**Chapter 10: The Stone and the Diamond**
**\[Realm 1, Blade Clan Ruins\]**
The first rays of dawn were just filtering through the broken arches, carrying dust motes like a golden river. The air was cool with the lingering chill of the night, carrying the scent of damp, ancient earth. In this atmosphere, in the very center of the old Blade Clan training grounds, Ren stood.
His slender frame seemed lost within his own clothes—an old, brown tunic, perhaps his father's, its shoulders drooping past his bones. The ground beneath his bare feet was cold and rough. His eyes, which yesterday had held only fear and helplessness, now harbored something new—curiosity. And just beneath that curiosity, a deep ocean of fear still churned.
Before him, only a few paces away, stood Lian Yu.
His presence was the antithesis of Ren's. He was calm, stable, like an ancient tree whose roots plunged miles deep into the earth. He wore simple blue robes that swayed gently in the breeze. His face was devoid of expression, like the still surface of a tranquil lake. But his eyes... they were an unfathomable ocean. They did not merely see Ren, but peered through him, measuring the depths of his soul.
"Master... what... what must I do now?" Ren's voice trembled. He nervously rubbed his grimy hands together.
Lian Yu did not reply. He bent down and picked up a stone from the ground. It wasn't an ordinary round pebble. It was a sharp, dark brown fragment of rock, its surface sparkling with fine, crystal-like grains. Its edges were so keen they could easily cut skin.
He held the stone out to Ren. "Break it."
Ren hesitantly took the stone into his hands. It was heavier and colder than he expected. Its rough surface pricked his palms. He looked at the stone, then at Lian Yu's expressionless face. "Master, this... this is very hard. I... how can I break it?" His voice held that familiar, old helplessness.
"Try," Lian Yu's voice was neither soft nor stern. It was simply a statement of fact.
Ren took a deep breath, which snagged in his weak lungs. He mustered all his courage. He gripped the stone in both hands, squeezed his eyes shut, and tried to crush it with all his might. The veins in his thin hands bulged, his face turned red, and a suppressed cry escaped his lips.
The result? Nothing.
The stone remained completely unmoved. Its sharp surface had left deep red marks on Ren's palms. A wave of pain shot from his hands up to his shoulders.
Despair... spread over his heart like a cold, sticky wave. *See?* A voice within him whispered. *You're useless. As always.* Tears welled in his eyes, and he hung his head.
Lian Yu watched it all in silence.
*The world saw this body,* he thought to himself, his soul-sight delving into the depths of Ren's being. *They saw his weak muscles and ragged breaths. But I can see what no one else can.*
Lian Yu's consciousness entered Ren's body like an invisible thread. He saw that Ren's energy meridians were like dry rivers—thin, blocked, and almost lifeless. His Qi (internal energy) was a stagnant, murky pond. This was why the world called him 'useless.'
But then Lian Yu looked deeper.
Beneath that murky pond, his soul-sight perceived a thread wrapped around the core of Ren's life-force. It was a golden thread, so thin it was almost invisible. But it was there, coiled like a sleeping, ancient serpent. It carried the scent of a great, dormant power. A 'bloodline.' The remnant of a grand and forgotten lineage.
*His body is weak because this bloodline is drinking all his energy, just to sustain itself,* Lian Yu concluded. *This is not weakness; it is a treasure under lock and key.*
"You cannot break it with your strength," Lian Yu finally said, and Ren looked up, startled. "Because you are using the wrong tool. I will teach you to use the right one."
Lian Yu did not teach him swordsmanship. He began to teach him a method—the art of awakening the energy within the body and focusing it to a single point.
"Close your eyes," Lian Yu instructed. "Forget the world. Forget your body. Focus on your breath. Now... try to feel that power within you that you didn't even know existed. It's there, Ren. A dormant spark. You just have to awaken it."
Ren did as he was told. He tried to focus all his consciousness inward.
The first day passed. He felt nothing but despair and the noise of his own thoughts. The second day passed. He found nothing but the ache in his muscles and the sting of failure. It was late on the third day. Ren was almost ready to give up. He was drenched in sweat, and hot tears streamed from his eyes. *I really am useless... Master made a mistake trusting me.*
And at that very moment, when he had completely given up hope, when his mind was utterly blank... he felt it.
A very faint, needle-point warmth, deep in his abdomen.
He focused all his remaining willpower on that warmth, just as Lian Yu had taught. He imagined pushing that warmth through his dry energy meridians towards his hands.
And then, between his palms, a faint, almost invisible, blue glow emerged. It was weaker than the flicker of a firefly, but it was there.
A slight smile touched Lian Yu's lips, which had been a straight line for three days. "Yes... you can do it."
Ren saw that glow with his own eyes. His breath caught. This... this was his power. For the first time in his life, there was something that was entirely his own. Not a ray of hope, but a sun had risen within him.
After that day, Ren became a different person. He practiced day and night. His body screamed in pain, his muscles cramped every night, but he did not stop. He awakened that blue glow again and again, trying to make it a little more powerful each time.
Lian Yu watched all this from a distance. He called Uncle Hu. "Uncle Hu, prepare the best food and herbal tonics for Ren. He will need to regain his strength."
Uncle Hu saw how Lian Yu's gaze rested on Ren—there was the sternness of a teacher, but beneath it, a rare, almost fatherly pride was hidden. This was a side of Lian Yu that Uncle Hu had never imagined, and seeing it filled his old heart with joy and contentment.
A few weeks passed.
One day, Ren stood in the same training grounds. Lian Yu gave him the same sharp rock. This time, there was no fear on Ren's face. There was a quiet confidence in his eyes.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and focused all his internal energy into his right palm. His palm glowed with a luminous blue light.
"Hyaa\!"
He struck the rock with his palm.
*CRACK\!*
With a sharp sound, the hard rock split into two pieces and fell to the ground.
Ren stared at his glowing palm and the broken stone. His breathing was rapid, but this time not from exhaustion, but from exhilaration. He looked towards Lian Yu.
"What now, Master?"
Lian Yu looked at him for a long, deep moment. "Now... the real training begins."
*You are my first official disciple, Ren,* Lian Yu thought to himself, a dangerous gleam in his eyes. *You are my first weapon. My first general. Through you, I will show this world what can be forged from what they call 'useless.'*
Lian Yu looked at Ren and said, "Now... we will awaken the dragon sleeping in your blood. But remember, Ren. This process... is very painful. Most cannot endure it."