The mansion was quieter than usual.
General Chu had left for the capital with his wife and concubines, taking a full escort with him. They would be gone for nearly a month. The servants left behind were fewer, and the atmosphere was relaxed.
To most, this was a chance to slack off.
To Lian, it was the chance he had been waiting for.
That morning, he approached the head servant.
"May I go gather herbs on the nearby hill?" he asked politely, bowing.
The man barely glanced at him. "Go. Just don't get caught by bandits. If you die, it saves us one mouth to feed."
Mocking laughter followed him, but Lian didn't react. He bowed again, turned, and left the mansion.
The forested hill outside the city was a quiet place. Lian carried a basket and picked some wild herbs at first—just enough to keep suspicions away. But hidden beneath his clothes was something far more precious: scraps of paper and a charcoal stick.
When he was certain no one had followed, he sat beneath a tall pine tree. His hands trembled slightly as he pulled out a thin booklet—one of the martial texts he had secretly copied from the General's library.
The characters on the first page burned into his mind:
The Seven Essences of Martial Cultivation.
Essence of Energy (Qi Core)
Essence of Body
Essence of Blood
Essence of Spirit
Essence of Heart
Essence of Mind
Essence of Heaven
Each realm divided into three stages: Initial, Middle, High.
Seven steps to ascend from mortal to something greater…
Lian's breath grew heavy. He touched his abdomen unconsciously, where the text said the Qi Core was formed.
"This is the path," he whispered. "If I can reach even the first stage… no one will ever dare treat me like a dog again."
The hours slipped away as he studied, copying lines onto his scraps of paper and memorizing diagrams. The sun dipped low, painting the horizon in blood-red light.
When the sounds of crickets filled the air, Lian finally closed the booklet and hid it carefully beneath a flat stone near the pine tree. He could not risk carrying it back to the mansion.
Only then did he realize his hands were shaking—not from fear, but from excitement.
That night, lying on the hard wooden bed in his servant's room, he couldn't sleep. His mind replayed every word, every line, every secret of the text.
His body was weak, but his determination was unbreakable.
He clenched his fists in the dark.
"Someday, I will master these Seven Essences. Someday, I will stand above them all. Father, family, this world… none of you will chain me forever."
And in that silent vow, a servant boy set his first foot on the path of cultivation.
The path that would either raise him to the heavens…
Or bury him in the ashes of rebellion.
✨ End of Chapter 2 ✨