the earth, born within celestial bodies and carried through the cosmos. When it reaches our world, it flows into the land, sea, and sky, adapting to the environment- becoming fire essence in volcanoes, water essence in rivers and wind essence on the peaks.
Yet this relationship flows both ways. Essence, taken to its extremes, may give form to nature's very foundations, becoming the very elements of the world. This is due to the dual nature inherent in all essence: yin and yang.
Yin gives shape. Yang gives motion. Together, they give birth to form and function.
The goal of the Yin Refining Phase is to awaken the yin aspect of essence qi- the latent potential to create form and structure.
One must sense this yin component in the surrounding natural essence, draw it out, and refine their internal essence qi to inherit these traits.'
Feiyin's breath deepened. The words rang with truth. That explained the sensation he felt in the Conception Meridian ever since he completed his elemental infusion. Yin, the energy of shape and form, was gathering there.
He closed his eyes once more and focused on the qi flowing through that channel. It was cooler, more fluid. Each swirl felt as if it carried with it the ghost of a form- not yet manifest, but full of potential.
From his understanding and the knowledge he accrued, the Conception Meridian was responsible for regulating the yin functions of the body. Having opened it fully during the Meridian Opening Realm, it now served as a powerful advantage in the Yin Refining Realm. This meridian already drew out the yin within his body, making it easier for him to sense and work with it. Even more so, his oscillation sense allowed him to perceive the peculiar rhythm of yin- how it subtly echoed through each elemental variation. It was like hearing the same note played on strings tuned ever so slightly loosened.
From this nascent understanding and perception of how Yin could alter the oscillations of the world, he spread both his spiritual sense and oscillation within the surroundings of the courtyard. He began to attune them specifically to the subtle frequencies he'd just begun to sense. It was like applying a filter to his perception- suddenly, the world seemed slower, heavier, but with a softness and fluidity that hadn't been there before.
As he observed the altered resonance, Feiyin recalled the symbolic depiction of this cultivation phase- the Moon, known as the 'supreme Yin refining the form'. He lifted his eyes to the cloudless night sky, admiring the moon's silvery glow. It cast its light across the quiet courtyard, revealing soft outlines in shadow. Then, his gaze drifted to the pond near him, where a thin film of ice had begun to form. The moon's reflection shimmered on its surface, cold and gentle.
That was when understanding struck him. As he had read in some archives, the moon, in itself, did not generate light. It merely reflected it. Yin, too, was a reflection- a projection of form rather than its source. This, Feiyin realized, was why yin seemed to alter the nature of the world when viewed through his oscillation sense. It wasn't adding something new. It was showing the world in its projected, refined shape.
Emboldened by the clarity, Feiyin lifted his chin toward the moon and began channeling his intent. He guided his prismatic elemental intent through a yin-attuned lens, feeling it naturally draw in the yin energy from the world around him. The yin entered through the acupoints linked to the Conception Meridian, which absorbed and assimilated it before guiding it to his three dantians. There, it began to refine his qi nexuses and change their internal structure.
After some time, when shadows of the forms of the elements started to appear within his spinning qi nexuses, he allowed the refined essence qi to flow outward from his body. He raised his hand and shaped it, forming a dagger of essence qi just as his father had done. But while his father's creation had both shape and weight, Feiyin's had only form- still pure essence qi, not yet materialized into a true element.
And yet, he smiled.
Because he had stepped fully into the fourth phase.