*******

TIAN SAT IN A CAVE.

She shivered before a dancing flame. It was not alight from sticks and tree branches, crinkled with leaves at its fringes. Instead, it was simply an open fire, burning, eating the air, being fueled not by nature, but from the source of all life.

Qi. That which prevailed the world. That which had been bestowed upon all that was living, giving them the breath of life, knowledge, and feeling.

“Do you see it, child of Ren?” asked a wispy voice.

The little girl blinked. She turned around, facing the grand Spirit before her. It looked like a fox with three trails, and a glorious mane as regal as the way it spoke. She still felt slightly uncomfortable around the Sacred Beast. But it had saved her life, and now it was tutoring her, teaching her of the world to fend for herself.

“I-I do,” Tian squeaked.

“Speak not with apprehension, but with confidence. Have I not taught you so?”

“You have!” she exclaimed. Taking a deep breath, she faced the Sacred Beast, meeting its gaze. “I see it.” Before her, she saw the gathering of Qi around the fire. Golden specks, like tiny insects, gathered around it like dancing embers and ash. The flame burned, yet it didn’t leave a trace of what a burning flame normally entailed.

“Now copy it.”

Tian blinked. Then she looked back at the flames. “How do it…?” But she shook her head. The Sacred Beast wouldn’t have wanted her to question it. It gave her an instruction, and it expected her to follow through with it. No apprehension. No hesitation.

She had to figure out how to do as it said.

Her eyes narrowed, and she reached for her core. She touched the Dao, drawing for its power. It was a light touch. Like her fingers grazed against its outer shell. And yet, she found an abundance in her grasps.

The girl began to mold it. She copied the shape of the flames, created by the Sacred Beast. It gave off a scintillating light, swaying steadily, burning brightly to fill the cavern with its warmth. Tian imagined the feeling, placing it on the palm of her hand. A fire bloomed.

She stared with wide eyes as a source of heat engulfed her hands. Tian held up a ball of flames, a small speck compared to the size of the Sacred Beast’s fire. But she had created it. She had…

“I did it!” the girl exclaimed. She spun around, bouncing on her heels. “I made it! I managed to do it! Look, I—” Pausing, she saw the reaction of the Sacred Beast.

“Hm.” It didn’t look pleased.

“Is something wrong?” Tian pursed her lips.

“It is no matter,” the Sacred Beast sighed. “This simply will take longer than I had anticipated.”

“Oh…”

***

Tian’s training with the Sacred Beast continued. Every day, she’d find herself rigorously training, learning how to manipulate each of the five elements. Water, fire, earth, wood, and metal. Each one had different properties. Each one brought a different strain to the girl’s mind and body. But she persisted. She continued to train.

“Do you feel it pouring out? The deluge that is within you? Let the storm flow!” the Sacred Beast commanded her, and she screamed.

Rain fell around her as the Heavens unleashed a tempest into the Middle Realm below. Thunder roared in the distance, but the little girl shouted louder. The downpour halted around her, forming a bubble of dry air, untouched by the wetness of the rain.

Tian held it. She let it accumulate for one entire cycle. And her body gave in. She collapsed, and the Sacred Beast nodded in approval.

“Good, child of Ren.”

It didn’t have to push Tian. She pushed herself. She labored, day and night, even when it was not there. Once, when it had gone out to gather some food, it returned to find Tian standing under a mud hut. The girl was beaming, her arms crossed.

“Look what I made!” She gestured at the house she had created.

The Sacred Beast huffed, stalking past it. “Its foundations are sloppily made. It will not survive a storm or even a strong wind.” It struck one of its tails against the side of the mud hut, causing it to crumble.

Tian blinked, almost deflating. But it patted her on the shoulder.

“However, you did a good job for your first time.”

And the girl brightened.

