Seeking the Dao in the Mortal World

Rain fell over Qingyang City for three days and nights, soaking the last tile on the ruined temple in the western part of town. Liu Yi huddled beneath the offering table, clutching half a hard, dry wheat flatbread as he listened to hoofbeats outside in the mud. They belonged to disciples of Qingyun Pavilion, the city's only cultivation sect, patrolling on their exotic beasts, Snow-Treading Steeds.

He was fourteen years old, an orphan who had struggled to survive at the bottom of Qingyang City for as long as he could remember. Three days ago, while gathering firewood in the hills outside the city, a wild wolf at the third level of Qi Refining had set upon him. A deep claw wound on his left arm still exposed the bone. If an outer-sect disciple of Qingyun Pavilion hadn't happened to pass by and drive the wolf away with a casual casting of the "Qi-Attracting Art," Liu Yi would have become monster-beast fodder.

"Qi Refining..." Liu Yi took a bite of his flatbread and looked at his left arm, wrapped in ragged cloth. The pale green spiritual energy swirling around that disciple's fingertips was the first time he had ever encountered the word "cultivation" at such close range. Everyone in Qingyang City knew that Qingyun Pavilion's disciples could absorb spiritual energy, and that moving mountains and filling seas was nothing unusual for them. It all began with that first step: Qi Refining.

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.