Cultivating from Qi Refining to Ascension with My Childhood Friend

The spring breeze never reaches across the green mountains, yet a few bold souls always want to climb over those towering ridges.

He Wei is the one who often gazes into the distance at night, lost in thought as he watches the outline of the faraway mountains.

There are too many children in the He family. Stuck somewhere in the middle, he gets neither attention nor affection. His parents' eyes never seem to reach him.

His neighbor Wei Xuanqing is even more taciturn. The villagers say he's so wooden you couldn't get a word out of him with three sticks, but He Wei knows there's a fire smoldering beneath that wooden exterior.

The day the Wuyi Sect came to recruit disciples, the spirit-testing stone gave off only a faint glow in He Wei's hands. Wei Xuanqing's barely lit up at all.

The steward furrowed his brow for a long time, then managed a reluctant, “I suppose you have some affinity.”

The two boys who had been left over shouldered their bundles and set off up the mountain path. Behind them lay the village, growing ever more distant; before them stretched endless green mountains.

Wei Xuanqing gripped the strap of his bundle until his knuckles turned white, then muttered that he wasn't afraid.

He Wei put an arm around his shoulders and smiled.

Who cares if it's the outer sect or the inner sect? It's better than being cooped up in the village.

Neither of them knew that taking this first step would bring them far more than the status of outer-sect disciples of a martial arts sect.

At the end of the mountain path, golden light broke through the clouds and fell on the dust-covered shoulders of the boys, as if fate had finally lowered its merciful gaze upon them.

Theme: Growing together, supporting each other, and making progress side by side!