My dao fragment had become increasingly active during my time in the Gate of Spring and Autumn. It seemed to improve my control over my medicinal qi, especially when undertaking new or complex tasks.

With every insight I fully comprehended, the fragment became more… real. It was a manifestation of my dao—the Dao of Healing. The black dragon had explained a little about daos to me, but I still lacked a real understanding. It was a personal thing, after all.

In my case, anyway. There were more common daos that plenty of cultivators shared. The Dao of Fire, Dao of Water, and so on… Elemental daos were apparently one of the most widespread. The same went for things like the Sword Dao that many of the Soaring Sword Sect disciples followed.

The Dao of Healing was likely unique in the entire world. Perhaps the Celestial Jade Emperor understood some facets of it, but I doubted he followed the exact same dao. The stories of the emperor painted him as a powerful conqueror.

That wasn't who I was.

This time, when my dao fragment started to hum and then sing in elation as I tried healing the mountain, the effects were miraculous. Normally, my medicinal qi would cycle my spirit veins before the technique took hold.

However, all of the qi I used for the technique was suddenly sucked into my spiritual sea. It orbited the dao fragment in swirling streams, growing faster with every orbit they completed until there was a whirling storm of medicinal qi floating above the perfectly still waters.

The dao fragment's song reached its climax and all of the qi vanished. However, I could feel that it was still there, only in a different form.

I focused on my patient. The mountain beneath my feet. I exhaled. A tidal wave of medicinal qi that was dozens of times more condensed than my own qi erupted from my spiritual sea, flooding every inch of the mountain from the tip to around a third of the way down.

As it passed, the raging blizzard was banished. Grass poked through the thick blanket of snow, with flowers and bushes appearing at sporadic intervals. I felt the mountain pulse rhythmically, reminiscent of the way the trees had been 'breathing' spiritual energy.

A few moments later my body suddenly felt empty. I gasped as I collapsed to the ground, coughing blood. The wave of qi and life retreated as fast as it had spread. The blizzard took over once more as I lay there on the ledge.

Another failure, but one that had shown me the way forward. Becoming one with nature, one with myself, and truly embracing the Dao of Healing. That was how I would pass the final trial of the Gate of Spring and Autumn.

It was how I would live the rest of my life in this world. It was the path I would show all those who followed me and hopefully I would eventually understand why it was a path the world restricted from those who lived within it.

****

At the summit of a mountain wreathed in a raging blizzard, a solitary cultivator sat in meditation. All of a sudden he opened his eyes and they flashed with a bright green glow.

A tidal wave of medicinal qi flooded out of his body, down and through the mountain from summit to base. It began as a gentle trickle and then roared as it flowed in gushing torrents.

It reached all the way to the heart of the mountain, where it brushed against some ancient. Ancient and broken.

With a start, the man's concentration was broken and with it, his technique. The medicinal qi retreated as though running from a predator, returning to his dantian from where it came.

He exhaled as another attempt ended in failure. Then, he began to gather his qi and focus in order to try again.

From just outside the pocket dimension that the mountain was contained in, the Spring and Autumn Sage's apparition floated beside the conjuration of the black dragon from the painting. They were both observing the young man's performance and appraising him.

"Why did you send him inside the Gate of Spring and Autumn, old friend? It's only been a few millennia in that painting, surely you haven't gone senile already? He doesn't have a drop of affinity for my techniques," the sage said to the dragon with a smirk.

The black dragon didn't seem offended at the remark, having long grown used to the sage's humour. Instead he took it in stride. "If you can't see why, then you're the senile old bastard."

"Hmph. You're no fun," the sage said, pouting. Then he looked back at the young cultivator who was treading a path no one had for over a dozen eras. Perhaps more.

"His techniques are nothing like the emperor's. Only from the outside do they appear to be similar," the sage remarked.

