— ✦ —
Clear Sky Hall had four senior inner disciples.
He met them on the third day when Ma brought him to the senior cultivation hall for observation sessions.
The first, a young man named Wei Xun, was twenty-two and at Qi Condensation Level Six. He had a clean, powerful cultivation style built on total commitment — every technique executed at full capacity with no resource management, assuming personal recovery capacity would compensate. High-output, high-drain.
The second, a woman named Lan Jin, was nineteen and at Level Seven. She was the most technically precise cultivator he had encountered outside of combat — her forms were architectural, each movement exact to a degree that made them readable but almost unbreakable in their correctness.
The third, a quiet young man named Du Fang, was twenty and at Level Six. He cultivated slowly and said almost nothing. His qi signature had a depth that his level didn't fully account for — the kind of depth that came from understanding rather than speed.
The fourth was at the observation bench at the back when he arrived. She looked up from the text she was reading.
He recognized her.
The Clear Sky Hall uniform from the Cloud Peak valley. The one who had been in the best position at the valley center. She had been directing the group's positioning.
She was approximately sixteen. Level Five. Same level as him.
She looked at him.
"Secondary entry," she said. Not a question.
"Yes," he said.
"What did you find up there?"
"A library."
"Written on flat stones."
"Yes."
"We found forty-two stones on the plateau," she said. "There were clearly more. The empty spaces in the formation array on the plateau floor showed positions for at least a hundred."
"The rest were elsewhere," he said. "I don't know where."
She looked at him steadily. She had the eyes of someone who was deciding whether to believe him and was very good at the process.
"My name is Li Qing," she said.
"Wen Dao."
She looked at the Tiger's absence — she had clearly seen the Tiger at the gate. "The Void Tiger chose you."
"Yes."
"That happens approximately once every three hundred years according to the records I've found."
"Approximately."
"And you are at Level Five."
"Yes."
She looked at him for a moment.
"I'll spar with you," she said. It was not an offer. It was an announcement.
"When?"
"Now." She set her text down. "I want to understand what Level Five with both tower techniques looks like in actual exchange."
He looked at her.
Level Five on both sides. She had been at the plateau — had found forty-two stones. She had been reading them. Whatever she had absorbed was three days of reading from forty-two sources.
He had absorbed the first layer of one stone's deep archive, read ten restricted tablets, and spent three months traveling with continuous cultivation practice.
Different knowledge bases. Same level.
"Conditions?" he said.
"No killing intent. Full technique use otherwise."
He nodded.
They moved to the center of the cultivation hall.
The other three senior disciples stopped what they were doing and watched.
Ma stood at the edge of the hall.
Li Qing dropped into fighting stance.
He stood still.
She attacked.