Khánh said nothing for a long while after his question.
The wooden room lay steeped in the weary amber glow of an oil lamp; outside, the loose clink of metal in the wind sounded almost like someone whispering. He did not take his eyes off Old Ly, waiting for an answer.
At last, Old Ly spoke—slowly, his voice hoarse and dry, as if each word had to be dragged up from the depths of his throat.
> "I will introduce you to The Heaven's Fracture . But first… you must learn at least the barest use of your spirit force. Without it, you won't make it to the gate before someone crushes your throat."
He pulled a chair and gestured for Khánh to sit.
> "Spirit force has three tiers—basic, intermediate, and advanced. Basic is when you can summon it and bend it, just a little, to your will. Intermediate… you can shape it, give it form, and make it touch the physical world. And advanced—"
He paused, his gaze darkening.
"—Few in Dai Long ever reach that and still keep their lives."
For the next two days, Old Ly trained him relentlessly. The first lesson was condensing breath. He said Khánh's spirit force was the color of fatigue—murky, heavy—but still visible to those who knew how to see.
> "If you let it spill out like this, the moment you set foot on an upper tier, you'll be questioned. And one wrong answer… means a grave."
He placed a hand over Khanh's chest, told him to close his eyes, to picture the energy inside him as a flowing stream. Each time Khánh tried to press it down, sweat beaded along his temples, his heart pounded, and it felt as though he were wrestling a wild beast thrashing inside him.
The second lesson was transferring breath—channeling spirit force into an object or a person to pass on a fragment of energy. Khánh tried with all he had, but managed only to make the wooden cup on the table tremble slightly before it lay still again. Old Ly did not scold him, only shook his head.
> "This takes time. Don't rush."
Before their final lesson ended, the old man set a trembling hand on Khanh's shoulder and looked him straight in the eye.
> "Listen well. Never tell anyone your true name or your clan… unless you wish to die before you see the sun of the upper tiers."