When the Path Would Not Open

Hao Nhien did not know how much time had passed before his consciousness gradually returned from a deep stretch of darkness.

He opened his eyes and found himself lying in a simple room.

Above him, dark wooden beams had been fitted together somewhat roughly, but they looked solid enough. Sunlight entered through a gap beside the window, casting a long strip of light across the earthen floor. There was warmth in it, mixed with the faint smells of medicine and cooking smoke lingering in the air.

Hao Nhien did not immediately sit up.

The first thing he wanted to determine was not where he was.

It was the condition of his body after the battle at U Minh Mountain.

He closed his eyes and sank his awareness into his dantian.

The Golden Core was still there.

It rested quietly at the center, its structure stable, with no sign of cracking or any indication that his realm had weakened.

In fact, compared with the moment immediately after core formation, many of the chaotic fluctuations surrounding it had diminished considerably. That suggested the transformation within his body had continued even while he was unconscious.

The problem appeared the moment he tried circulating True Qi.

A thin strand of power emerged from the Golden Core and entered the familiar meridian route.

After traveling only a short distance, it began to slow.

Hao Nhien maintained his intent for several more breaths, but the current still could not continue.

Eventually, it dispersed before reaching the location he intended.

His brows drew together slightly.

The terrible exhaustion left behind by Berserk had already faded considerably.

Most of his external injuries had healed as well.

Yet the inability to circulate True Qi remained.

Hao Nhien raised one hand and slowly closed it into a fist.

His muscles responded immediately.

The force traveling through his arm was still much greater than it had been before he entered Golden Core.

The wounds left by the heavenly tribulation had closed, and the scorched flesh no longer carried any burning pain.

His body seemed to have passed through the most dangerous stage.

Though the transformation following the tribulation had probably not yet fully completed.

He braced one hand against the bed and sat up.

Crack.

A small sound came from the edge of the wooden frame.

Hao Nhien looked down.

A fracture had appeared where his hand had pressed.

He adjusted the strength in his fingers and slowly stood.

That alone told him something about his current condition.

His physical strength had increased noticeably after the heavenly tribulation.

But the coordination between that strength and the fine adjustments once assisted by True Qi was no longer the same.

Movements that had become instinctive over the years now required greater care.

Hao Nhien walked toward the door.

He was about to push it open when a thought suddenly stopped him.

The Cosmic Ark.

His last memories before losing consciousness returned at once.

During the battle at U Minh Mountain, he had repeatedly tried to summon the Ark as an escape route.

It had given him no response.

Worse, when he forced his spiritual sense deeper into the connection, he had felt a strange pulling force that continued draining what little soul power he had left.

More importantly—

Tieu Lan was still unconscious inside.

Several days might already have passed since he collapsed.

Hao Nhien had no idea whether anything had happened to her.

He immediately concentrated his awareness and reached for the familiar connection with the Cosmic Ark.

The connection remained intact.

He could clearly sense the Ark’s existence within his soul.

He could even feel extremely faint fluctuations coming from somewhere inside it.

But when he tried to summon its dwelling form, nothing appeared.

Hao Nhien forced himself to remain calm.

He guided his spiritual sense along the connection, attempting to examine what was happening.

The instant his awareness touched a strange layer of fluctuation within the Ark, a sudden suction force appeared.

It seized the portion of spiritual sense he had sent inward.

Hao Nhien’s sea of consciousness shook.

It felt as though something inside the Ark were actively absorbing his soul power.

He immediately withdrew.

Even so, part of his spiritual sense was lost before he managed to break contact.

Hao Nhien stood motionless.

His expression became grave.

The Cosmic Ark had never reacted like this before.

His connection to it remained.

But something inside seemed to be operating independently of his control.

More troubling was the fact that he could not enter and examine Tieu Lan.

Nor did he understand what the strange absorption of soul power meant.

He was debating whether to try again when an old memory suddenly surfaced.

Old Boat.

Hao Nhien remembered that long ago, Old Boat had once told him that when he became strong enough, the old fellow might awaken.

At the time, Hao Nhien had not understood what condition Old Boat had meant.

He had simply assumed he needed to continue cultivating, raise his realm, and wait until his strength reached whatever threshold was required.

But now—

he had just survived heavenly tribulation and entered Golden Core.

And immediately afterward, the Cosmic Ark had undergone a change unlike anything he had ever experienced.

A possibility caused Hao Nhien’s eyes to shift slightly.

Could the strength Old Boat spoke of have meant Golden Core?

He remembered the suction he had just felt, along with the strange fluctuations coming from within the Ark.

