The village was quiet as always, but lately, my heart was restless.
The days blurred together—training by the river, hammering my fists against stone, pushing my body beyond its limits. The pain became familiar. My skin had grown tougher, my muscles denser. I had entered the second minor stage—Muscle Fortification.
Yet I felt… small.
Like the world I knew wasn't enough to contain what I had begun.
When Uncle Tian, one of the elder hunters, mentioned traveling to the city to trade herbs and ores, I volunteered without thinking.
I needed to see more.
The journey took three days by foot. Uncle Tian and two other villagers chatted as we made our way through winding forest paths and across narrow stone bridges, but I mostly walked in silence, absorbed by my thoughts. I couldn't tell them what I was doing, what I had begun to cultivate. They would only think I was dreaming.
The city, when we arrived, was beyond anything I imagined.
Stone walls that scraped the sky. Towering gates wide enough to fit ten carriages side by side. Streets teeming with people selling wares, shouting prices, haggling, laughing, fighting.
The noise and life pressed in from all sides.
As Uncle Tian negotiated with merchants, I wandered through the side streets, wide-eyed, taking in the bustle. My ears caught words I didn't understand, my eyes landed on weapons and strange pills I had only heard about in stories.
Then I heard something that made me stop.
"The sect recruitment is soon."
Two young men were speaking in hushed tones near a stall selling talismans.
"I heard the Crimson Cloud Sect will be there this year."
"Not just them—the Iron Wind Pavilion, too. Even the lesser sects are searching for outer disciples."
I lingered, pretending to study a stack of clay pots while my heart hammered in my chest.
Sects.
I had only heard whispers about them. Powerful groups of cultivators, places where martial arts thrived, where people could ascend beyond the mundane world. They were like legends to me.
I quietly followed the two men as they moved through the crowd.
"I'm going to try," one said. "Even if I only get selected as an outer disciple, it's a chance to leave this city, to truly cultivate."
"Hmph. Do you even have qi sense yet?"
"I'll figure it out. I have to."
They disappeared into the crowd, but their words stayed with me.
Sect recruitment.
I didn't know when it would be. I didn't know what it would take to join.
But I knew one thing—I had to try.
If I wanted to walk this path, I couldn't remain in my village forever.
I clenched my fist, feeling the faint pulse of power that now lived in my body.
"I will go."
No matter what awaited me, I would find the place where I could grow stronger.
And maybe, just maybe, find the answers to what the Heaven Reversion Law truly was.