[POV: Villager]
I never should have left the village.
The thought kept circling through my head like a stubborn mosquito as I sat in the damp darkness, my back pressed against cold stone. Days had passed. Maybe three, maybe four. Time blurred when the only light came from the soft blue-green glow of the moss clinging to the walls. My stomach had long since stopped growling. Now, it merely ached with a dull, constant hunger, much like the growing ache in my heart whenever I thought about my chances of ever reaching the sect gates.
The Test of Providence was supposed to be my chance at a better life.
The local sects only opened their gates once every three years, and their trials waited for no one. I had trained every morning with the wooden practice sword Father had carved for me, memorized the breathing methods Old Man Wei had begrudgingly taught me, and even saved enough copper to buy a guidebook and a small storage pouch for my elixir. I had prepared as best I could with the meager resources available to a villager like me.
All of it... for this.
And to think it had all started with the blue things.
The first time I encountered that bunch, they had been clearing a patch of forest, munching their way through the trees as if they were nothing more than vegetables on a dinner table. They were round, soft, and the color of a rain-soaked sky. They bounced around with an almost cheerful rhythm, their squishy bodies flattening against tree trunks before springing back into shape.
Naturally, I ran.
I definitely didn't cry.
There was absolutely no crying involved. My eyes had merely watered from the wind. Or perhaps from the sheer injustice of encountering such ridiculous creatures in the middle of my journey. Either way, I had escaped and managed to hide for a while.
Unfortunately, those blue nuisances were persistent.
It hadn't taken them long to find me again. They came bouncing through the undergrowth with their wet, determined little hops, apparently convinced that chasing a perfectly innocent human was an acceptable way to spend their day. I tried losing them among the trees, scrambling over rocks, and doubling back along narrow trails, but they always seemed to find me.
So I ran. Again and again.
Things only got worse when the rain started.
It wasn't an ordinary drizzle, either. This was the sort of rain that soaked the mountains within minutes, transformed dirt paths into streams, and turned every slope into a death trap. Water poured from the sky in thick sheets. Thunder rumbled overhead, shaking the forest with every deafening roar, while the blue things continued bouncing after me as if the downpour had only made their little adventure more exciting.
Their smooth bodies glistened beneath the rain. Somehow, they seemed even faster.
I slipped, scrambled back to my feet, cursed every ancestor who had ever lived, and kept running.
That was when the black-robed figures appeared.
They emerged from the trees like shadows given form, their dark robes fluttering in the wind. Every one of them wore a close-fitting black mask that concealed their features, leaving me with no way of identifying their faces. Their movements were swift and deliberate, and the way they carried themselves immediately reminded me of the cultivators I had heard about in the village.
For a moment, I forgot all about the blue things.
Help had finally arrived!
When the first black-robed figure raised his hand, a flash of light streaked through the rain. Two of the blue creatures were sliced cleanly in half. Their bodies quivered, split apart, and began melting into the muddy ground.
Another figure moved so quickly that the rain seemed to part around him. His blade flashed repeatedly, cutting down one blue creature after another. Within moments, the forest floor was littered with the remains of the little nuisances.
I actually cheered.
"Senior! Help me!"
I waved both arms like an idiot, splashing through the mud as I tried to make myself as noticeable as possible. I had never been so happy to see strangers in my entire life. They could have been bandits, wanted criminals, or even the sort of vicious cultivators Old Man Wei had warned me about, and I would still have welcomed them with open arms.
At least, that was what I thought.
The black-robed figures turned toward me.
I couldn't explain what happened next. One of them simply flicked a finger, and a thin needle shot through the rain straight toward my chest.
My smile froze.
I didn't even have time to scream.
Fortunately, one of the blue creatures suddenly bounced between us. The needle struck its soft body instead, disappearing into the squishy mass before the creature burst with a wet pop.
Sticky blue fluid splattered across my face and the front of my robe.
I stood there, stunned, with my mouth hanging open.
The black-robed figure paused. Even through his mask, I could somehow sense his surprise. That brief moment of hesitation was the only reason I survived. I stumbled backward, turned around, and ran toward the narrow cave entrance I had spotted earlier, half-hidden behind a curtain of vines.
