Days went by like beads on a string, each one almost identical to the last. The first day, all the new recruits received a set of simple gray robes and a small, darker gray spatial pouch. The space wasn’t large, but it was enough to hold all of Dou-Jin’s belongings.

The recruits could only be outer sect disciples after they passed the initiation challenge. Once they passed the initiation challenge, they would trade their simple gray recruit robes for pale blue outer-sect disciple robes. Wei-Wang had used all his powers of inquisitiveness to find out what that challenge might entail, but with no success.

All the sect recruits stayed in large, simply decorated cabins at the foot of the easternmost mountain. The girls slept in one building, the boys in another. At the foot of the mountain, beyond the cabins, was the broad and endlessly deep Azure Lake. Next to the lake, the bamboo forest swayed rhythmically with every gust of balmy air that descended from the cooler mountain peaks. From the boat, the mountains had appeared blue. On closer examination, they were verdant and thickly populated with many types of plants, animals, and flowers.

Every morning, all the recruits gathered in a broad, wall-less room for breakfast. The room contained one large wooden table and benches, but little else. Today, the room was filled with dim blue morning light. It had been misting rain, and cool air drifted in between the wide pillars that supported the roof.

Wei-Wang buzzed over to the table and plopped his wooden tray down between Dou-Jin and Bi-Feng. He radiated repressed eagerness, which was usually a sign that he had gained a piece of privileged knowledge and was about to share it. Wei-Wang’s friendly talkativeness had made him several friends among the labor servants, and they sometimes passed on tidbits of information they overheard.

As a rule, meals were silent. The usual mealtime silence was an intense torment to Wei-Wang, so he had developed an elaborately complicated system of hand signals and facial expressions with which he attempted to communicate urgent new information. This usually left Bi-Feng and Dou-Jin completely baffled, but he was more than willing to repeat everything verbally after the meal was over.

Wei-Wang sat down and began his usual gestures. In between confused attempts at interpretation, Dou-Jin glanced around the room. Elder Brother Qiao sat at one end of the long table, drinking tea and gazing out into the rain indifferently. His long hair waved slightly with the wind. Apart from Dou-Jin, Wei-Wang, and Bi-Feng, almost all the other recruits seemed isolated and indifferent. Most of them were from Immortal tribes that lived on the Azure Dragon Sect’s lands. Hao-Lan, though Mortal, had quickly adopted the mannerisms of these other recruits.

It seemed that showing emotions was considered crude by Immortals. It was eerie to see so many blank faces seated silently at the same table. Dou-Jin glanced back at Wei-Wang and Bi-Feng with relief. He had his own reasons to be here, but somehow felt that he would rather smile and cry as a weak Mortal than go through life blankly like these Immortals.

As they walked over to the lake after breakfast, Wei-Wang gaspingly explained today's urgent news, "Today we have another class, we are going to manipulate Qi, Ah-Lan told me that we start this afternoon and then we will start learning techniques-" He didn't have time to say much else before Qigong class started.

About twenty recruits swooped and glided in the luminous early-morning mist that hung over the lake. The sect’s fundamental stance, the Dragon stance, included a series of attacks and dodges. These exercises prepared the meridians for Qi manipulation. Manipulating Qi without training the meridians could lead to Qi deviation and injury, madness, or even death.

In the first classes, the recruits had practiced the sequence of attacks and dodges on flat ground. Later, they did the same sequence on elevated stepping stones. Finally, they switched to narrow bamboo poles. Normal mortals couldn’t make such rapid progress, but with daily classes in Qigong and Qi cultivation, Dou-Jin felt that his reactions became faster, his balance was steadier, and his control was finer.

He was far from the best student in the class. It was obvious that Lin-Qing, the Patriarch’s grandson, had long mastered everything they were learning. When Lin-Qing did martial arts, he balanced on the bamboo poles as if he were weightless, fluidly transitioning through the familiar sequence, long hair and robes flying around him. Dou-Jin didn’t even bother comparing himself to the other students. He knew that their goals were probably not the same.

