Beijing No. 3 High School looked unchanged from the outside.
Morning assemblies proceeded as usual.
Teachers reminded students about mock exams. Security guards chatted lazily by the gate. To ordinary eyes, it was another routine weekday in the capital.
But Fang Ze knew better.
The moment he stepped onto campus, a faint pressure brushed against his senses—thin, scattered, but undeniably real. It wasn't hostility. It wasn't killing intent.
It was instability.
Qi residues clung to corners of stairwells, the sports field, even the old library building that few students visited anymore. These weren't deliberate traces left by cultivators, but unconscious emissions—leakage from bodies that had begun to awaken without understanding what they were touching.
Someone in Class 4 had an erratic circulation.
A second-year athlete's bones resonated faintly with body-refining Qi.
Even a shy girl in the arts building showed signs of spiritual sensitivity during emotional fluctuations.
Too many coincidences.
Fang Ze took his seat calmly, resting his chin on one hand as if bored. In truth, he was constantly adjusting his perception, filtering noise from meaning.
Across the room, Su Qingxue was discussing homework with a classmate. Her expression was gentle, her posture relaxed—but Fang Ze noticed the same thing he'd noticed for days now.
Her Qi was quiet.
Not absent. Not dormant.
Quiet, like deep water.
That was good.
Very good.
The breathing rhythm he'd taught her continued to stabilize her meridians without accelerating awakening. The immortal physique within her remained untriggered, sealed naturally by balance rather than suppression.
Still… Beijing was becoming a dangerous place to remain unnoticed.
During lunch break, Fang Ze deliberately walked the longer route around campus. Near the old storage building, two boys were arguing in hushed tones.
"I'm telling you, I felt it," one whispered. "My hands went numb and the pole bent."
"Shut up," the other hissed. "You want teachers to hear?"
Fang Ze passed without slowing, but his gaze flicked briefly toward them. Reckless awakeners. No guidance. No foundation.
Exactly how disasters started.
By the time school ended, clouds had gathered low over the city. The air felt heavy—not with rain, but with anticipation.
At home, Fang Ze's family sat together for dinner.
His father complained about traffic disruptions near the Third Ring Road.
His mother mentioned strange news reports being quietly removed online.
Fang Yuhan asked if meditation really helped concentration before exams.
Fang Xiaoyu excitedly described how she'd "felt warm" while practicing earlier.
Fang Ze answered each calmly, adjusting his words carefully.
"Take it slow," he told his sisters. "Stability matters more than speed."
They nodded, trusting him without question.
That trust weighed more heavily on him than any enemy ever could.
Later that night, Fang Ze stood on the balcony again.
From here, Beijing looked peaceful—thousands of lights stretching endlessly, the pulse of a modern capital alive and unbroken.
But beneath it…
A minor underground faction in Haidian had recruited three unstable awakeners.
A martial arts gym near Fengtai quietly closed its doors after an accident.
Someone inside the Huaxia Special Bureau Authority had added Beijing to a secondary watchlist.
And further south, names were moving.
Li Meng was observing.
Nangong Yu was preparing.
Tang Wanru was being discussed in rooms Fang Ze once feared.
Butterfly effects were spreading.
Fang Ze exhaled slowly.
"This is still early," he murmured.
In his past life, Beijing had erupted suddenly—one night of chaos, dozens dead, secrets exposed. This time, the pressure was building more gradually.
Which meant opportunity.
And danger.
A message notification flickered briefly on his phone—an anonymous forum alert referencing "capital anomalies". Fang Ze didn't open it. He didn't need to.
He already felt the city holding its breath.
The Golden Era was no longer something happening elsewhere.
It had arrived in Beijing.
Quietly.
Patiently.
Waiting for the wrong person to take one step too far.
And when that happened—
Fang Ze would already be there.