I didn't stop until I had squeezed through the opening and disappeared into the darkness.
Finally, I thought, I was safe.
I was wrong.
The blue things followed me into the cave.
Dozens of them poured through the narrow entrance, bouncing and sliding over the wet stone. Their soft bodies slapped against the ground with a succession of unpleasant squelches, and their round little forms squeezed through gaps that should have been far too small for them.
The black-robed figures followed, too.
Only, they weren't following me.
They were following the blue things.
The narrow tunnel quickly became a battlefield. Steel whistled through the darkness, sparks flashed against the walls, and the blue creatures burst one after another beneath the black-robed figures' attacks. More of them seemed to emerge from cracks in the stone itself, as if the mountain had been secretly breeding an army of bouncing blue monsters.
I had no idea how something so ridiculous could be so terrifying.
Then one of the black-robed men raised both hands.
A strange light gathered around his chest. It grew brighter and brighter, illuminating the tunnel with a blinding radiance that made me instinctively shield my eyes. The air trembled. A deep, rumbling pressure spread through the cave, and every instinct in my body screamed that something terrible was about to happen.
The next moment, the man exploded.
There was no other word for it.
A sudden bloom of fire swallowed the tunnel, followed by a violent shock wave that slammed me off my feet. The world shook. The ceiling groaned like a dying beast, and cracks spread through the stone overhead.
Then the mountain came down.
Rocks rained from above. Dust filled my lungs, choking me before I could even draw a proper breath. The ground beneath my boots gave way with a terrible rumble, almost as if the mountain itself had taken a deep breath and decided to exhale everything at once.
I fell.
And then there was darkness.
When I regained consciousness, the world had become much smaller and considerably quieter.
I was lying in a sealed chamber roughly the size of our village granary. Collapsed stone surrounded me on every side, blocking the passage through which I had entered. I couldn't see a way out, and the faint blue-green glow of the moss was the only thing preventing me from being swallowed by complete darkness.
My entire body hurt.
My head throbbed, my limbs felt as though someone had used me to practice sword strikes, and every breath sent an unpleasant ache through my chest. Nevertheless, I was alive.
That was something, at least.
As I struggled to sit up, I noticed that I wasn't alone.
One of the blue creatures was pressed flat against the far wall, seemingly attempting to merge with the stone.
It was small, no bigger than a melon, and its smooth body pulsed slowly as it pushed itself against the rock. Wherever it touched the wall, it left behind a faint, shiny smear. Every few moments, it would flatten itself a little more, as though sheer determination could somehow make it pass through solid stone.
It made no progress whatsoever, but it simply kept trying and failing.
I watched it for a long time that first day, then I watched it again the next day. By the third day, I had started talking to it, which was probably a sign that hunger, thirst, and isolation were beginning to do strange things to my mind.
"You're not getting through, are you?" I whispered.
The little blue thing responded with a soft bloop before continuing its futile struggle against the wall.
At some point, I began thinking about the blue creature that had saved my life. Back in the tunnel, one of those ridiculous things had bounced in front of the black-robed cultivator's attack and taken the needle meant for me.
Why had it done that? Had it been an accident? Had the creature simply been bouncing around without the slightest awareness of what was happening? Or were these creatures not as bad as I had assumed?
After all, I was still alive. Again, perhaps I was being fattened up as an emergency ration. I eyed the little blue thing suspiciously. It was difficult to tell whether it even possessed a brain.
"Do you have a name?" I asked.
The creature stopped moving.
Slowly, it turned its body toward me. Two tiny, beady eyes stared at me from its otherwise featureless face.
I couldn't quite explain how a round blob of blue could look so judgmental, but this one managed it effortlessly. It gave me the distinct impression of a lazy, slouching fellow who had just been interrupted in the middle of an important task and was now silently cursing the person responsible.
What had I done?
I hadn't even touched it!
We stared at each other for a while before the creature apparently decided I wasn't worth the effort. It turned back toward the wall and resumed pressing its body against the stone. "Fine. I'll call you Blue from now on."
Blue ignored me.
I sighed. "You're a rude little fellow, aren't you?"
Another soft bloop was the only response I received.
