FAIL
"This is Young Master Kai from the Yun Clan" Master Lingyun introduced.
"Yun? Then he must be the younger brother of that disciple of Iron Fist Sect."
Master Lingyun quickly drawing the line. "Master Kai is quite the talent indeed we are honored to have such a disciple interested to join our humble Wind Slash sect."
"Before you admit him Master Lingyun" Ziyu interrupted "I find that this young man is quite talented. I think of bringing him into my tutelage."
"But the Yun clan has for generations joined the Iron Fist Sect or its branch sects"
"Then I am certain the Yun clan won't mind if I bring one son to our sect, seeing that Myriad Jade Sect can offer more to this young man than your Wind Slash Sect don't you agree Master Lingyun?"
"Of course our sect can't compare to one of the Four Great Sects, any OTHER rare talent would be lucky to catch your eye." Master Linyung swallowed his pride, withholding any concession to their poaching.
"I have one slot remaining for my Chief Disciple Candidate mission and I need a strong talent."
Kai bowed, withholding his answer.
The Yun Clan had long been cultivators under the Iron Fist Sect either through main sect or smaller branch sect. He was ordered to join this mid-tier sect because his brother was already accepted in the Iron Fist Sect.
He had not chosen this path. With his elder brother already in the Iron Fist Sect, his father had sent him here so he could not contest his brother's position.
And now, for the first time, something better had appeared. A chance to become a disciple of Myriad Jade Sect.
To accept this acknowledgement would be defiance to the clan and him branded as disloyal. To refuse it was to turn away the a chance to escape his brother's shadow. Kai sweated weighing these options when someone from the crowd strode forward.
"HEY!"
The shout shattered the silence.
All eyes turned.
Mingzhe stood in the center of the courtyard, chin high. His broad-shouldered sun-darkened skin, and worn clothes was a stark contrast to Kai's refined robes.
"If you only need one more person," he called out, hands on his hips, "shouldn't you pick the strongest one?"
A pause.
Ziyu looked down at him, faint irritation in his eyes. "Oh? And who might that be?"
Mingzhe grinned, puffing out his chest.
"Obviously me. The strongest from Kuanglin!"
Whispers spread through the crowd.
"…Kuanglin?"
"Where's that?"
"Is that even part of the Suyuan empire?"
Master Lingyun cleared his throat quickly, seizing the disruption. "Well said! If strength is what Young Master Ziyu seeks, then let us continue the recruitment. Young Master Kai please step aside."
Kai placed the sword back in the rack and slipped back in the crowd.
Mingzhe strode forward like a conquering hero.
Without hesitation, he grabbed it off the rack.
It didn't move.
He pulled again.
Still nothing.
He blinked.
"…Huh."
Casually, he let go and wiped his hands on his clothes.
"Must be slippery."
A few people in the crowd stared.
He rolled his shoulders, then grabbed it with both hands this time.
He pulled.
The sword didn't budge.
Mingzhe paused.
"…What?"
He pulled harder.
The sword stayed perfectly still.
Then someone snorted. And the crowd grew from snickers to full out laughter grew.
Mingzhe's face slowly turned red.
He crouched slightly, planted his feet, and focused.
"Okay…" he muttered. "No more playing around."
His Qi invisible to everyone including himself flared.
Veins bulged along his arms. His neck turned red, then faintly bluish from strain. Then he felt the sudden surge of energy from deep within in, it was the same energy that allowed him to lift boulders in their small village. He poured everything into the pull.
"UUUGGGGHH!"
For a split second, a faint black flicker passed across its blade.
Too fast for anyone to notice.
The Qi absorbed by the sword had been too much and it was about to rebound.
Then suddenly
Something brushed his hand.
Soft. Almost like a passing wind.
He felt all his strength vanished at once.
FWHOOSH
Mingzhe was yanked backward, as if an elastic band hand snapped.
His feet left the ground.
His arms flailed.
Then he crashed flat onto his back with a heavy thud.
