Li Yuan sat cross-legged in the corner of his study. The Roots of the Soul lay open in his hands, but his thoughts had long drifted beyond its pages.
Silence.
One breath in, one breath out.
His awareness sank deeper—into stillness, into the self.
That inner realm returned—clearer than ever before.
It was no longer just an empty space.
Now, it was taking form.
He no longer saw only the surface of a calm lake.
At its edges, something had begun to grow—soft earth, wisps of grass, and scattered stones.
"Water… represents gentleness that carves. That was my first understanding."
Li Yuan moved through this inner space.
He didn't feel his feet, but he traveled—as if thought itself was his body.
And as he recalled the concept of fire, something flickered in the distance.
He remembered his conversation with Yu Shan—not about strength, but sacrifice.
About how one might burn, so others could see.
Fire was not just heat—it was will, it was resolve.
And there, in the distance, a red-orange glow appeared.
A small torch burned atop a stone, and the ground around it had blackened—dry, scorched, but warm.
"Fire is conviction… and steadfastness."
On the opposite shore, he recalled another truth—
The silence beneath an old tree in Ziran.
Days spent in stillness, when the world outside stilled, but the soul delved deeper.
Suddenly, on another edge of the lake, a tall stone pillar rose.
Unmoving. Unshaken.
Still—but filled with quiet strength.
"That is understanding of stillness. Of silence that pierces through."
Now, Li Yuan understood:
Each realization shaped a place within his inner realm.
And those places did not emerge by desire, but by true understanding.
He looked up at the sky within that realm—
Not blue, but a soft gray.
As if holding every color, but choosing none.
"If I understood the sky… would this sky begin to change?"
His steps came to rest at the lake's edge, between the fire and the stone.
"If understanding creates territory…
then how vast could this world grow?"
Li Yuan gave a small smile.
The outer world has limits.
But the world within—if shaped by insight—might be limitless.
Back in the real world, he opened his eyes slowly.
His breath was light.
His mind, calm.
He said nothing aloud, but in his heart, he had made a decision:
"I will understand… until the world within me becomes complete."