The night crawled by at an excruciatingly slow pace, Ren thought. He was getting jumpy in anticipation of testing out his progress, and so as soon as the first light of day crested the trees surrounding Han Tian's estate, Ren stood up and made his way outside.

Both Shen Junan and Zhi Mu recognized Ren leaving the room, yet feeling his excitement, decided against exiting meditation themselves.

It was a surprisingly cold morning, mist drowning the surroundings in a shining white radiance. Shortly after jumping off the terrace followed by a few quick steps, Ren began to try out his movement art first, and what he recognized, without even having to start running, was that he could now build up a slim film of spirit on the surface of his body with the art.

This indicated basic mastery over the movement art, making Ren's eyes light up. He would soon be able to use it not only to enhance his speed by pushing his body further and instead also to get a better grip on surfaces, as the membrane built by his spirit would work like spikes, or swords, that he could attach. It would also function as the basis of the advanced applications, walking over water, boosting his speed even further, and even flight.

For now, though, Ren only enjoyed the perks of slightly improved speed and agility, as with basic mastery achieved changing direction mid-step was no longer of any true concern. As Sundering Sword wrote, a sword had to be unpredictable.

The next hour Ren jumped between trees, over stones and ran over the paths surrounding the estate, enjoying the wind in his hair and both blood and spirit pumping through his veins. It was exhilarating.

Observing Han Tian and Han Ting, Ren noticed them waking up, but before he rejoined the others he still wanted to test out the domain of the sword, the ultimate art of his manual.

Sitting down on a patch of grass, and trying to regulate his breath, Ren controlled his spirit to flow out of him in little threads instead of the wide rivers that his manual showed. The threads felt almost like extensions of himself, and Ren could not feel any sluggishness within them, yet at the same time their range still left much to be desired. It was still a big improvement over his previous sad excuse of a technique.

Like with his passively running arts, its smoothness gave Ren the idea to simply let the art continue running, similar to what he had observed Adepts like Zhi Mu doing, to further familiarize himself. He kept four threads running, connected to his back and only the width of a blade of grass, their spirit circulating back into him as he didn't use them actively. He did have to expend a certain amount of concentration, though, but he hoped that this too would pass.

As he arrived back at their part of the terrace, Shen Junan greeted him. He stood on the edge of the terrace, arms crossed behind his back. "Brother Ren, I hope your little training session bore fruit. Han Ting has already agreed to our proposition, and, as Han Tian insisted on it, we will have a quick breakfast before we depart." He paused and pointed toward the inner parts of the estate. "She was also quite adamant about presenting her garden to us, as such the others have already gone ahead. Let us not let them wait for too long, Brother Ren." He continued on, with a slight smile, but only moved excruciatingly slow.

"It was beautiful, everything just clicked and all my arts improved almost at the same time. I shouldn't even be far from becoming a Novice, Brother Junan." Ren told the older boy excitedly, trailing after him and not even truly registering that they would be eating shortly.

"That is fantastic, but you shouldn't expect such rapid improvement to be visited upon you every day. The test of the body division presented an opportunity to you, I presume?" The boy looked at him for a moment, his face both severe and mellow, his glasses having slid down a small distance.

Ren nodded in agreement. Thinking back to the experience, he did have a small breakthrough, if you could call it that.

"Such opportunities will only come to you again if you continue to be persistent in your pursuit of cultivation. Do you understand, Brother Ren? Our path will forever be an arduous one." Shen Junan said, his voice turning far softer.

Ren did understand, life was not always fair, and you had to be dedicated to achieve lofty goals. Why should cultivation be any different, he thought. And so he once again nodded. "Yes, Brother Junan. That much should be obvious, no?"

Shen Junan looked a little perplexed, but then simply started laughing. "I suppose so, Brother Ren, I suppose so."

