The scream came from the lower cultivation yard.
Sharp. Short. Cut off too quickly.
Yan Xuan was already moving.
Zhou Kai grabbed his sleeve as they ran. "That's the pill circle—someone's forcing it."
"I know," Yan Xuan said.
They arrived to chaos.
A ring of outer disciples stood frozen around a young man seated at the center of a crude formation. His face was ashen, veins dark against his neck. Qi surged wildly, rebounding off his meridians in uneven waves.
A high-grade pill lay crushed in his palm.
Too much.Too fast.
"He won't make it," someone whispered.
The young man gasped, body convulsing. Qi snapped back toward his dantian like a recoiling whip.
Deviation.
Imminent.
Yan Xuan stepped forward.
"Don't touch him!" someone shouted. "You'll get pulled in!"
Yan Xuan didn't stop.
Zhou Kai's voice shook. "Yan Xuan—"
"Stand back," Yan Xuan said calmly.
He knelt beside the young man and placed two fingers lightly against his sternum.
The system surfaced instantly.
Deviation Probability: 92%
Primary Cause: Forced Intake
Secondary Cause: Misaligned Circulation
Intervention Window: 4 seconds
Yan Xuan acted.
He did not push Qi.
He interrupted it.
His fingers pressed at a precise angle, disrupting the feedback loop just enough to break the cycle. At the same time, he spoke—low, steady, deliberate.
"Stop circulating," Yan Xuan said. "Breathe."
The young man's eyes were unfocused. Panic drowned reason.
"Breathe," Yan Xuan repeated. "Now."
The Qi stuttered.
Once.
Twice.
Yan Xuan adjusted his grip a fraction, shifting pressure to a reinforced point near the ribs. The chaotic surge weakened, then collapsed inward.
The young man slumped forward, coughing violently.
Silence fell.
Then—
"He's alive," someone said.
Attendants rushed in moments later, pulling the young man away, faces tense but relieved.
One of them rounded on Yan Xuan. "What did you do?"
Yan Xuan stood slowly. "I stopped him from killing himself."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one that matters," Yan Xuan replied.
Instructor Han arrived last.
He surveyed the scene once, then looked directly at Yan Xuan.
"You intervened," Han said.
"Yes."
"You know the rules," Han continued. "Interference during cultivation is prohibited."
Yan Xuan met his gaze. "So is watching someone die when the solution is obvious."
Murmurs spread.
Han raised a hand for silence.
"How," Han asked quietly, "did you know what to do?"
Yan Xuan answered truthfully. "He forced intake. His circulation was misaligned. The rebound point was predictable."
Han's jaw tightened. "Predictable to whom?"
Yan Xuan did not answer.
Han studied him for a long moment—then turned to the attendants.
"Record this as emergency stabilization," Han said. "No penalties."
Eyes widened.
Han looked back at Yan Xuan. "You just made enemies."
Yan Xuan inclined his head. "I already had them."
That night, the dormitory buzzed.
"He saved him.""No technique. Just… touched him.""They say he saw the deviation before it happened."
Zhou Kai sat heavily on his bed. "You couldn't help yourself, could you?"
Yan Xuan sat opposite him. "He would have died."
Zhou Kai laughed weakly. "You realize what this means, right?"
"Yes."
"They're going to test you," Zhou Kai said. "Hard."
Yan Xuan nodded. "Good."
The system flickered faintly.
Exposure Level: High
Reputation Shift: Irreversible
Next Event Probability: Imminent
Yan Xuan dismissed it and lay back, staring at the ceiling.
He had lost correctly.Advanced carefully.Hidden when needed.
But today, he had chosen something else.
Intervention.
Cloudfall Sect would not forget that.
And neither would the people who had been watching—silent, calculating, finally aware that the quiet outer disciple was not merely stable.
He was dangerous.
Not because of how much power he had—
But because he knew exactly when to use it.