The entire village moved toward the northern road.
Men left their tools where they stood. Women stepped out from kitchens and courtyards with flour still on their hands. Even the old men who usually spent their afternoons beneath the willow tree forced themselves upright, leaning on sticks as they followed the crowd.
Li Tian stood among them, his fish basket hanging from one hand, his eyes fixed on the road beyond the fields.
Three figures in blue robes were walking through the golden light of the late afternoon.
They did not ride horses. They did not need to.
Even from far away, they carried themselves differently from ordinary people. Their steps were calm and steady, neither rushed nor slow, yet every villager felt the same strange thing as they drew closer—
pressure.
Not enough to force anyone to kneel.
But enough to make everyone lower their voices.
The closer they came, the clearer they became.
The one in front was a tall young man with sharp features and a straight sword at his waist. His robes were dark blue, embroidered with pale silver cloud patterns. His expression was indifferent, as if Qinghe Village were no different from a patch of dirt by the roadside.
To his left walked a young woman, perhaps a few years older than Li Tian imagined sect disciples to be. Her hair was tied neatly behind her, and though her face was calm, her eyes were alert. She looked at the villagers only briefly, but that single glance was enough to make several people lower their heads.
The last one was an older man in gray-blue robes, his face lined with age but his back perfectly straight. He carried no visible weapon, yet his presence was the heaviest of the three.
They stopped at the entrance to the square.
Silence fell.
The same villagers who shouted and bargained and argued every day now stood like schoolchildren before stern teachers.
The older cultivator swept his gaze across the crowd.
"We are disciples of the Azure Sky Sect," he said.
His voice was not loud, but every person in the square heard it clearly.
A murmur passed through the crowd.
Azure Sky Sect.
Even in a remote valley like Qinghe, that name carried weight. It belonged to the world beyond the mountains—the world of sects, cultivators, and power.
Village Chief Ren hurried forward with both hands clasped respectfully. He bowed so deeply his back almost folded. "Honored immortals, welcome to Qinghe Village. This humble one is the village chief."
The older cultivator nodded once. "We will rest here briefly before continuing north."
The chief smiled too quickly. "Of course, of course! Qinghe Village is honored."
Behind the crowd, Chen Hu muttered under his breath, "They really came…"
Li Tian did not respond.
He was staring.
Not rudely. Not openly. But he could not stop.
The robes. The swords. The calm way they stood beneath the open sky, as though the world belonged to them.
This was the cultivation world he had only heard about in stories.
And now it was standing in front of him.
The young male disciple's gaze moved over the villagers with little interest. "Bring water," he said. "And clear a place for our elder to sit."
At once, several men hurried to obey.
The young woman remained silent, but her eyes paused here and there as if measuring the people before her. When her gaze passed over Li Tian, he felt his chest tighten. It lasted only a moment before she looked away.
The elder stepped into the shade near the chief's house. The crowd instinctively parted to make room. People whispered, eyes full of awe.
A few children tried to get closer, only to be pulled back by nervous mothers.
Then someone from the back shouted, "Honored immortals… are you accepting disciples?"
The question struck the square like a pebble dropped into still water.
Everyone turned.
It was one of the blacksmith's brothers, his face flushed with nervous courage.
The young male disciple frowned as if the question itself annoyed him. But before he could speak, the elder raised a hand slightly.
"We are not here for recruitment," the elder said.
Disappointment rippled through the villagers.
Still, the elder continued, "However… if there are children who have not yet been tested, we may take a look before we leave."
The square exploded.
Parents immediately began pushing their children forward. Voices rose from every direction.
"My son is very strong!"
"My daughter is clever and obedient!"
"This child learns faster than anyone!"
Li Tian remained where he was, frozen.
His heart had started beating faster, but his face stayed calm.
He had already been tested.
He already knew the result.
Weak spiritual roots.
Too weak to be worth training.
And yet…
A small part of him still looked toward the elder with a hope he hated himself for feeling.
Chen Hu stepped forward proudly, chest out. His mother hurried behind him, pushing through the crowd with the determined expression of someone who had already imagined her son in sect robes.
Village Chief Ren quickly organized the children into a rough line.
Li Tian did not move.
Not until his mother's hand gently touched his shoulder.
He turned. She had come from the house at some point, breathing slightly harder than usual from hurrying.
"Go," she said softly.
Li Tian's brows knit together. "Mother…"
"Go stand in line."
"I've already been tested."
"I know."
"There's no point."
Her eyes softened. "Then stand there once more and prove it to heaven."
For a second, Li Tian forgot the noise around him.
Then his father appeared beside them, carrying the fish basket Li Tian had forgotten earlier.
His father gave a small grunt. "If you don't go now, you'll regret it later."
Li Tian looked from one to the other.
His chest felt strangely tight.
Without another word, he stepped into line.
One by one, the children went forward.
The young female disciple brought out a palm-sized crystal plate from a cloth pouch. It looked simple at first glance, but light moved faintly within it, like mist trapped in glass.
