The heavy wooden gates of Azure Wind Town creaked as they swung open, the iron hinges groaning in protest. Dawn's pale light spilled across the cobblestone road beyond, washing the world in shades of silver and gold. From the eastern hills, a thin veil of morning mist drifted lazily toward the town, curling and folding around anything in its path.
Through that mist walked Lin Feng.
His clothes were the same ragged ones he'd worn the day before, though the dirt and faint bloodstains spoke of a hard night. The guards at the gate barely spared him a glance. In their eyes, he was just another poor youth returning from sleeping in an alley or some abandoned warehouse.
Only Lin Feng knew the truth — that in the span of a single night in the outside world, he had spent weeks inside the Heaven's Mind Space. Weeks of perfecting the Iron Fist Drill, of breathing in Qi-rich air until his meridians thrummed with life, of feeling his once-empty dantian come alive with power.
But outwardly, he kept his back slightly hunched, his gait unhurried, his expression blank. The less they know, the better.
The morning market had already awakened. Stalls lined the main street, their colorful cloth awnings still damp from the morning dew. The shouts of vendors filled the air:
"Fresh buns! Hot and steaming!""Spirit herbs from the western hills!""Fine cloth at half the price!"
The aroma of fried dumplings mixed with the earthy scent of freshly picked vegetables. Chickens clucked noisily from wicker cages, and a butcher's cleaver struck a cutting board with rhythmic thuds.
As Lin Feng passed through the crowd, voices he recognized drifted to his ears.
"Hey, isn't that the rootless trash?" one man said in a voice too loud to be accidental."He probably begged someone to let him sleep in a warehouse," another chuckled."Hahaha! I heard Wang Tao's party left him in the forest — lucky the beasts didn't eat him!"
Their words struck like stones, but Lin Feng didn't flinch. His fists tightened at his sides, itching to silence them, but he forced himself to keep walking. Let them talk. When the time comes, their laughter will turn to fear.
The old shack that Lin Feng called home squatted at the edge of the poorer district, a lopsided structure of weathered wood and patched roof tiles. The wind rattled the single loose shutter, and weeds grew unchecked around its foundation.
Just as Lin Feng reached for the door, the calm, mechanical voice of the system resonated in his mind:
[Main Quest Unlocked: Path of the Cultivator]
Stage 1: Break into Qi Refining Realm within 30 days.
Optional Bonus: Acquire a Spirit Herb to refine your meridians.
Reward: Medium-Grade Cultivation Talent + Random Martial Skill.
Failure: System Lock for 1 Year.
Lin Feng's eyes narrowed. A spirit herb… but where would I find one?
The answer came immediately.
[Nearby Resource Detected: Moonlight Spirit Grass – grows in the Blood Mist Marsh, 12 kilometers east. Warning: Area is a Low-Grade Forbidden Zone inhabited by Rank 2 Spirit Beasts.]
The Blood Mist Marsh — every child in Azure Wind Town had heard the warnings. A place where the air was tinged red, the fog so thick it could twist your sense of direction until you walked in circles. Stories told of hunters who vanished inside, their remains found weeks later with claw marks through their bones.
Lin Feng's lips curled faintly. "Perfect. If I can survive there, nothing in this town can touch me."
But even with his newfound skills, rushing into such a place would be suicide. He would need a weapon, supplies, and a plan. And for that… he needed silver.
Lin Feng was heading back into the market to look for work when a voice, cold and mocking, sliced through the morning noise.
"Well, well… the trash came back alive."
Wang Tao stood in the center of the street, arms folded over his fine green robe. The sunlight caught on the gold clasp in his hair, making him seem even more smug. His two attendants — both tall, broad-shouldered, and radiating menace — blocked the street behind him like stone walls.
"I was starting to think you'd been eaten," Wang Tao said.
Lin Feng met his gaze without flinching, his face calm, unreadable. "Disappointed?"
Wang Tao's sneer deepened. "Not at all. Now I get to finish what the beasts started."
The System's chime cut through the tension in Lin Feng's mind.
[Side Quest: Defeat Wang Tao in a public fight within 7 days.]
Reward: 50 EXP + Combat Simulation Upgrade.
Inside, Lin Feng suppressed a smile. Seven days? More than enough.
He walked away without a word, the crowd's laughter following him down the street. Outwardly, he was silent. Inwardly, his thoughts burned with focus.
Two quests now.One — humiliate Wang Tao in public within seven days.Two — reach Qi Refining and retrieve Moonlight Spirit Grass from the Blood Mist Marsh within thirty.
Failure meant losing the System's aid for an entire year. That was not an option.
Lin Feng took the pelt of the wounded spirit wolf he'd slain in the forest to a local shop. The shopkeeper, an old man with a calculating gaze, inspected it briefly.
"Damaged fur. Barely worth anything," he muttered, tossing two silver coins onto the counter.
Lin Feng accepted them without argument. Two silver was enough for a cheap dagger, some dried meat, and a waterskin — the bare minimum for what lay ahead.
The true weapon he would wield, however, would not be purchased. It would be forged within the Heaven's Mind Space.
That night, Lin Feng sat cross-legged in his shack, the dagger lying beside him, and willed himself into the Mind Space.
The familiar black stone platform appeared beneath his feet. Mist swirled before him, forming the glowing outline of a manual: Basic Footwork.
[Training Simulation Start.]
Phantom opponents materialized around him — lean figures with faceless heads and weapons raised. They struck without mercy, their movements swift and unpredictable. Lin Feng's task was simple: avoid every blow.
Again and again, he failed, taking phantom strikes to the head, chest, and legs. Pain flared in his nerves, but no injury remained when the simulation reset. The repetition burned movements into his muscles until evasion became instinct.
After what felt like weeks, a chime echoed through the mist:
[Basic Footwork – Mastery: 100%. Movement speed +30%. Evasion greatly improved.]
The mist shifted, and a second manual appeared — this one from his earlier rewards: Stone Skin Conditioning.
As he practiced, phantom weapons struck him again and again. Each blow was met with Qi flowing into his skin, hardening it until the sensation dulled. Bruises faded faster, pain lessened.
[Stone Skin Conditioning – Mastery: 70%. Physical defense increased.]
When Lin Feng stepped out of the Mind Space, only a few hours had passed in the real world. Moonlight spilled through the cracks in the roof, silvering the dagger's edge.
"Wang Tao wants a public fight… then I'll make it a public humiliation," Lin Feng murmured. His gaze shifted toward the east, where beyond the hills lay the unseen marsh. "But first… I need that spirit herb."
He would leave at dawn.
And until then, the world would still think him the harmless orphan they could step on — a mask he would wear until the day came to tear it away.