If Old Boat truly was in the process of awakening, could the absorption of soul power be connected to that?

But the idea immediately produced several more questions.

If Old Boat was awakening, why could the Ark no longer be summoned?

How long would the process last?

And most importantly—

would Tieu Lan, still lying unconscious inside, be affected?

Hao Nhien had no answers.

In the end, he could only withdraw his awareness.

“Old Boat, if this really is you waking up, then at the very least, keep Tieu Lan safe.”

Hao Nhien spoke softly, though he had no idea whether the words could reach inside.

Then he turned and opened the door.

He stepped outside carrying both his worry for Tieu Lan and a faint expectation toward the promise Old Boat had made years ago.

The brightness of the small courtyard made him narrow his eyes.

Before him lay a modest yard of packed earth surrounded by a low wooden fence.

Several farming tools rested neatly against one wall.

Beyond them were scattered houses among small cultivated plots.

And at the far edge of his vision, a gray-black mountain range rose beneath a thin veil of mist.

Hao Nhien recognized it immediately.

U Minh Mountain.

Even from this distance, he could see the section of the slope destroyed during the earlier battle.

The fog around the mountain had thinned considerably.

Cliffs that had once remained hidden were now exposed beneath the sunlight.

Hao Nhien stood there for a while.

That was where he had formed his Golden Core.

And where he had nearly died immediately after reaching the realm countless cultivators spent their entire lives pursuing.

“Clan Chief.”

A familiar voice came from nearby.

Hao Nhien turned.

Lanh Hoa had already risen from where he had been sitting.

For once, relief was clearly visible on the face of a man who rarely showed much emotion.

Hao Nhien looked at him.

“How long was I unconscious?”

“Five days and five nights, Clan Chief.”

“This subordinate tried calling you several times, but you never responded.”

“Fortunately, your aura remained stable, and your injuries continued recovering, so I did not dare interfere recklessly.”

Hao Nhien nodded.

Then he looked around.

“Where are we?”

“A small hamlet at the foot of U Minh Mountain. It is not far from where the battle took place.”

The author's chapter is available on the NovelPhoenix site, but this copy was used without consent.

“After checking the situation on the mountain, this subordinate brought you down here.”

“The two elders who own this house agreed to lend us a room. I left spirit stones as thanks.”

Hao Nhien glanced over the courtyard and the vegetable plots beyond it.

He nodded slightly.

“What about the mountain?”

“This subordinate went back and checked once.”

“The formation area was almost completely destroyed.”

“The Yin energy has also been dispersing.”

“Those from the Yin Soul Sect who survived probably withdrew beforehand. I found no one who remained behind.”

Lanh Hoa paused before adding,

“But some sections below are still buried beneath collapsed stone.”

“This subordinate cannot confirm whether the entire stronghold beneath U Minh Mountain was destroyed.”

Hao Nhien nodded with satisfaction.

Lanh Hoa had not rushed to declare the entire stronghold eliminated merely because they had won the visible battle.

If the Yin Soul Sect had been able to operate here for so long, it could not have depended only on several formations near the surface.

“We can deal with the mountain later.”

“For now, I want to meet the owners of this house.”

Lanh Hoa immediately led the way.

Behind the house, two elderly people were sitting beside a vegetable patch.

The old man was loosening the soil around the plants with a small hoe.

The old woman was cutting away yellowed leaves.

Both worked slowly, occasionally exchanging a few words about the weather and how much water remained in the storage jar.

Hearing footsteps, the old man looked up.

“You’re awake?”

Hao Nhien approached and cupped his hands before bowing.

“Thank you both for allowing us to stay here these past few days.”

The old woman looked him over and waved a hand.

“The one who brought you here is the one who saved you.”

“We only had an empty room.”

“Letting you use it for a few days cost us nothing.”

The old man smiled and set his hoe aside.

“It’s good that a young man is still alive.”

“When I saw you covered in wounds a few days ago, I thought you might not make it.”

Hao Nhien smiled.

“Fortunately, I did.”

Neither of the two elders asked who he was.

U Minh Mountain had shaken violently several days earlier, but to them it only meant something serious had happened in the mountains.

Why cultivators fought one another was not something an ordinary farming household could involve itself in.

Hao Nhien looked at the vegetable patch before him.

For some reason, the sight brought him an unusual sense of calm.

After months of war, authority, and one unpredictable crisis after another, watching two elderly people tend vegetables beneath the sunlight made him realize how long it had been since he had seen a life this ordinary.

He cupped his hands once more.

“I may need to trouble you for a few more days.”

