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The sky above the village seemed wider than usual. Perhaps it was the wind, or simply the way Hei Tian, looked at it that morning, as if he were searching for something behind the calm azure.
In the courtyard of the old pavilion, the broom scraped the stones. Each movement was slow, precise. Hei Tian wasn't sweeping to clean. He was sweeping to understand.
Shen Mu watched him, leaning against a pillar.
— "You seem far away, little one."
— "Not far," Hei Tian replied without looking up. "Just… behind."
— "Behind what?"
— "What I see."
Shen Mu remained silent. He knew these moments. There was no use in pressing. So he resumed sipping his tea.
A few days earlier, Hei Tian had overheard two elders in the village discussing a rumor: a cultivator had crossed the northern border, fleeing unknown enemies. The name of a clan had been murmured. And most importantly, the word "Dao" had been spoken.
Since then, something had stirred within Hei Tian.
He had never seen a cultivation technique. He didn't know its foundations or intricacies. But he had an intuition—not a thirst for power, but a desire to understand. To touch what lies beneath the visible layers of this world.
That day, he dared to ask a question.
— "Shen Mu… What is the Dao?"
The old man raised an eyebrow.
— "A dangerous question."
— "Then it's probably worth asking."
A silence followed. Then, slowly, Shen Mu answered.
— "The Dao… It's not a road someone shows you. It's what you are when you stop following others. What you discover when you stop searching. What you hear when the world goes silent."
Hei Tian frowned.
— "That's not an answer."
Shen Mu smiled.
— "It's all I can give you. For the rest… you'll need eyes you don't have yet. And strength I no longer possess."
Hei Tian stored those words in a corner of his memory.
In the days that followed, he paid even closer attention. Every word, every silence, every reaction from villagers, passing merchants, even the animals, became a source of observation. He wasn't trying to impress. He was trying to learn. Without realizing it, he was already forging the sharpest weapon in this world: brutal lucidity.
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