The first attempt at training ended without spectacle.
There was no qi explosion, no meridian collapse, no violent backlash. Lin Ye simply remained seated on the shelter floor, back straight, eyes closed, with an uncomfortable sensation in his chest: the world was not cooperating.
He breathed once.
Nothing.
He breathed twice.
The qi responded… late. As if it had needed permission before moving.
"Don't force it," Su Yanlin said from a corner. "If you push now, you'll break again."
Lin Ye opened his eyes slowly.
"I'm not pushing," he replied. "I'm waiting."
Yan Mo watched in silence, arms crossed. He didn't intervene because there was no need. This wasn't a technical problem. It was something deeper.
Lin Ye closed his eyes again.
He tried to gather spiritual energy—not from the dantian, but from the periphery, the way he used to when he was exhausted. The energy appeared… but dispersed the moment he tried to shape it.
No resistance.
No violent rejection.
Indifference.
"I can't move forward like this anymore," he said at last.
Yan Mo nodded.
"Before, you accumulated," he said. "Now, if there's nothing the world considers 'unresolved,' it won't let you advance."
Lin Ye rested his hands on his knees.
"So my cultivation depends on… decisions."
"On closures," Yan Mo corrected. "On accepted endings."
Su Yanlin frowned.
"That's dangerous."
"It was from the beginning," Lin Ye replied with a tired smile. "It's just honest now."
He stood up carefully. The world took a fraction of a second to accept it, but this time, it didn't protest.
"Fine," he murmured. "Then let's resolve something small."
He didn't have to wait.
A sharp sound echoed at the shelter's entrance.
Footsteps.
Confident. Loud. From someone who feared no immediate retaliation.
"Well," a familiar voice said, "I thought you'd be worse off."
Xu Han entered without asking permission, his robes immaculate and his family emblem clearly visible. His cultivation was modest, proper—but his posture was that of someone used to others lowering their heads first.
"Did you come to check?" Lin Ye asked calmly.
Xu Han smiled.
"I came to remind you of something," he replied. "Your presence is still… tolerated. And tolerance comes with conditions."
Su Yanlin stepped forward.
"Speak clearly."
Xu Han barely glanced at her before refocusing on Lin Ye.
"The routes supplying this place will continue to function," he said. "But at lower priority. Delays. 'Mistakes.' Nothing serious… if you know how to behave."
"And if I don't?" Lin Ye asked.
Xu Han shrugged.
"Then someone close to you will start paying small prices. Nothing fatal. Just… inconvenient."
The air tightened.
Lin Ye didn't respond immediately. He studied Xu Han carefully, as if evaluating more than just his words.
"Do you know what your mistake is?" he asked at last.
Xu Han raised an eyebrow.
"Enlighten me."
"You think this is a negotiation," Lin Ye said. "But to me… it's an open debt."
Xu Han laughed.
"You still think you're important."
"No," Lin Ye corrected. "I think you're convenient."
He took a step forward.
The Threshold did not activate.
But the world adjusted.
Xu Han felt—without knowing why—that the air became uncomfortable. Not heavy. Unstable. As if every next word might cost him more than expected.
"I'll give you two options," Lin Ye continued. "You withdraw the administrative pressure… or you become something I need to resolve soon."
Xu Han frowned.
"Are you threatening me?"
"No," Lin Ye replied. "I'm informing you."
Before Xu Han could answer, a soft laugh echoed from the entrance.
"Interesting conversation."
A young woman stepped inside with a relaxed gait. She wore simple clothes, no visible emblems, but her gaze was sharp, appraising. Her cultivation was hard to measure—not because it was high, but because it was well hidden.
"Pardon the intrusion," she said. "My name is Mu Shuang. And I think I can save both of you some time."
Xu Han frowned.
"Who are you?"
Mu Shuang smiled.
"Someone who profits when routes flow," she replied. "And loses when people like you use them as threats."
She looked at Lin Ye.
"I'm not here out of loyalty," she added. "I'm here because your problem… interferes with my business."
Yan Mo regarded the newcomer with interest.
"And what do you propose?"
Mu Shuang tilted her head.
"I restore the basic flow to this shelter," she said. "In exchange, Xu Han stops pretending he controls things he doesn't understand."
Xu Han opened his mouth to protest.
Mu Shuang looked at him.
Just looked.
Xu Han felt a cold sweat run down his back. He didn't know why, but he understood something important: she could do it.
"This isn't over," Xu Han said, backing away.
"No," Lin Ye replied. "But this is."
Xu Han left, with far less confidence than when he had entered.
Silence lingered in the air.
Mu Shuang turned to Lin Ye.
"I don't owe you anything," she said. "But as long as you're a source of instability… I'd rather you not collapse."
Lin Ye nodded.