“If there is anything I can help with, please tell me.”

The old woman looked at her husband and smiled.

“If the room is empty, you can stay.”

“Just don’t break anything.”

Hao Nhien remembered the crack in the bed frame.

The corner of his mouth moved slightly.

“I’ll be careful.”

After returning to the room, Hao Nhien began examining his meridians in detail.

He did not rush into circulating his cultivation.

Instead, he used his soul to inspect each pathway one by one, from the major meridians to the smaller branches that had been widened through years of practicing the Body-Soul Fist Art.

The result left him both relieved and confused.

The meridians that had been tempered by heavenly tribulation showed no sign of rupture.

Most were broader and more resilient than before his breakthrough.

That proved the physical transformation following Golden Core had already produced clear results.

However, extremely thin layers of Yin energy still remained across many sections of the meridians.

They no longer carried the powerful aura they had when the Yin Soul Sect cultivator had actively forced them into his body.

Yet they had embedded themselves deeply along the pathways True Qi normally traveled.

Whenever Hao Nhien tried circulating power, those layers caused the flow to slow, lose stability, and disperse before it could complete a cycle.

He experimented with changing the speed of circulation.

Then he tried the secondary meridian branches.

Several times, True Qi managed to travel farther than before.

But the result ultimately remained the same.

Sections with thinner concentrations of Yin energy could temporarily conduct power.

Once he tried returning the current to the main circulation cycle, the obstruction appeared again.

Hao Nhien stopped.

He thought carefully.

The Body-Soul Fist Art allowed the muscles, meridians, and soul to adapt under pressure.

In the past, it had enabled him to endure external lightning, repair small injuries, and adjust how force was released in battle.

But the Yin energy inside him was not simply a type of pressure that could be endured until the body adapted.

It was clinging directly to the circulation pathways and changing the conditions under which True Qi could move without destroying the meridians themselves.

Hao Nhien activated the Body-Soul Fist Art at a basic level, allowing his body to make small adjustments between the affected regions.

He sensed faint changes.

But with so little True Qi available, the process was painfully slow.

After some time, Hao Nhien opened his eyes.

This was not something he could solve through a few forceful attempts.

He needed to understand the nature of the blockage more clearly.

Over the following days, Hao Nhien tried meridian-restoring pills.

He absorbed spiritual energy from spirit stones.

He adjusted his breathing and cultivation methods.

He attempted to send True Qi through secondary meridians less affected by the Yin energy.

No matter what he tried, he could not complete a full circulation cycle.

Several experiments even produced abnormal fluctuations in areas recently remade by heavenly tribulation.

He had to stop before causing further damage.

What confused him was that although he repeatedly failed to cultivate normally, the faint movements within his meridians never completely stopped.

Sometimes, even when he was not deliberately cultivating, Hao Nhien could feel certain areas of his body slowly changing.

He assumed at first that this was simply the remaining transformation after Golden Core.

But he could not determine what rules those changes were following.

On the sixth day after waking, he decided to return to U Minh Mountain.

The moment Lanh Hoa heard, he took out his flying sword.

“Clan Chief, allow this subordinate to take you.”

Hao Nhien nodded.

He no longer possessed enough circulating True Qi to control a flying sword himself.

But his physical strength was more than enough to maintain balance during flight.

Lanh Hoa kept the speed moderate and carried them out of the hamlet toward the mountain where the battle had taken place.

When they arrived, the scene had changed greatly from the night of the tribulation.

The mist around U Minh Mountain had thinned.

Sunlight now reached areas of stone that had once remained permanently hidden beneath shadow.

The concealment formation no longer functioned.

The Yin energy could no longer remain stable, and part of the cold aura that had blanketed the region was gradually dispersing into the surrounding environment.

The mountainside destroyed by the Tieu Dao Sword Formation remained an enormous field of broken stone.

Massive slabs lay piled over one another.

Cracks descended deep into the ground.

Several low areas had begun collecting water after recent rainfall.

Hao Nhien stood atop a rocky outcrop and observed in silence.

He remembered the sword energies that had once filled the mountain.

He remembered True Qi being forced to its limit by Berserk.

And the sudden collapse that followed the instant the sword formation ended.

For the first time since waking, he had enough time to look back on the entire battle without life and death pressing directly against him.

Looking over the mountainside brought down by the sword formation, Hao Nhien remembered the moment he had committed everything to one final attack.

He had prepared an escape route.

Yet the plan he had believed most reliable had been the one thing that unexpectedly failed him.

He remained silent for a while.

Then he turned toward Lanh Hoa.

