Morning arrived in Taiping. A small carriage stopped on a lonely street.

"I’ll go in alone." Luo Yizuan was helped off the carriage.

Guo Yi’s expression wrinkled, but he didn’t object. Unlike Luo Yizuan, he had no status to consider stepping inside the Capital Schools.

Yizuan passed the open gate and entered the campus of the Thousand Thought Institute. Before he could pass the great trees and reach a building, a small figure fell down from the tree line. It was a small grey-furred monkey that shined silver in the morning rays.

Yizuan kept his gaze forward and avoided looking down as the monkey ran circles around him.

"Oh? What’s this? Who's this? You better answer quickly or I’ll kick you out," the childish voice of the monkey said.

Yizuan sighed and stopped. "Principal Mei, what can I do for you?"

"No need for the ‘Principal’ nonsense, just call me Monkey, Lo Yizuan."

"Principal Mei, my name is Luo now."

"Who cares Little Lo, I think I know why you’re here. I only recently found out you had a daughter. The girl with the surname ‘Hei’, correct? To think a ‘Lo’ would meet a ‘Hei’."

Yizuan frowned.

Monkey continued. "You can be honest with me, as an animal, I’m impartial to you humans. So, is she a child raised by the Clear River Sect? Is that why no one knew you had a daughter? Did I pull one over the South? Ah but, if one of their own was sufficiently talented, surely they wouldn’t let them come to the capital to study." Did I make the right gamble?

Yizuan closed his eyes. "Think whatever you want."

Monkey ran up to a tree and climbed up to the shortest branch. "Find my Vice-Principal if you need anything. He’s the one running this place. I need to plant more walnut trees."

The monkey disappeared into the canopy. Yizuan resumed his walk and reached one of the dorm buildings. There was no one at the front desk, so he leaned over and took what seemed like the correct scroll. He unrolled it and spotted the name to the room he was looking for.

Yizuan climbed a set of stairs and stood before a door near the end of a hallway. When he knocked once, the force opened the unlocked door. The room was empty.

The man let out a breath. It is the wrong time. He felt his tension disappear. As he turned around to leave, the balcony door opened.

A blue-eyed girl in two long braids stepped into the room. "I am Ashina Shibara. And what might this official’s name be?"

Yizuan did not look back.

Shibara frowned and began walking forward but with every step, she felt the distance between her and the man grow further. She stopped when no progress was made and she felt disoriented instead.

The use of force was ruled out, she needed to negotiate. She needed convincing words. The identity of the man was not something Shibara couldn’t get ideas on. "Did you know? A student named Yuwen Du made a bet with another student named Hei Ruidie."

Yizuan paused his step. "I will look into it." His voice sounded dry. "Take care of her."

"Who?"

The man sighed again. "My daughter."

"Nothing needs to be said. It is not often I find a person worthy to be friends with."

"I see." He disappeared into the hallway.

Shibara blinked. "Wait!"

Israk soared into the room from beyond the balcony and tumbled across the floor. At the very end, he stopped in a crouching stance with his bow drawn. "The stone you left in my room began shaking."

Shibara stood there passively watching Israk look left and right. Her teeth bit down. "You're late!"

Israk’s mouth gaped. He had rushed from Grand Heart’s campus as fast as he could, he couldn’t have arrived any quicker.

Shibara shook her head. "How did you get up here from the ground?"

"I climbed a tree."

"If you used the door like a normal person, we could have stopped him."

"I thought there was an emergency."

"What do you think you are? A monkey?"

"No, but I may have encountered one on the way. Where’s Ruidie? Isn’t this her room?"

Shibara peered down the empty hallway. "I don’t know, she never returned."

This question remained for the rest of the day.

…

The sun was setting at the horizon. Half of the sky was already black, and only the west remained red.

Ruidie laid with her back against the cold polished floor. She gazed at the ceiling of the library as Fundamental Orthodox Study fell from her hands.

The second-floor study rooms of the library had a window for air, and it was close to the southern building, so she could get food from the staff kitchen on that building’s first floor.

It hasn’t been a week, but she has completed the book multiple times and has been studying the words nonstop since yesterday. That would normally count as several days, but she didn’t feel any closer to entering cultivation.

She turned her head and saw the stack of other cultivation methods she had read as reference.

The girl got up and headed towards the door when a head peered into the room.

Two pairs of eyes met.

"Hello." The figure shuffled into view.

It was a boy in the dark-blue Stargazing uniform. His black hair was short and scruffy, but his face was clean. Ruidie recalled that he was the examinee from the entrance exam that passed without doing anything.

