Today is a very good day for Shang Rou Ren and he couldn't keep the smile off his face if he tried. Strolling along brick-paved streets with the mid-morning sun at his back and the early spring chill in the air, Ren exchanges pleasant greetings with the other Outer Disciples as they make their way to their own days' tasks. Spry steps tap echoes behind his eager stride as his destination nears ever closer.

  It was a long time coming, a dream born from the deepest pits of despair. Finally, after three years of constant effort—and a lifetime spent preparing for a future that failed him before even that—all that hard work is about to pay off. All those exercises, all the meditation, it all built towards the ultimate culmination of his second chance. And today, Ren finally realizes it.

  With a body strengthened from years of martial training and manual labor, and a mind sharpened from meditation and a life's worth of education, Ren's pace is a swift staccato as the squat-yet-stout, wood-walled visage of his assigned workplace comes into view. A countertop faces the street as a handful of fellow disciples collect the cuts of meat needed for their own allotted tasks. Behind said countertop is a portly red cheeked man with a welcoming smile. Fan Gu Chenling,or as he prefers, Chen,who sends all the various disciples on their way with kind words and supporting gestures.

  In the Heavenly Star Sect, and in most of the other sects throughout the world, all those who hope to enter its hallowed halls do so through a strict process. One first starts as an Outer Disciple as they learn the teachings of the Guide Star while training in accordance with the sect's guidelines and working to support the sect through labor. Once training is complete and the lessons are internalized, the Outer Disciple progresses into the ranks of the Inner Disciples and learns the mystic arts directly from one of the esteemed Elders of the sect.

  However, not all denizens of the Heavenly Star Sect are counted amongst its disciples. Some, like Chen, are simple citizens living under the protection of the Heavenly Star Sect's aegis. The world outside the Sect can be harsh indeed for those lacking in protections and safeguards, so it is no real surprise that many flock to the banners of the sects for safety.

  Chen smiles as he lays eyes on Ren, curiosity sparking with Ren's cheery demeanor, "Happy today, are we? What's got you in such a good mood?"

  Ren's smile clears his eyes and stretches all the way to his ears. The bounce in his step nearly sends him into the doorframe as he slides behind the counter and hangs his cold-weather cloak beside Chen's. "I've," Ren has to take a deep breath to calm his excited nerves, his words a jumbled mess at the tip of his tongue, "I've finished my foundation!"

  Chen's bushy brows curl towards the Heavens as he coughs out a surprised breath, the corners of his lips twitching up and down in quick succession, "R-really? The proctor confirmed it?"

  "She did, yeah," Ren empties his lungs as he works to calm himself further; his steady breathing a stable anchor upon which he builds the still waters of his mind.

  "That's good," Chen purses his lips as he nods towards nothing in particular. "I'm happy for you, really I am, I just..." He clicks his tongue as he rubs at the back of his neck, "I just don't want you to get your hopes up, you know? I mean, like, establishing a foundation in only three years is a very good sign for one's future and I don't want you to be tricked by some bad actor or something."

  Ren smiles, laying a hand on Chen's rounded shoulders, "I know, Chen, you don't need to explain yourself to me of all people."

  Chen snorts and waves off Ren's hand, "Yeah, well," he pauses for a moment before shaking his head. "Have you thought about what Law you're going to practice? I don't know too much about cultivation, really, but I know that you youngsters are always gushing about which Law is better or worse and all that."

  "Well," Ren begins as he grabs an apron from below the countertop and ties it about his waist, "I'm not really sure on which Law exactly, but I know the criteria I'm looking for."

  "Oh?" Chen tilts his head to the side as he leans against the countertop, "don't you keep me waiting, now!"

  Ren snorts and rolls his eyes, "Gimme a chance to speak and maybe I will!" Shaking his head with a jovial sigh, Ren gets to his explanation, "So, everybody has their five spiritual roots, right? With one always dominant over the others?"

  "Corresponding to the five elements, yeah. I'm following."

  "So," Ren pauses for a moment as he gets his words straight, "I've got fire-aligned roots, so I'm looking for something wood-aligned to be my Supporting Law, a fire-aligned Law for my Core Law, and an earth-aligned Law for the External Law."

  "And do you have any in mind?"

  Ren's smile is less a jovial expression of happiness and more a static painting stretched well beyond its limits, "Well..." He trails off into a mumble as he scratches at his bare cheek.

  Chen snorts, clapping Ren on the shoulder. "Why don't you think about it while you butcher those hogs in the back, yeah?"

  Ren shakes his head, a laugh slipping from his mouth as he steps towards the back.

  "Oh, and, when you do breakthrough," Chen calls after Ren, "be careful not to overdo it with your senses! I've heard all kinds of stories of fresh cultivators burning them out, you hear?"

  "I hear, I hear," Ren replies as he slips into the back.

  The many dormitories of the Heavenly Star Sect are two storeys tall, and feature five rooms to a floor. The rooms are always on the north side with the doors facing south into an empty hallway lit with oil lamps, as is in accordance with the rules of feng shui. Each of the rooms fits two Outer Disciples with a pair of beds nestled in the corners opposite the doorway, which leaves a narrow walkway between the beds free to traverse.

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  Ren stands in this narrow walkway, his back to the closed and shuttered window and his eyes facing the firmly shut door. Normally, there would be an oil lamp sat on a small table sandwiched between the beds. Today, however, the lamp is gone and the faint traces of smoke with it. No distractions can be allowed to disrupt his mental state, not on this day, and never at this time.