“I was fortunate you came this time.”

Lanh Hoa cupped his hands.

“This subordinate only did what should have been done.”

“If Clan Chief had not already wounded that man so heavily, this subordinate would never have had the opportunity.”

Hao Nhien looked at him.

Then he nodded slightly.

“Either way, I owe you my life.”

Lanh Hoa was about to speak again.

Hao Nhien had already turned his gaze back toward the mountain below.

“There’s no need to argue about it.”

“If something similar happens again, don’t rush to risk your life before you can see a real opportunity.”

Lanh Hoa was silent for a moment.

“This subordinate understands.”

The two continued down the mountainside.

In a low stretch of ground, Hao Nhien noticed that the earth beneath the broken stone retained some moisture.

Nearby, a very small stream trickled between the rocks.

There was not much water, but enough to keep the soil from drying completely.

He stood there for a while.

Then he remembered what he had once discussed with Tieu Nhan about cultivating medicinal plants.

Hao Nhien took several mid-grade medicinal herbs from his storage ring.

He selected those with relatively strong vitality.

Then he began digging.

Lanh Hoa stood nearby and watched.

He did not understand why the Clan Chief suddenly wanted to plant herbs in a mountain region that had only recently been devastated by battle.

But he did not ask.

Hao Nhien prepared several shallow holes.

He adjusted the soil.

Then he planted the herbs.

Afterward, he took a moderate amount of spirit stones, crushed them into smaller pieces, spread them around the roots, and finally used water from the nearby stream.

He worked carefully.

In Hao Nhien’s view, this land had been damaged by Yin energy and the sword formation for a long time.

If he could create a small area with sufficient spiritual energy, stable moisture, and decent soil, the medicinal herbs should at least have a chance to adapt.

But the results were not as good as expected.

During the first two days, the plants showed little change.

By the third day, several leaves had begun to droop.

The edges of one plant turned pale yellow.

Hao Nhien checked the soil.

The water.

The surrounding spiritual energy.

He found no obvious deficiency.

The earth was moist enough.

The spiritual energy was richer than in an ordinary environment.

And the herbs he had chosen were all species known for surviving under relatively difficult conditions.

Then why were they still failing to grow properly?

Hao Nhien did not uproot them.

He only adjusted part of the soil around their roots and continued observing.

In the days that followed, he climbed U Minh Mountain almost every day.

During daylight, he checked the medicinal herbs, observed changes in the soil and water source, and sensed the fluctuations of spiritual energy in the region once covered by Yin energy.

At night, he reread records on meridians and methods for opening blocked pathways that he had collected from the Tieu Dao Sect.

Several methods seemed promising.

But some required strong True Qi circulation.

Others required pills he was currently unable to refine himself.

After comparing them with the results of his earlier attempts, he still could not find an approach safe enough to use.

Gradually, Hao Nhien realized his condition was more complicated than he had first believed.

The Yin energy was weakening.

Yet his ability to circulate True Qi was not recovering at the same rate.

About half a month after he woke, some sections of his meridians no longer felt cold at all.

And yet when he sent True Qi through them, the current still became unstable and difficult to maintain.

That made him begin to suspect the Yin energy was no longer the entire cause.

Nearly a month passed more slowly than Hao Nhien had expected.

Since stepping onto the cultivation path, his life had almost always been tied to a clear objective.

When he needed to increase his cultivation, he found a place to cultivate.

When he faced an enemy, he calculated how to fight.

When he encountered a problem, there was usually some direction he could pursue toward a solution.

This time was different.

Even after trying many methods, he still could not restore normal True Qi circulation.

There was no enemy standing before him to defeat.

No specific formation to destroy.

The problem existed inside his own body, within meridians so familiar that he had once thought he understood every small change within them.

Being unable to cultivate normally forced Hao Nhien to change his daily life.

Some mornings, he helped the old man carry water from the well.

The first time, he unconsciously used too much force.

The carrying pole cracked the instant he lifted the two buckets.

The old man looked at the broken pole.

Then at Hao Nhien.

In the end, he asked nothing.

He simply went inside and returned with another one.

“This one is sturdier.”

“But you still need to be gentle.”

Hao Nhien accepted it with a trace of embarrassment.

“I’ll pay attention this time.”

Sure enough, once he stopped using force according to old habits, carrying water was easy.

The difficulty was never the weight of the buckets.

It was continuously adjusting his strength so he would not damage the tools.

Such things had never been worth his attention before.

Now that True Qi could no longer conveniently assist the fine control of physical force, ordinary movements themselves became a way of observing his body.

