Xu Tianyin spent the first night in Bai Yeming's domain staring into the dark.
The ruined courtyard, the mountains that loomed like silent guardians, the strange air that pressed against his skin—it all felt unreal. Yet his aching body reminded him that this was no illusion.
Bai Yeming had left him alone, offering no explanations, no guidance, only a single warning before she disappeared into the shadows:
"If you cannot endure, leave. No one will stop you."
He had almost laughed at that.
Leave? Where would he go? Back to the world that wanted him dead?
A cold wind stirred. Xu Tianyin shivered. His body was weak, drained beyond measure, but his mind burned with thoughts that refused to settle.
Bai Yeming had spoken of paths erased.
He did not understand.
But she had also spoken of survival.
That, he understood all too well.
The next morning, Bai Yeming returned.
She did not ask if he had made his choice.
She simply tested him.
It began with a single strike.
A flicker of movement—so fast he barely saw it.
Then—pain.
A sharp, searing force slammed into his ribs, knocking the breath from his lungs. Xu Tianyin staggered, coughing violently. His vision blurred for a moment.
Bai Yeming stood where she had been, her expression unreadable. She had not moved. No stance, no drawn weapon—nothing.
Yet he had been hit.
Xu Tianyin gritted his teeth. His body ached, but he steadied himself.
Another flicker.
Pain lanced through his shoulder this time, forcing him down to one knee.
He gasped. His fingers dug into the cracked stone beneath him.
Still, Bai Yeming did not move.
Xu Tianyin's breath was ragged. "What… are you doing?"
Her voice was calm. "Teaching you."
His hands trembled. "By attacking me?"
A faint smile ghosted across her lips. "By making you feel."
She struck again.
This time, he was ready—at least, he thought he was. He braced, but the force still sent him sprawling across the cold ground. The pain flared bright and hot, sinking into his bones.
Xu Tianyin coughed, blood staining his lips. But as he struggled to rise, something strange happened.
The pain did not simply fade—it lingered, twisted, shifted.
And then—it settled.
Not like a wound.
Not like damage.
Like something absorbed.
His eyes widened. His body still ached, but the pain… it no longer felt like a burden. It felt—useful.
Bai Yeming watched him with quiet expectation. "Good. You noticed."
Xu Tianyin's breath slowed. His fingers curled into fists.
His body was rejecting the normal path of cultivation. That much had always been true. He could not absorb qi, could not refine energy like others.
But pain—
Pain did not weaken him.
Pain settled into him, not as harm, but as something he could hold.
Something he could use.
His mind spun. "What… what is this?"
Bai Yeming tilted her head. "That depends. What do you want it to be?"
The question struck deeper than her blows.
Xu Tianyin had never been given a choice before.
He had been cast out, condemned, hunted for what he was. His life had been dictated by rejection, by the laws of a world that had deemed him a mistake.
But here, standing in a place that should not exist, in the presence of someone who should not exist—
For the first time, he was being asked what he wanted.
The wind howled through the broken courtyard.
Xu Tianyin exhaled.
Then he rose to his feet.
His pain did not fade.
It became him.
And he took his first step forward.