A true gift is never shelter.
It is pushing you to the edge of a cliff—
and teaching you how to grow wings before you fall.
When daylight seeped through the cracks in the cavern ceiling, Blackwind Cave stirred like a massive beast waking from deep sleep.
Jiang Muchen stood at the center of the stone chamber, facing more than twenty young cultivators.
Fatigue was etched into every face—lined eyes, stiff shoulders, shallow breaths—but beneath the exhaustion, something else burned on. A spark that had survived three straight days of brutal labor, exploration, and combat.
"Everyone," Jiang Muchen said. His voice wasn't loud, yet it carried clearly through the chamber. Almost instinctively, backs straightened. "We still have twenty-seven days of labor duty left in Blackwind Cave. But from this moment on, we stop working passively. No more clearing, repairing, and waiting for orders."
He turned toward the stone wall. A faint yellow glow gathered at his fingertips—spiritual energy infused with the heavy steadiness of earth, newly forged the night before. With smooth, deliberate motions, he traced a map of the cave interior directly onto the rock.
"In the last three days, we've secured roughly thirty percent of the eastern zone." He marked several red points. "But according to Senior Shi Jian's notes, the true value of Blackwind Cave—and its deadliest dangers—lie deeper, in the unexplored regions."
He faced them again.
"So next," Jiang Muchen said evenly, "we turn Blackwind Cave into our training ground."
Silence fell.
Water dripped somewhere deep in the cave. Embers crackled faintly behind them. A few heartbeats grew noticeably faster.
"Training…?" Zhao Tiezhu swallowed. "Senior Brother Jiang—what kind of training?"
"We enter dangerous zones by choice," Jiang Muchen replied calmly. "And temper ourselves at the edge of real death."
Several scalps prickled.
"But we—" a disciple named Li Ming spoke shakily, "Senior Brother Lu is only at the fifth level of Qi Condensation. Most of us are second or third. Going deeper would be suicide."
"That's why we prepare," Jiang Muchen nodded. "Over the next three days, I'll teach you three things."
He raised three fingers.
"First: how to stay fully conscious for fifteen minutes in doubled miasma density."
"One: how to survive when surrounded by three or more types of venomous insects."
"And third—" his eyes sharpened, "the most important—how to entrust your back to the person beside you… and how to catch them when they fall."
Breathing grew heavier.
Not fear.
Excitement—raw, trembling, dangerous excitement.
Jiang Muchen approached Lu Hanshan and took out twelve thumb-sized gray stones. Rough-surfaced, faintly herbal-scented—Miasma-Cleansing Stones, refined using Shadow Moss and three purifying herbs, harmonized repeatedly through the Art of Universal Resonance.
"Senior Brother Lu. You lead three others. Your job is miasma defense."
He distributed the stones.
"Worn individually, they slightly disperse miasma. But their true use is this."
He gestured. Four of them took positions at the corners of a square.
"When you form a Quadrant Formation and channel energy together—"
The stones glowed simultaneously. Four beams converged, unfolding into a translucent, rippling barrier.
"—you activate a Cleansing Wind Screen. Ten breaths. All miasma within a three-zhang radius is cleared. After collapse, three breaths cooldown."
He demonstrated retreat rotation—two maintaining the barrier, two preparing the next activation.
Lu Hanshan listened with the intensity of someone studying the ultimate sword manual.
Next, Jiang Muchen turned to Zhao Tiezhu and handed him a bulging burlap sack.
Inside were dozens of egg-sized clay spheres, cracked and gray-brown.
"Your team handles insect threats." Jiang Muchen picked one up. "These are Burst Pellets—cave sludge mixed with seven repellent herbs. Thrown against hard surfaces, they explode and release a scent that disorients most venomous insects for at least five breaths."
He produced talismans painted with writhing patterns.
"Insect-Panic Talismans. Attached to weapons or shields, they emit high-frequency vibrations insects can't ignore."
He met Zhao Tiezhu's eyes. "Your mission is not extermination. It's opening paths, covering retreats. Strike once, withdraw immediately."
Zhao Tiezhu grinned. "Understood. We low-born folk are experts at surviving narrow gaps."
Finally, Jiang Muchen addressed Zhou Xiaohuan and the rest.
"Xiaohuan, your group handles three things." He handed her a copied notebook titled Blackwind Cave Survey Records. "Documentation. Support. And most importantly—terrain utilization."
He flipped pages, pointing.
"Know where passages narrow into choke points. Where chambers widen for mobile skirmishing. Where underground currents allow water escape. And where unstable rock can—if needed—be collapsed."
He looked straight at her.
"And watch people. Breathing. Hands. Eyes. Pull them out if you must. In this trial, coming back alive matters more than how many herbs we carry."
Zhou Xiaohuan nodded fiercely.
"Now," Jiang Muchen stepped back, voice rising, "group drills! One hour. Then our first live trial—Eastern Zone, Seventh Fork, fifty zhang deep. Secondary nest of Bone-Eroding Insects. At least three mature Yin Spirit Herbs."
The chamber exploded into motion.
An hour later, they moved.
The formation flowed like a waking serpent.
Lu Hanshan's quadrant guarded the front and flanks. Zhao Tiezhu's team prowled the center, pellets ready. Zhou Xiaohuan brought up the rear, torch in one hand, charcoal in the other.
At the Seventh Fork, the air thickened. Sweet rot clawed at the throat.
"Miasma forming ahead, right depression," Zhou Xiaohuan warned.
"Quadrant—activate."
The wind screen bloomed just as purple haze began to coagulate.
Twenty zhang deeper—
Shshshsh.
Torchlight revealed a crawling sea.
Bone-Eroding Insects. Triple the numbers from before.
"Pellets—now!"
Explosions. Chaos.
"Advance!"
They moved.
Thirty breaths later, they broke through.
A stone chamber opened ahead.
Yin Spirit Herbs shimmered at the center.
And then—
Gold-shelled Bone-Eroding Insects lifted their heads.
"Engage. Repel only. No pursuit."
The battle was brutal. Controlled. Alive.
When it ended, no one was dead.
They returned at dusk.
Exhausted. Filthy.
Triumphant.
As voices buzzed with analysis and laughter, Jiang Muchen stepped into the shadows.
He took out the Netherbone shard.
Deep within his soul, the sealed coordinate pulsed—warm.
Something was drawing closer.
Jiang Muchen smiled faintly.
Come, he thought.
I'll decide where you die.
Licking the Dao — Chapter Truth
The highest form of teaching is not giving answers,
but throwing someone into despair—
and letting them discover they already had one.