The Starfall Sect was not a collection of buildings; it was a declaration of power carved into the mountainside. White jade pavilions clung to sheer cliffs, connected by bridges that seemed woven from cloud and moonlight. Waterfalls of liquid spiritual mist cascaded into valleys filled with the shimmering leaves of unknown trees. The air itself was thick with energy, a stark contrast to the wild, free-flowing chaos of Old Huo's forest.
For Ye Xingliu, it was like trying to breathe soup.
He stood in a long, snaking line of hopefuls in the vast Outer Gate plaza, all of them dreaming of immortality. He, however, was just dreaming of getting this over with. Beside him, Feng Shui'er had somehow procured an outer disciple's robe and blended into the crowd, giving him an encouraging wink.
"Next!" a bored-looking elder barked.
Ye Xingliu stepped forward. The test was simple. A flawless, milky-white spirit stone sat on a pedestal. All he had to do was place his hand on it and sense the pulse of energy within, proving he had the basic spiritual roots to be more than a servant.
He placed his palm on the cool, smooth surface. He could feel it immediately—a strong, steady thrum of power, like a sleeping dragon's heartbeat. It was easy. Obvious.
But his Life Sensing, honed by a thousand bloody punches and a lifetime of listening to the world's secret music, went deeper. Beneath the powerful, surface-level pulse, he felt something else. A network of fine, hairline fractures, like a frozen river about to crack. The energy there was jagged, dissonant. A flaw.
The elder watched him, expecting the standard, awestruck reaction.
Ye Xingliu looked up, his face a mask of innocent concern. "Elder," he said, his voice clear. "This stone… it's injured."
A dead silence fell over the plaza. The elder's bored expression vanished, replaced by sharp scrutiny. "What did you say?"
"The energy," Ye Xingliu explained, tapping the stone over one of the hidden fractures he could feel. "Here, and here. It's strained. Like a muscle that's been torn. It's still strong, but it's… sad."
The elder stared at him, then at the stone, his eyes widening almost imperceptibly. He had known about the flaw; it was a secret kept by the testing elders. This stone was due to be replaced. For a raw recruit to detect it… that wasn't just sensing power. That was perception on another level entirely.
The elder cleared his throat, his demeanor shifting from bored to calculating. "Adequate perception," he said gruffly, masking his surprise. "You pass. Assignment: Herb Peak. Dismissed."
A murmur ran through the crowd. Herb Peak was known as the dumping ground for the least promising disciples, a place for those with just enough talent to be useful for manual labor, but not enough to ever matter.
Ye Xingliu just smiled. Herb Peak sounded peaceful. It sounded like a place where no one would look too closely at a disciple who talked to a thumb-sized comet or practiced a drunken fist art.
He collected his new disciple robes—a coarse grey set, marking him as the lowest of the outer disciples—and found his assigned bunk in a cramped, dusty dormitory on Herb Peak. The room smelled of dried roots and resignation.
As he laid the robes on his cot, the cracked jade compass in his pocket grew warm. He pulled it out.
The silvery needle, which had been still since they entered the sect, was no longer pointing at him. It was spinning, slowly at first, then faster, a frantic silver blur. It whirled for a long moment before snapping to a stop, pointing like an accusing finger towards the heart of the sect complex, towards the highest, most forbidden peak wreathed in mist and shimmering with terrifying protective runes.
Mortal Awakening – 3%
The script glowed beneath the needle. His days of training with Huo, of absorbing the lesson in every bloody knuckle, had pushed him forward.
Feng Shui'er slipped into the room, her presence as quiet as a shift in the wind. "Herb Peak? They really have no vision, do they?" She saw the compass in his hand, the needle steadfastly pointing towards the forbidden zone. Her shifting eyes gleamed with excitement. "Oh. Now that's a proper welcome. They give you a map to the interesting places on your first day."
Ye Xingliu stared at the compass, then at the distant, forbidden peak. A slow, familiar grin spread across his face. The Starfall Sect thought it was a destination, a cage of rules and ranks.
But to the Wanderer, it was just another stretch of the road. And his compass had just pointed out the most interesting detour.
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