That day, the wind blew more gently than usual. The sun hung shyly behind the clouds, and the students returned to the training courtyard.
Li Yuan, as always, practiced the basics. He wasn't drawn to grand styles or complex movements. He repeated simple punches and steps… a hundred times, a thousand times. He breathed in rhythm, and every strike was more than physical—it was a meditation.
But that day was different.
As Li Yuan prepared to begin his third movement, his body paused. His breath shifted. Someone was watching.
But it wasn't just eyes. It was… pressure, like a soft wind piercing through the pores. He didn't feel fear—only alertness. Something was out of tune with the world around him.
Without showing a reaction, Li Yuan continued his movements. But now, he was listening.
From behind an old building across the training yard, a man in black robes stood silently. He was no ordinary instructor—he was a direct envoy of Wen Zhi, sent not to teach… but to test, without being noticed.
His task was simple: disrupt the flow of Li Yuan's breath and balance without using overt force. If the boy faltered, he was nothing special. But if he didn't—Wen Zhi would know his suspicion was correct.
The envoy employed the Subtle Shadow Technique, a rare art that manipulated the space and airflow around the target. It wasn't magic, nor qi, but a refined art of breath rhythm disturbance.
Each of Li Yuan's movements was now accompanied by faint currents of air nudging sensitive points on his body—on the soles of his feet, the backs of his hands, even his ears.
Yet Li Yuan did not falter.
He began to adjust his breathing, flowing like water adapting to the shape of its container.
He didn't resist the disturbance. He embraced it.
Hidden in the shadows, the envoy narrowed his eyes.
"He… adapts?"
It made no sense—for someone of Li Yuan's age, and especially without formal training in breath-defense techniques, to be capable of such a response. But the boy wasn't merely enduring… he was transforming the interference into rhythm.
After training, Li Yuan sat beneath the large tree in the eastern courtyard. His eyes were closed, and his spirit sank into reflection.
"The world… felt different today. Was this a test?"
"Or… is this the world's way of asking how deeply I understand its breath?"
He didn't know that far above, in the tower's peak, Wen Zhi was quietly receiving a whispered report from the shadows.
Wen Zhi said little. He only nodded slowly, his eyes gazing at the overcast sky.
"Understanding that cannot be taught… can only be discovered."
The next day, training continued as usual. Nothing appeared to have changed.
But from that day on, all the elders of the academy were silently instructed to observe the boy named Li Yuan.
And Li Yuan…
He continued training his fists, continued refining his breath, continued listening to the world...
Unaware that the world… had begun listening to him in return.
"One who understands nature… will be quietly watched by the heavens."