The inner disciple wing had fifty rooms, forty-three of them currently occupied. Wen Dao was assigned room twelve — a corner room with better ventilation.
The inner disciple master was Elder Chu herself. She ran the wing with complete precision. Every schedule. Every resource allocation. Every conflict resolution. All of it tracked and handled.
She did not welcome him warmly. She said: 'You are here on conditional status. Reach Qi Condensation Level One within three months or you return to outer disciple rank. Understood?'
'Understood,' he said.
'You have access to the Level Two restricted library, the advanced training halls, the beast forest at supervised hours, and the direct pill distribution system.' She paused. 'You also have access to disputes resolution if you face harassment from senior inner disciples. Use it if necessary.'
He nodded.
'One more thing,' she said. She looked at him steadily. 'I know about the Shattered Heaven Realm central tower. What you found there is your property and I will not ask about it. But I am telling you that Elder Huang is aware of it, and at least two inner elders are interested in it.'
'Are they a threat?' Wen Dao asked directly.
Elder Chu almost smiled. 'They are sect elders. They are not above sect law. But they are patient and they have longer memories than most.'
She left.
He stood in his new room and looked around.
Clean. Quiet. Real desk. Real light.
He took out the complete Iron Question Fist cloth and pinned it to his wall.
He took out Ren Long's copied notes and arranged them beside it.
He opened his training log and began mapping out the path to Qi Condensation Level One in three months.
The Dantian Opener pill was for Level Nine transition. He was at Level Five. He needed to reach Level Eight minimum — ideally Nine — before the three-month deadline.
He had the Marrow Purifier pill for Level Six acceleration.
He needed three more levels of work after that.
Three months. Three levels. Manageable if aggressive.
He trained that afternoon in the advanced hall. The equipment was noticeably better — training tools calibrated for higher levels, areas specifically designed for qi-technique practice.
He was the only person there at a Body Tempering level. Everyone else in the advanced hall was Qi Condensation One or Two.
They noted him. The usual mix: curiosity, dismissal, assessment.
One of them — a girl at Qi Condensation Level Two, older than him, with practical leather training clothes and short black hair — walked over while he was working through Question Fist forms.
'Inner disciple at Body Tempering Five,' she said. Not unkindly. 'Elder Chu's sponsored candidate?'
'Yes.'
'The Shattered Heaven Realm tower.' She sat on a training block and watched him complete the form. 'That's a real technique.'
'You know the Iron Question Fist?'
'I know of it. The creator was an outer disciple here about six hundred years ago. His name is in the old records.' She paused. 'He disappeared after the realm closed during his generation. Some records say he was killed for what he found. Others say he left voluntarily.'
Wen Dao stopped his form. 'What did he find?'
'The records don't say. Just that he found something in the central tower.' She stood. 'I'm Shen Yu. We fought in the rankings.'
He recognized her. The leverage fighter. The one who had taken the opening he offered and taught him something about the technique.
'I know,' he said.
'I've been trying to work out how you read me so quickly.' She looked at his hands. 'You watch the weight shift.'
'Among other things.'
She was quiet for a moment. 'I'd like to spar. Seriously. Not a competition — as practice.'
He looked at her. Level Two Qi Condensation. She could damage him significantly if she used qi-enhanced strikes.
'What do you want from it?' he asked.
She smiled slightly. 'I want to understand how your technique works. I've fought sixty people in this sect. You're the first one who made me feel like I was being interrogated.'
'And what do I gain?'
'Experience against qi-enhanced techniques. At your current level, that's more valuable than same-level sparring.'
He thought about it.
'Tomorrow morning,' he said.
She nodded and left.
He went back to his form.
Behind him, through the training hall doorway, he caught a flash of grey robe.
Grey Peak. Even here.