"Self-interest," he said. "I like honesty."
Mu Shuang smiled.
"Then we'll get along. Until we don't."
When she left, Su Yanlin let out a slow breath.
"That… counted as a resolution?"
Lin Ye closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
The qi moved.
A little.
But enough.
"Yes," he said. "The world just accepted something."
Yan Mo nodded.
"First step," he said. "Small. But real."
Lin Ye looked at his hand.
"Then this is how it will be now.
He wouldn't level up by training harder.
He would level up by finishing what he starts.
And he still had far too many things left unresolved."
The change was subtle.
That was why it was unsettling.
Lin Ye felt no surge of energy, no sudden leap in his cultivation. There was no breakthrough, no flash of enlightenment. Simply, when he closed his eyes and breathed calmly, the qi responded without delay—for the first time since he had awakened.
Not faster.
Not stronger.
On time.
He opened his eyes slowly.
—It moved —he said.
Su Yanlin, seated a few steps away with her arm still immobilized, looked up at once.
—How much?
Lin Ye extended his hand and let a strand of spiritual energy gather in his palm. This time it did not tremble. It did not disperse. It remained stable, compact, without demanding more from him than necessary.
—Very little —he replied—. But it no longer hurts.
Yan Mo nodded from the back of the room.
—That's real progress —he said—. You didn't accumulate anything. You closed something.
Lin Ye watched the energy for a few more seconds before dispersing it.
—Xu Han —he murmured—. The world accepted that I stopped being a pending threat.
—It accepted that the situation is no longer open —Yan Mo corrected—. Even if it isn't fully resolved.
That nuance mattered.
Less than two hours later, the second movement arrived.
Not with noise.
With paper.
A nervous, poorly dressed messenger delivered a tablet sealed with the emblem of House Xu. Yan Mo checked it first.
—Xu Han is nervous —he said—. He's pushing too fast.
Su Yanlin frowned.
—What did he do?
Yan Mo read aloud:
—"By temporary administrative order, an extraordinary inspection is authorized of premises linked to Mu Shuang for possible fiscal and transit irregularities."
Lin Ye closed his eyes.
—A mistake.
—A serious one —Yan Mo confirmed—. Attacking someone who moves by interest… before you've consolidated power.
Su Yanlin pressed her lips together.
—That's going to provoke a response.
As if the world wanted to confirm her words, a faint tremor ran through the refuge. It wasn't a technique. It was a disturbance of routes.
Mu Shuang arrived at dusk.
She didn't enter relaxed this time.
Her steps were quick, her expression sharp, and although her cultivation remained hidden, her aura was no longer fully restrained.
—Xu Han just crossed a line —she said without preamble—. And he did it using my name.
Lin Ye looked at her calmly.
—That makes it a bigger debt —he said.
Mu Shuang studied him for a few seconds, evaluating.
—I didn't expect you to move so soon —she said—. But I'm not going to let myself be used as currency either.
Yan Mo stepped in.
—What are you planning?
Mu Shuang smiled, but there was no humor in it.
—Returning the favor —she replied—. Legally. Publicly. Irreversibly.
Lin Ye inclined his head slightly.
—And what do you need from me?
Mu Shuang held his gaze.
—Nothing direct —she said—. Just that you don't intervene… unless Xu Han tries to escape the consequences.
That was dangerous.
—If I refrain from intervening —Lin Ye said—, the world might consider it a closure.
Mu Shuang raised an eyebrow.
—And does that suit you?
Lin Ye thought for a few seconds.
—No —he answered—. But I can't force it either.
The tacit agreement was sealed without words.
Mu Shuang left that same night.
By dawn, the rumors were already circulating.
—Did you hear about House Xu?
—They say Xu Han forged permits.
—No… that he used routes that didn't belong to him.
—I heard someone submitted complete evidence.
Xu Han was summoned to a minor hearing.
Not an execution.
Not a brutal punishment.
A review.
Just enough to strip him of his sense of security.
When the news reached the refuge, Lin Ye was standing, breathing with his eyes closed.
He felt the qi move again.
A little more smoothly.
—Second closure —he murmured.
Su Yanlin watched him closely.
—You're growing —she said—. Slowly.
—And paying for every step —he replied.
Yan Mo crossed his arms.
—That's what keeps you alive.
They didn't know exactly when it happened, but that same afternoon, someone observed the refuge from afar.
Not with open hostility.
Not with casual curiosity.
With calculating intent.
Xu Han, pale and sweating, was leaving the administrative building when he received an urgent transmission. He listened… and his legs almost gave out.
—No… —he whispered—. This wasn't planned…
He looked toward the Lower District.
—This got out of my hands.
In the refuge, Lin Ye opened his eyes sharply.
Not from pain.
From a clear sensation:
a debt that was not going to close on its own.