With the first light of dawn, Hui jogged down from the peak, a bucket of water slung over each shoulder. After ten years of practice, the buckets hung perfectly balanced. Not a drop of water spilled as he ran. Strong and lean, he no longer had chubby, childish fingers or fat cheeks, but a slender body and narrow chin. Black hair with a healthy, bluish sheen to it hung down his back, tied into a loose ponytail. He wore sky blue robes in his own style, neither the white robes of the inner sect nor the coarse, off-white linen of the outer sect. As his master’s only—cough!—inheriting disciple, he had that privilege.

Before the sun rose, he hit the bottom of his peak and charged up Starbound Peak. Looping through the forest, he approached the cafeteria from the rear and knocked lightly on the door. “Elder sister Mei!”

Ready before he knocked, the same elder sister bustled out with a fresh bowl of congee, a fried egg sitting atop it this morning. “Dear me, is it you! Little brother Hui, you know you can’t be here! My, when I found out you were Weiheng Hui, do you know what a shock that gave me?”

Chuckling, Hui accepted the bowl. “But elder sister Mei, how can I stay away from a rare beauty such as yourself?”

She shook her head, smiling. “Have you entered Foundation Establishment yet?”

He pulled a face.

“Not even Qi Gathering?” Mei asked, shocked.

“Elder sister, don’t give me that look. I hadn’t entered Qi Gathering yesterday, either, how could I already be at Foundation Establishment?”

She shook her head and tutted. “All this fine spiritual rice, wasted on a mortal like you.”

Slurping up the last of the bowl, he handed it back. “I’ll reach Foundation Establishment before you know it.”

“I certainly hope so! You’ve been practicing since you were young, but if you don’t begin cultivating soon, it’ll be too late! And today marks the third time they’ve had the selection process since you joined the sect. Almost all your fellow entrants have already been selected, or at least picked off for long-term posts in the outer sect. If you weren’t already Weiheng Wu’s disciple, you’d never make it out of the outer sect!”

“I’m trying, I’m trying!” he insisted. Shaking his head, he ran off. “Thanks, elder sister Mei! I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“More like tonight, you scamp!” She waved him away, bustling back inside.

Hui ran down the mountain, into the outer sect. There, he set down his water buckets, shook out his shoulders, and joined the outer sect disciples in the line to receive a sip of body tempering fluid, then sidled into their morning exercises. Most of the outer sect disciples doing the Qi Gathering exercises were younger than him, much younger. Only one was older, a hopeless case in his twenties who refused to give up.

Aware of the gap after his morning conversation, Hui’s heart sank. Did I imagine it, after all? Maybe the crystal never lit up. All this time, and I still haven’t sensed qi. Surely, if it was going to happen, it would happen by now?

Preoccupied, he moved through the morning exercises on autopilot. He didn’t notice the other disciples breaking for lunch until a white-robed cultivator waved his hand in front of his face. “Hello, Hui? You there?”

“Elder brother Lao! Apologies, this poor disciple was distracted.” He cupped his hands at his senior.

Lao Gongren smiled at him. He gestured for Hui to follow him. “Come take a walk with me?”

Hui smiled and nodded, but sweat broke out down his back. Does he know about my daily visits to Starbound Peak’s cafeteria? Oh no, my high-class spiritual rice! Don’t take that deliciousness away from me!

Lao Gongren led the way, over to a cliff. From here, Hui could see the village at the foot of the mountain, the tiny, ant-like villagers living their lives peacefully. They stood in silence for a few moments, and then Lao sighed.

“Elder disciple Weiheng Hui… do you remember? I was one of the cultivators who found you in your village, all those years ago.”

Hui nodded, looking Lao in the eye. He never calls me by my full name and proper title. Something’s seriously wrong.

He sighed. “I… I never saw the orb light up. All this time, we’ve been taking you on your word, but… are you sure it lit? Are you sure… well, there’s no good way to say this. Are you sure you have the potential to cultivate?”

Hui jolted. He turned back to the village, so far below. Am I nothing but a mortal?

It’s not as if I’ve never wondered. No one else saw it except me and my mother. How can I be sure? I was five. Maybe I made a mistake.

“If you are… if you don’t have potential, I’ll help you find a place in the mortal world. I’ll support you for the rest of your life. You don’t have to… keep up an act, or pretend to feel something you can’t.”

“No. I—I can do it. I’ll do it,” Hui stammered.

“Hui, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. I’m the one who should be sorry, for looking away during your all-important ceremony. I’ll take all the blame. If you really have no potential…”

“I do! I—I can cultivate!” Hui argued. Don’t send me down there with the mortals! I’m a twenty-first century lad, alright? Cultivating is hard enough, let alone living like a mortal! You’re telling me to do everything by hand for the rest of my life? Walk from one town to another? Dig a hole to shit in, with no toilet paper or soap to wash my hands? No package delivery? No internet? I’d die of boredom!

“Are you sure? I’ll be honest, Hui, you’re already past the prime age to cultivate. You…”

Hui turned away. “Is this all you wanted to say?”

Lao Gongren stared after him. He opened his mouth, then shut it. “Yes, I suppose so.”

“Then we’re done here.” Hui walked away.

Around the corner, out of sight of Lao, he shut his eyes and reached out with his mind, desperately reaching for something, anything. Please. Qi, please, come to me!

Nothing, again.

Dammit. Kicking a rock, Hui stomped off toward the outer sect mess hall in a foul mood. Why can’t I feel qi? Don’t tell me I really reincarnated into a waste of space?