With nothing else to occupy my time, I eventually reached for my pouch and took out the guidebook I had purchased before leaving the village. The little book was worn around the edges, its pages yellowed and uneven. Several were missing entirely, while others contained enough spelling errors to make me wonder whether the person responsible had ever attended a proper school.
It was secondhand on top of being defective.
What a wonderful purchase.
I had heard that some sects taught their outer disciples how to read and write by making them copy simple guidebooks about elixirs, medicinal herbs, and basic cultivation knowledge. Apparently, the sects found it more convenient to have their disciples produce cheap instructional materials than to waste paper on proper lessons.
Judging by the quality of my guidebook, I suspected that whoever had written it was either a terrible student or someone who had desperately wanted to finish their assignment and return to bed.
Unfortunately, purchasing one was a requirement for taking the Test of Providence. Without it, I couldn't even register for the trial.
So I had bought the cheapest copy available.
Over the past few days, I had flipped through its contents several times out of sheer boredom, hoping to discover something useful that might help me escape my predicament. Most of the information was either too basic to be of any use or too advanced for me to understand.
Still, the book was better than staring at a wall.
Or talking to Blue.
I glanced at the creature, which was still trying to push itself through the stone, and decided the book was better company.
I turned another page, then I stopped.
The entry described a peculiar variety of glowing moss. According to the text, it possessed no remarkable medicinal properties and had no known use in alchemy. Its only notable characteristic was that it emitted a faint light in dark, damp environments.
A completely ordinary plant, in other words.
However, the final sentence caught my attention. "In rare instances, luminous moss may be found growing in the vicinity of black iron deposits, particularly in underground formations where moisture and low temperatures persist."
I blinked, then I read the sentence again. It seemed I missed it the first time I read it, because why was I only seeing this now? Black iron? I hurriedly flipped through the following pages until I found the relevant entry.
Black Iron, also known as Cold Iron.
According to the guidebook, black iron was a rare mineral metal formed under unusual geological conditions, typically in deep underground veins where ordinary iron ore had been exposed to intense pressure, mineral-rich water, and prolonged periods of low temperature. It was characterized by its dark, almost lightless surface, exceptional density, and naturally cold touch. Even after being removed from its underground environment, a properly refined piece could retain a chill that ordinary metals could not easily imitate.
Its most remarkable property, however, was its ability to interfere with the circulation of qi.
Unlike ordinary iron, which could conduct spiritual energy after appropriate refinement, black iron possessed a suppressive nature. It resisted the flow of qi through its structure and could disrupt the circulation of spiritual energy in nearby objects and living beings. When fashioned into restraints, specialized weapons, or formation components, it could hinder a cultivator's ability to channel qi, weaken certain spiritual techniques, and interfere with the operation of treasures that relied on a continuous supply of spiritual energy.
Naturally, its effectiveness depended on the purity of the ore, the degree of refinement, and the amount of black iron used. A small fragment would hardly be enough to suppress a powerful cultivator, but a properly forged set of restraints could become a serious threat even to someone who had spent decades cultivating.
The guidebook further noted that black iron was exceptionally valuable.
Its rarity alone made it desirable, but its ability to suppress qi gave it uses that ordinary metals could not match. Cultivators required specialized materials for restraining dangerous prisoners, constructing certain defensive formations, forging anti-cultivator weapons, and containing unstable spiritual objects. Black iron was among the few materials suitable for such purposes without requiring an absurdly complicated refinement process.
As a result, even unrefined black iron ore could command a considerable price. High-purity deposits were especially coveted by sects and powerful cultivation clans, who often purchased them through private auctions or secured exclusive mining rights through force.
The final paragraph included a warning that made me swallow nervously.
"Because black iron interferes with the natural circulation of qi, prolonged exposure may hinder cultivation and weaken the spiritual senses of those who have yet to establish a stable foundation. Unrefined deposits should therefore be approached with caution by inexperienced cultivators."
I slowly lowered the guidebook, then I looked around.
"Heh..."
A grin spread across my face.
"Hehehe..."
I began to laugh.
"Ha ha ha ha ha!"
My laughter echoed through the sealed chamber, startling even me with how loud it sounded.
"I'm gonna become a cultivator!"