Each child placed a hand on it.
Some caused a dim red glow.
Some caused pale green or muddy yellow.
Most were weak.
The young male disciple looked more bored with each passing child.
"Low-grade fire root."
"Mixed earth and wood."
"Too impure."
"Barely passable."
When Chen Hu's turn came, he stepped forward with all the confidence in the world.
The crystal lit up with a stronger yellow glow than most.
The villagers gasped.
Chen Hu's mother beamed with pride.
The male disciple glanced at the crystal and finally showed the smallest sign of approval. "Earth root. Mid-grade."
Chen Hu looked around immediately, lifting his chin.
His eyes found Li Tian in the line, and the smirk returned.
Li Tian ignored him, though his fingers had curled tightly at his sides.
Then his turn came.
He stepped forward.
The square quieted.
Even the villagers who had no hope for him still watched.
The crystal plate rested in the female disciple's hand.
"Place your palm on it," she said.
Li Tian did.
For one heartbeat, nothing happened.
For two.
Then a faint, almost invisible shimmer appeared in the crystal before fading like a dying ember.
The young male disciple let out a low, dismissive breath.
"Weak roots," he said. "Nearly nonexistent."
The words hit harder in front of the entire village.
Whispers spread at once.
"So it's true…"
"He really has no chance."
"What a pity."
Chen Hu laughed openly this time. "I told you."
Li Tian kept his hand on the crystal a moment longer, though he did not know why.
Weak roots.
Again.
In front of everyone.
His throat felt dry, but his expression did not change.
He began to pull his hand back.
Then the female disciple suddenly frowned.
"Wait."
The square stilled.
She looked down at the crystal again, then at Li Tian's hand.
The older elder opened his eyes more fully from where he sat in the shade.
"What is it?" the male disciple asked.
The young woman did not answer immediately. Instead, she turned the crystal slightly, studying it from another angle.
"For an instant," she said, "there was a second fluctuation."
The male disciple scoffed. "A defect in the crystal."
"Perhaps."
But she did not sound convinced.
The elder's gaze settled on Li Tian, deeper now, sharper.
"Boy," he said, "look at that tree."
He pointed toward a dead branch jutting from an old tree at the far edge of the square. It was thin, half-hidden by leaves, difficult to hit even with a good throw.
Li Tian blinked. "What?"
The elder's expression did not change. "Can you strike it?"
A few villagers looked confused.
Chen Hu snorted. "What kind of test is that?"
The elder did not even glance at him.
Li Tian slowly bent down and picked up a small pebble from the ground.
The whole square watched.
His pulse was beating hard now, not with fear, but with something stranger.
He weighed the pebble once in his fingers.
The world around him faded.
The murmurs.
The villagers.
The sect disciples.
All of it grew distant.
There was only the branch.
Its angle.
The distance.
The breeze.
Li Tian moved.
The pebble shot from his hand.
Crack.
The branch snapped cleanly in half.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Even Chen Hu's mouth hung open.
The young male disciple straightened.
The female disciple's eyes sharpened.
The elder said nothing at all, but something unreadable passed through his gaze.
Li Tian lowered his arm slowly.
The square remained silent for another heartbeat.
Then the murmuring began all at once.
"He hit it!"
"From that far?"
"I didn't even see the stone!"
Chen Hu's face twisted in disbelief. "It was luck—"
"No," the elder said calmly.
That single word silenced the square again.
He rose to his feet.
Now that he was standing, his presence felt even heavier.
He stepped toward Li Tian until only a few paces separated them.
"Weak spiritual roots," the elder said, "but unusual focus."
Li Tian's breath caught.
The elder's expression remained unreadable. "Interesting."
Interesting.
Not talent.
Not promise.
Just interesting.
And yet those few words struck something deep inside Li Tian.
Because for the first time in his life, someone from the cultivation world had looked at him and not seen only weakness.
The male disciple frowned. "Elder, with roots like his, what use—"
The elder lifted a hand, cutting him off.
He looked at Li Tian one last time, then turned away.
"We leave at dawn," he said to the other two.
That was all.
No invitation.
No acceptance.
No promise.
Just those words.
The villagers began talking again at once, louder than before. Some stared at Li Tian differently now. Some with surprise. Some with confusion. Some with envy.
Chen Hu looked as though he had swallowed a mouthful of dirt.
Li Tian stood in the center of it all, his thoughts in chaos.
Interesting.
What did that mean?
Was it good?
Was it meaningless?
Would they leave tomorrow and forget him entirely?
His mother reached him first. Her eyes were bright, though she tried to hide it. His father came behind her, face stern as always, but there was a strange weight in his silence.
The sun had begun to sink lower, turning the edges of the clouds gold.
At the far side of the square, the elder paused and glanced once toward the mountains beyond the village.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
As if sensing something in the distance.
Something wrong.
Li Tian followed that gaze without understanding.
A chill passed through the evening air.
And though the villagers were too distracted by excitement to notice…
the first shadow of coming misfortune had already begun to fall over Qinghe Village.