Tuesday morning was unusually quiet among the newest disciples.
No one went to the Mission Hall.
The Qi gathered inside the chamber still needed time to settle.
Chen Xueyin spent the morning circulating carefully, already close to Level Four but refusing to force the breakthrough.
Chen Yiru and Chen Gao did the same.
Chen Lanyue had gained significantly too, though her threshold remained further away.
Chen Ba sat beneath the tree outside his courtyard.
Qi entered.
Refined.
Settled.
Again.
Nothing seemed wrong.
Very little impurity survived refinement.
Almost none of the refined Qi escaped.
His circulation remained smooth.
Yet his dantian accepted everything and asked for more.
Level Five was nowhere in sight.
"Absorption."
It was the only part he could not judge.
He knew refinement.
He knew retention.
He had no way to compare how quickly he drew Qi against anyone else.
Inside the chamber, each platform had isolated their senses.
For all he knew, the others had absorbed far more.
Perhaps Chen Yulan was right.
Perhaps his dantian was small.
If so, and he still could not fill it—
then his absorption had to be poor.
That worried him.
Level Four already felt slow.
What about Level Five?
Level Six?
Level Thirteen?
He removed his disciple token.
Achievement Points: 225
Ten thousand Achievement Points earned was one of the requirements for Inner Court promotion.
Spending points did not erase what had already been earned.
The clan tracked total Achievement Points separately.
That was not the problem.
The problem was access.
One Qi Gathering Chamber session cost one thousand.
If ordinary cultivation was too slow for him, he might need the chamber repeatedly.
Every point spent would still count toward the ten thousand he had earned—
but he first had to earn enough to spend.
Chen Ba closed his hand around the token.
Two hundred and twenty-five was nowhere near enough.
Elsewhere, Chen Yulan sat in the Outer Court archive.
The chamber record lay before her.
First — Chen Ba
The ranking beneath him had shifted repeatedly.
His had not.
Fast absorption.
Stable meridians.
No obvious leakage.
No unstable foundation.
Yet no sense of Level Five.
Her small-dantian explanation should have made the opposite result more likely.
A small vessel filled faster.
Chen Yulan closed one cultivation manual and opened another.
Exact dantian capacity could not be determined by pulse examination alone.
Specialized measurement existed, but there was no reason to put Chen Ba through it based on one strange result.
Not yet.
Observation first.
More evidence.
Then measurement.
She set the chamber record aside.
Her earlier conclusion might be wrong.
She simply did not know how.
By afternoon, Chen Ba had shifted from cultivation to technique practice.
The Black Pole rested in his right hand.
Lightning Qi gathered through his legs.
One step.
Crack.
He vanished and reappeared several metres away.
Second Step.
Crack!
Faster.
Further.
Then his right leg tightened.
Chen Ba stopped.
Thunder God's Three Steps was powerful.
It was also expensive.
Each burst consumed noticeable Qi.
Chaining a second increased both the cost and the strain.
Worse, his legs needed a brief recovery afterward.
A small opening.
But in battle, small openings killed.
The inheritance had engraved the method into his mind.
That did not mean he understood it.
Techniques had their own progression.
Initial Understanding.
Familiarity.
Proficiency.
Mastery.
Perfection.
Chen Ba remained at the first stage.
He could activate Thunder God's Three Steps.
That was all.
His Qi usage was rough.
Distance control limited.
Recovery slow.
Greater understanding would improve all of it.
Speed.
Distance.
Efficiency.
Recovery.
So the technique was not necessarily wasteful.
He was.
That could be fixed.
Chen Ba gathered Qi again.
First Step.
Shorter this time.
Stop.
Check circulation.
Again.
He did not chase maximum speed.
He chased control.
By sunset, his robe was soaked and his legs heavy.
The improvement was small.
Still—
small was progress.
Before sleeping that night, Chen Ba checked his token again.
225.
Tomorrow he would change that.
Wednesday morning, the Mission Hall was busy.
Chen Ba walked past the White board.
Straight to Yellow.
The older attendant behind the desk noticed him.
Then looked toward the entrance.
"Where are your teammates?"
"They aren't coming."
The attendant waited.
"Then who are you going with?"
"No one."
His eyebrows rose.
"Solo?"
"Yes."
"You were taking White missions not long ago."
"Yes."
"And now you want a Yellow mission alone."
Chen Ba nodded.
"You broke through?"
"Level Four."
The attendant tapped the Yellow board.
"Level Four does not make Yellow missions safe."
"I know."
"Your last Yellow mission had three people."
"I know."
"Then why solo?"
"More points."
No pride.
No attempt to prove himself.
Just the reward.
The attendant studied him, then let him look.
Chen Ba rejected anything with too many unknowns.
Escort duty.
Too dependent on others.
Mountain patrol.
Too broad.
Pack extermination.
Too unpredictable.
Then he stopped.
Yellow Mission
Location: Hollow Fang Ravine
Objective: Eliminate one Mature Tuskboar occupying the lower ravine and recover proof of extermination.
Reward: 200 Achievement Points
Mature Tuskboar.
Memory surfaced.
Weight.
Tusks.
Dirt.
Blood.
The previous fight had gone badly.
But he had been Level Three then.
Now—
Level Four.
More Qi.
More experience.
And he already knew how a Tuskboar fought.
The attendant noticed his choice.
"You've fought one before?"
"Yes."
"How did that go?"
"Badly."
The attendant almost reached for the slip.
