Initially, Liam couldn't understand the reason behind Lucy's fluttering hair, nor what might have unmade her bun.
However, the scene unlocked a memory. Liam couldn't forget how the jailer had unleashed an ominous wind during their battle, right before wearing a battle stance and collapsing.
As if to further connect those dots, shadows in the cave moved, bringing Liam's attention to the lit candle near the wall. Its flame had flickered, confirming the presence of a light breeze.
Liam peeked past his shoulder, confirming that the entrance was still closed, only for his brain to catch up with something it had spotted earlier, bringing his gaze back to it, almost making him gasp.
To Liam's surprise, a significant chunk of the candle had disappeared, melted wax covering its now-lower top.
'Has it been that long already?!' Liam exclaimed in his mind, wanting to confirm the issue with Lucy, only to find her still stunned, trapped in thoughts he couldn't guess.
"It took me a whole day to complete the first cycle," Lucy declared. "You did it in six hours."
Liam obviously had no terms of comparison, so he couldn't understand how shocking his achievement had been.
As for Lucy, she had already guessed that Liam had great talent, but he had still accomplished that feat four times faster. She wasn't bad to begin with, meaning he had to be exceptional.
Of course, there were factors that had nothing to do with talent, which Lucy hinted at with her following question. "How advanced is your foundation?"
Liam had no idea what to respond to that. He had just barely understood what the foundation was and how it worked. At most, he could repeat the Disciplinary Elder's words.
"The Disciplinary Elder said that my foundation seemed quite advanced," Liam stated.
Lucy didn't say anything. That definitely played a role, but four times faster remained astonishing, and there was more. She leaned forward, reaching for Liam's face, only to remember the previous altercation.
"May I?" Lucy asked, and Liam glanced in confusion at the hand in front of him before nodding.
Liam had half-expected Lucy to reach for his hair, but her hand went on his forehead instead, her fingers searching for something, which they didn't find.
"You aren't even sweating," Lucy gasped, retracting her hand. "How vast is your foundation?"
Clearly, advanced and vast implied two different characteristics, which Liam's evident confusion eventually forced Lucy to explain.
"The Qi's quality improves alongside our cultivation level," Lucy said, "With major jumps at the breakthroughs. The better the Qi, the easier it is to summon, and the stronger its effects."
"Instead," Lucy continued, "The foundation's size almost always involves the spiritual roots. The more numerous they are, the more Qi a cultivator can possess."
"So, did I succeed?" Liam wondered, not really knowing how to interact with that topic.
"No, you lost control," Lucy revealed. "The Qi should circulate through your body and aid its functions and moves. That's why it's called a circulation technique."
Liam now understood how Lucy had climbed the mountain in such incredible fashion. With the Qi helping her, she had unleashed moves that ordinary humans couldn't imitate even after decades of training.
'What about martial arts?' Liam wondered, recalling Kyle's fiery fists. 'How are they different?'
"Are you feeling tired at all?" Lucy questioned, preventing Liam from asking the question that had popped into his mind.
"Should I?" Liam wondered.
"Using Qi is no different than exercising," Lucy explained. "Exhaustion and fainting can happen, but just like with muscle soreness, resting will fix that."
"My core will make more Qi?" Liam questioned. "It won't wither?"
"Only long periods of drought can make a core wither and recede," Lucy reassured. "Merely using the Qi it produces won't."
'I was on a timer then,' Liam realized. He didn't know how long a core could survive without nutrients before withering, but being kidnapped by the Divine Cult had been fortuitous in some twisted sense.
"If releasing that much Qi didn't tire you at all," Lucy eventually sighed, breaking her sitting stance to lean slightly back and support herself on her arms, "You truly have nothing to worry about the test. Your foundation is as strong as your muscles."
Lucy looked slightly tired, forcing Liam to acknowledge another point. He still couldn't wrap his head around the fact that six hours had passed in a blink, but the fact that Lucy seemed to have watched over him throughout them took priority.
"Miss Lucy," Liam called. "Did you really spend six hours watching me? Why do you trust me so much?"
Liam's honesty delivered a heavy blow to Lucy's heartstrings, but she was slowly getting used to it. Despite some superficial idiocy, Liam seemed capable of thoughtful reasoning, but that only improved her impression of him.
"I told you the cultivation world isn't nice," Lucy reminded, "But here you are, a cultivator who doesn't act like a cultivator."
Liam wanted to argue otherwise, but his personal experiences confirmed Lucy's words. All his interactions with cultivators had been terrible, and that included the Pale Moon Sect. Even Lucy had only become an exception after clearing an initial misunderstanding.
"I guess after spending over a year wary about everything and everyone," Lucy continued, her gaze wandering over the cave's dim ceiling, "It's nice to find someone whom I don't have to worry about."
A melancholic atmosphere descended, one that Liam could partially relate to. The cultivation world promised wonders, but it had an entrance fee, with suffering and loneliness as some of its most common currencies.
Liam had even seen worse offenders. He had dislocated a grown man's shoulder with a mere pull, using only raw strength. Once he mastered the Qi and his cultivation level improved even further, the gap from ordinary people would widen.
For someone who already saw life as frail, that wasn't ideal. Chances were mortals would become, well, mortal, their very existence meaningless in every sense of the word.
Still, that joint, melancholic silence didn't last long since a familiar deep voice resounded from outside the entrance, echoing inside the cave.
"Outsider Liam," The Disciplinary Elder shouted, his voice strangely clear despite the still-sealed cave. "Your test awaits."