"Chen Xiaosi?"

The boy’s mouth opened. "You know my name?"

The girl thought of something interesting to say. "I also took the Stargazing Exam. Your name is somewhat memorable for being so amusing."

The boy tilted his head. His lips scrunched up and his brows furrowed. "How so?"

Ruidie frowned. Do I really have to explain? "‘Chen xiao si’ can also mean stupid as ‘to think little’. So what is the real Old Script of your name?"

"I don’t know."

"You don’t know?"

"Maybe that is my real name." Xiaosi grinned. "I didn’t know my name could mean something!"

She just called him dumb, yet he’s happy. No one would name their child for stupidity, yet with the way he said it, Ruidie actually believed him.

The boy suddenly began fidgeting. "I have been visiting this library looking for books. After seeing you both today and yesterday, you seem like the most studious person here. So I wanted to ask for help."

"For what?"

"Help on cultivation."

"Is that normal?" Who goes around asking strangers for help? Ruidie had no idea what she was doing in this school. She still didn’t get The Way. It was the blind leading the blind.

"I don’t know."

Her lips twisted. Isn’t this innocent act better than mine? But it wasn’t an act, and that’s how she found a gloomy part of thoughts.

Ruidie glanced back at the scattered books behind her. She was stuck and reading the entire Canon on The Way didn’t seem like the right approach, even if she had heard that some entered cultivation that way. "If you sit down, I will bring some of my ideas into words."

Xiaosi scrambled onto the ground and sat with crossed legs. "I’m paying attention, Teacher!"

Ruidie wetted her lips and sat down on her knees across the boy. There is nothing to lose. "Right now I’m studying the Orthodox Path. The first realm, Knowing Self, is basically Condensation. The second realm, Knowing World, is also similar to Foundation Establishment, but instead of circulating energy within the body, you cycled it in and out your meridians and the world. The phrasing used was to acclimate the body to the world. The energy that is taken is released back into the world, but in exchange, it is supposed to be easier to use energy. What do you think?"

"Condensation was the Worldly Path right?"

"Right, it's one of The Way’s Paths."

"I heard there are four."

Is that supposed to be a revelation? "Who did you hear it from?"

"Another person in the library that I thought looked studious."

"Did you…"

"I think I was bothering them. Are you bothered?"

"Not yet."

"I’ll leave when you’re bothered."

Ruidie shook her head and decided to start at the beginning. She repeated her thoughts and summarized her conversations with Shibara and Israk as Xiaosi listened. "...therefore, meridians and spiritual roots is the space in between vital parts of the body that energy can pass without internal damage. Instead of thinking of it as something that exists, think of it as something that is missing." She stopped and thought of something. "Wait! Here’s what I personally think about the four Paths."

She grabbed a piece of paper and a brush that she was using to write her notes earlier. Carefully, she drew a diagram. First, she drew a square, then she drew a cross that split the square into four equal quadrants. It looked like the Old Script for ‘field’. In each quadrant, she wrote a word. Top-left was ‘Orthodox’. Top-right was ‘Heart’. Bottom-left was ‘Worldly’. Bottom-right was ‘Union’.

Xiaosi tilted his head. "What is this supposed to mean?"

"It's how each Path relates to the others." Ruidie grinned. "I came up with it right before you appeared. If two Paths are adjacent to each other on the diagram, no matter in which direction, then they’re similar to each other." She pointed to ‘Orthodox’ and ‘Heart’ on the top first, then she pointed to ‘Worldly’ and ‘Heart’ on the bottom. "The top was developed by northern masters, while the bottom was developed by southern masters. The top is more theoretical, while the bottom is more practical. Get it?" She pointed to ‘Orthodox’ and ‘Worldly’ on the left, then ‘Heart’ and ‘Union’ on the right. "The left is more versatile, while the right is more specialized. The left calls the paths in which energy travels through ‘meridians’, while the right calls the paths in which energy is held ‘spiritual roots’."

"I think I can see it."

"Great! So based on this, which Path do you feel is more suitable for you?"

Xiaosi hummed. "The Worldly Path feels the most familiar."

"I think the first realm in both the Worldly Path and Othrodox Path is the same thing anyway. I guessed that the way to actually enter cultivation is to realize that energy is all around us and that we're constantly consuming it."

"What’s energy?"

Ruidie crossed her arms and leaned towards her sides. "I guess… everything is energy."

Xiaosi suddenly jolted. He looked down at his hand.

"What’s wrong?"

"I think I did it."

"Did what?"

"I’ve entered cultivation."

The girl took several moments to understand what just happened. She felt her soul leave her body. "This is bull!"

