⚡⚡⚡Publishing Schedule:⚡⚡⚡
★★★★ 4 to 5 Chapters a week ★★★★
★★★★ One on Saturday ★★★★
★★★★One on Sunday★★★★
★★★★One on Tuesday ★★★★
★★★★One on Thursday ★★★★
✨✨An extra Chapter on Friday depending on the power stones I receive.✨✨
Chapter One: The Girl Who Couldn't Cultivate
On the streets of Clearwind City, where even street-corner beggars knew a trick or two with Qi, Rui Wei the third daughter of the Rui family knew none.
Not even a whiff of spiritual energy flowed through her meridians because, No open channels, No talent. No destiny, and she was of no use to the family.
And yet, there she was, sloshing water from a heavy wooden bucket down a stone corridor, wetting her shoes and paying no heed to the angry glares of the passing servants.
"Third Miss," a voice snapped behind her. "You're wetting the floor again."
Rui Wei turned and presented her brightest, most carefree smile. "Then perhaps someone should clean it. It's your job after all."
The maid blinked uncertainly, wondering if she'd been volunteered or insulted. Rui Wei didn't pause to let her find out. She spun around from the side courtyard, stumbling on her heels as the bucket nearly tipped again.
Life in the Rui household was simple: her older brother trained with the city's inner sect, her little sister could already put candles with a wave of her hand, and Rui Wei, at seventeen years old was best known for having one time toppled off the roof trying to catch a butterfly.
She had caught it, by the way. Then fell into the fish pond.
That had been a fun week.
"Rice waste," her uncle had complained, not even trying to whisper.
That always stung.
Still, she smiled. She always did.
The mountain that protected Clearwind City was called Silent Peak. Folks avoided it. No spiritual beings dwelled there, and the Qi was unnaturally feeble. Cultivators said it was like inhaling ash while Rui Wei enjoyed it.
There was no relatives there. No cold stares. No lectures on Dao or destiny or the fact that she was lucky her name was still in the family's registry.
She dropped the bucket at the well, shed her soggy slippers, and ran up the path barefoot, wind whipping at her sleeves. No one would look for her until dark.
As she climbed, the air grew cool and still. Not dead, exactly just… tense.
She passed by leaning pine trees and moss-covered stones, and a dense thicket of wildflowers, bright and soft beneath her feet. There were no birds singing here. No insects buzzing. She could only hear her breathing.
And then—
Crack.
Her foot was trapped.
The rock broke under her with a hollowing crash. She screamed as the ground gave way, her arms flailing as she fell into darkness.
She bounced hard, rolling through dust and night. For a moment, there was nothing.
Then: "Ow…"
Rui Wei pushed herself upright, rubbing her back side, which was hurting, as she dusts the dry earth that clung to her hair and sleeves. Light poured down from the hole overhead, barely enough to discern. She was in a room that was old, rectangular, and unimaginably still.
Stone columns leant against the walls, each bearing symbols she could not recognize. A shrine stood against the opposite wall, small and unadorned, its wood dark with age. A shallow basin rested at its base, holding stagnant water.
And in the center of the room was a coffin.
Rui Wei froze.
It was carved out of white jade, its surface etched with spinning clouds and silver inlays. It radiated softly with an inner light, like it had been holding its breath for a millennium.
She took one slow step closer.
The air in this place was different. It did not tighten like normal Qi. It was thicker, older.
"Hello?" she whispered.
Silence.
She approached the shrine, brushing dust off its face. A plaque was buried half-buried below it. She pulled it out, squinting.
The characters were eroded, but she could barely make them out:
Here lies Long Shen, Lord of Stillness. Disturber of balance. Eternal protector. Let none wake him.
Rui Wei frowned. "Well, that looks like an invitation to wake him up."
She should return. Climb out and pretend she never noticed this place. She thought to herself.
But something held her still.
Long Shen. The name stirred something in her chest. Curiosity. Deep, humming, dangerous curiosity, she wanted to see the person who claims to be a dragon God.
She stepped closer to the coffin. Her fingers hovered above the lid.
"Just one peek," she murmured.
She touched it.
The jade flashed.
A pulse of cold wind blasted out from the coffin, knocking her backward. She hit the ground hard, stars flashing behind her eyes.
Then it was silence again.
She quickly ran out picking up her buckets at the foot of the mountain as she ran back home
"You're late."