The dragon squinted at the youth for a few moments before relaxing. "Huh, you're right. I can't believe I didn't notice it before. To tell the truth, most of the reason I sent him in was because he had Brother Great Garden's token. After all-"

The Spring and Autumn Sage threw the black dragon a pointed look that made him shut up. "His solutions are creative, he is dedicated and hard working, and then there is that strange physique of his. I've never seen anything like it before. He might be the one to break this cycle of despair. To fix this broken realm," he mused, staring into empty space with a forlorn yet hopeful expression.

"You think that highly of him, master!?" the dragon exclaimed.

"Only time will tell. Now, let me find where I put Little Garden's inheritance so I can hand it over. I don't know how to reward him. Passing the trials of the Gate of Spring and Autumn should be the requirement for my inheritance, but it would be wasted in his hands…"

"What about that manual? The one I brought back from those strange ruins," the black dragon suggested.

The Spring and Autumn Sage's eyes lit up at that. "Truly wise idea, my disciple. It's a perfect fit. If anyone can unravel the secrets of that dusty tome it would be this kid. Now, let's see if he's able to complete the hidden trial. If he does, then…" the sage said, turning back to the young cultivator on the mountain and leaving his meaning unspoken. It was dangerous to speak of these matters.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The black dragon hadn't seen his old master this optimistic for a very, very long time. Thousands of years had passed since their deaths. It had been two eras before that when his master, the Spring and Autumn Sage, had discovered the truth of this world.

Of all the sages who knew that terrible secret, his master had been one of those who decided to try and fight against it. However, it had failed and that had led to the events of today.

If his master had such high hopes for that young cultivator, perhaps it was time for him to awaken from this eras-long slumber. He couldn't hide from his problems in a painting forever, after all.

****

I was surprised at how fast I progressed through this trial. At least it felt that way. Every attempt I made at turning winter into spring, as I suspected was the goal of this trial, I made it further down the mountain.

Of course, as the Spring and Autumn Sage had told me, I lacked affinity for his techniques. I was doing this in my own way, using my healing technique to usher in life and with it, spring.

Everything had been progressing smoothly until my last attempt. Right before my technique had failed and broken, my medicinal qi brushed against something powerful deep within the mountain.

It was a presence that felt ancient and far beyond me, yet broken and damaged. Was the true goal of this second trial to restore that presence to its former state?

I wondered what the presence was. The soul of the mountain, perhaps? Some ancient creature that the sage had raised during his lifetime and left to guard his inheritance?

Whatever the case, I now had a new objective to work towards. It shouldn't be too difficult. After all, healing broken things was what I excelled at.

My next attempt, I focused less on spreading my medicinal qi evenly throughout the mountain and tried to focus it in the place I felt that ancient presence. When my qi began to inspect it this time, the presence pushed back.

I suddenly doubled over and coughed blood as the backlash of my forcefully broken technique hit me. Thankfully the damage to my spirit veins and body was simple to repair, but I was reeling in shock.

Such a thing was possible using only the power of one's presence? I wasn't interested in the combat applications of what I'd felt, but perhaps there would be ways to utilise it in my own techniques.

It took a few more tentative, gentle attempts before I was able to inspect that presence without it destroying my technique. What worked in the end was ensuring that my medicinal qi fully surrounded it before I attempted to look deeper.

What I discovered left me dumbfounded. Once I had established a connection with my medicinal qi, my spiritual senses were able to penetrate beyond its guard and inspect what the presence truly was.

I had guessed it was the soul of the mountain, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Well, mostly wrong.

What seemed like infinite tendrils of spiritual energy spread outwards from the presence and into every inch of the mountain, but they didn't stop there. It seemed to be connected to this entire realm. Was it the 'brain' of the Gate of Spring and Autumn?

It resembled a giant, tangled bundle of spiritual energy. Every second a hundred tiny bursts of spiritual energy shot through it. A few of them would travel beyond the mountain and into the world beyond.

