In the cold mist of the morning, Jun Li walked through the Outer Sect, having left her house to draw water before the sun rose.

  When she reached the Outer Sect's well, Jun Li noticed a sign had been nailed to the side during the night. ‘Ah, that Trial is being held today…’

  It had been a few weeks since Jun LI’s duel with Ren Liwei, and now that she had reached the end of her first month here, she would be taking part in her first Outer Sect Trial.

  The notion of her skills being put to the test caused Jun Li some anxiety, but it wasn’t as though she had been idle these past weeks; she had indeed grown, though she had trouble convincing herself it was so.

  Jun Li had been able to rewrite the Cultivation Method that almost killed her at the end of her first week in the Sect.

  Most notably, she altered the method for refining Qi away from the previous method of compressing External Qi to force it to combine with Internal Qi.

  Jun Li’s new method involved the creation of Qi vortices to render External Qi down into smaller pieces that naturally acclimate into the Dantian, a vastly more technical and time-consuming technique, but well worth the trouble in Jun Li’s eyes, as it allowed her to avoid meaningless danger.

  Having drawn a day’s worth of water, Jun Li began to make her way back home. On the way, Jun Li used her Movement Technique, manifesting semi-solid clouds of vaporous Qi beneath her feet, where they strained and warped under her weight, burdened by the bucket of water she carried.

  Jun Li had made significant strides in her proficiency with the Movement Technique and was now able to gently rotate the clouds beneath her feet, influencing her direction.

  Despite this, she still felt it was unfit to be used in combat, as it took almost a full second to activate, not to mention how slow it was to accelerate.

  Despite these shortcomings, Jun Li found the technique ideal for long distance travel, as she didn’t need to so much as move her legs to travel at a brisk speed, making it a very comfortable and efficient Technique.

  In this way, Jun Li glided home, practicing her Qinggong breathing to try and lower the weight she placed on her Movement Technique as far as possible.

  In stark contrast to the comfort she had found with the Movement Technique, Jun Li hadn’t practiced any Techniques from her Martial Art even once since the duel. Jun Li believed that her inability to land a single strike on Ren Liwei with it was not simply due to her inexperience with the Techniques, but instead from a fundamental lack of ability.

  Every time Jun Li considered training with her Martial Techniques, she remembered how completely unable to defend herself she was in the fight with Ren Liwei, how he was able to strike at her, and evade her attacks at a speed she was unable to perceive.

  This gulf in ability was something she didn’t see as a difference in skill or technique, but as a difference in sheer speed and power.

  Because of how she saw her performance during the duel, Jun Li hadn’t done anything these past two weeks but focus on her basic Cultivation and Movement Technique, the results of which Jun Li found quite satisfying, even if it hadn’t yet improved her combat potential on a tangible level.

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  Notably, Jun Li felt she was reaching another bottleneck, and although the term itself had negative implications, Jun Li knew it was a good place to be, as it meant all it should take is a single good opportunity to reach the next stage.

  But Jun Li didn’t intend to wait and hope for everything to fall in place; with the Outer Sect Trial quickly approaching, she would need to earn her opportunity.

  Reaching her home, Jun Li thought back to the sign set up by the Outer Sect's well, and smiled to herself. ‘So the first Outer Sect Trial is some sort of race, huh? If it was some sort of combat trial, I might have given up in advance, but if it's like this….’

  …

  The hour for the Trial quickly approaching, Jun Li walked down the path to the Plaza, where the participating Disciples would be gathered.

  She elected to walk the path rather than using her Movement Technique; this way, she could slowly continue her Qi Circulation and ensure she was in perfect condition when the Trial started.

  Coming into sight of the Plaza, Ju Li noticed a crowd of grey robes had gathered near one of the stages.

  By her estimate, more than a dozen Disciples were present, and from what she had seen of the Outer Sect grounds, this crowd must have contained a bit over half of the Outer Sect.

  Slowly approaching the crowd, Jun Li couldn’t help but scan the area for any sign of Ren Liwei. Getting closer to the stage, Jun Li saw that one of the Sect Elders was seated on-stage, an older woman, though still much younger than her peers.

  It was someone Jun Li had only seen managing the Repository before now, Elder Shao.

  Jun Li was eventually able to embed herself in the crowd, before she looked up to the sky and saw that noon was almost upon them and with it, the Trial.

  After waiting a few more anxious moments, Jun Li’s attention was brought to the stage, hearing a book snap shut.

  “No putting it off any further, I suppose…” Elder Shao let out a sigh and stood up, looking out over the crowd. “Follow me, I’ll escort you to where the Trial will be held.”

  After saying this, Elder Shao turned and lightly hopped, sailing over the ring of Disciples that had gathered around the stage, and landing a dozen meters away, on the western end of the Plaza.

  As the previously calm crowd split apart to follow Elder Shao, Jun Li briefly spotted Ren Liwei, through a gap in the crowd, causing Jun Li to pull her hat over her head, trying to avoid meeting his gaze.

  ‘It’s fine, nothing will happen, even if he tried to hurt me, Elder Shao surely wouldn’t let him disrupt today's trial, right?.’ Reassuring herself, Jun Li followed the crowd to the west end of the Plaza.

  Before now, the only thing of note to Jun Li to the west of the Plaza was the Repository, where she had gone each week to stock up on rice and fermented vegetables.

  Today, however, she and the rest of the Outer Disciples were led down a path that passed the Repository and curved away from the Sect and upwards, into the western end of the mountain that the Glass Cloud Sect was situated upon, just behind the capital of the Zhao Kingdom.

  A mere minute’s walk from the Sect Plaza, the western end of the mountain would come into view, a grand forest of red-leaved trees covering the mountainside just below the sect, and at the distant base of the mountain, vast, shimmering green plains stretching on into the mountain range, far beyond.

  As the group of Disciples emerged onto this side of the mountain, they were forced into a narrower formation, snaking up thin paths carved into the sheer wall of the mountain that led even higher.

  As Jun Li followed along, holding her hand to the pale, rugged stones on the path’s mountain wall, she looked out to the distance, taking in the sights and feeling the bracing winds flow over her.

  It was the sort of sight she never would have been able to see if she hadn’t become a Cultivator, and seeing it, for a moment, she felt her efforts, past and future, would all be worth it in the end.