Rui Wei winced at the voice before even turning. Her elder sister, Rui Lanyue, stood on the outer porch of the inner courtyard, arms folded, a flawless silk ribbon in her hair and a glare sharp enough to slice pork.
"I'm early," Rui Wei said, wiping sweat from her brow. "Early is before tomorrow."
Her second sister, Rui Mian, snorted from beside a peony bush. "Lazy and shameless, an impressive combination."
"Dog like and cheap, I aim for the stars," Rui Wei answered, gliding past them with the empty bucket. "You should try it."
Lanyue blocked her way, a delicate fan spreading with a crackle. "The Patriarch would like this courtyard cleaned right away. And don't even think of getting a maid to use the Qi cleaning technique for you this time, it stirs the dust up into the air."
Rui Wei's eyes widened. "How am I supposed to, oh, yes. No Qi."
"Exactly." Lanyue inclined forward. "Good you remember your place."
Rui Wei met her gaze, still smiling. "And good you remember yours as well. If I am a weed, then you are a thorn rose. Lovely to look at. Painful to handle."
Instantly a slap landed in her face, the slap was swift. Rui Wei did not flinch. Her cheek throbbed, but she did not shift her gaze.
"You'll regret using that tone of yours if you keep on speaking, know your place waste" Lanyue warned.
Her voice trembled slightly.
"I usually don't do regrets" answered Rui Wei softly.
The next day, her fingers we red and swollen from the washed tiles by late afternoon, using a brush that was broken. Her family cultivators used effortless misdirection wind manipulated by Qi, elemental bursts but Rui Wei used elbow grease and leftover rainwater from last night.
She did not mind the work.
What she minded was being invisible unlesssomeone felt the newd to bully her and feel important to themselves.
While carrying the waste bucket to the back gate, she stood by the stone memorial wall. Her mother's name was carved at the bottom "Rui Wenhua". A name that nobody ever spoke of now. She had passed away when Rui Wei was five years old. Her father remarried shortly. The second wife had borne him three other children, and it was obvious that her father had cheated on her mother since the second wife's first daughter was older than her.
The second wife's children were all able to cultivate.
Rui Wei pressed her forehead gently against the cool stone. "Don't worry. I'm still smiling."
By dusk, she had disappeared into the mountain again.
She ran this time and allowed the wind to dry the tears she wouldn't let fall at home. There was a freedom in being forgotten.
But her heart led her back to the secret temple. She arrived at the place where she had fallen before and climbed down slowly along the mossy stones. The light had vanished from the coffin. All was still again.
She arrived at the shrine, a little braver now.
Long Shen.
Why did his name sound so solitary?
Rui Wei brought offerings the next day. A crushed moon flower she picked at sunrise. A pebble polished smooth by a river. A broken flute she once tried to play.
"I don't know what you are" she muttered, placing them at the base of the jade coffin. "But I'm not picky either, so we'll get along."
She visited again. And again.
It became a secret ritual her sanctuary. Where she could talk freely, tell tales, and even sing (awfully).
He never responded. But the air wasn't quite so cold anymore. The shrine no longer looked haunted.
Until, one evening, she appeared shaking.
Another "mishap" at dinner. Her cousin had "accidentally" splattered hot soup onto her lap. Lanyue informed their father in whispers that Rui Wei mocked his lessons about Dao. And no onw came to her defense.
She hadn't cried.
Not until she reached the mountain.
"I am not weak," she whispered, kneeling beside the coffin. "I am not. I try so hard. I never ask for anything. Why is that never enough?"
The jade beneath her fingers thrummed weakly. As a tear drop lands in the coffin.
She blinked.
The shrine shone.
A deep breath echoed in the room not loud, but long and old and shuddering with power.
The lid of the coffin creaked.
Stone cracked like thunder.
The air moved fast, waves disturbing the tides of time. Rui Wei stepped back, her chest compressing.
And then,
He rose to his feet.
A man of silver robes and eyes that were timeless. His black hair fell down his back like a shadow made flesh. His face was unreadable, neither welcome nor anger.
Just. serene. As a golden diamond shined right on the middle of his forehead.
His spiritual consciousness covered the whole mortal realm in an instant learning everything he wanted to learn.
Rui Wei gaped, breath clogged in her throat.
He looked at her.
And spoke.
"A mortal girl… with no cultivation."
"How interesting."