The sword remained exactly where it was, unmoved, as if nothing had happened.
A steward stepped forward, glanced at the scene once, then announced flatly:
"Fail."
A beat.
Then the courtyard erupted into laughter.
"…That didn't count." Mingzhe tried to plea for a re-trial.
Ziyu flicked his fan. It shot forward like a blade of light, cutting through the air toward Mingzhe. Mingzhe's eyes widened as the attack came so fast.
The fan tore past his face and vanished behind him.
At the same moment, Ziyu moved.
He landed beside Mingzhe.
The stone beneath him fractured outward in a web of cracks from the force of his landing. Before the sound had even finished echoing, the fan snapped back through the air, spinning violently fast it seemed to outrun gravity itself.
It carved a full arc around the courtyard.
Ziyu raised a hand and caught it effortlessly.
Behind him, a stone statue split cleanly in two.
A heartbeat later, the halves toppled with a heavy clang.
His expression remained calm, but his eyes slowly scanned the crowd.
"What's the meaning of this, Young Master Ziyu!" Master Lingyun irritated but couldn't really raise his fist at this formidable guest.
"…Do you smell that?" Ziyu ignored him and had continued sniffing the air.
The atmosphere tightened instantly.
Master Lingyun stepped forward, his voice controlled but tense. "Smell what?"
Ziyu didn't look at him. "The smell of blood."
Confused murmurs spread through the crowd. No one had been injured, nothing in the arena suggested blood at all.
Out of nowhere a single piece of paper floated right in front of his pace.
It was a seemingly simple shopping list: rice, pork, sugar, salt... the word wine crossed out three times. But when he turned to see the otherside of the paper an intricate symbol was burnt on one side.
His fingers tightened around the paper.
Without another word, he turned and moved.
Mingzhe didn't even have time to demand an explanation before two burly servants grabbed him by the arms and tossed him out through the gates.
He hit the ground, rolled once, then sprang back up immediately.
"Hey! What was that about? That was rigged! Rigged, I tell you!"
He stormed back and started banging on the gate to the recruitment courtyard.
A moment later, the doors swung open.
A towering, heavily muscled servant looked down at him expressionlessly.
"All who fail the recruitment process may reapply after six months. No disturbance allowed." The towering muscled servant threw him impossibly high in the air that Mingzhe arched outwardly and landed outside Aishan's gate.
"Hey you little cheats! I'm not done with you!" He said trying to march back into the city.
A guard stopped him, "Gate entry cost 20 Ose for non-residents and non-cultivators."
"But I already paid you earlier!" Mingzhe protested.
"Listen you can't just go back and forth all you want! It's 20 Ose per entry. If you got a problem with that leave!"
"Okay alright! I'll pay you!" Mingzhe searched coin pouch and a measly 2 Ose coins fell out.
The guard gave him a deadpan look.
"Wa-wait!!" Mingzhe tried to stop him but he slammed the city gate on his face.
"I can't believe I failed again…"
Mingzhe stared at the two coins in his palm, his grip tightening.
"It took me three months just to scrape together enough to get here… and now it's all gone just like that."
He let out a hollow laugh.
"I can't go back to Kuanglin. And even if I do, I'll need travel money again…"
He paused.
"…Which means more work."
Another pause.
"…Three more months of work"
He slowly sank to his knees.
"I just need to get into a sect, any sect!" he shouted, looking up at the sky.
He clasped his hands together like he was praying.
"Just let me survive, please! So please just let me join a sect"
Then a shadow loomed over him, a stranger with a sun-hat covering her face, "How about joining our sect?"
STONE STEPS
Mingzhe followed the veiled girl through a dense bamboo forest until they reached a long flight of stone steps winding up the mountain.
"So I just walk up these," he said, squinting upward, "and the sect leader will take me in?"
"Yes," Meiruo replied.
She did not elaborate.
Her gaze rested on the steps.
They looked ordinary. They never were.