"What?"

"You listen to one lecture and that’s it? How can you enter cultivation with what I tell you when I can’t do it despite being the one explaining everything? Isn’t this a cheat!"

Xiaosi’s mouth dropped open. "I’m not a cheat!"

Ruidie was already wrapping her hands around her head as she spun. She turned back towards and froze. The window was open and the room was empty.

A light breeze passed over the room.

She slowly walked up to the window. He ran away! Climbed down a tree and everything! Why not use the door? Why act like a monkey?

"It’s you again?" A young woman's voice suddenly broke Ruidie’s stupor.

What is it now? Ruidie turned around. "Ran Qiang?"

The young woman that wore her male Thousand Thought uniform, and waved around a paper fan, leaned on the door frame. "I believe you lied to me."

"How did I lie?"

Ran Qiang shook her fan. "My little cousin doesn't know you at all."

Ruidie kept an eye out the window. "I didn’t lie. You just made the wrong assumption."

She rolled her eyes. "Next issue, people are meant to use these study rooms to study and meditate, not to sleep."

"Don’t worry, I’m sure half the people meditating are actually asleep. How do you know I’ve been sleeping here anyway?"

"I am a librarian."

It didn’t explain much nor did it surprise Ruidie. That receptionist had alluded to something similar.

Ran Qiang continued. "I also help run the library printing machines. My printing machines. They’re on the second floor of the southern building, quite closeby."

"Even so, isn’t it late?"

From behind her, she held up a small bamboo cage. "There were some bugs."

Ruidie’s mind stopped. All her focus was on the creature inside the cage.

"I caught it before it got close to the main building. The formations do their best to repel bugs, but some are tenacious-"

"It’s beautiful!" Ruidie leapt forward.

Ran Qiang fell back. Her expression twisted and she raised the cage over her head.

Ruidie was too short to reach it, but it didn’t stop her from trying. "You can’t trap it."

"Get off. You scared me."

"A white moth! Look how fluffy it is!"

"There are plenty over at the Ink Forest that surrounds the Three Academies and Three Schools."

Ruidie finally stopped. There’s a whole forest of them!

Ran Qiang patted her sleeves. "I still have an issue left. You made a disturbance yesterday and just now you made another one. I want to remind you that this library likes to echo."

"I was just talking to someone."

The young woman didn’t need to look around the room to tell no one else was in it.

"Chen Xiaosi. When he said that he would leave if I became bothered, I didn’t think he meant it so literally," Ruidie said.

"That kid?" Ran Qiang knowingly said.

Ruidie blinked. "Yes, that kid."

"As far as I’m concerned, you two are both equally childish."

She shook her head. "I think we’re different."

Ran Qiang smiled and leaned forward. "Just because honest people are uncommon?"

Ruidie stayed quiet. She was someone who thought about many things, and ways to accomplish many things, and here was someone who seemed to be incapable of making schemes. Am I a good person? "Honest people are actually common. Many people may appear unpredictable, but their final actions are sincere. Some people are sincere every step of the way. Both lead to the same thing but one sounds more dangerous to themselves."

"That’s one way to look at it."

"Still, whatever circumstances raised him, it is a good thing that it wasn’t like ours."

Ran Qiangs lip’s twisted. "You make it sound like there’s something wrong with both our family situations."

Ruidie smile froze. She shook her palms and head. "No one said anything like that."

"When I first met him earlier, he was actually asking me to help him find pictures-based martial arts manuals. When I told him where to find them, he couldn’t understand how to find the sections. I thought that maybe he couldn’t read, but someone illiterate would never pass the entrance exam."

Ruidie coughed. Now that Ran Qiang thought about it, she realized something else if it was true. "He was able to enter cultivation with just a single conversation."

"If that’s true, then a new genius has arrived in Stargazing."

"Why can’t I be a genius teacher?"

"Then, what’s the saying? The student has surpassed the teacher."

Ruidie groaned.

"Just don’t bully the kid. You made it sound like he was a boy who ran away after his confession got rejected," Ran Qiang said.

"People should take care of themselves. I shouldn’t need to pamper them, and I don’t want to either." Ruidie decided. "But, I want to apologize anyway."

"If he left, he might not have gone back to his dorm. Can you even find him?"

"Of course, I can find him. Do you know what insects have the best sense of smell?" Ruidie pointed her finger at Ran Qiang’s cage.

The pudgy white moth inside moved. It extended its front leg and pushed up the side of the cage, releasing the small latch of the door. Before Ran Qiang could react, it flew out and onto Ruidie’s finger.