Chen Ba continued.
"I was Level Three."
The hand stopped.
"I'm Level Four now."
He looked at the mission.
"And I know how it moves."
This was risk.
Not blind risk.
The attendant removed the slip.
"Two hundred."
"Full completion."
"If you find anything outside the listed danger, you leave."
Greenmist flashed through Chen Ba's memory.
The strike from behind.
The missing time.
He nodded.
"I understand."
The mission registered.
"Hollow Fang Ravine."
The attendant handed back his token.
"Try to return with the same number of limbs."
"I will."
Hollow Fang Ravine narrowed between two walls of dark stone.
Chen Ba arrived before noon.
He did not rush in.
Tracks first.
A tree rubbed nearly bare.
Deep hoofprints.
One animal.
Large.
Adult.
Good.
He followed.
A low grunt sounded ahead.
The Mature Tuskboar stood near the ravine wall, thick shoulders packed beneath coarse grey-brown hair.
One chipped tusk.
One target.
Exactly as listed.
Chen Ba stepped out.
The beast lowered its head.
Charged.
Lightning compressed through his legs.
Thunder God's Three Steps.
First Step.
Crack!
Chen Ba vanished from its path.
The Tuskboar thundered past.
He reappeared at its flank and swung.
Bang!
The Black Pole slammed into its shoulder.
The impact jolted through his arms.
The beast staggered half a step.
Then turned.
Stronger than him.
Still manageable.
The Tuskboar charged again.
Chen Ba dodged without Thunder Step.
The tusk passed close.
He struck its head.
The beast twisted and slammed a shoulder into him.
Chen Ba flew sideways, hit stone, rolled, rose.
Pain spread across his back.
Nothing broken.
The beast was already turning.
First Step.
Crack!
He vanished before the next charge landed.
Too much Qi.
Chen Ba recognized the waste immediately.
He had moved further than necessary.
The next time, he released less.
Crack!
Shorter.
Still enough.
The tusk missed his robe by a hand.
Better.
Less Qi.
Same purpose.
The fight tightened.
Pole.
Tusks.
Stone.
Dust.
Chen Ba struck beneath the jaw.
The Tuskboar swept sideways.
Fabric tore across his chest, missing flesh by a fraction.
He stepped back.
Its breathing had grown heavier.
So had his.
Chen Yulan's warning returned.
Do not fight a long battle against someone with greater reserves.
Yet when Chen Ba checked himself—
he still had plenty of Qi.
More than expected.
Perhaps he had conserved better.
The Tuskboar charged again.
Chen Ba retreated deeper into the ravine.
The walls narrowed.
Bad.
Less room.
Behind him—
stone.
The beast lowered its head.
Ten metres.
Seven.
Five.
Three.
Chen Ba gathered lightning.
First Step—
No.
He held it.
Two metres.
Second Step.
CRACK!
He vanished sideways.
The Tuskboar crashed into the ravine wall.
BOOM!
Stone fractured.
Blood ran from the beast's nostril.
Chen Ba landed badly.
His leg nearly folded.
Second Step.
Too much Qi.
Too much strain.
Recovery too slow.
The Tuskboar lunged before he was ready.
Chen Ba raised the Black Pole.
Impact.
He flew backward and hit the ground hard enough to lose his breath.
The beast attacked again.
He rolled aside.
Rose.
His ribs hurt.
His arms hurt.
His leg felt heavy.
Nothing serious.
Again.
No time to wonder why.
The Tuskboar's front-left step had become uneven.
Chen Ba saw it.
The wall impact had weakened the leg.
The beast charged.
This time Chen Ba moved toward it.
First Step.
Crack!
Past the tusk.
Along the injured side.
The Black Pole rose.
CRACK!
Bone broke.
The Tuskboar collapsed.
Chen Ba stepped inside the arc of its tusks and brought the pole down behind its skull.
BANG!
Once.
Again.
BANG!
The beast stopped moving.
Chen Ba waited three breaths before lowering the weapon.
Then he sat on a nearby rock.
His legs trembled.
His Qi reserve—
still surprisingly comfortable.
Thunder God's Three Steps had consumed plenty.
Especially the Second Step.
Yet he had lasted.
Perhaps his control had improved more than he thought.
He looked at the dead Tuskboar.
Initial Understanding had saved him.
It had also nearly gotten him hit after the Second Step.
Reduce waste.
Control distance.
Shorten recovery.
The technique still had far more to give.
Chen Ba collected the required proof and headed home.
The sun was descending when he entered the Mission Hall.
The older attendant looked up.
Then at Chen Ba's torn robe.
Then behind him.
"You actually went alone."
"I said I would."
Chen Ba placed the proof on the counter.
Mature Tuskboar.
Confirmed.
"Complications?"
"No."
"Injuries?"
"No serious ones."
The attendant looked at his robe.
"That answer normally means yes."
Chen Ba said nothing.
The verification plate lit.
"Two hundred Achievement Points."
His token changed.
225 → 425
Almost twice what he had held yesterday.
His first solo Yellow mission.
A Mature Tuskboar defeated alone.
Two hundred points earned in one day.
For a moment, satisfaction rose.
Then Chen Ba remembered the chamber.
1,000 Achievement Points.
He looked at the token again.
425.
Not even half a chamber session.
The satisfaction vanished.
For the first time since entering the Outer Court, four hundred and twenty-five Achievement Points did not make Chen Ba feel rich.
It made him feel poor.