Yet I could tell something was deeply wrong. Many of the tendrils of spiritual energy were twisted in ways that felt… horribly wrong. Or rather, not wrong, but out of balance with the natural laws of this place.

There were also many large clumps of darkness within the presence, impurities or something else. Whatever they were, I was sure they weren't supposed to be there.

With my objective clear I was able to work on a solution. Ultimately, I started off simple. I used my healing technique once more, focusing on the bundle of spiritual energy rather than the mountain it rested inside.

It reacted immediately. The moment my medicinal qi made contact with the first tendril of spiritual energy, a focused blast of energy shot out and disrupted my technique.

Blood trickled down my chin as the effects of another backlash struck me. I'd dealt with unwilling patients before, but this was by far the largest and most unruly.

What was the approach here? How could I convince a broken, ancient being that I only wanted to help. Was there a way to communicate with it?

That was like an ant attempting to converse with a human. The very concept was preposterous, yet it was necessary.

Words wouldn't suffice. This was a being of pure spiritual energy, so perhaps that was the answer?

I repeated my healing technique. This time I did the same thing I'd done before, surrounding it with my medicinal qi before allowing it to enter the bundle of energy. That wasn't all I did to ensure my success.

Not only did I ensure my intent was to heal, but I took extra care to remove any possible negative intentions from my technique. That was something I'd never done before, but I discovered it had an enormous effect.

Despite my beliefs and aims, it seemed there were still subconscious guards that seeped into my qi as I used techniques. To my surprise, not only did that allow my technique to penetrate without a backlash from the being, but it also improved the potency of my medicinal qi by a fraction.

I was pleased with my first success. Even though the technique had faltered shortly after penetrating the mass of energy, I had been able to form a bond of trust with my patient.

Five attempts later, I had my next success. The first clump of darkness, which turned out to be a form of corrupting or possibly binding energy, reacted violently to my medicinal qi.

However, I had a lot of experience dealing with aggressive tumours and foreign bodies. Even though this was a patient on a scale I'd never encountered before, the basic concept was the same.

My medicinal qi started to surround small portions of the invasive energy, pulling it apart and devouring it slowly. In the end I had to use a second application of my healing technique just to destroy a single clump.

The effects were beyond my expectations. Once the foreign energy had been destroyed, a powerful wave of spiritual energy exploded from the spot it had occupied, filling the being with power and making every single tendril resonate with the world around me.

The mountain itself rumbled and I could've sworn the blizzard grew a little less intense. I had confirmation this was the right path, so I continued in the same manner.

After another seventeen uses of my healing technique I had eradicated every single clump of the foreign energy. I realised through this that it wasn't corruption at all, but a binding force.

Each clump I'd removed had released an enormous wave of spiritual energy that filled the being with power and made dozens more tendrils erupt from its centre. Once I was done, the presence filled the entire mountain and spread into every inch of the world beyond, as though it was the world itself.

And, with my final success, I realised the blizzard had long since subsided and the mountain was in full bloom. Flowers, trees, and bright green grass covered its surface from summit to base and the heat of the sun beat down on my brow.

It wasn't an unpleasant, sweltering heat like that of summer. Instead it was the gentle, rejuvenating warmth of spring.

I noticed that with every breath, the spiritual energy in the surroundings increased in density. Soon it felt as if I was bathing in liquid energy, my cultivation skyrocketing and my brain's refining process advancing in leaps and bounds.

The energy settled to a more normal level after a while, but it was still far thicker than it had been when I began the trial. My brain was now around fifty percent to complete refinement, while I felt myself approaching the bottleneck to two-star Foundation Building as well.

I opened my eyes after my brief cultivation session, leaping to my feet and offering a martial salute to the floating apparition of the Spring and Autumn Sage in front of me. Beside him was the black dragon I had encountered earlier, staring intently at me with an odd expression on its face.

"Another failure, yet you have exceeded my expectations and given me great hope for the future, young cultivator. I would know your name," the sage declared with a mischievous smile.

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