The girl grinned happily. "He listens so well despite being a species I’ve just encountered. This is fate!"

"How are you doing that? Someone who hasn't cultivated can’t use a method."

"Who says this is a method? This is an art."

"Art?"

"The Art of Insect Collecting."

…

Ruidie followed the drifting moth onto the street south of Thousand Thought and headed east. "Why are you following me?"

"I’m still your senior. I can’t just close my eyes to two first-years wandering somewhere in the capital at night. This lifted curfew isn't meant for you," Ran Qiang said.

They turned again and began heading south. The streets were dark and empty, most of the festivities were near the East Market and Phoenix Avenue. The side street they were in was for shops, and not many people lived nearby.

Ran Qiang walked by Ruidie’s side. "I still don’t understand your explanation of the insect controlling."

"It’s just a series of games and mental exercises. After learning how to express thoughts in a certain way, insects will naturally act on instinct to reflect those thoughts. When I heard about cultivation, I thought this was common? Are there not stories about people who throw poisonous insects into jars to make mystical poisons?"

How hard is it to deal with this girl? "That’s been made illegal."

Ruidie’s pace hitched. "Huh. Thank you for letting me know. For the record, the stories were illogical, so I never tried them."

Ran Qiang wanted to make another quick comment about how much that sounded like a lie, but she spotted the person they were looking for.

Chen Xiaosi stood in front of an unrecognizable burning building. Around him, several men were splashing buckets of water on the nearby structures to prevent the fire from spreading. Much of the place was already wet with water.

Xiaosi turned around and waved. Ruidie and Ran Qiang went over.

"Are you bothered?" Xiaosi immediately asked.

Ruidie paused and reorientated herself. "I was bothered. I acted upset. I’m sorry. Also, congratulations."

Xiaosi’s head swayed as it smiled. "While I was on the rooftops, I smelled fire and saw smoke starting to rise, so I came to look. Hello, Senior Ran." His head tilted. "Senior Ran?"

Ran Qiang was broken out of a stupor. She turned away from the burning building. "Junior Chen, let’s not play out at night. Ready to return?"

"Sure, I’m just trying to figure out why this fire is so odd."

"What’s odd?"

Xiaosi pointed at the flames. "A moment ago, the smoke just began rising, and the fire just began. But look around us, the street is already completely covered with water. So what came first, the fire or the water?"

The dozen men that were drawing water all froze.

"Their hearing is quite good," Xiaosi said.

As they were slowly being surrounded, neither Ruidie nor Ran Qiang found the remark amusing.

"What did you say kid?" a man said.

"Young Lady, are you going to believe this kid’s nonsense?" another said to Ran Qiang.

"We are Taiping residents doing public charity. What insinuations do you have?"

"I don’t have insinuations. I’m just making a curious observation," Xiaosi said.

Ruidie wanted to cover his mouth.

Ran Qiang placed her hand’s on the shoulders of the two youths. With a single sentence, the boy somehow placed us all at risk. No wonder Ruidie said honesty was dangerous.

As Ran Qiang considered both points of negotiation and paths of retreat, Ruidie stepped forward. "I have only been in the capital for a few days, but just based on this alone, whatever group you are, I believe you’re all idiots if you can’t recognize us."

Ran Qiang jerked her head down towards the girl. What is she doing!?

One man heard a girl less than half his height call him an idiot and spat on the floor. He was about to step forward when a hand was placed on his chest.

"Stop. We’re leaving."

"Big Brother, just like that? Our faces," the man said.

"Look at their uniforms. They are from the Capital School, the Three Institutes even. If we harm them in any way, it will give the Three Institutes a reason to slaughter all of us."

The man gulped.

A drop of water dripped onto the ground.

The dozen all turned around in a practiced fashion and retreated into the alleyways. The street emptied.

Ran Qiang breathed out a large breath. "Do you two enjoy giving me heart attacks?"

"The backing of the school is quite strong," Ruidie said.

"These clothes are quite useful," Xiaosi continued.

Ran Qiang groaned.

"Who were they?" Ruidie said.

"They were probably the Tiger Tail Gang, one of the capital’s criminal gangs. They like to smuggle goods in and out of the city. People know them from their recent scuffles with the Mayor’s Office."

"Things must be rampant if they can go around using lifted curfew to burn down shops."

"It is a single brush store. We shouldn't worry about it. Let’s go back to your dorms and I’ll contact the authorities alone."

Ruidie and Xiaosi nodded.

As they returned the girl spotted some rising lanterns in the distance. Despite everything, Ruidie thought that the night had been a good break from the books.