Liu Yuming found out the next day that he'd gotten the job. He spent the next few months balancing work and practice, and, with his new income stream, finally felt his stagnation reverse, thinking that he would soon reach Meridian Unblocking.
Then, a letter arrived carrying a seal he recognized immediately: the Liu family of Willowbank. He read the letter once, then suddenly clutched at his heart, before reading the letter again, slower.
His third sister—Liu Chenru—had died during childbirth.
Chenru and Yuming didn't share a mother, nor were they as close as he was to his sister Chenxiu or his brother Chenrui, but the news hurt him non-the-less. He solemnly contacted Liu Tianrui and asked for him to escort him back to Willowbank. After getting permission from the higher-ups, the two left at once.
This was his first time going down the mountain since Yuming had ascended. The mountain roads were familiar but felt longer on the way down. As they descended further, the spirituality in the air thinned, and formations became continuously rarer. The wind slowly started carrying ordinary smells—wood smoke, damp earth, livestock.
Willowbank was the same as he remembered.The village didn't have the inherent cleanliness of Zhenyuan. It had dirt in the cracks, and people who looked tired before the day even started. As they approached the Liu manor, Yuming heard crying from inside, with a young man, asking through tears: "Why her? Why take my wife, who was only good?"
The main gate was open, and people were moving in and out with bowls of food and bundles of paper offerings. Several villagers bowed quickly when they recognized Tianrui's robes, then glanced at Yuming's belt badge with confusion. Some of his relatives recognized him, and their faces changed—relief, sadness, and envy.
"Chen- Yuming," someone said softly.
His father looked older, his hair having developed a few grey patches. When he saw Yuming he froze for a moment, then stepped forward and gripped his shoulder hard, forcing a smile. "You came back," his father said.
Yuming nodded and bowed. "Ming'er is here."
Behind him, his aunt wiped her eyes with her sleeve. Two younger cousins stared openly, whispering to each other. His sister Chenxiu pushed her way through the crowd and hugged him tightly without speaking. Her shoulders shook. Yuming hesitated, then hugged her back. His brother Chenrui—who had recently passed an exam to become an official—also went up to Yuming, and the two began to converse quietly.
The funeral proceeded normally. Liu Tianrui quickly paid his respects to Liu Dichun and then stood off to the corner, where people maintained a respectful distance—with the exception of one little girl, Liu Chenlan. She was the mortal girl who had dared to ask him to take her to Mount Zhenyuan back when he first picked up Yuming. Her gaze hovered over him once or twice, long enough for him to notice. When Tianrui shifted his attention at her, she courageously maintained her gaze for a moment before looking away. Tianrui noticed that the girl, who was now maybe fourteen, seemed to have been married off, causing him to sigh.
After a few hours Yuming and Tianrui left in silence. Throughout the funeral, Yuming hadn't stopped thinking about the crying man he saw at the entrance, asking 'why her?' His thoughts drifted to the Sea of Suffering. For mortals, the Sea is just motion, without purpose. He wiped his brow, which was starting to sweat. For us cultivators, we can gain the power to refuse meaninglessness.
….
The next day, Liu Yuming returned to Seasonal Blessings Peak and reported to the Merit Archive Pavillion before morning bell.
The Pavilion's junior scribes worked in a side room off the main hall. It wasn't quiet like Far Lantern Library. People came in constantly: labor cultivators asking to check merit balances, stewards submitting duty ledgers, elders from minor branches filing contracts.
Yuming was assigned a narrow desk near the back. His tools were simple: paper, bamboo slips, ink, a brush, and a small seal-stamp block that marked his copies as "transcribed." His direct superior, Overseer He, made it clear that junior scribes weren't trusted with restricted shelves. They copied what was handed to them and returned it. If they tried to linger over content, it would be noticed.
Most of Yuming's shifts were repetitive. He copied merit receipts, task records, and contract templates. Sometimes he repaired damaged pages from technique manuals—mostly introductions and basic circulation notes meant for cultivators without spiritual sense. That was his favorite part of the job.
The woman who had overseen the interview—Liu Wanyue—was not seen again. Given her status as a direct descendent, she likely wouldn't be working in such a low post. Yuming learned from Overseer He that he had administered the interview in past years, but this year it was switched, causing Yuming to fall into contemplation. Did the switch have to do with me? Whatever, I don't know enough yet to even guess at motives, but I should watch my step.
Yuming wasn't overly arrogant or narcissistic, but he recognized that he was unique due to his spirit root. Besides, the Liu Renshu incident had taught him the family was always keeping an eye on him.
The entire time he worked, Yuming kept a close eye on techniques related to Marrow Tempering.
