The fire had burned low.
Ashes drifted quietly in the air as Luo Yun sat motionless, his back leaning against the wall of the old shack. For the first time in weeks, his body wasn't screaming. His breathing was steady. The warmth in his meridians was calm.
But his mind was far from quiet.
The woman's words echoed again and again.
"Strength is useful—but not if you lose what makes you you."
Luo Yun didn't know her name. Didn't know why she warned him.
But somehow, those words hit deeper than the pain of training ever had.
He hadn't trained that night.
He hadn't practiced the Ironblood cycle.
Instead… he had stared at his reflection in the dark stream again.
And for the first time, he wasn't sure if he liked who he was becoming.
The next afternoon, just as the sun was dipping behind the cliffs, Luo Yun heard something strange.
Footsteps.
Heavy, dragging, uneven.
Then a voice — hoarse, weak — calling out.
"Help… anyone…"
Luo Yun stepped out of the shack, knife in hand.
A man stumbled into view, collapsing a few feet from him.
Blood soaked his robes. A deep gash ran across his chest, and his left arm hung uselessly by his side.
He was older — maybe thirty. Not a villager. His robes were black with a faded talisman sewn on the sleeve. His spiritual aura was faint but real — a rogue cultivator, likely a low-tier Qi Condensation stage.
Luo Yun hesitated.
Then moved forward and crouched down.
"What happened?"
The man coughed, blood staining his lips. "Ambushed… beast… something else…"
He clutched a leather pouch and held it toward Luo Yun with trembling hands.
"Deliver this… to Old Wei… in the market…"
"Old Wei?" Luo Yun's eyes narrowed. That was the old man who gave him the Ironblood Technique.
The wounded man nodded. "Tell him… The seal is broken. The map… was real…"
Then his eyes widened.
Something shifted in his aura.
And in the next second—
A small formation exploded from the pouch.
Luo Yun was thrown back as a golden light flared, then faded.
When he opened his eyes, the pouch had been burned to ash.
The man was dead.
Luo Yun got to his feet, chest heaving. His ears rang. The air smelled of burned talisman paper.
He stood over the corpse for a long moment.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something glinting beneath the man's robes.
A hidden compartment.
Inside it — a folded map, mostly intact but partially burned. Symbols drawn in old ink. A place marked with red: Cave of the Falling Star.
Beside it, one high-grade spirit stone and a broken jade slip.
Luo Yun held the map in his hands.
His thoughts churned.
"He said to deliver this to Old Wei. That the seal was broken. The map was real."
But… the man was dead now. No one else knew Luo Yun had it.
No one else had to know.
Luo Yun stood at a crossroad.
He could take the map, the spirit stone, and the jade slip — claim whatever secret this "Falling Star Cave" held — and grow stronger.
Or… he could return to the market and give them to Old Wei, as the man had begged him to do.
What would a real cultivator do?
What would he have done a few weeks ago?
What kind of person did he want to become?
That night, Luo Yun didn't sleep.
He lit the fire, spread the map on the stone floor, and stared at it under the flickering light.
His fingers brushed the burned edges.
The red mark on the map pulsed in his mind like a heartbeat.
He clenched his fists.
Finally, he stood.
Gathered the map.
Picked up the pouch with the spirit stone.
And left.
But not for the cave.
He headed back toward Black Rock Hill, toward the hidden market.
By the time he arrived, the stalls were closing. The flickering lanterns were dim. Shadows moved in silence.
He found Old Wei exactly where he'd last seen him — seated behind his stall, sipping some sour-looking brew.
Luo Yun dropped the pouch and map in front of him.
The old man looked down.
Then up.
Then let out a long breath. "So he's dead."
Luo Yun nodded.
"You saw the seal break?"
"Yes."
"You opened it?"
Luo Yun hesitated… then nodded again.
Old Wei laughed softly, but there was no humor in his voice. "Smart kid. Honest enough to come back. Smart enough to peek."
He examined the map, the jade slip, and the spirit stone.
Then tossed the stone back to Luo Yun.
"Keep it."
Luo Yun blinked. "Why?"
"Because you chose the hard thing. And because you'll need it, soon."
He looked at the map again. "This… is bigger than you know."
Then his eyes locked onto Luo Yun's. Cold. Calculating.
"You ever wonder why someone like me still sells trash in this hole?"
"I figured you were hiding."
"I'm protecting something," Wei said. "And now, so are you."
Luo Yun didn't understand.
But he didn't argue.
He just bowed.
And turned to leave.
As he walked back into the dark tunnels of the hill, the spirit stone heavy in his pouch, Luo Yun felt something settle inside him.
A kind of quiet.
A kind of certainty.
He didn't have all the answers.
He didn't know if he had made the right choice.
But he had made it.
And that mattered.