After he’d come out of the guardhouse Zhang Lie had been dumbfounded. He stood there scratching his head as he looked down at Yu Chen.

“But Li Ming, how did he get here?” Zhang Lie asked suddenly, addressing the first cultivator.

Li Ming didn’t reply, instead turning and staring at Yu Chen.

Yu Chen gulped as he looked back and forth between the two cultivators, one still looking angry and the other seeming confused.

“I ran sir,” Yu Chen said as he bowed his head again. “Up the side of the mountain.”

The two cultivators looked at each other before looking back at Yu Chen.

“Is that even possible…” One muttered.

“I don’t know.” The other replied.

“The mists didn’t affect you?” Li Ming, asked next, still looking confused.

“They kept trying to lead me astray, but I just ignored them, using the strain in my thighs to guide me up the mountain.” Yu Chen said honestly.

The two cultivators broke out into chatter amongst themselves, and Yu Chen stood there quietly as they discussed his fate.

“This is a matter for Elder Gu.” Li Ming finally said.

“He won’t be happy to be disturbed at night.” Zhang Lie replied gloomily.

“He’ll be even more unhappy if he found out there was a disturbance at the gate and he wasn’t informed.” Li Ming replied reasonably.

Zhang Lie sighed before replying.

“You’re right.” He said. “Why don’t you go and wake him?”

Li Ming coughed and the two men eyed each other. Yu Chen, bemused, felt his conception of cultivators change as he watched them begin playing a hand game to determine who would wake the elder.

Li Ming lost. Cursing, he shot Yu Chen a dark look before returning into the guardhouse and running off.

Zhang Lie chuckled and seemed much more at ease now that it’s been decided he wasn't the one who had to wake Elder Gu from his slumber. Smiling, he motioned for Yu Chen to follow him inside the guardhouse and told him to take a seat at the table while they waited.

The cultivator ignored him after that and busied himself with cleaning up the room, in what Yu Chen supposed was anticipation of the Elder’s arrival.

He looked around the guardhouse, finding it to be little more than a large room between the walls, connecting the inside and outside of the Sect. It was rather empty, but a cozy fire burned in the hearth, and it boasted a pair of chairs as well as a table upon which a bunch of playing cards were strewn. There was also a staircase that led to a second floor. Yu Chen wondered what lay up there.

His thoughts scattered when the door leading into the sect slammed open, as a burly man strode into the room with Li Ming following close behind. Yu Chen watched as Zhang Lie jumped up and bowed his head at the old man, and Yu Chen hastened to follow suit.

The burly man ignored the other cultivator, walking past him and stopping right in front of Yu Chen.

Yu Chen gulped, not daring to look up at the man.

“Straighten up boy.” The Elder commanded, and Yu Chen did so, feeling his trepidation increase as he looked at the burly man in front of him.

Despite being covered in luxurious robes the Elder looked like a hard and brutal man. His head was shaved bald and covered in scars, and one of his ears looked closer to chewed gristle than something you’d hear out of. His countenance did nothing to soften his features. His thick gray eyebrows were drawn together tightly as he frowned at Yu Chen.

“Li Ming tells me that you are seeking to join the sect. Is that correct?” Elder Gu barked at him.

“Yes sir!” Yu Chen squeaked as he looked over the Elder’s shoulder, not daring to meet his eyes.

“What reason do you have for joining the sect?” Elder Gu said as he looked the boy up and down.

Yu Chen paused, gathering himself before replying to the question.

“There are rumors of a war, sir.” he told the elder.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Elder Gu’s complexion changed and Yu Chen realized that despite his appearance the elder hadn’t truly been angry before, because now he was incensed.

“There is no room for cowards here!” The elder barked at Yu Chen. “To cultivate we must fight against the heavens, This is not a path for those afraid of a little war!”

Yu Chen felt his emotions rise up as the elder berated him, and the sting of the insult drove him to yell back.

“I’m not a coward!” Yu Chen spat out angrily. “I didn’t ask to come here, I was sent! My mother worried they’d conscript regardless of my age!”

Li Ming’s eyes shot up in disbelief as Yu Chen yelled at the elder, while Zhang Lie's face paled.

Yu Chen knew he should stop talking and bow his head and apologize. Perhaps even fall to the ground and ask for forgiveness. However, all of the emotions and stress of the last week had finally caught up with him, and they demanded to be heard.

“I’d rather die fighting side by side with my brother than run off and hide on a mountain!” Yu Chen yelled, tears streaming down his face as his emotions overwhelmed him.

The room fell into silence, broken only by a few sobs as the young boy tried to pull himself together. He could feel the pressure of Elder Gu’s gaze upon him, and see the two cultivators in the back standing as still as rocks, tense and afraid.

However, the eyes the elder regarded Yu Chen with had softened, and he waited for the boy to pull himself together before speaking.

“That, at least, is the attitude a man should have.” Elder Gu stated approvingly before slapping a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“Now, I am told that you have climbed a mountain to be with us tonight, and that is no small feat. You’ve done so despite the mists being bewitched to confound and confuse the senses. Is this true?” The elder asked, and Yu Chen gave a small nod in reply.

“You abandoned the paths we laid out for you, and thinking you knew better, you chose to make your own way, is that it?” The elder asked, gazing intently at the boy.

That wasn’t exactly how he’d put it, Yu Chen thought to himself but he still gave a small nod.

“Auspicious!” The elder proclaimed as he beamed at Yu Chen. “We must all forge our own paths, and the sooner you start on yours the better.”

“However,” The elder frowned as he looked at Yu Chen. “ The test of personality is only the first one you must pass. There is still the matter of whether or not you are even capable of pursuing cultivation.”

“Hold this.” The elder said as he fished around in his robes before pulling out a fist sized rock.

