Xu Ming sat cross-legged inside his small residence, the faint smell of medicinal paste lingering in the air. His right arm was wrapped in clean bandages, and although the pain had mostly faded, the memory of it remained sharp in his mind. Outside, the night was quiet—but it was the kind of quiet that pressed down on the chest, heavy with unspoken scrutiny.
He knew he was being watched.
Ever since the fight, eyes had followed him everywhere. Disciples whispered when he passed. Elders glanced at him a second longer than necessary. Even the spiritual energy around his residence felt tighter, as if the sect itself were uncertain what to make of him.
Xu Ming lowered his head, clenching his fists.
I was careful, he thought. I didn't kill anyone. I didn't overreach.
Yet he also knew the truth: during the fight, something inside him had moved on its own. The five elements had surged together, not chaotically, but in harmony—metal reinforcing bone, wood sustaining flesh, water soothing strain, fire driving power, earth stabilizing everything.
It had felt… right.
But this was the lower realm. Here, "right" and "understood" were rarely the same.
A soft chime broke the silence.
Xu Ming's head snapped up.
A sealed jade slip hovered just outside his formation barrier, glowing faintly with restrained authority. His heart skipped a beat. That seal—he recognized it instantly.
Li Chen's seal.
Xu Ming scrambled to his feet, nearly tripping over his meditation cushion as he hurried forward. With trembling fingers, he opened the formation and accepted the jade slip, holding it as though it might vanish if he loosened his grip.
The moment his spiritual sense touched it, a familiar calm presence washed over him.
Li Chen's voice echoed in his mind—clear, steady, and unmistakably composed.
"Xu Ming. I have returned from the secret realm."
Xu Ming's breath caught.
Returned.
Alive.
For a moment, all the tension he had been holding back surged to the surface. His shoulders sagged, and he sank down onto the floor, exhaling shakily.
"I am aware of the incident," Li Chen's voice continued.
"You acted correctly in refusing extortion. However, you revealed too much."
Xu Ming winced.
"For now, cease open combat. Focus on stabilizing your cultivation. Do not argue with elders. Do not provoke factions."
Xu Ming nodded instinctively, even though Li Chen could not see him.
"You are under my protection. I have made this clear."
Those words hit harder than any blow Xu Ming had ever taken.
Under… his protection.
Xu Ming clenched the jade slip tightly, his vision blurring. He thought of the night his village burned, of the helplessness he had felt kneeling among the ashes of his home. He thought of the awakening ceremony, the mocking laughter when his Chaos Physique had been declared "trash."
And then he thought of Li Chen—calm, unyielding, standing quietly in front of him when the entire world seemed hostile.
"I will return soon," Li Chen's voice concluded.
"Endure."
The jade slip dimmed.
Xu Ming sat there for a long time, unmoving.
Then he laughed softly—a quiet, breathless sound that quickly turned into something closer to a sob. He pressed his forehead to the floor, fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white.
"I'm not alone," he whispered.
For the first time since entering the sect, the suffocating pressure around him eased. The rumors, the suspicion, the confinement—they still existed. But they no longer felt insurmountable.
Li Chen had returned.
That fact alone changed everything.
Xu Ming rose slowly and returned to his meditation mat. This time, when he sat, his posture was straighter, his breathing steadier. He carefully circulated his qi as Li Chen had taught him, suppressing the five elements, letting them rotate gently instead of surging outward.
Metal no longer clashed with wood.
Fire no longer raged.
Earth no longer resisted water.
They flowed.
Stabilize, he reminded himself. Endure.
Hours passed.
As dawn approached, Xu Ming felt it—a subtle shift deep within his body. The chaotic resonance smoothed further, his bones humming with restrained strength. Though he did not break through, his cultivation became denser, more refined.
He opened his eyes, a quiet determination burning within them.
"They think I'm trash," he murmured. "They think I'm weak."
A faint smile tugged at his lips.
"Then I'll grow quietly. Just like you taught me, Senior Brother Li."
Outside his residence, the watchers remained unaware.
Inside, Xu Ming's resolve solidified.
Because now, he knew one thing for certain—
As long as Li Chen walked ahead of him,
he would never lose his way again.