A cool breeze drifted through the slightly ajar wooden window, carrying the scent of dust and time into a room that had long been still.
Inside the familiar wooden chamber, the boy named Xu Yianzi remained in a corner, a motionless silhouette. His vacant eyes stared at the dark, weathered wall, as if he had surrendered to the world long ago.
A voice arose in his thoughts once more.
"Why are you living day by day like this...?""Are you really going to continue on like this...? Letting yourself become worthless...""Don't you know you're not alone anymore?"
It wasn't the wind, nor a hallucination. It was the voice of... "him." The mysterious man who had whispered in his dream. The one Xu Yianzi had thought was just a figment of his mind, but whose voice sounded so real, so strangely close.
"In this world... is there really no other way? A path that doesn't require martial power?"
Xu Yianzi was silent for a moment before slowly murmuring a reply. "There are... alchemists... formation masters... or those who classify herbs... but they all require power."
"Then what if you tried to find a way that doesn't need power?""I think giving it a shot is better than just sitting here, doing nothing..."
Xu Yianzi lifted his head. He took a deep breath and mumbled his response. "Fine… If it's better than staying still like this… then I'll give it a try."
At dawn, Xu Yianzi walked out of the room that had been sealed in silence for so long. His destination was the clan's library—a place he had never thought to enter on his own.
As he crossed the inner courtyard, he heard the faint whispers of his clan members.
"Isn't that him... the one we haven't seen in months..." "The library? Isn't it a bit too late for that..." "Trying to fight back now? Does he think reading a few books will change anything?"
Xu Yianzi ignored their voices, forcing himself not to look back.
He spent the entire morning in the library, emerging with a stack of more than ten books on herb classification, basic potion-making, and brewing methods using an ordinary furnace. Then he returned to the silence of his room.
He and Zen sat reading for a long time. No one spoke. There was only the sound of turning pages and the soft whisper of breath.
First Experiment: Herbs and the Cauldron of Fate
After finishing the first few books, he took the herbs his mother had secretly saved for him and began to arrange, grind, wash, and mix them according to his understanding.
The first time... the pot burned. The second... the herbs had an unexpected reaction, turning into a pungent, stinging odor. The third... the mixture became a black, unusable sludge.
And finally... when he thought the fourth formula might just work... Zen watched from his corner, observing Xu Yianzi's silent, fumbling hands.
"I've never done this myself... but from what I just read, it seems you have to mix things in gradually, not just throw everything in at once."
After preparing all the ingredients, Xu Yianzi poured everything into a crucible over an external furnace... His breath was tight, a sliver of hope flashing through the tension.
BOOM!!!
The pot exploded in the middle of the room. The pressure from the steam and the incorrectly mixed herbs slammed against the wall, leaving a crack in its surface. Xu Yianzi was thrown into a corner, the acrid smell of burning filling the air.
"Ugh... I... Did I get the formula wrong...?" "I calculated it... but..."
A soft chuckle echoed in his head. It wasn't mocking, but more like someone trying to suppress a laugh. "Well, at least you know that's not the right formula..."
Second Experiment: Ink and Formations
After repeated failures in alchemy, Xu Yianzi let out a long, weary sigh. The exhaustion was so heavy he wasn't sure he had the strength to get up again. But even though his heart ached with frustration, he refused to give up.
This time, he turned to another art: formations.
After cleaning the room, he laid out a new piece of cloth and a block of black ink. He began to draw a formation from one of the texts, painting it onto the cloth with a brush, his eyes fixed intently on every line. His hand trembled, but he tried to draw each stroke with care. Finally... when the last line was complete, the formation gave off a soft glow, as if it had succeeded for a split second.
Xu Yianzi held his breath as he placed his hand near it to activate it, but then... nothing happened. The lines of light faded away, as if swallowed by the air. He tried again, and suddenly, the cloth erupted in flames. The formation consumed itself, turning to ash in an instant.
"No... I checked it. Every line, every point... I followed it exactly..." "But why... did it still..."
He collapsed, completely drained of strength.
In that moment, whispers drifted in from the window. "Again? How much of the clan's herb supply has he used?" "Playing alchemist wasn't enough, now he wants to draw formations?" "If you don't have martial power, just stay quiet. Stop wasting our resources..."
Those words were like a thousand knives, slicing deep into his heart. But in his moment of despair, the sound of the door creaking open reached him.
His mother walked in, carrying another set of cloth and ink for him to try again. And she spoke only a single sentence:
"Once more. I'm not leaving."
Xu Yianzi clutched the ink block in his hand, his eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "I... I tried... You tried to help me, too... but... it's all useless..."
A heavy silence filled the room. Then, Zen's voice spoke once more.
"I have one more thing... that I want you to try.""Will you try it?"
Xu Yianzi stared at the empty air for a long moment before murmuring. "Since you're the one suggesting it… and since I have nothing left to lose anyway… then… I'll give it a try."
Something... was about to change.