Yu Chen took it from him and looked it over. The rock was clear like quartz and filled with smoky gray wisps.

The elder then reached out and grabbed Yu Chen’s other hand, covering it with one that was rough and thickened with calluses.

“This next test is very dangerous.” The elder said, deadly serious as he looked Yu Chen in the eyes. “I will have to channel qi into you. This is considered extremely invasive and in the future there will be very few circumstances where you will accept such a thing. However it is necessary if I am to test you. Do you accept it now?”

Yun Chen swallowed, nodding tightly.

The elder chuckled grimly before speaking again. “Good. Now, this test will see if you have the ability to channel and control qi. It is not without dangers either. If you lose control of the qi it will run rampant throughout your body, causing a backlash.” Elder Gu instructed Yu Chen.

Yu Chen didn’t flinch, or even so much as blink and the elder nodded his head in approval.

“Of course it is only a small amount of qi, so the damage will be minimal.” The elder said before continuing. “I’ll now channel some qi into your right hand. The test is simple, you must take control of that qi and let it flow through your body, out of your left hand, and into that stone.” He said as he motioned towards the stone in Yu Chen’s hand.

“Do not worry if you cannot grasp it at first, I’m willing to give you a few tries. Still, it’s best to temper your expectations. Most people fail this test.”

Yu Chen didn’t say anything. At this juncture what was left to say?

“If you are ready, close your eyes.”

Yu Chen closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, doing his best to clear his mind. Which was the time his repressed thoughts decided to steal his attention.

What if I can’t sense it?

What if I can’t control it?

What if I fail?

Yu Chen ruthlessly crushed his doubts, breathing in and out as he focused on the solid stone in his hand. It was then, in between breaths, that he felt something foreign worming its way into his body.

A strange energy was slowly pushing its way in, filling up his right hand. It was a weird sensation, and it felt somewhat like a morning mist had somehow formed on the inside of his skin like dew.

He focused on the energy and tried to bring it under his control, visualizing the way he imagined it should move down his arm. Mentally, he tried to pull at it. When that didn’t work he attempted to push it along, but that also seemed to do nothing as far as he could tell.

It was like he was dipping his hands into a pool of water and trying to push it around. Instead of moving in the direction of the force he applied, it instead swirled in place, defying him. Unable to bring the energy under his control, beads of sweat began to form on his forehead.

Nothing he did seemed to be working. He tried again and again to force the energy through his arm, but no matter how he struggled it continued to stubbornly defy him at every turn.

Yu Chen paused, taking a deep breath as he thought about how to advance from here. The energy was intangible and formless, and although he could feel it, it simply slipped through his mental grasp whenever he attempted to handle it. As he was thinking about ways to force it along something the elder had said tickled the back of his mind.

How had the scarred man put it? He’d said something about the qi flowing through his body. Yu Chen’s eyebrows unconsciously creased in thought as he began considering the issue from another angle. How exactly did the energy move throughout his body in the first place?

Now that he’d stopped attempting to grab at it he noticed that despite being amorphous the energy hadn’t simply spread throughout his hand evenly, but instead seemed to pool and accumulate in specific areas.

He approached one of the spots the energy had accumulated and gave it an experimental prod, and to his surprise he felt a response. He prodded it a little more, and realized to his delight that it was moving, flowing down his arm through some sort of imperceptible channels.

Watching in fascination, he cajoled the energy to move faster and it picked up speed, its acceleration increasing the further down his arm it traveled. A realization struck him that the energy had always wanted to flow, and it was his body itself that was the impediment to its travel.

He could feel the energy picking up speed as the resistance against it dropped, the channels it flowed through widening as they approached his core. By the time the energy neared the center of his body it was moving completely without any encouragement from him.

Then the channels opened up into the equivalent of a yawning cavern, and the misty energy fell like rain before pooling into the center of his body, Its mad rush stopping in the same way water does when it hits the ground.

A slow smile spread across Yu Chen’s face. He could feel the energy now, and it pulsed when breathed, as though it were part of him. However, his smile faded again as he realized he had another problem. He now had to figure out how to force the energy out of him.

His first attempt involved pulling at the energy in a vain struggle to move it up his arm. If before the energy had been formless like water, he could now feel it, solidified and sitting in his core like a heavy mountain, utterly unresponsive to his struggles.

Finally, after great effort he managed to draw the energy out of his dantian and into his left arm, but as soon as it began moving it would recoil, violently snapping back into place with enough violence to cause Yu Chen physical pain.

Yu Chen gritted his teeth in frustration, and his concerns about joining the sect fading away, replaced by the single minded refusal to lose out to the ball of energy. He marshaled all of his willpower and gathered beneath it, pushing and straining until, with great reluctance, the energy began to sluggishly move out of his dantian.

The wide channels that had been so beneficial at pulling the energy in seemed to work against him now as he wrestled with the energy. However he refused to stop, and instead kept pushing, forcing the energy down his arm until, with a triumphant gasp, he felt it move into left hand.

The energy left his body as the stone tugged at it, leaving him feeling strangely empty. He smiled and opened his eyes to see the stone in his hand emitting a soft gray glow as the energy swirled within.

“Hmm...” The elder said critically as he looked at the stone, and Yu Chen sensed a faint hint of disappointment on the elder’s face as he looked at him.

“Is it good?” Yu Chen asked.

“Good enough.” The elder said, turning away. “In my role as elder let me be the first to congratulate you on joining the sect. As of now you’re an outer court member of the Golden Mist Sect. Zhang Lie and Li Ming will take care of you from here.”

Yu Chen let out a relieved sigh.

The elder let out a short laugh at his reaction. He once again bid the two cultivators to see to Yu Chen before exiting the room, leaving behind the dumbstruck boy and two bemused cultivators.