Later in the afternoon, the recruits all gathered under the waving shadows of the bamboo forest next to Azure Lake. Small birds swooped and chattered over the fragrant pink lotus blossoms. Wei-Wang was buzzing with impatience to get started. Bi-Feng’s twitching ears revealed that he was equally excited. Xiao-Qing, as always, looked incredibly apathetic, but a small, sardonic smile played at the corners of her mouth.

Wei-Wang and Bi-Feng whispered speculatively about the upcoming lesson. They seemed almost boisterous in contrast to the rest of the silent, gray-clad group. Wei-Wang turned and whispered to Hao-Lan, who was standing nearby. Hao-Lan sneered and walked farther away, mingling among the other recruits. Wei-Wang seemed offended, but quickly forgot it. Hao-Lan never seemed to want to be associated with the other Mortal recruits, instead adopting the manners and behavior of the Immortals around him.

Dou-Jin felt a mix of excitement and worry. He was the only one that didn’t know his spiritual root, and he couldn’t even complete one full cycle of Qi cultivation. When they first arrived, Senior Brother Qiao and the sect leaders had consulted together. After all, he was only a recruit, and had passed the recruitment test. But that didn’t mean that he would necessarily succeed in becoming an outer sect disciple. And even if he did, it was only inner sect disciples who received advanced training.

Elder Brother Wu strode towards the class of recruits. Unlike the other sect disciples, his hair was tied up neatly on top of his head. He wore a simple, short upper robe and plain trousers. Elder Brother Wu had a vigorous, martial attitude, and every motion was deliberate and fierce. He stopped in front of them, hands clasped behind his back.

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“You have all been training your meridians and cultivating Qi. Today you will practice the basis for Immortal techniques.” He lifted his right hand, palm up. After a moment, a red flame hovered over his palm. It flickered softly. “You will first produce the element. Then you will sustain it.” He clasped his fingers into a fist and the flame disappeared. “You may know that there are five spiritual roots. For now, don’t focus on the element, but on the Qi that circulates in your meridians. Control it, guide it to your hands. Sustain the focus.”

The students raised their right hands, palm up. Dou-Jin focused on his Qi, gently prodding it to awaken, to circulate. He raised his hand, palm up. Nothing. A little way away, Bi-Feng cried out in excitement. A flat golden disc appeared in the center of his hand, reflecting the sky. Then it disappeared, energy dispersing back to nature. Focusing intently, he tried again. One by one, students produced flickering flames, stone, dirt, a bubble of water… Hao-Lan produced a swirling gust of wind, and as he focused, it grew larger and larger. Dou-Jin had barely started circulating Qi.

Xiao-Qing stood close to a tall bamboo, a flickering flame in her hand. Unlike her usual apathetic expression, she was intently sticking bits of leaf and twigs into the flame. Curious, Wei-Wang drew closer to watch her experiments. Nearby, Yun-Ying produced a crackling ball of lightning. Xiao-Qing and Wei-Wang glanced over, fascinated by the purple bolts of energy. Picking up a stick, Xiao-Qing sneakily stuck the end of it into the electricity. It crackled and scorched slightly.

Yun-Ying looked at her, startled. Like a hypnotized cat, Xiao-Qing extended a finger and stuck it into the electricity. A loud ZZZT sounded, and Xiao-Qing snatched her hand back, clutching her finger. All her normally smooth hair frizzed up crazily.

Yun-Ying stared at Xiao-Qing, stunned. The crackling ball of lightning vanished. Seeing Elder Brother Wu approach, Xiao-Qing gave Yun-Ying and Wei-Wang a quick, conspiratorial look before returning nonchalantly to her original spot, hair still frizzed up like an angry chicken. Yun-Ying covered her mouth to suppress a bark of laughter.

Dou-Jin continued focusing on his Qi as Wei-Wang approached. Still no success. Wei-Wang was staring intently at his own hand. A tiny flame wobbled there. As he came up to Dou-Jin, he looked up with a grin. Suddenly, the flame flared up uncontrollably, growing larger and larger. Wei-Wang’s eyes got big and he flapped his hand to put out the flame. At the loss of focus, the flame disappeared.