Each step would take a little Qi. Most did not notice until they were completely drained. By then, a formation gets triggered sneding them back to the foot of the mountain, memories gone as if they had never climbed at all.
And even if someone endured the ascent.
Her eyes lifted toward the peak.
The summit did not hold a cheery welcome. The bamboo would turn, leaves sharpening, cutting without pause until the intruder was driven back or worse.
She had brought many here before.
They all started the same way. Hopeful. Certain.
Almost none made it.
Only six had ever reached the top.
Her gaze shifted to Mingzhe.
Reckless. Loud. Unrefined.
…but dense with Qi.
He might last longer than the others.
Mingzhe eyed her suspiciously.
"Are you really a cultivator?"
She looked small. Harmless. A girl carrying a basket of food.
"Yes," she said, producing a wooden identity tag. "From a small sect."
Dewdrop Sect — Disciple.
"Whoa… this is real?" Mingzhe leaned in, impressed.
He handed it back quickly. "Alright! Let's go! Small sect or big sect, I'm not picky! I just want to become a cultivator!"
He stepped forward and was gently pulled back.
Meiruo held his wrist.
"You should remove that first," she nodded toward his chest.
"My clothes?!" Mingzhe yelped, covering himself. "Y-you're not some fiend creature trying to lure me into becoming your bed slave, are you?!"
"…No." She reached forward and lightly drew out the chain hidden beneath his collar, revealing the small Qi-crystal. "This."
"My Qi-crystal necklace?" Mingzhe said. "I bought that for fifty Ose! It's supposed to enhance my Qi!"
Meiruo studied it briefly. "…You fifty for this? this is at most five Ose. It doesn't enhance Qi. It absorbs it. Miners use these when working near unrefined Qi."
"…It absorbs Qi?" Mingzhe froze. "WAIT—IS THAT WHY I FAILED EVERY RECRUITMENT?!"
Meiruo calmly enclosed the crystal in a piece of paper. "I'll hold onto it for now," she said. "You can have it back later."
She turned toward the steps. "With that gone, you should manage. You've got a lot of Qi"
Mingzhe blinked. "You can see Qi?"
Meiruo stepped onto the first stone stair. "I can"
"My uncle says the same thing! He keeps telling me I've got a lot, but everyone I met just laughs at me when I tell them that! They say Qi can't be seen!"
"Well you're like a walking ball of light it's almost blinding, but your control is poor." A small pause and she continued upward. "Earlier, you nearly damaged the entire courtyard."
Mingzhe stopped.
"…Courtyard? The sword test?"
He frowned. "That was you, wasn't it? You messed with my recruitment!"
Meiruo paused and glanced back at him.
"No," she said simply. "That was you. The amount of Qi you released was excessive. Like boiling water overflowing at the brim."
She stepped down one step, closing the distance slightly. "You're lucky you still have all your limbs in tack, don't be so ungrateful."
She reached out and flicked his forehead.
There was definitely a bit of Qi inflicted on it because Mingzhe stumbled backward and tumbled down the steps.
He groaned, feeling the burning sensation on his forehead.
Something landed in his hands.
A clear crystal, faint light swirling inside.
"W-What is this?"
"The Qi you released," Meiruo said. "I redirected it before it could rebound."
She turned back toward the steps.
"You've been fortunate," she added quietly. "With that much internal Qi and so little control you're like a walking calamity."
Not accusatory. Just matter-of-fact.
Mingzhe stared at the crystal.
Then clenched it.
"I want to…"
Meiruo stopped.
"Want to what?"
"I want to learn how to control my Qi," he said, looking up at her. "Please teach me."
For a moment, she said nothing.
Then she resumed climbing.
"…Keep up then." she said softly.
Mingzhe scrambled to his feet and ran after her. "So hey you tell how does my Qi look like to you?"
"I cannot say." Meiruo responded flatly.
"Is seeing Qi like a unique ability or a secret technique? Because aside from uncle, you're the first cultivator I know that can see Qi"
"I cannot say." these were Meirou's response as they continued their assent to the mountain.