By dawn the food came on a tray. Rice. Broth. Vegetables.
Di Yusheng picked up the bowl and ate.
Fast. Too fast. The chopsticks barely stopped between bites. He finished the rice, drank the broth, ate the vegetables, and looked at the empty tray.
The sect master gestured. Another bowl came.
He ate that too.
Then he stopped. Put the bowl down. Sat there.
The sect master watched him.
She spoke.
"You're not to leave this peak until I say so. You'll cultivate here. Anything you need will be provided, as long as it's reasonable."
Di Yusheng sat there. Full. Tired. He listened to her talking and didn't say anything.
She looked at him. Calm child. Dirty face. Too quiet for what he'd been through.
She called toward the door.
"Mu Qing."
A young man stepped inside. Sixteen, maybe. Thin. Quiet face. He bowed to the sect master, then looked at Di Yusheng.
"Take him to his room. Get him clean clothes."
Mu Qing nodded.
He walked to the door and held it open. Di Yusheng stood, his legs stiff but steady, and followed him out.
The night air was cold. The sect master's peak was quiet — clean stone paths, spaced buildings, no crowds of disciples. The wind moved through without interruption.
Mu Qing walked ahead. He didn't slow down for shorter legs, but he didn't pull away either.
They passed a courtyard with a single tree. A few closed doors. Then a smaller path branching to the side.
Mu Qing stopped.
"Here."
The room was simple. A bed. A table. A window. Clean floor. Folded clothes on the table.
"Meals at dawn and dusk. Come find me if you need anything. "
He said it flat. Not unfriendly. Just the rules.
Di Yusheng looked at the room. Small. Clean. Warm.
He changed into the clean clothes. Too big. He folded the sleeves up to his wrists and rolled the waistband once.
Then he sat on the bed.
His body was catching up. The fight. The binding. The walk up the mountain. It all landed at once, heavy and dull, pressing him into the mattress.
He lay down.
Within a minute, he was asleep.
The sect master walked back to her own residence at the far end of the peak.
The door was closed. No sound from inside.
She opened it.
Ye Luoxue was asleep on the bed. Still in the same position she'd left her in. Blanket pulled over her head. One foot hanging off the edge.
The sect master stood in the doorway for a moment.
Then she went to the kitchen.
She cooked. Rice porridge with egg and scallion. She set two bowls on the table, laid out chopsticks, and poured tea.
Then she went back to the bedroom door.
"Luoxue."
Nothing.
"Luoxue."
A groan. The blanket shifted.
"Now."
A pause. The blanket slid down. Luoxue's face appeared — pale, half-lidded, her hair pressed flat on one side.
She sat up. Stared at the wall for a few seconds. Then stood and shuffled toward the table without a word.
She sat down. Picked up the spoon. Ate slowly.
The sect master sat across from her and ate her own porridge.
This was normal. Her daughter didn't cultivate. Didn't train with the other disciples. Slept half the day. Moved through the rest of it like she was waiting for something to end.
And yet she was stronger than most children her age on the mountain. The outer disciples who tested her twice a year came back confused each time — decent qi density, clean channels, no signs of diligent practice.
The sect master had never seen her daughter cultivate. Not once.
She'd stopped questioning it. Luoxue was odd. She'd always been odd.
They ate in quiet for a while.
Then the sect master spoke.
"A child was brought to the peak today."
Luoxue's spoon paused for a fraction of a second. Then continued.
"He's five. Spent five years unable to walk. Crippled from birth."
Luoxue ate her porridge.
"He healed. Recently. And when he did, he managed to run from a Qi Refinement cultivator. No cultivation of his own."
The spoon kept moving.
"His only family says he's possessed."
Luoxue looked up. Not at her mother. At the table.
"Do you think he is?"
The sect master looked at her for a moment.
"Who knows."
They ate.
The sect master continued. "He'll be staying on the peak. Under my watch. I've put him in the east room."
She paused.
"Go play with him sometimes. He's had no one. A child shouldn't be alone."
The sect master wasn't just talking about Di Yusheng but also her daughter. She mainly assumed the reason her daughter behaved in this manner was because she was too smart for her age but now there was a chance for her daughter to make a friend.
Luoxue nodded. "Mm."
They finished the meal.
The sect master cleared the bowls. Luoxue sat there for a moment, then stood and walked back toward her room without a word.
She closed the door behind her.
The room was quiet.
She sat on the edge of the bed. Same blank face. Same half-lidded eyes.
Five years crippled. Sudden recovery. Managed to run from a Qi Refinement cultivator with no cultivation. Family says possessed.
She wondered what his fate level was.