"You are strong, brother," Aryan finally said, his voice devoid of any emotion. "Your fists can break stone. But your strength is like a flood. It rages, it breaks, it is powerful but uncontrolled. It can shatter a wall, but it cannot carve a statue."
He slowly raised his hand and extended a single finger. He touched the surface of the same stone wall his brother had just been pounding. He channeled a precise, needle-thin stream of Qi, vibrating it at a specific frequency he had spent weeks perfecting.
There was no sound, no impact, not even a wisp of dust. For a moment, it seemed like nothing had happened. Then, a stream of fine, gray powder, like sand from an hourglass, trickled from a point on the stone. It left behind a perfect, tiny hole, no wider than a chopstick, that bored deep into the heart of the rock. It was a wound of surgical precision next to Rohan's brutal, shallow cracks.
Rohan stared at the hole, his breath caught in his throat. His explosive punches had chipped the surface. Aryan's quiet touch had pierced its heart. The demonstration was more eloquent, and more devastating, than any insult.
"You train your muscles," Aryan continued, his voice still a calm monotone. "I train my control. That is the only secret."
He turned and walked back to his room, leaving Rohan standing alone in the courtyard, staring at the small, perfect hole that represented the vast, terrifying chasm that had opened between them.
Days turned into weeks. Aryan's cultivation advanced at a pace that defied all known logic. Fueled by the spirit stones from his father and the supreme efficiency of the Supreme Immortal Scripture, he broke through the final barrier of the Qi Condensation Realm.
[Congratulations, Host! You have successfully broken through to the Qi Condensation Realm - Layer 7.]
He had officially reached the same cultivation level as his brother. But they both knew the number was meaningless now. Rohan at the 7th Layer of Qi Condensation was a powerful brawler. Aryan at the 7th Layer of Qi Condensation was a precision weapon.
Two more weeks passed. The date of the academy examination loomed closer. Aryan stood in his room, looking at the map of the Azure Province spread across his desk. His finger traced the outline of a large, dark green patch of land to the north. The Whispering Beast Forest.
He had learned what he could within the safe confines of his home. He had mastered the basics of his new techniques, solidified his cultivation, and built a solid foundation. But it was all theoretical. It was data without real-world application. The spiders had been a simple test. The beasts of the forest the cunning Shadow Cats, the brutal Iron-Skinned Boars, the territorial Crimson-Crested Hawks they would be the true test.
He packed a small bag with his journals, a few changes of clothes, and the remaining spirit stones. He strapped the simple steel sword to his back. He looked around the room that had been his cage and then his forge. It was time to leave.
He found his father in the courtyard, inspecting the cracks in the stone wall.
"I'm leaving," Aryan said simply.
Vikram turned, his expression unreadable. "The examination is still three weeks away."
"I am not going to the examination," Aryan replied. "I am going to the examination hall. Master Elara told me the final trial is in the Whispering Beast Forest. I intend to familiarize myself with the terrain... and its inhabitants."
A slow smile, the first true smile in years, touched Vikram's lips. He had spent his life teaching his sons to be strong. But this... this was different. Rohan trained to meet a challenge. Aryan was training to end it before it began. It was the difference between a soldier and a strategist, between a beast and a true hunter.
"Go," Vikram said, his voice a deep, rumbling bass filled with pride. "Come back stronger."
After speaking with Vikram, as Aryan headed for the gate, his mother Priya and sister Meera emerged from a shaded part of the courtyard.
Priya said nothing, only adjusting the strap of his bag and placing a light hand on his forehead. There was worry in her eyes, but her lips only whispered, "Be careful, son."
Meera stood with her arms crossed. Her gaze was sharp, as if she were weighing Aryan. As he passed, she gave a slight smile. "There won't just be beasts in the forest. Keep your eyes open."
Aryan nodded. He walked out of the Rathore compound without a backward glance. He wasn't leaving a pond for an ocean. He was leaving a controlled laboratory for a live testing ground, and he was eager to start gathering data.