In the afternoons, when Hao Nhien returned to the courtyard, he often found Lanh Hoa practicing swordsmanship.

There were no brilliant sword energies.

No techniques capable of splitting mountains.

Lanh Hoa simply held the sword and repeated basic movements.

Drawing.

Stepping.

Cutting.

Withdrawing force.

Sometimes Hao Nhien sat and watched for quite a long time.

He noticed that Lanh Hoa did not use exactly the same release of strength every time he performed an identical movement.

When the wind changed direction, the angle of the blade shifted slightly.

When the ground was uneven, his center of gravity adjusted to keep the slash stable.

Those differences were easy to miss at a glance.

But to someone who had practiced the Body-Soul Fist Art, they produced a familiar sensation.

The body did not always need to be forced into one fixed posture.

Sometimes a small change made in response to the environment allowed the movement to become more stable.

Hao Nhien already understood that principle when it came to physical cultivation.

But when he thought about the circulation of True Qi, he still did not know how to apply it.

On the twenty-seventh day after waking, Hao Nhien called Lanh Hoa over.

“I need you to make a trip for me.”

Lanh Hoa immediately cupped his hands.

“Please instruct me, Clan Chief.”

“Go to the Heavenly Treasure Pavilion and find Lang Tuyet.”

“Tell her I need her help.”

“If it is convenient for her, invite her here.”

Lanh Hoa nodded.

“This subordinate will leave immediately.”

Hao Nhien thought for a moment before continuing.

“One more thing.”

“If there is a suitable communication route, send word back to Hoa Van for Luu Thanh.”

“Let everyone know I’m safe.”

He paused.

The image of Tieu Nhan standing beside the drying racks in his courtyard appeared in his mind.

“And send a separate message to Tieu Nhan.”

“Tell her I failed to keep my promise to take her back to Cat Loi.”

Lanh Hoa looked at him.

Hao Nhien let out a soft breath.

“Tell her she doesn’t need to wait.”

“If everything is already prepared, she should return first.”

“When I can travel freely again, I’ll go to Cat Loi and see her.”

Lanh Hoa remained silent for a moment before answering.

“This subordinate understands.”

“Clan Chief can rest assured. I will convey it clearly.”

Hao Nhien nodded.

“Travel safely.”

Lanh Hoa bowed and left the courtyard.

Hao Nhien watched the flying sword disappear into the distance.

A trace of helplessness rose within him.

Things he would once have handled personally now had to be entrusted to someone else.

He returned to the room, sat on the bed, and slowly closed his eyes.

Impatience would solve nothing.

While waiting for Lang Tuyet, Hao Nhien reduced the number of aggressive experiments.

He limited himself to observing his condition and circulating the Body-Soul Fist Art only to the extent his body could safely tolerate.

He also continued going to U Minh Mountain to care for the medicinal herbs.

By then, it had become a habit.

One morning, Hao Nhien stood on the mountainside and looked over the stretches of land once torn apart by sword energy.

After nearly a month, the area had begun showing extremely small changes.

In cracks where rainwater had gathered, several blades of young grass had appeared.

They were low.

Their leaves were thin.

Most were no taller than a finger joint.

Yet their green color stood out sharply among the gray stone.

No one had planted them.

There were no spirit stones nearby.

No spirit-gathering formation.

They had simply emerged from whatever soil remained after the battle.

Slowly adapting to the harsh environment of the mountain.

Hao Nhien watched them for a while.

Then he turned toward the medicinal herbs he had planted himself.

The soil around them had been carefully maintained.

They had enough water.

The spiritual energy in that area was even richer than in the natural cracks nearby.

Yet the medicinal leaves still drooped.

Several plants now showed signs of weakening around their roots.

Hao Nhien crouched and gently brushed away the top layer of soil.

He had already moved them twice.

Adjusted the amount of crushed spirit stone.

Even replaced some of the soil in an attempt to remove any lingering influence of Yin energy.

The result remained poor.

He looked at the wild grass growing between the stones.

A sense of confusion slowly appeared.

Spiritual herbs required spiritual energy to grow.

Yet the plants he had provided with better conditions were doing worse than ordinary grass growing between rocks.

Hao Nhien had studied enough about spiritual plants to know that the amount of spiritual energy alone could never determine whether an environment was suitable.

But he still could not identify exactly what he had done wrong.

At that moment, footsteps sounded behind him.

“You called me all the way here…”

A familiar woman’s voice carried a hint of amusement.

“…just to show me these medicinal plants?”

Hao Nhien turned.

Lang Tuyet stood several steps away.