When Cai Yun was born, he possessed no soul force, something thought to be impossible. Soul force was the special power within all living creatures that gave them life and the ability to move. It could be nurtured to grow. Yet, Cai Yun did not have any.

As Cai Yun watched the people around him train in martial arts and cultivate their soul force, he was left on the side lines, just watching. The others in the Cai Clan had access to the Vault and Secret Library, where all of their clan’s secret techniques were stored. All he could do was watch from the outside as the others trained.

But, this did not stop Cai Yun. As he watched the others in his clan train, he watched them repeatedly, taking time to memorize their movements so that he could practice it on his own. Even though he was not allowed into the Vault, he could at least practice the techniques that he saw to learn some of it.

“You need to train harder!” the large man shouted. He was Cai Jun, the greatest of the previous generation who had reached the Martial Warrior Realm. Once a cultivator reached the Martial Artist Realm, their soul force transformed into martial force, allowing them to combine their own techniques with a spirit’s power and creating high level martial arts. There were only two people in the clan who had reached that realm in the last hundred years, Cai Jun and Cai Yun’s father, Cai Yan. Their friendly rivalry helped to promote their growth.

But, Cai Yan was injured during a hunt five years ago, leaving him injured and unable to compete with Cai Jun anymore. Cai Yan had fallen to the level of Martial Artists, leaving Cai Jun as the sole prodigy of their generation and started to lose interest without a strong, friendly rivalry. As such, Cai Jun turned to training the next generation. He had wanted to train Cai Yun despite his lack of soul force, but the Patriarch had forbidden it, so Cai Jun had no choice. However, the stringent conditions also revealed a few loopholes that could be abused. Cai Yun cannot be directly taught nor be allowed access to the training resources, but he could watch and learn on his own. There was nothing to stop him from doing that and even only understanding thirty percent was better than understanding nothing at all.

Everyone from the Cai Clan was required to train in martial arts. They had to in order to maintain their position within Cloud City. Even though they were only commoners and lacked the special cultivation resources and precious manuals that the Noble Clans had, the Cai Clan was among the top of the commoners due to sheer hard work. The Cai Clan had to work harder in order to keep up and one day have a chance at taking up the position of Noble Clan.

“Now, Earth Shattering Fist!” Cai Jun shouted. The practitioners began to repeat the movements of the unique fighting style of the Cai Clan, the Earth Shattering Fist. It was a powerful finishing blow strong enough to smash stones.

Cai Yun looked in the corner to the Scouting Pillar. It was made by one of the Cai Clan’s ancestors as a way to measure someone’s soul force. It became the primary way of measuring someone’s abilities. The higher the pillar rose, the greater your soul force was. Because of that thing, the children of the Cai Clan were sorted based on their abilities. Those within the Gold Class were considered to be the ones with the greatest potential. They were the ones who measured at a soul force of at least a hundred on their fifteenth birthday. Below that was the Silver Class, who measured between sixty and eighty. Then, Bronze Class, who measured between fifty and sixty. Below that, you were part of the regular classes.

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Like the others, Cai Yun hoped to be within the Gold Class, but with his soul force at zero, there was nothing he could do about it. When he struck the pillar last year as a test, it still registered at zero.

“Now, focus!” Cai Jun instructed. The disciples all stopped and began to meditate. They began to focus in order to recover the qi that they had spent. This was where there were more variations. Some people were able to recover qi faster than others and their Class was rarely a factor.

For Cai Yun, this was what gave him hope. There was some proof that the Scouting Pillar was not the ultimate decider of your ability. It was merely a measurement of your strength at a given time and there was such a thing as innate talent and late bloomers.

Cai Jun turned in Cai Yun’s direction. Cai Yun quickly ducked behind the pillar he was standing at, hoping that he was not spotted. Cai Yun took a peek from behind the pillar at Cai Jun. Cai Jun’s eyes were still focused on him. As Cai Jun turned his back to the students for a second, he seemed to give Cai Yun a smile before turning back to the students, as if he did not mind that Cai Yun was there.

Behind the pillar, Cai Yun traced the movements of the Earth Shattering Fist, a powerful strike meant to shatter enemy defenses. It was the core technique of their clan. It was quick and powerful. The only thing that could neutralize an Earth Shattering Fist was another Earth Shattering Fist or a technique one Rank above it.

As Cai Yun looked back at Cai Jun, they had moved to the stones. The stones were practice for the Earth Shattering Fist. One was said to have mastered it when they could shatter the stone into dust. “Observe!” said Cai Jun as he held back his fist. With a fierce quarter turn and a thrust of his arm, his fist slammed into the stone, turning the upper half of it into dust.

The upper half of the stone had completely disappeared while the bottom half of the stone looked like it had been perfectly cleaved in half with a smooth finish. That was the proof of mastery. Cai Jun and Cai Yan were the only two that have mastered it to this degree. Not even the Patriarch could match this power.

“You there!”

Cai Yun turned around and spotted two of the guards on patrol. He had been seen and needed to run. He needed to get out of the Training Hall. Cai Yun had learned the ins and outs of the Training Hall with the help of Cai Jun who had been here every day.

Cai Yun slipped around the pillar, removing himself from view. He heard the two guards run towards him, but the stone walkway would prevent them from seeing which direction he went in. And unlike others, Cai Yun was not heading away from the center, he was heading into it.

There was a secret exit here, one constructed a long time ago for in case the Cai Clan was ever under siege. There were dozens of them and they provided access to a series of tunnels constructed by one of their powerful ancestors. That ancestor was unknown to most people in the Cai Clan. They did not mark their name on their creation nor did they leave their records of it.

The exit was located down one of the wells. It was not well hidden and you needed to be able to swim, but it was access to purified water that no one wanted to mess up. Cai Jun revealed something to me. It was not naturally purified water, something was purifying it, but he never found the source because of the mazelike tunnels.

But, both Cai Jun and Cai Yun were hopefuls. They believed that there was something special down here and Cai Jun once told him a story that he had heard from his own grandfather. His grandfather said that there was a “fairy,” a beautiful young woman with eyes of blue and a dress of white who was once locked away by their ancestors and would awaken when one of their own would release the bindings that sealed her away.

However, in their years of exploring the tunnels, they had not found anything. It felt almost as if the ground was shifting each time they entered, making it harder to find something. The one thing that would never change though, was the entrance. It was always possible to find your way back, but not always possible to find your way forward.

Now was as good of a time as any. The Cai Clan’s guards did not think to search here. Even if they did, unless they waited at the entrance, it would be impossible to find him. He could just wait for a few hours before leaving. Until then, he was once again free to explore the tunnels under the Cai Clan.