The sun over Clear Creek Village was warm, the breeze was gentle, and the screaming was unbearable.
"Spirit rooster! Authentic spirit rooster!"
Sun Dashu of the Sun Family stood in the middle of the dirt road, holding a terrified bird by the neck. "One bowl of soup from this beast will push anyone straight to the Peak Stage of Qi Condensation! No bottlenecks! No side effects!"
Chu Feng sighed and leaned against his hoe.
He wiped sweat from his forehead—not from hard labor, but from prolonged exposure to nonsense and a faint sense that his body was fundamentally defective.
The rooster struggled weakly. Someone had glued gold glitter to its beak. Half of it had already fallen off.
"Brother Sun," Chu Feng said politely, "that's Old Man Qiao's rooster. It went missing yesterday. And the glitter is shedding."
Sun Dashu froze.
He looked at the bird.
Then at the villagers.
Then at Chu Feng.
He did not blush. The Sun Family did not possess the gene for shame.
"Slander!" Sun Dashu shouted, stuffing the rooster into a sack. "This is a Spirit Beast! That glitter is condensed spiritual residue! Someone with a leaking body like yours wouldn't understand. You'll never even stabilize Qi Condensation, let alone reach the Peak!"
The crowd laughed.
Not cruelly—just comfortably.
Everyone in Clear Creek Village knew Chu Feng.
He was the example elders used when explaining what not to become.
Chu Feng nodded seriously.
"You're right, Brother Sun," he said, placing a hand over his lower abdomen. "My Dantian feels unstable today. If I argue too much, I might faint."
Sun Dashu blinked.
Bullying lost its fun when the target agreed.
"Tch. Boring," he muttered. "Go farm dirt, you invalid."
Chu Feng watched him waddle away and felt a small pang of envy.
Must be nice, he thought, lifting his hoe, to have enough energy to shout like that. I trained my breathing for two hours this morning. I felt the Qi enter… and then it disappeared.
Clear Creek Village followed the standard cultivation path taught everywhere.
The Body Tempering Realm was the beginning.
One trained muscles, bones, and organs until the body was sturdy enough to absorb spiritual energy without collapsing. Each stage granted only a slight increase in strength, but without it, Qi cultivation was impossible.
Next came the Qi Condensation Realm.
Spiritual energy was gathered and stored inside the Dantian. The amount one could hold determined whether they were Low, Mid, or Peak.
Above that was the Foundation Establishment Realm, a level spoken of with respect.
At that stage, Qi no longer merely gathered—it circulated, compressing inward to form the foundation of a core. Density determined strength.
The Core Formation Realm was legend.
Solidifying and purifying spiritual energy into a true core. The purer the energy, the higher the stage.
Most villagers believed Core Formation was the ceiling of mortal existence.
Chu Feng, however, was stuck much lower.
Low Qi Condensation.
For three years.
The village doctor called it a Leaking Body—a condition where the Dantian failed to retain spiritual energy.
A bucket with no bottom.
He swung his hoe.
Thwack.
The blade bit deep into the soil, slicing through a compact stone vein buried beneath the farmland. The stone crumbled quietly into fine sand.
Chu Feng frowned.
"So weak," he muttered. "Barely scratched it."
He pulled the hoe free, unaware that most Body Tempering cultivators would have shattered their arms from the impact.
[Underground — 500 meters away]
In the shade of the village tea house, a man in gray robes observed Chu Feng through narrowed eyes.
A Tang Family scout.
"Target is farming," he whispered into a sound-transmission stone. "Aura unstable. Qi output fluctuates. Drops to zero frequently."
"A stage?" a voice asked.
"Low Qi Condensation," the scout replied. "Barely holding any energy. Matches Leaking Body symptoms… mostly."
A pause.
"Keep watching," the voice said. "If nothing changes, we act in three days."
[Village Square]
"Straighten your spine. Control your breathing."
Elder Qiao walked along the line of village youths, tapping their backs with a cane. At Peak Qi Condensation, he was the strongest cultivator Clear Creek Village had ever known.
"Remember," he said calmly, "Qi Condensation is about quantity. Too little, and you stagnate. Too much without control, and your Dantian ruptures."
Han Bo of the Han Family stepped forward proudly. His Qi swirled visibly around his body.
"Mid Stage," Elder Qiao nodded. "Stable."
Han Bo smirked. "Peak isn't far for me."
Chu Feng stepped forward last.
He inhaled carefully.
For a brief instant, the Qi of the entire square rushed toward him.
Inside his body—
Crunch.
The energy collapsed inward, compressed into something impossibly dense.
Chu Feng felt empty.
Again.
Elder Qiao sighed. "Still unstable?"
"Yes, Elder," Chu Feng said apologetically. "It leaks."
The Testing Orb hummed faintly, its needle trembling at the bottom.
"Presence," Elder Qiao murmured, frowning. "But almost no measurable volume."
He had seen unstable Qi before—injuries, cultivation deviation—but this felt different. Like trying to weigh a mountain on a grain scale.
Han Bo laughed. "Low Stage forever. If he could even reach Mid, the Qi would settle instead of shaking."
Chu Feng bowed slightly. "I'll go sit down."
[The Sky — Far Above]
High above the clouds, a vast, formless gaze swept across the land.
Searching.
Inside Chu Feng, something tightened.
The pressure descended.
Birds fell silent.
Dogs whimpered.
Chu Feng sneezed.
"Achoo!"
The sensation vanished.
In a distant fold of space, an old man withdrew his finger.
"Not yet," he murmured.
Time resumed.
"Bless you," Elder Qiao said, rubbing his arms. "Strange chill."
"Probably the Sun Family again," Chu Feng sniffed. "Cheap materials. Bad for the air."
He picked up his hoe and walked home, his shadow stretching long across the dirt road.
Behind him, a Tang scout wrote Nothing Unusual.
Above him, fate moved on.
That day ended quietly.
Later, I learned that fate only stays quiet after it has decided. This my first chapter read it