The moment the scouting group left the courtyard behind, everything felt different.
There was no wall. No boundary line. No warning from the system.
But the air changed.
Sounds grew quieter, as if the world itself was holding its breath. The familiar noise from the courtyard faded until only wind and shifting stone remained.
Ironroot slowed down.
"From here on," he said calmly, "watch where you step. If you can't tell whether the ground is solid, don't move."
No one joked.
The group was small on purpose. Only a few people followed behind him—people who had listened earlier, who stayed inside markers, who didn't test rules just to see what would happen.
Unbroken walked at the front without being told. His movements were quiet and controlled. His eyes never stopped scanning the terrain.
The route toward Broken Cloud Mountain barely deserved to be called a path.
Loose stones shifted underfoot. The ground tilted at awkward angles. The Qi in the air felt heavier, pressing faintly against the body like the warning before a storm.
"This doesn't feel safe," DustLine muttered.
"No kidding," StoneBit replied. "It feels like one bad step equals death."
Ironroot didn't turn around. "That's because it does."
They moved carefully.
As they climbed higher, vegetation thinned. What little plant life remained clung stubbornly to cracks in the stone, sharp-edged and twisted. The mountain itself grew closer, jagged peaks cutting into the sky.
Unbroken raised a hand.
Everyone stopped instantly.
He crouched and brushed aside loose gravel with two fingers. The marks beneath were uneven, too deep in places, shallow in others.
"These aren't natural," he said quietly.
Ironroot knelt beside him and examined the ground. "Not animals. Not erosion either."
No one asked what that meant.
They didn't need to.
The group instinctively spread out, leaving more space between each person. Steps became lighter. Breathing slowed.
Behind them, someone hissed in pain.
"Ow—okay, nope."
Gachagami froze.
He hadn't meant to follow them.
He had wandered in the same direction without thinking, distracted by the view, then realized too late that the courtyard noises were gone.
He turned slowly.
Everything behind him looked the same.
"…Crap."
He took a step back, slipped on loose gravel, flailed wildly—and somehow didn't fall. Instead, he stumbled sideways, away from a narrow ledge that collapsed a moment later.
Stone slid downward in a soft, deadly cascade.
Gachagami stared at it, pale.
"…Bad path," he whispered. "Very bad path."
Ironroot turned sharply when he heard the noise.
His eyes narrowed when he spotted Gachagami standing behind the group.
"How did you get here?" Ironroot asked.
Gachagami raised both hands immediately. "Accident. I swear. I was trying to leave."
Unbroken studied him in silence.
"Send him back?" DustLine asked nervously.
Ironroot hesitated.
Then he looked at the collapsed ledge.
"That path would've killed someone," Ironroot said slowly.
He sighed.
"Stay behind us," Ironroot said. "Don't touch anything. If you do something stupid, you die."
Gachagami nodded so hard his neck hurt. "Yes. I will do absolutely nothing."
They continued upward.
The mountain pressed in around them. Wind funneled through narrow gaps, carrying strange echoes that made distance hard to judge. Qi density shifted unpredictably—heavy one moment, sharp and thin the next.
Near the back, LooseStep dislodged a stone.
"I—" he started.
The stone bounced. Then another followed.
A small rockslide rattled down the slope and vanished into the fog below.
Everyone froze.
Nothing attacked.
Nothing appeared.
But the silence afterward felt intentional.
Unbroken exhaled slowly. "Something heard that."
No one asked what.
Further up, Ironroot finally stopped.
He stood on a flat stretch of stone and tested it thoroughly—jumping lightly, tapping with tools, checking fractures.
"This is it," he said.
"For what?" StoneBit asked.
"For staying alive," Ironroot replied. "Solid rock. Natural cover. Good sightlines."
They stopped there.
No one complained.
As they settled, the air shifted again.
The wind changed direction. Qi flowed differently. A deep vibration passed through the stone beneath their feet—not loud, not violent, but deliberate.
Gachagami hugged himself. "Uh… guys?"
Unbroken's posture tightened. "The mountain noticed us."
Ironroot nodded. "We're on its ground now."
Far below, back in the courtyard, Warbound felt the change—not through Qi, but through people.
Rumors spread quietly. About the punishment. About the mountain. About how quickly things had turned serious.
One minor player scoffed under his breath. "Just atmosphere tricks."
No one argued.
They simply stepped away from him.
Discipline held without Lin Yuan present.
At the edge of the courtyard, Lin Yuan stood still, eyes fixed on Broken Cloud Mountain.
Through the system, he sensed the shift.
Not a warning.
An acknowledgment.
He didn't interfere.
He let it play out.
The system interface rose before his eyes.
Lin Yuan closed the interface.
Broken Cloud Mountain had acknowledged them.
Whether it would allow them to stay was another matter entirely.