The Sealed Path of Cultivation

His mother once bought him a little fish made of woven grass rope. He hung it from his waist, carrying it from Hu Family Village all the way to Sword Mountain. That morning, his mother made his favorite wild mushroom chicken stew and told him to be careful in the mountains. When he returned, the village was gone. His mother lay beside the courtyard wall, and his brother had nine arrows in his body. He pulled them out one by one, thinking: Gently, slowly. Don’t hurt my brother. Later, he met an old man wearing a chain. The old man said, “I’ll teach you my skills. In return, do one thing for me.” Only later did he learn that it was the Jin army that killed his mother, the royal family that let the Jin army sweep into their lands, and the great powers who treated him like a pawn. He wanted only to ask those powerful people: Are human lives truly as worthless as blades of grass? He walked this long-forgotten path of cultivation, only to find himself becoming someone else’s chess piece. He learned that living was harder than bearing hatred. Unable to accept his fate, he was furious. Even a pawn could stir up the winds and clouds and overturn the board.