"Before the storm, even the dust knows to rise."
Part 1: The Shape of Silence
A week had passed since the night Li Wei crossed into the Postnatal Realm.
He said nothing of it. Told no one.
But the changes were undeniable.
His footsteps no longer made noise on packed dirt. His breath came so deep it barely stirred his chest. The cleaver in his hand felt lighter, even though its weight hadn't changed.
His senses sharpened, yet his movements grew more restrained.
He wasn't stronger. He was quieter.
The Longevity Technique, long slow to circulate, now flowed like water on command.
Longevity Technique – Proficiency: (132/200) – Minor Success
He no longer practiced forms to perfect them. He practiced to empty himself.
The Bone-Cleaving Form was nearly complete. Every strike, every pivot, every recovery step—it no longer required thought.
Bone-Cleaving Form – Proficiency: (99/100) – Beginner
Part 2: Eyes Without Names
Stone Lantern Town remained unchanged to the casual eye. But Li Wei had learned to see deeper.
A man pretending to be a leatherworker watched his stall from a corner bench for three days straight, rotating tools that he never used.
Two travelers in sect robes loitered near the teahouse, ordering the same drink every morning, never sipping.
They all moved just wrong enough. Held their shoulders too still. Listened too closely to conversations that didn't involve them.
One night, Li Wei returned home early and climbed to the rooftop instead of entering through the front. There, he crushed a line of powdered charcoal across the eaves.
The next morning, a single footprint broke the line.
Too light to belong to a bird.
Too deep to ignore.
Part 3: The Bone Coin
Three days later, after a storm, he cleaned the rain gutters of his shed. Mud, twigs, roof dust.
And something more.
A small bone coin, no larger than a knuckle.
It had been wedged beneath the tiles, left deliberately.
One side was smooth. The other was etched with a pattern—a circle divided into five slashes, like claw marks.
Li Wei stared at it for a long time.
It wasn't local. Not even from the surrounding regions. But he remembered something eerily similar.
From Earth.
A forbidden anthropology text he'd skimmed in university, speaking of criminal exchange tokens in ancient smuggler guilds. Markers for who was marked.
Bounty coins.
Left as a warning. Or an invitation.
Either way, it meant one thing:
Someone had placed a target on him.
Part 4: Old Wen's Last Warning
That evening, Old Wen came home early. Drunk.
He slumped beside the chopping bench, holding a half-empty flask, and didn't speak for a long time.
Li Wei continued preparing bone stock, letting silence stretch.
Then Wen muttered, "Your blade has too many edges."
Li Wei looked at him, but didn't answer.
The old man wiped his mouth and said, "You kill pigs like a butcher, but you move like a knife that forgot its name."
Another sip.
"Someone came asking. Polite. Well-spoken. Said he was looking for a young man with fast hands. Quiet feet. A precise cut."
Wen met Li Wei's gaze.
"You got about a week before the wrong kind of attention turns solid."
Li Wei bowed his head slightly.
That was more than most people would have said.
Part 5: The Gathering Storm
That night, Li Wei sealed the windows and lit only one lamp.
He sat on the ground and began circulating the Longevity Technique, guiding the flow not just for healing but for reinforcement.
He traced the energy through new pathways, learning how far it could stretch now. How much pain it could recover. How deep his core could truly go.
He practiced the Bone-Cleaving Form until the final strike no longer wavered.
Bone-Cleaving Form – Proficiency: (100/100) – Beginner → Minor Success (1/200)
Then he took up a brush and began sketching a new form.
Not a copy. Not a variation.
A sword technique born from the cleaver.
It didn't yet have a name. Only lines. But it would be responsive. Flexible.
A blade that turned, flowed, and recovered like a butcher's sweep.
He knew, deep down:
He could not stay here much longer.
But until the storm reached him, he would sharpen his edge in silence.
One cut at a time.
[Experience Panel]
Name: Li Wei
Age: 23
Cultivation: Martial Dao – Postnatal Realm (Early Stage)
Skills:
• Longevity Technique – Proficiency: (132/200) – Minor Success
• Butchering – Proficiency: (112/200) – Minor Success
• Swordsmanship – Proficiency: (91/200) – Minor Success
• Bone-Cleaving Form – Proficiency: (1/200) – Minor Success
End of Chapter 8