The morning mist clung to the Azure Peak like a shroud as Chen Wei knelt in the meditation courtyard. Around him, a hundred disciples sat in perfect stillness, their breathing synchronized with the rise and fall of spiritual energy. But Chen Wei felt nothing—no qi flow, no connection to the heavens above.
"Pathetic," whispered a voice behind him.
Five years. Five years since the accident that shattered his meridians, leaving him unable to cultivate. Once the sect's brightest prodigy, now he was merely tolerated, a reminder of what could be lost.