Bang. Bang. Bang.
The sound of wooden clappers echoed across the courtyards.
The night patrol passed through the lower ring of the sect, their rhythm sharp and familiar. It was the hour before dawn.
Li Qiong stirred.
He hadn't slept much—maybe an hour. After roasting the koi last night, he'd watched the coals burn down to nothing. His body, still unawakened, lacked the vigor of even a Qi novice. Muscles ached. His skull throbbed. But exhaustion was a luxury of the weak.
He rose from the damp straw in his crumbling hut.
The chill met him like an old friend, curling into the torn sleeves of his robe. The roof leaked worse now. A few new holes had opened in the night. Cold mist drifted in, pooling near the floor. Somewhere in the thatch above, a rat skittered.
He pushed open the broken door.
Mist rolled across the northeast cliff, brushing the mossy edges of the path leading down. Far in the distance, Emerald Jade Valley shimmered like a painting: wooden pillars, stone courtyards, tiled roofs rising layer by layer like a lotus blooming on the mountainside. Even the outhouse for inner disciples looked grander than the Hall of Elders.
Li Qiong spat blood, wiped his mouth.
"Let's get this over with."
Across the sect, in the warm halls beneath the Harmonizing Pagoda, Li Hongye blinked his eyes open.
A copper incense burner glowed beside his bed. A servant knelt with a fresh towel. Another waited with a basin of warmed flower water, fragrant with camellia oil. He yawned and stretched, showing toned arms under a loose inner robe.
"Prepare my crimson robes today," he said, smiling. "It's the Awakening Ceremony."
The servants bowed.
"Of course, young master."
Down the corridor, Li Wuji was already awake, seated in lotus position as a ring of pale energy danced along his spine. Steam rose from his tea. The elders had delivered spirit pills again. He flicked a jade bottle into his sleeve without looking.
The boy was only ten.
And already a Core cultivator.
Li Qiong his robe patched so many times it barely held its color. His belt was twine. He walked barefoot down the stone path, his breath visible in the cold.
Still, he walked out.
A servant boy passed in the distance, carrying lanterns to the lower courtyard. He saw Li Qiong and turned his face, quickening his step.
None called for him.
No one waited to test his spirit root.
He was, on paper, still an "outer servant." The sect had no policy on testing dogs or broken tools.
Yet today, he would walk into the testing courtyard on his own feet.
Around the testing square, the main courtyard brimmed with the next generation—dozens of outer disciples and children from minor clans, their eyes bright with hope. Spirit root tests would begin soon. Elders stood on high platforms. Talismans glowed above ancient bronze mirrors.
The sky was still violet with dawnlight.
From the rear path came whispers.
"Is that...?"
"Li Qiong?"
"Still alive?"
He walked alone. No retinue. No robe. Just the wind biting at his skin.
Many sneered. Others backed away unconsciously. There was something in his eyes.
Not arrogance.
Not madness.
But certainty.
From above, Elder Han, one of the outer court assessors, narrowed his eyes.
"Why is he here?" he asked no one in particular.
Li Hongye descended the central stair with light steps, his red robes flowing like a prince in a tale. Girls turned to watch him. Instructors smiled.
A step behind came Li Wuji, pale and serene as a snow lotus.
He stopped.
He saw his eldest brother.
Their eyes met.
For one breath.
Just one.
And then Li Qiong looked away—not out of shame, but disinterest.
In a far corner, Senior Steward Qin Yao turned to his assistant.
"Is he on the list?"
"No, Steward. Li Qiong's name... was never entered."
Qin Yao frowned.
Then slowly nodded.
"Enter it now."
The first youth walked forward.
The bronze mirror lit up.
Blue lines. Three of them.
"Three-grade Water Root! Outer disciple potential!"
Cheers.
Second youth.
Red lines. Four of them.
"Four-grade Fire Root! Mid-tier! Inner court hopeful!"
More cheers.
Li Hongye stepped forward.
The crowd fell silent.
Golden light filled the bronze mirror.
"Five-grade Metal Root! Peak-tier!"
The elders clapped. Girls gasped. Hongye smiled and bowed humbly.
Li Wuji followed.
The mirror glowed gold, then white, then black—a pulse of void light rising like a divine drumbeat.
"...Six-grade?!" An elder stood up. "Impossible. That's... an Abyss Root!"
"No child under twenty has—"
He was already stepping back, bowing with folded hands.
Even the heavens fell quiet.
And then came the last boy.
Blood on his sleeves.
Barefoot.
He stood before the bronze mirror.
The crowd whispered. Laughed.
"What's the point?"
"No root. He'll just want to show his face."
The elder paused.
"Name?"
Li Qiong looked up.
The wind blew his hair aside.
And for the first time in twelve years, he spoke before the court.
"Li Qiong."
"Did he say Li Qiong?"
"Why's he even allowed here—"
"Maybe he came to mop the platform."
He's never even had a root test, right?"
"No point. Even the Sect Master said he was born wrong."
The crowd whispered. Laughed.
But Li Qiong? He stood still.
There was no need to argue.
The truth would reveal itself.
"Place your palm."
Li Qiong raised his hand.
Placed it flat.
The mirror trembled...
It was empty.
Null.
No light. No pulse. No color.
"...No root."
The elder spoke flatly.
Someone laughed.
"As expected."
Hongye looked down at his older brother with a neutral smile.
Wuji said nothing.
But Li Qiong?
He stood motionless.
There was no grief in his eyes.
No shame.
Only calm.
Because this result—was expected.
Because even without a root, he remembered where to carve one.
He remembered the vault beneath the mountain, where spirit scripts were etched on Jade older than the sect.
He remembered the first founder, whose body was rootless too—until he created his own path.
"Even a rootless tree can crack stone if it grows deep enough."
He remembered.
The crowd moved on.
The ceremony ended.
And Li Qiong walked back alone toward the cliffs, wind pushing at his back.
"I was once the shadow beneath their feet. Now, I walk with the weight of lifetimes—I'm a bottomless pit."