Marrow Tempering techniques were generally not very useful; he'd tried a few himself to minimal effect. The most effective ways to temper the marrows was with the help of weighted objects and also external equipment that could produce vibrations. Since he'd started earning real money, he had prioritized these artifacts. Still, Yuming continued reading those techniques whenever possible.
One day, while putting away files, one technique caught his eye. It wasn't even for Marrow Tempering, it was for laboring. Still, it made Yuming very interested.
"Senior He," Yuming kindly asked his boss, "How much to rent this technique for a week—'Quaking Hide Art?'"
Overseer He stroked his beard and shook his head, "You know we don't rent out techniques, you need to buy in full. Eight hundred caddies."
"What?" Yuming said, with an incredulous look appearing on his face. "Senior, you must recognize that this technique isn't even for members of our Liu Family. This is just for loose cultivators who work in our mines. Please Senior, reconsider."
Overseer He took the technique from Yuming's hand and flipped through it, raising an eyebrow at the contents. "Once you buy it, we'll have to go through the trouble of making another copy…" he said helplessly.
Yuming was not satisfied and decided to act shamelessly. "Senior He… I'm sure you know that I possess great talent, a future Foundation Establishment cultivator… a 'Dao Imprint seed?"
Overseer He laughed. "Child, if you start going around promising anyone who gives you discounts protection in the future, you'll soon be protecting everyone on this mountain. Pay up."
Yuming bit his lip and handed over the spirit caddies. Despite spending almost all of his wealth, he was excited on the inside!
That night, on Far Lantern Peak.
Liu Yuming flipped through the 'Quaking Hide Art' he'd purchased. What an awful technique… I love it!
Quaking Hide Art was technically a low-level defensive technique. The problem was, it was so low-level that it wasn't even used for combat, instead it was often used by miners. The core of the technique was to pull qi towards the skin, add tension to the muscles, and adopt a certain stance. When the cultivator is hit, the qi layer "quakes," which would disperse the impact.
This technique functioned at any level of cultivation. Anyone with a spirit root could draw spiritual qi towards the body—but only if meridians were unblocked would qi enter the body. Quaking Hide Art was a rare technique that utilized this feature. It was an uncommon addition to techniques because the amount of qi drawn was usually negligible.
Quaking Hide Art had a major flaw: it stiffened the body so long as it was being used. In combat, this meant it would add an exceptionally thin layer of protection at the cost of reducing mobility. "If you're relying on this for combat… you might be better off as a mortal martial artist," Yuming mumbled to himself.
What excited Yuming wasn't the potential this ability had for combat, it was the word 'Quaking.' The Quaking Hide Art had a small side effect: minor tremors would oscillate across the skin when the cultivator was hit—hence the word 'quaking.'
Normally, if a cultivator tried to draw qi without their meridians unblocked, the qi would form a thin membrane around the body. When a cultivator in this state was hit, the qi would scatter outwards. For this technique to provide protection, it must force the qi to rebound against the body. This causes the qi to stay in place, and also creates oscillation and vibration!
Vibration is what motivated Yuming to spend money on this technique. The most efficient way to Temper Marrows was through internal vibration, in fact, before his probation Yuming's most valuable artifact was his vibration mat. If he could figure out how to focus the qi inwards…
So, Yuming spent much of the next four days referencing the technique, following the movements, and making adjustments. Finally, he had a product he was proud of.
The first step of his revised technique required drawing much more spiritual qi. This process was only possible with his Earth-grade spiritual root, which explained why a Marrow Tempering technique like this didn't already exist. He called the method of drawing in more qi "root-pulse cycling," where he would alternate between absorbing and releasing spiritual qi, creating periodic displacement—and therefore creating much more frequent oscillation.
The next step was to change the target of the vibration from outwards to inwards. In the original Quaking Hide Art, the qi acted as an armor membrane, and oscillations thus rippled around the body instead of into the bones. Yuming decided to change the boundary of the membrane, tightening it until it clung to his bones. By adding a locked posture he gave the qi a rigid frame to grab. With that addition, the oscillations wouldn't just ripple outward—it would shake his bones within.
Yuming was ecstatic. This was even more effective than the vibration mat he'd had before, he could reach the Meridian Unblocking stage in no time! He thought for awhile before deciding on a name for his first technique:
'Bone-Ringing Cycling Method!'
….
Yuming spent much of the rest of the night cultivating the method to great satisfaction; he felt his speed of progress increase substantially. For the next week, he continued to modify the technique with the hope of commercializing it.
A week later, he made his way to Merit Archive Pavillion. After his shift, he found Overseer He, informing him about the cultivation technique he'd devised in hopes of selling it for spiritual stones.
