The training yard was a basin of silver under the high moon. Frost crisped the packed earth, crunching underfoot. Qin Ye's breath plumed in the cold air. The Side Quest glowed in his vision—three laps, under one hundred breaths, no collision.
He began.
Wind-Trace wasn't about speed; it was precision. A toe angle on landing. A controlled hip roll to redirect momentum. A slight shoulder drop to slip drag. A needle threading the night.
On the second lap, two disciples staggered out from behind the equipment shed, laughing, blocking the path. Micro-Perception mapped their sway and speed. Qin Ye didn't slow. He shifted a line and flowed between them without touch. They blinked at his retreating back, unsure anyone had passed.
He finished the third lap as the ninety-eighth breath left his lungs.
[Ding! Side Quest completed: Test the Wind-Trace.]
[Reward: Swift-Step Talismans +2 (total: 5); Footwork Calibration +5% (total: +10%).]
[Condition unlocked: Flow State (brief, situational).]
Clarity settled in his limbs. For a few heartbeats, his movements reached perfect economy.
⸻
Dawn broke, pale and cold. At the east-cliff practice rings, the clerk's tip proved true—empty circles chalked on smooth rock, wind lifting from the river below with the smell of wet stone and pine.
He practiced not forms, but transitions: a lunge into straw, a deflection off a weighted stake, a retreat on Wind-Trace. Every motion stripped to essentials. No waste.
[Ding! Movement Efficiency +3%.]
The System acknowledged the grind.
⸻
The Records Annex smelled of paper dust and leather ties. A clerk dozed behind a counter, a ball of wax string by his elbow. Qin Ye scanned the basic shelves and found a page: "Spiral Breath Cadence"—four-count inhale to gather, four-count anchor to cycle, two-step exhale synced to movement.
Copy Permit (Lv.1) warmed in storage as he read. The permit etched the page into a blank slip within the System. No fanfare. Knowledge acquired.
⸻
Sunlight fell across the doorway—and vanished behind two figures. Zhao Kun, and a taller, composed disciple from the circle of the seeded: Duan Qi.
"Qin Ye," Duan Qi said, smooth. "Your registration went… smoothly. Sometimes tokens get lost. Records blur. A pity if your entry faced issues."
Zhao Kun smirked. "A little respect clears misunderstandings."
"Section Two, Clause One," Qin Ye said, flat. "Tampering with a ranked-trial token means expulsion."
He turned to the clerk. "Re-ink my seal. For clarity." One spirit stone touched the counter.
The clerk jolted awake, heated wax, and pressed a fresh seal square over the old—undeniable. Duan Qi watched, eyes cold. Tampering became impossible.
No fists. A procedural face-slap. Duan Qi nodded once—insult banked—and led a fuming Zhao Kun away.
⸻
Back at the cliff rings, a neutral senior paused. "Your footwork is unusual. Clean. Three exchanges?"
Qin Ye nodded.
They engaged. The senior's guard was tight. Two probes—deflections, testing steps. On the third, Qin Ye burned a Swift-Step Talisman. Wind qi surged—not brute speed, but a razor angle. He slipped past the guard, tapped the chest plate with a fingertip, and disengaged.
The senior bowed, impressed. "An angle without force."
[Ding! Micro-Goal: "Angle Without Force."]
[Reward: +300,000 Spirit Stones; Footwork Calibration +3% (total: +13%).]
⸻
In an upper corridor, Inner-Sect Attendant Liu Shan took a sparrow's slip: "Observe heats. Note anomalies." He made a mark, then added his own neat line: Minimal speech. High procedural compliance. Dangerous for records.
⸻
By afternoon, the announcement board thrummed. Preliminary heats posted. Qin Ye found his name. First opponent: Bao Lin—a power type, a crusher.
The System ticked.
[Main Quest updated — Countdown: 4 days.]
[Optional Objective unlocked: "Win First Heat Under 30 Breaths" — Reward: Technique Chest (locked).]
Dormitory 13 hummed. Qin Ye sat beneath the talisman's song and mapped thirty breaths in his head. A short, brutal window.
Four days.