Chapter 10: Void Step
The duty disciple at the Pavilion desk lowered his gaze to the two jade slips before him. When he saw the names Void-Compression Step and Absolute Void Strike, his heart trembled slightly.
He then looked back at Mo Yuan, who stood there quietly, his expression calm and indifferent.
"Are you certain, Disciple Mo?" the man asked, his brush pausing above the ledger.
"The Void-Compression Step has been left untouched in the Pavilion for decades. Those who cultivate it often suffer torn meridians and shattered tendons, unable to withstand the rebound of space itself. As for the Absolute Void Strike…" He shook his head slightly. "It is known as a Dead Manual. Without the Qi density of a foundation-establishment cultivator, the attack will scatter before it can even touch the enemy."
Mo Yuan cupped his fists and said, "I am certain. These techniques align with my cultivation path."
The duty disciple let out a soft sigh and shook his head as he wrote in the ledger. "If you insist, then it is your fate to bear. Remember this, any damage to your meridians suffered during cultivation is your own responsibility. The sect will not intervene."
Mo Yuan accepted the jade slips, the cool stone faintly humming in his palm, and turned to leave the Pavilion.
Before returning to the solitude of North Cliff, he changed direction and went to the Dining Hall.
Today, he did not take the thin spirit-grain porridge meant for outer disciples. With his newly gained rank and the stipend seized from Wang Wei, he purchased a Grade-Two Spirit Beast Roast, a rich cut of mountain boar meat, saturated with dense worldly essence.
As he ate, a warm current spread through his chest and limbs. The spirit meat nourished him, strengthening the vessel that carried his cultivation.
Such food was a rare indulgence for him.
He paid no mind to the gazes around him. The matter of his defeat of Wang Wei had already spread through the outer sect.
The mocking whispers of "trash" had vanished, replaced by a silence edged with caution.
After finishing his meal, he set out on the long path back to North Cliff.
At the edge of his cliffside clearing, Mo Yuan sat down cross-legged and lifted the first jade slip, Void-Compression Step, to his brow.
In an instant, streams of knowledge poured into his mind maps of meridian routes, the precise Qi rhythm needed to compress the space ahead, and the grave signs that marked a failed attempt.
"Let us begin," he murmured.
Mo Yuan rose to his feet and began circulating his Qi. Following the method recorded in the manual, he condensed a dense knot of energy at the sole of his foot, then used his will to lock it onto the space ahead.
With Qi as the anchor, he drew the two points together, forcing distance itself to shrink beneath his step.
He took his first step.
CRACK!
The air didn't compress. Instead, a violent shock surged through him, as if he had stepped into a void that should not exist. His Qi buckled under the strain of the spatial fold.
A sharp, biting pain shot through his ankle, and he staggered, barely regaining his balance at the cliff's edge.
[Observation: Spatial resonance failed. Qi vibration frequency insufficient. Recoil partially absorbed by physical body, 12% structural stress detected.]
The Mirror's golden words flickered in his mind. Mo Yuan wiped sweat from his brow. The manual was right, this wasn't just about moving fast. His Qi was too heavy, like trying to swing a thick iron chain.
"Again," he muttered.
Too slow.
For the next four hours, he failed again and again.
Every attempt to compress space ended with his Qi striking the air like a solid weight instead of flowing through it.
His legs felt unbearably heavy, and the skin on his feet began to crack from the constant strain.
Most disciples would have stopped after ten failures, afraid of injuring themselves.
But Mo Yuan had the Mirror. Step by step, he adjusted his Qi in tiny increments, slowly finding the exact vibration where his fully dense Qi could move through the air without breaking it.
By sunset, he prepared for one final attempt. He focused all his Qi, picturing the ground ten feet ahead as if it were right under his heel.
He drew in a deep breath, condensed his energy at his foot, and stepped forward.
In an instant, the world lurched.
The air folded beneath his step and the space collapsed and released.
There was no sound of footsteps. In an instant, like a sudden drop in a dream, Mo Yuan stood ten feet ahead.
He landed heavily, his lungs burning, his legs trembling.
The step was unsteady, but he had done it.
He looked back at his starting position, then at his foot.
"First step completed," he whispered, a faint, hard-earned smile forming on his lips.
He breathed in slowly, feeling the burn in his legs and the Qi humming through his body.
Despite the exhaustion, determination burned in his eyes.