The air was still cool as dawn rose over the mountain ridges of the Cloud Vein Sect.
Inside a secluded courtyard, shrouded by tall, whispering bamboo and faint glowing moss, **Zeravon sat cross-legged**, eyes closed, his breath even.
A soft warmth circled his chest — the after-effect of Yueyin's elixir and the **Pulse Thread Pearl** now embedded just beneath his skin.
From the outside, he looked calm.
But **inside**, his soul was shifting.
Qi was no longer a foreign force. It **responded** to him. Not with violence, not with struggle, but with a kind of quiet recognition — like meeting an old friend after centuries apart.
> *"Breathe in. Flow. Remember."*
The voice wasn't external.
It wasn't memory either.
It was something else.
---
**Elsewhere – Yueyin's Temporary Residence**
Yueyin stood on the balcony of her guest courtyard, staring at the sky. A silver feather floated gently in her hand — a messenger talisman from the Upper Realm.
She hadn't opened it yet.
> *"They will come looking for me soon,"* she whispered.
But her eyes drifted… **toward Zeravon's direction**.
> *"But I haven't finished what I came here for."*
She turned, placed the feather back in a hidden jade box, and shut the lid.
> *"He's not ready yet… but he's starting."*
---
**Back with Zeravon**
His body trembled, but not from strain — from **alignment**.
His meridians began to glow faintly beneath his skin, not through force, but through **resonance**. The energy was moving in gentle spirals — slow, but flawless.
And then, a sudden pulse.
The ground beneath him **cracked**.
A single hairline fracture stretched across the stone tile, as if responding to a deeper rhythm.
Zeravon's eyes opened.
No golden light.
No visions.
Just **clarity**.
> "This isn't power…" he whispered.
> "It's just remembering how to breathe."
His cultivation hadn't surged forward explosively — but it had begun.
And unlike others, he didn't need to **push** the Dao.
The Dao came **to him**.
---
**Cloud Vein Sect – Elder Lin's Chamber**
A faint tremor reached the central formation hub.
Lin paused, sensing it.
> "He's… started?" he murmured.
Instructor Wei entered moments later.
> "There was a resonance detected in the southern quarter courtyard."
> "What level?"
> "Unclear. Not strong… but not *normal* either."
Lin nodded, eyes narrowing.
> *"He's begun. Let's see how long the silence lasts."*
---
**Late Night – Zeravon's Training Area**
Now alone, Zeravon stood up. The cracked stone beneath him shimmered faintly under moonlight.
He moved his hands slowly, mimicking the basic forms he'd seen during sparring matches.
But each motion…
Each turn of his palm…
Each stance he held…
Felt **complete**.
Not learned — **remembered**.
> "I don't know who I was…"
> "But I will learn who I must become."
And as he turned toward the distant mountains, the faintest glow shimmered on his back — invisible to most eyes.
The **symbol of a circle**, broken in four places.
The first **sign of true cultivation**.
---