Her training continued. Day after day, she grew stronger. Thousands of cycles passed. Now, the huts she made were not just of mud, but of wood and stone and metal. The flames she created blazed brilliantly, powerful enough to set the insides of a cavern alight. When she sat out in a storm, the raindrops halted right before her skin. She’d avoid getting wet entirely. Even when she was meditating, focused only on her composure.

Tian stood taller. How much time had passed? It had to at least have been a year. Maybe even more. She didn’t keep track, instead fully immersing herself in her training. The girl thought only of growing stronger. To hit her goal. The one she’d promised herself.

To become an immortal. To return to the Liufan sect as a Spring.

That was all Tian cared about. It was what drove her. The only time she’d even stop to think about anything else wawa about her master. Why had the Sacred Beast spent all this time to train her? She was curious, but it glazed over the question every time she asked.

“We age slower than that of your kind, child of Ren. We are no immortals, but time holds less meaning for us, for each of us are Cultivators at birth. Not Buds at the core, but Blooms instead. For we are blessed by the Heavens themselves, born in up above, not in this plane below.”

“So, why were you down here, master?” Tian raised a brow. “Why’re you helping me?”

“Speak formally, child of Ren, if you truly wish to call me your master.” It snorted, and she bowed her head.

“I deeply apologize, master.”

“Why I am here matters not. What matters is that I complete what I have set out to do with you, before I depart on my own goals. Now, show me, Tian, sectless child of Ren, how you have improved.”

It brought her deeper into the cave, somewhere she’d never traversed before. All Tian could hear was the soft drops of water, feeling the moisture in the air build up around her skin. She glanced around as the world around them was covered in a thin mist.

“Where are we going?” Tian narrowed her eyes as they continued down the tunnel for dozens of cycles. She grew tired, her meditation unable to keep her awake, falling asleep multiple times as they pressed on.

“I shall test your skills, child of Ren,” the Sacred Beast said. “You’ve proven to me that you were a competent Bloom, but to truly be able to fend for yourself in nature, you’d need to show me that you can become something more: that you can ascend to a Blossom.”

To become a Blossom? Tian could only have ever dreamed of such a thing happening. She never would’ve once thought that she’d ever become anything more than a mere Bud. But now, here she was, a powerful Bloom, one that could still undergo ascension? She was going to prove the Liufan sect wrong— she knew she was.

The tunnel winded down and up, before finally going up. Tian stepped out of the dark beneath after what felt like a hundred cycles. She took in a deep breath, feeling relieved that she had finally surfaced.

The Sacred Beast brought her out to the top of a small hill. The girl could feel the breeze brushing lightly against her skin, and she saw the world beyond sprawling out. She saw the lush vegetation, like a beautiful portrait she’d find in one of Mother’s books. It was nothing like the greenery around her ramshackle hut. The gardens back in the Liufan sect were entirely artificial. This… this was a work of nature.

Her breath caught in her throat as she took in the scene, peaceful, tranquil, the kind that she’d be able to just stare at for ages. The Sacred Beast walked up behind her, its tails almost hovering around her as it gestured at the forest.

“Do you see it, child of Ren?” it asked.

She nodded. “It is… beautiful…”

“Yes,” it said. “Now, I want you to burn this image in your mind. Remember what it looks like.”

Tian nodded, unsure why it was instructing her to do this. Then the Sacred Beast stepped forward, its tail almost striking her. She ducked under it, her reflexes much better than ever before.

“Have you memorized it?”

“I have.” She stood firm, waiting to see what happened next.

“Good.” A large ball of fire formed around the standing tail of the Sacred Beast. Tian blinked as the fire shot up, crashing down into the portrait scenery. Everything around them began to burn as it continued. “Stop the raging fire. Save the forest. Ensure that the sight you saw is preserved, and it does not become an ashen, barren wasteland.”

The Sacred Beast spun around and leapt into the air, above the quickly spreading fires. Tian stared. She watched as trees fell, being rapidly consumed by the flames. Already, the wall of flames had completely surrounded the hill she was on. She wanted to act, but...

Her mouth hung open as her impossible task began, completely unsure of what to do.