The sky above Qinglong Academy stretched wide and still.
Clouds drifted slowly,like thoughts not yet spoken.
Li Yuan sat cross-legged atop a small hill behind the academy—a quiet place, far from human voices.
He was breathing.Not merely inhaling and exhaling air,but breathing with his entire soul.
Each inhale felt as if it touched the sky.Each exhale, like sending a message to the horizon.
"The sky never speaks," he thought,"yet all things submit to it."
He looked upward.
That boundless blue—untouchable, yet always present.
Just like breath.
We cannot see it,but without it,we are nothing.
And now,Li Yuan began to understand something:
That breath and sky… are one.
Neither rushes.Neither makes noise.Neither forces.
And yet from both—life, and the world, depend.
"Through breath, I become one with the earth.""Through sky, I release all desire."
Suddenly, the wind stirred gently,as if answering his reflection.
Leaves swayed softly.Clouds seemed to move slower,as though nature itself was breathing with him.
Li Yuan closed his eyes.And for a moment,he felt the entire world resting within his chest.
"Is this… a new understanding?""That the sky is not only above…but also within?"
From a distance, Wen Zhi watched once again.He said nothing aloud,but in his heart, the words were clear:
"This child's path…will surpass all I've ever seen."
Li Yuan slowly opened his eyes.
The sky was unchanged.
But within him—nothing was the same anymore.