The morning broke with a thin veil of cloud draped over Riverstone Regional Academy, the light diffused and pale, as if the sky itself were holding its breath. Lin Wei moved through the outer courtyard with measured steps, his posture relaxed, his expression unchanged. To anyone watching, he was simply another student beginning his day. Only he could feel the subtle tension coiled beneath his calm.
Since breaking through to the Qi Refining Stage, his senses had sharpened. Not dramatically, not in a way that screamed transformation—but enough to notice the faint disturbances others ignored. The wind carried intention now. Footsteps had weight. Even silence felt layered.
He was halfway through a set of controlled breathing exercises when the world seemed to pause for a fraction of a heartbeat.
Then the system spoke.
[Emergency Mission Activated.]
The words appeared without warning, stark and absolute.
Lin Wei did not stop breathing. He did not tense. Outwardly, nothing changed. Inwardly, his attention snapped into perfect focus.
[Mission: Stabilize the fractured energy node beneath the eastern outer grounds.]
[Time Limit: 2 hours.]
[Success Reward: Unknown Beast Egg Nourishment + Spirit Tool Fragment.]
[Failure Punishment: Cultivation suppression to mortal level for 24 hours.]
His fingers curled slowly, then relaxed.
So this is how it begins.
An energy node. Fractured. Hidden beneath the academy itself. That alone explained the system's urgency. Such nodes were natural convergence points of Qi—rare, volatile, and dangerous when destabilized. Left unattended, it could distort formations, injure cultivators, or worse.
And no one else knew.
Lin Wei scanned the courtyard subtly. Students trained. Instructors passed by. No alarms. No formations activated.
The system hadn't alerted the academy.
It had alerted him.
He turned and walked away without haste, adjusting his route as though heading toward a scheduled lecture. Each step was deliberate, his mind already mapping the eastern outer grounds. That area was rarely visited—mostly storage halls, old practice platforms, and an abandoned well sealed decades ago.
As he crossed a narrow stone bridge, Chen Yu appeared from the opposite side, waving casually. "Lin Wei! You heading to the formation lecture?"
Lin Wei slowed. "Later."
Chen Yu frowned slightly. "You look… distracted."
"Do I?" Lin Wei replied evenly.
"Yeah," Chen Yu said, then laughed. "Well, not distracted. Focused. Like you're about to walk into trouble."
Lin Wei met his gaze. "Stay away from the eastern grounds today."
The words slipped out before he could stop them.
Chen Yu blinked. "What?"
"Just a suggestion," Lin Wei added calmly. "The paths there are unstable."
Chen Yu stared for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Alright. I'll take the long way around."
As he left, Lin Wei continued on, his pace unbroken.
The eastern outer grounds were quieter than he remembered. Grass grew between cracked stone tiles. Old training dummies leaned at odd angles, their surfaces weathered by years of neglect. The air felt… wrong. Qi flowed unevenly, pooling in some places and thinning in others.
Lin Wei stopped near the sealed well.
The system interface expanded, overlaying his perception with faint lines of energy. Beneath the ground, threads of Qi twisted erratically around a fractured core—unstable, leaking, slowly tearing itself apart.
[Analysis: Energy node degradation at 63%. Collapse imminent within 3 hours.]
He was already behind schedule.
Lin Wei knelt, placing his palm against the cold stone. The moment contact was made, a jolt of chaotic Qi surged upward, testing his control. He did not withdraw.
Instead, he breathed in.
Purification was not destruction. It was refinement.
He guided his Qi carefully, letting it seep downward, mingling with the corrupted flow. The resistance was immediate—violent, almost sentient—but his energy did not clash. It absorbed. Sorted. Separated.
Impurities peeled away like layers of rust.
Minutes passed. Sweat gathered at his temples. His breathing remained steady, but the strain crept deeper now, pressing against his meridians. The node resisted correction, its fractured structure unstable, threatening to collapse under its own imbalance.
[Warning: Host endurance decreasing.]
"I know," Lin Wei murmured.
He shifted his approach, no longer forcing stabilization from the surface. Instead, he threaded his Qi along the natural pathways of the node, reinforcing weak points, easing pressure rather than sealing it outright.
The system adjusted its projections.
[Stability increasing… 68%… 74%…]
A sudden tremor rippled through the ground.
Lin Wei's eyes snapped open.
From the corner of his vision, he sensed movement—someone approaching.
Footsteps.
Too close.
He withdrew his hand instantly, smoothing his robes as he rose just as an academy guard rounded the corner. The man paused, frowning at the sight of Lin Wei near the sealed well.
"This area is restricted," the guard said.
Lin Wei bowed slightly. "My apologies. I was sent to retrieve a forgotten training manual from the storage hall. I took a wrong turn."
The guard studied him for a long moment, then waved dismissively. "Be quick and leave. The eastern grounds are unstable."
Lin Wei inclined his head and stepped away, heart steady, pulse calm.
Once out of sight, he circled back through a narrow path hidden by overgrown hedges. The node still pulsed beneath the ground, weaker now, but not stable.
He had less than an hour.
This time, he didn't kneel.
He sat.
Cross-legged, centered, eyes closed.
He allowed the system interface to expand fully, metrics shifting in real time as he synchronized his breathing with the node's rhythm. His Qi flowed deeper now, more precise, guided by both instinct and calculation.
Purification intensified.
The chaotic energy resisted one final time, surging violently—but Lin Wei held firm, his will steady, his foundation unshaken.
Then, slowly, the turbulence eased.
The node settled.
[Energy node stabilized.]
[Mission complete.]
Lin Wei exhaled, the tension leaving him all at once. His body sagged slightly, exhaustion creeping into his limbs, but his mind remained clear.
The system did not waste time.
[Reward issued: Nourishment absorbed into Celestial Frost Fox Egg.]
[Reward issued: Spirit Tool Fragment stored.]
A faint warmth spread through his bag. The egg pulsed—once, twice—its surface glowing brighter than it ever had before. Not hatching. Not awakening.
Growing.
Lin Wei allowed himself a small, private smile.
When he finally returned to the main grounds, the academy was unchanged. Students laughed. Instructors lectured. Life continued, unaware that a hidden disaster had been quietly averted.
No applause.
No recognition.
Just the silent certainty that he had stepped onto a path few could walk—and fewer still could survive.
As the sun climbed higher, Lin Wei blended back into the flow of students, his presence unremarkable, his secret intact.
But beneath his calm exterior, something fundamental had shifted.
The system had tested him.
And he had answered.