  A pair of fists slide through the air, their carefully controlled pace stolen from a snail. Soon follows a raised knee, equally as guilty of the theft as its siblings in violence, that transitions into a smooth kick. Next is a downwards elbow strengthened by the falling foot and aided by a knuckle-palming hand as it flows into a sharp thrust.

  Like all sects, the Heavenly Star teaches its disciples martial drills designed to both strengthen the body and calm the mind. With familiar repetitions guiding his being into graceful stillness, Ren's mental state resembles a tranquil sea at the cusp of nightfall. Reds, yellows, pinks, and blues streak through his mind's eye as the final step of the Little Light comes to a close.

  Bowing first to the four cardinal directions, Ren rests his body on his comfortable bed. His legs fold into the lotus as his fists meet before his lower stomach, before his lower dantian, the residence of his body's qi.

  There will be no better chance than now. The time has come for Ren to realize his dream, for him to make right the failures of the past. There can be no result other than success. If he fails here...

  Ren banishes all thoughts of failure from his mind with a shake of the head. This is not the time for such clawing concerns. Taking a deep breath, He fills his lungs to their absolute limit before closing his eyes and releasing the exhale.

  Three seconds of inhalation for the life he lives. Five seconds of trapped breath, one for each of the five elements. Seven seconds of exhalation for the qi he seeks to master. Again and again, countless in its enormity, does Ren repeat this pattern.

  The gentle rise and fall of his chest, the cushion of his bed against his rear, even the brush of the air against his skin; it all falls to the wayside as Ren focuses every ounce of his being inwards. One by one, the muffled chatter of neighbors through thin walls, the smell of someone lighting up some heady substance, the near unnoticeable shifts in the darkness beyond his eyelids, the taste of a barely touched lunch at the back of his tongue, it all fades into the background as Ren closes his mind to his senses.

  The only constant is his breath's repetition. Three in, five held, seven out. Again, and again, and again. Over, and over, and over.

  Time loses meaning in the absence of sensation, its flow unknown and uncared for in the face of a pending breakthrough, so Ren does not,cannot, pin the exact instant it happens, simply that it does.

  Starting in the lower dantian, flowing in from the left and out through the right, is a flicker of warmth, a spark of strength. It spreads with every inhale, every held breath, and every exhale as it travels through a long and winding circuit full of loops, crosses, and interconnected junctions. Small chambers, reservoirs for the body's organs, dot the network as the internal map grows ever more complex. This network is known as the meridians and they are the conduits through which qi, the refined essence of life, flows.

  Two larger chambers soon reveal themselves to Ren's exploration. One rests in his heart while the other resides on the brow between and above the eyes. The heart chamber, the middle dantian, is where qi is sent out to the various organs of the body. As expected, the middle dantian is smaller than the lower as its purpose is to manage the flow of qi and refine it into shen, the energy of the mind.

  What is very much not expected, however, is the state of the upper dantian, the oft-termed 'third eye'. Situated on the brow, in the core of the brain, the upper dantian's role is to store and utilize shen. When properly supplied with shen, the mind experiences ample creativity and inspiration, consuming it at a rapid pace.

  The upper dantian should be the smallest of the dantians, for that is why inspiration is always in short supply, and that is no different for Ren. What is different is the other half of the upper dantian, the portion in the shape of an eye. This section consumes shen at a very slow rate, using it to fuel senses both mundane and not. When properly fueled—as can only be done by one in control of their inner essences—this third eye allows one to peer beyond the norm and grasp the nature of the world around them.

  As Ren focuses on his third eye, the spectral eyelid opens and a world once shrouded in darkness is cast into the light. All things contain jing, the primordial essence of existence from which qi is refined, and all things refine jing into qi, but it is one thing to learn that in school and another thing entirely to observe it firsthand.

  The bed upon which Ren sits has been in this room for far longer than Ren has lived and, as such, well over half of its supply of jing has been refined into the wood qi that makes up its being. Without any way to replenish its jing, the bed will eventually fall apart once it is spent. With every passing heartbeat, the bed releases wood qi into its surroundings while refining fresh qi from its jing to replace it.

  The bed's wood qi merges with the qi of the floor, the ceiling, the table, and the oil lamp as Ren watches on. His senses expand, his third eye opening yet wider, stretching beyond his room and encompassing the extent of his dormitory. Qi of all the elements swirls within the meridians of his fellow Outer Disciples, but there is something fundamentally different between them and him.

  Their essences move with the natural flow of life, as is in accordance with the Creed of Heaven. The dantian refines jing into qi, which is sent to the organs and heart where qi is refined into shen before being sent off to the head, where shen is consumed by the mind and senses. The process, should it not suffer any disturbances, proceeds without need for any intervention. Automatic, entirely autonomous, and horribly inefficient.

  What separates Ren from the other Outer Disciples is that he can control his inner essences and, therefore, refine them far quicker and with much greater precision than is natural—a practice known as cultivation.

  Thus, Ren steps from the realm of the mortal and into the realm of the cultivator.

  Sudden bursts of fire qi wrestle Ren's attention, the lashing shapes spreading rapidly before his gaze. Fire qi? But, that would mean...

  Fire.

  Opening his eyelids just a crack, Ren's eyes snap wide as the evening sky shines clear through the greedy flames devouring the ceiling. Flaming rubble descends, crushing half the room in its fury.

  Smoke chokes his lungs as Ren coughs and presses palm to mouth, the frenzied howls of a hundred hungry monsters sounding off all too nearby.

  The sect is under attack. Guide Star preserve them.