Overseer He was impressed, and slightly terrified that an eleven year old had devised a cultivation technique, albeit a simple one. After regaining his clarity, he said "name your price."
Yuming had thought about this for some time. The Quaking Hide Art—an extremely low-grade technique—had cost him eight hundred caddies, nearly a full spirit stone. His modifications created a much more effective technique, which should have raised the battle, but… there was likely no market for it.
Much of Yuming's time the past week had been spent trying to lower the talent requirements to cultivate the method. Still, an Earth-grade spiritual root was basically the minimum, with a high-grade root cultivator maybe being able to find a slight benefit. Earth-grade cultivators were extremely rare, and even then they really didn't need something like this. Besides someone in his exact situation, who was this for?
Besides, to the higher levels of the Liu Family, low-grade cultivation techniques were no different than junk, especially ones that didn't meaningfully improve productivity. The Merit Archive Pavillion had no need for his technique, or nearly any low-grade technique. If Yuming could just modify basic techniques and sell them, he'd have quit his day-job long ago.
Still, Yuming wanted to start the bidding high. "Ten spirit stones."
Overseer He laughed. "Ten spirit stones! Where do you get the guts! Who is going to buy this? Who is it for?"
"Senior, nearly a third of our Family's young cultivators are at the Marrow Tempering stage, unable to progress forward, open their spiritual sense, and contribute to the family. Even if the increase is subtle, I believe…"
Overseer He held up his hand, and cut Yuming off. "I read this technique. No cultivator stuck at Marrow Tempering can cultivate it. If it was possible, this technique would have been created long ago. One spirit stone, final offer."
Yuming sighed inwardly. He knew that if he were running the Pavillion, he wouldn't pay a single caddie for this. That Overseer He was willing to buy it at all was a sign of favoritism, and a spirit stone was still over two months of salary for him. Just before he accepted the offer, a voice rang out from next to them.
"I think five spirit stones is acceptable."
The speaker was a sharp-browed, slightly short man with embroidered clothes and blue eyes. His voice was calm, but his aura was imposing—probably at the Qi Condensation stage. He spoke confidently, "With some work, this could be adjusted so that those with high-grade spiritual roots can benefit. I'll buy it personally for my direct family."
Yuming was stunned, finding that the man who had just appeared looked very appealing. Overseer He stammered, "S-Senior Liu Tianjue, what a pleasant surprise!"
Liu Tianjue smiled, "What 'Senior?' Just call me Fellow Daoist." With that, he tossed Yuming the spirit stones, took the technique, and left the hall, but not before reminding Yuming to come find him later to discuss the technique.
Yuming had many questions, and asked Overseer He who the man was. "That's Liu Tianjue, the son of the Foundation Establishment Cultivator Liu Zhenyao," Overseer He said quietly. "He's rarely here, but he has oversight over this Pavillion."
Yuming nodded, asking very delicately if he had a good reputation. Overseer He shook his head. "I don't know anything about him."
Yuming was curious and slightly concerned about the whole interaction, not knowing what Liu Tianjue wanted from him; he did not believe that his 'Bone-Ringing Cycling Method' was truly worth five spirit stones. He decided to consult Liu Tianrui when he could, given that both were members of the 'Tian' Generation.
He found Liu Tianrui the next day and explained what had happened. Liu Tianrui laughed, "That Brother Jue, always spending so lavishly!"
"So he normally does things like this?"
Liu Tianrui thought for a moment, then agreed. "Yes, he spends money widely and is known to help juniors quite a bit. He's interacted with that boy Liu Yujin." Liu Yujin was a boy roughly the same age as Yuming, who despite having a mid-grade root had already reached the stage of Meridian Unblocking—truly the pride of the younger generation.
Liu Tianrui's face then turned serious. "But, given that he's the son of a Foundation Establishment Senior, he's firmly in the Zhan Branch's camp."
Yuming had read about the history of the Liu Family and knew some about the family's two main lineages—the Xu and Zhan branches. They represented the direct descendants of Liu Chengxu and Liu Chengzhan, the two oldest Dao Imprint cultivators in the family. The Xu side was more focused on external affairs, while the Zhan side was associated with more of the inner bureaucracy. For example: he the Merit Archive Pavillion was related to the Zhan Branch.
Yuming asked Tianrui directly: "If he's in the Zhan camp, does that mean he's trying to recruit me?"
Tianrui shook his head. "Probably not. Brother Jue does stuff like this already. Besides, from what I understand it was decided that the branches wouldn't fight over you—which is why they're sending you to the Sect."
Yuming relaxed a bit and returned to his bedroom, still holding on tight to his spirit stones.