It has been three months since I arrived at Qinglong Academy.
Each day has been filled with training, reflection, and understanding.
Yet in all that time, not once have I stepped outside the academy gates.
The outside world feels like a vague shadow, distant and unreachable.
That morning, as sunlight began to peek through the lingering mist, Feng Lu gazed up at the sky, his face marked by boredom.
"Three months... and we're like birds in a cage."
"How long can we keep living like this?"
He walked over to Yushan, the famously cold and quiet instructor, and asked:
"Instructor Yushan, are we… allowed to go out? Just for a short while, to walk beyond the academy?"
Yushan slowly opened his eyes. He looked at Feng Lu for a moment, then turned his gaze toward the other students gathering nearby.
"Do all of you want to go outside?" he asked flatly.
Some students looked uncertain, but others, especially those from remote villages, clearly longed to see the world beyond the walls.
Li Yuan said nothing, but in his heart, he too felt… it was time to see what lay beyond the academy's high walls.
A short while later, they gathered in front of the academy gates.
Yushan stood before them and said:
"You may go. But only until sundown."
"Don't cause trouble. Don't reveal your strength. You are hidden weapons, and hidden weapons do not walk while shouting."
The great gates slowly opened, and sunlight spilled onto the narrow path leading to the nearest village.
Their journey was calm. Birds chirped softly. The wind gently rustled the wild leaves along the roadside. The village at the foot of the mountain looked simple, wooden houses, rice fields, and people living their quiet, ordinary lives.
To Li Yuan, it was a reminder of the village he once called home.
"This place is peaceful..." he murmured.
"But peace… never lasts long."
Feng Lu ate dumplings at an old food stall, while Bei Zhang helped an elderly woman lift a sack of grain.
They laughed and chatted with the villagers… as if they had forgotten they were being trained to kill.
But as the sun began to set and they returned to the academy, hidden between the laughter and joy was a quiet, lingering feeling:
"This world… is fragile."
And within Li Yuan's heart, a single resolve continued to grow:
I want to be strong… not just to protect myself.
But so I can protect this world.
That small trip to the village gave Li Yuan a different feeling. Like a brief vacation from the disciplined life at Qinglong Academy. The wind carrying the scent of earth and the sounds of nature made his mind clearer.
When they returned and the students began entering the academy gates, Li Yuan chose to walk slowly at the back of the group. He took a narrow path that curved slightly, leading toward the stone garden on the eastern side of the academy, a quiet place, rarely visited.
There, he saw someone sitting calmly atop a flat stone, watching the small stream flowing between cracks in the black stones. Wen Zhi.
The man wore no ornate robes. He looked simple, like a hermit. But the aura emanating from his body was different. He sat without a sound, without any dramatic movement, yet nature itself seemed to follow the rhythm of his breath.
Li Yuan stopped a few steps behind him.
"You intentionally separated yourself from the group?" asked Wen Zhi without turning.
His voice was flat, yet not cold.
Li Yuan nodded slowly.
"This place feels peaceful… like it doesn't belong to the academy."
"I felt… I needed a moment alone."
Wen Zhi gave a faint smile and finally turned his head.
"Peace isn't emptiness. It's the state in which understanding can grow without interference."
Li Yuan looked at Wen Zhi.
"Is all the strength you possess born from that understanding?"
Wen Zhi nodded slightly.
"True martial arts aren't about how hard you can strike, but how deeply you can understand."
"The strength of your body is only one side. Your breath, your observation, even your silence… can be strength."
Li Yuan fell into thought. Wen Zhi's words felt like water flowing into the crevices of his mind.
"If true martial arts come from understanding, then why are we taught to kill?"
"Is killing the final goal of understanding?"
Wen Zhi was silent for a long moment.
Then he said:
"You're still young, and yet you've asked something that even veteran warriors fear to ponder."
"Killing… is not the goal. But this world sometimes forces you to choose. Understanding teaches you when to hold back, and when to finish things."
He stood up, gazing at the darkening sky.
"Keep on understanding. Even when you don't yet grasp what it is you're trying to understand."
"Because sometimes… understanding only reveals itself after a long time."
Wen Zhi walked away, leaving Li Yuan still standing in place. The night breeze had begun to fall, carrying the soft sound of rustling leaves.
Li Yuan clenched his hands tightly.
"Understanding… isn't just about the outer world. It's also about the world within."
"I understand."
And that night, he returned to his room. But his thoughts remained in the stone garden, with the conversation that would change the way he saw everything.