The mountain grove beyond the academy's outer wards was quiet at dawn, but beneath its stillness was life.
Mini spirit beasts—small elemental creatures barely the size of a fox—darted between trees and rocks, their Qi faint but natural, infused by the mountain's essence.
They were considered too weak to tame, too erratic to bond with. But Mel Long knew better.
He had fought beside them. Lost beside them.
He stood at the head of a shallow glade, five students at his back—Gu Jin, Chen Yi, and three others who had quietly begun following him, drawn not by charm, but by results.
Mel knelt beside a set of clawed tracks.
"They're drawn to Qi fluctuations. Don't try to trap them with force. You need to guide them, like drawing water into a cup."
He looked up at Chen Yi.
"Qi concealment stance. Let's see if you've improved."
Chen nodded, lowering into a focused breathing rhythm. His core flared once, then dimmed, blending into the natural flow of the glade.
Better. Still raw, but better.
Gu Jin moved to the edge of the group, scanning the treeline. "We've got one."
The students tensed as a shimmering blue-furred beast stalked into view, eyes like droplets of crystal. Its form flickered—part solid, part Qi, shifting with each step.
Mel's voice was calm. "Don't panic. It's a Misttail. More curious than aggressive."
As it approached, Mel slowly raised a hand, letting a pulse of his Qi drift forward—subtle, non-threatening, shaped like a curl of mist. The Misttail tilted its head… then stepped closer.
It brushed against his hand.
He whispered: "Harvest the hairs from its tail gently. They regrow. You can use them in Qi refinement powder. Just don't scare it."
Chen Yi stepped forward, trembling slightly, but Mel caught his wrist.
"Calm your breath. You move too fast, it bolts."
Chen nodded, adjusted—slower this time. He succeeded.
Mel watched him with quiet approval.
Later, with the students resting under the trees, Mel prepared a small alchemy pan over a spirit flame. Misttail hairs mixed with crushed moss, turning into a pale blue dust.
As he worked, his voice softened.
"These methods aren't in the academy manuals."
Gu Jin looked over. "You never said how you learned them."
Mel paused, fingers tightening slightly around the pestle.
"I learned them… after the war started."
The students looked up. Even the younger ones understood that tone.
"In another life," he said, quieter now, "I ignored lessons like these. Thought I had time to grow. By the time I needed this knowledge… I was already standing in ash."
He didn't look at them.
"The Long Sect was falling. I lost friends. Brothers. I had to claw my way through death and failure just to keep moving."
A long silence passed.
Chen Yi swallowed. "And now you're… starting again?"
Mel nodded once. "With the chance to do it differently."
He handed the first satchel of finished dust to Chen Yi.
"This powder will help regulate your Qi for your next breakthrough. Use it wisely."
That night, back on the rooftop, Gu Jin sat beside him as the stars came out.
"You ever talk about what happened to your sect before?"
Mel shook his head. "Not in detail."
Gu Jin didn't push. But after a long pause, he said, "You're building it again. A better one. Right here."
Mel didn't reply. He stared into the stars—so much like the ones he'd seen after the final battle in his last life. But this time… he wasn't alone.
The spirit blossom grove was quiet under the fading light of evening. Shadows stretched long across the grass, and the air hummed faintly with Qi.
Chen Yi knelt beneath the same tree where Mel had first instructed him days ago.
In his hand, he held the powdered refinement dust—light blue, nearly translucent, resting in a thin porcelain dish.
He had studied it for hours. Smelled it. Meditated with it beside him.
Now… he was ready.
He closed his eyes, centering his breath.
Mel's voice echoed in his mind: "Don't force your Qi. Let it rise like smoke. Guide it. Don't grip it."
Chen scattered a pinch of dust across his lap, then pressed his palms together and began.
The powder dissolved into the air, forming a faint ring of mist around his body, drawn inward with each breath.
The Qi responded.
It surged through his meridians—stronger than before, but no longer chaotic. The edges that once bucked against him were now smooth, refined, pulled into rhythm by the powder's essence.
His heart pounded.
His body shook.
But he didn't falter.
He pushed.
Qi gathered at his dantian, flooding outward, crashing against the barrier that had held him for months.
His face tightened. Sweat beaded on his brow.
Then—
Crack.
Like glass breaking, a wave of energy pulsed from his core, rippling outward in a soft gust of wind.
Chen Yi opened his eyes, breath ragged, but gaze clear.
Grade 4.
He stared at his own hands like they belonged to someone else. The pulse of power still echoed through his limbs. Controlled. Steady.
He did it.
He actually did it.
Footsteps approached behind him.
Chen turned and immediately bowed low.
"Senior Mel."
Mel stood at the edge of the grove, arms crossed, face unreadable.
For a second, Chen feared it wasn't enough—that he'd done it wrong somehow.
But then Mel smiled.
Just a little.
A small, real smile.
"Good," he said simply. "That was your wall. Now it's gone."
Chen looked up. "It's because of your help."
Mel shook his head. "You climbed the wall. I just showed you where to place your foot."
Chen Yi's fists tightened with purpose. "Then teach me how to keep climbing."
Mel met his gaze. "I will."
Watching from Afar
On a balcony above the grove, hidden in the shadows, Si Yue stood silently, having caught the end of the breakthrough.
Her arms were crossed, her eyes narrowed in thought.
A student who couldn't even move Qi last week had just broken through under Mel Long's guidance.
It wasn't a fluke anymore.
He wasn't lucky.
He was changing people.
And something deep in her chest… shifted.