The lesson ended too quickly. After all the students filed away, Dou-Jin stayed by the river and continued to practice. He hadn’t been able to produce any element. What was worse, Elder Brother Wu didn’t seem to have any expectation that he would. When other students produced an element that wavered or vanished too quickly, Elder Brother Wu walked over and whispered advice to them, identifying and fixing weaknesses.

Dou-Jin was half discouraged, but also half-relieved. Alone by the lake, Dou-Jin closed his eyes and focused on the qi in his body. After hours, it finally felt as if his Qi was circulating, but infinitesimally slowly.

The groaning wheel turns, energy rushes through the meridians, just focus on the Qi…. He raised his hand, palm-up. Channel the energy to the palm of his hand, let it gather… Everything went silent. Dou-Jin slowly opened his eyes. A small, black, chaotically writhing mass of energy hovered above his hand. Dou-Jin felt a burst of excitement through his body. A sudden dread quickly followed.

What is this?

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Yun-Ying and Yun-Xuan walked back towards the main recruit buildings side-by-side.

Yun-Ying smiled to herself at the memory of Xiao-Qing’s frizzy hair. The contrast between crazily puffed up long hair around a sly, apathetic face made her chuckle.

Yun-Xuan glanced over at her sister, a slight furrow between her eyebrows. She peeked back at the other students to check that they were far enough away before whispering anxiously, “Ying-Ying, you shouldn’t be distracted by the other recruits.”

Yun-Ying scowled slightly and didn’t reply. Yun-Xuan continued, “Especially the mortals. You should focus on your own cultivation.”

Yun-Ying walked a few more steps before she stopped and hissed at her sister, “Why? Why can’t I? Mortals can ascend.”

Yun-Xuan sighed and pulled her sister off the path, into a little clearing between the tall, jade-green bamboo plants. “You know that it’s rare. They won’t have any power, and they won’t have a high place in the sect.”

Yun-Xuan ducked her head to look into her sister’s eyes, but Yun-Ying stubbornly fixed her gaze on one of the green leaves ahead.

Yun-Xuan cajoled, “Ying-Ying, don’t be unreasonable. Mom will be disappointed. How will people look at you if you ally yourself with those weak mortals? They won’t respect you at all.”

Yun-Ying felt irrational tears coming to her eyes. For some reason, she felt a sob rising in her throat. The vulnerability enraged her, so she said a bitter, hushed roar, “How do people already look at me? I know no-one respects me. Mom is already disappointed in me. You just don’t want me to be with weak mortals because it embarrasses you.”

She had been looking at a leaf, but at the end of this she dropped her gaze to the ground, then peeked up at Yun-Xuan through her eyelashes.

Yun-Xuan was startled by the emotions in her sister’s voice. With a small, dismissive smile, she shook her head as if humoring her sister. “That’s not true, Ying-Ying. Control your emotions.”

Yun-Ying looked away again and her face scrunched up into a painful scowl. After a pause, she shook off her sister’s hand and stormed off between the tall bamboo plants.

Yun-Xuan waited for a moment, then, sighed resignedly and headed back down the path with the other recruits.

Yun-Ying muttered to herself as she stomped between the bamboo plants. For some reason she wanted to cry, but that made her angry. She knew that she should control her emotions, but when Yun-Xuan told her to do that it became exactly the last thing that she would ever want to do.

“Ow!” Yun-Ying rubbed her sore head. She'd collided head-first with a bamboo. All her rage transferred to the tall plant, and she gave it a hard kick with her foot. The soft cloth shoe didn’t offer much protection. She howled in pain and anger, clutching her bruised foot. Something about it all seemed profoundly unfair.

Full of the injustice, Yun-Ying produced lightning and slashed it at the bamboo. The faint char marks were entirely inadequate. She produced Red Peony Wind and whaled the bamboo with the ribbonlike technique. Red petals scattered everywhere. She continued attacking the blameless plant, muttering unintelligibly to herself as her hands and feet became covered in bruises. The plant stood unresponsive, barely even swaying.