Since the temple incident, Hei Tian had changed.
He didn't speak more than before, but something in his movements had slowed. Not out of laziness. Rather, out of thoughtfulness. Each action seemed weighed, as if part of a calculation only he could see.
In the evenings, as the village sank into the last red rays of sunlight, he often sat alone on the flat stone at the edge of the fields. He watched the sky, the flight of birds, the lengthening shadows on the walls.
Chen Mu joined him without a word at first. One arm crossed over his chest, the other holding a pipe he brought to his lips.
— Did you strike? he asked after a while.
— No.
— Could you have?
— I don't know.
Chen Mu looked at him for a long time.
— That's a good answer.
Hei Tian remained silent, still watching the sky, a light breeze brushing against his skin like a caress.
"Why are they like that… always arguing, jealous of one another?" he asked softly.
The old man let out a thin wisp of smoke. He was quiet for a moment, then answered slowly:
"Because even a seed of knowledge can spark fear. A hint of talent, and they feel threatened. It's human."
Hei Tian, frustrated, turned to look at the old man.
"But I didn't do anything to them. I don't even want to surpass them."
The old man gave a small, joyless laugh.
"Remember this, boy… Knowledge without strength is vulnerable. Knowledge draws danger. And sometimes… knowledge destroys."
He paused, meeting Hei Tian's gaze.
"You have sharp eyes. Maybe too sharp. You'll see things others ignore. But don't rush to understand the world. It will bite you if you ask the wrong questions at the wrong time."
Hei Tian looked away, deep in thought. He would not forget those words.
---
A few days later, a rumor began to spread.
A man had passed through the village.
A man dressed in white, with a cold gaze, who had spoken to no one. He spent one night in the ruins of the old shrine, and by morning, the birds had fled the hill. No one saw him leave.
Some said he was a wandering cultivator. Others said… he wasn't even human.
Hei Tian hadn't seen him, but something in him stirred at the story. Not fear. Rather… a troubled curiosity.
That evening, he asked Shen Mu in half-words. But the old man shook his head:
— If he was what you say… I couldn't answer you. People like that are beyond what my eyes can comprehend.
— Then why would he come here?
— Fate, sometimes, settles where no one expects it.
---
That night, Hei Tian dreamed.
He stood at the top of a never-ending staircase carved into a black mountain. In front of him, the sky wasn't blue… it was made of ash and fleeing lights. A voice, without mouth or shape, seemed to speak to him:
> "You are not yet born. Not completely. You are a seed."
> "But your gaze… already belongs to the heights."
He wanted to answer, but the wind swept him away.
And when he awoke, his heart beat faster than usual. As if he had seen a fragment of a forbidden future.
---