During their short walk, Ren already tried to sense what the others were up to. He could see Han Tian in a dark, yellow robe, her hair wet, having likely just showered, yet she did not use her spirit to completely dry herself, or clean herself with it in the first place. The other prodigies and her sat in a circle around a granite table framed by multiple trees and bushes.

As soon as Shen Junan an Ren arrived, Han Tian stood up. "Good morning, Brother Ren, and thank you for taking him to us, Brother Shen. It would surely not have been as delightful without him." She said, smiling at him disarmingly and looking like she was about to take him into her arms.

Ren only scratched his cheek in embarrassment, he hadn't thought that Han Tian would be so... He couldn't really think of the right word for it.

Sitting at the table, Ren could already see Xin Jing and Zhi Mu arguing, while a truly majestic feast was being stretched out before him by a smiling Han Tian and Han Ting. Multiple servings of roasted meat and fish, different breads and sauces littering the table, and a giant bowl of rice, almost as tall as Ren, sitting in the middle of it all. It was not what Ren had in mind when he thought about a simple breakfast.

"We should just continue on to the illusion division, Sister Xin, furthermore this meal is nought but a lavish distraction. We who search for immortality should remain steadfast in the face of temptation." Zhi Mu said, looking righteous, though Ren could still see the corner of his mouth twitching and his eyes straining, making him unsure of the older boy's thoughts.

"Of course, Brother Zhi, our steadfast progression is certainly in jeopardy if we so much as look at the extravagancies of life." Xie Jing rolled her eyes, arms crossed in front of her chest.

This was the point at which all of them sat down.

Looking around at all of them, Xie Jing continued, disregarding any of Zhi Mu's half-baked arguments. "Anyway, what should we eat first? Maybe a nice bowl of white rice with grilled trout and a few eggs on top, or should we rather start with spring rolls, tofu rolled in spinach and fried duck? There are so many possibilities! What do you think, Brother Zhi?"

Zhi Mu didn't actually answer her as Han Tian took the word, addressing all of them.

"Thank you all for having this simple meal with us, I prepared all the dishes myself, not even having to employ any arts. Isn't that delightful?" She said, folding her hands together while holding them against her cheek.

It made her look more belittling, in Ren's opinion, but he supposed that he was simply seeing things that were not there.

"So, what are your plans for the next days? Han Ting said that you will be visiting all of your divisions." Han Tian began as they ate.

Despite Xin Jing's big words, she didn't actually eat all that much, Ren noticed. In fact, it was also a little hard for Ren to continue eating Han Tian's self cooked feast. It was not like it didn't taste great, it did, but having eaten only the food of the weapon division for the past months made him realize something.

If a meal was prepared in a completely normal way, there was something missing, something that he subconsciously came to expect in his every bite. This something was spirit, namely a higher concentration of it, giving a unique flavour to any fare, be it stale bread, or intricate arrangements.

Thinking on this, he could see why Zhi Mu might have been reluctant, but Ren was also astonished with himself. He never thought that he might in some way disdain a perfectly good meal, filling him with shame at his own decadence.

Shen Junan laid down a meat skewer he was about to eat, and began answering Han Tian, while Ren was lost in thought.

"It was also something that we wished to discuss with Brother Han, as he unfortunately didn't join us last evening. The four of us thought that it would be a delightful course of action to visit my, the illusion, division. I would obviously be our guide. What do you think, Brother Han?" Shen Junan said, pushing up his glasses with one hand, and eyeing his laid down food.

Han Ting didn't even stop to consider a response, or stop eating for that matter, answering with a full mouth.

"Sure. That's fine." Was all he said in response, making Shen Junan frown, but seeing the muscle-bound boy continue eating happily made him only sigh in exasperation and turn to address Han Tian once more.

"As you can see, Senior Sister Han, we are all in agreement and will depart shortly." He said, with an almost fond voice.

Han Tian, glancing at her little brother, could not hide her own exasperation and fondness. "I suppose you are. Do enjoy your meal first, though."