Re-birth: The Beginning after the End - Chapter 129

Chapter 129: THE TECHNIQUES PART 1
The morning mist hung thick over the training courtyard, curling through the air in lazy spirals, absorbing the light in a way that made everything seem muted. Li Hua stood beside her brothers, her breath steady, her gaze calm as she took in the stillness of the Sixth Realm.

This realm was not like the world they had known. It was silent but alive, vast but watching. It was a place between places, where reality seemed to shift in ways that defied sense. And they, too, would have to change if they were to survive it.

Before them stood Lady Wei, Lady He, and Lady Xu, their robes undisturbed by the shifting breeze, their gazes sharp with expectation. Each keeper had mastered a different aspect of concealment—Lady Wei with her control over power’s ebb and flow, Lady He with her mastery of presence and permission, and Lady Xu with her command over space itself. Together, they would teach the siblings not just to hide, but to become untraceable.

Not to flee. Not to cower. But to erase their presence from the sight of those who would hunt them.

It was the difference between living and being hunted.

Lady Wei stepped forward first, her movements carrying the fluid grace of one who had mastered the balance between power and invisibility. “Your inner core is your greatest strength—and your greatest weakness,” she began, her voice carrying the weight of ancient knowledge. “It marks your existence like a beacon in the night. Every enemy you will face—every being that lurks in the shadows—can find you unless you learn to become unseen.”

The moment the last word left her lips—she was gone.

Not an illusion. Not movement. She simply ceased to be.

Li Wei stiffened. Li Hao tensed.

Li Hua remained still, recognizing this as the first test. The art of remaining calm when everything changed.

There was no trace of Lady Wei’s presence. No shift in the mist, no displaced air. Even the natural flow of the world remained undisturbed, as if she had never existed at all. It was more than mere concealment—it was perfect harmony with the world itself.

“She’s still here,” Li Hao muttered, scanning the space with narrowed eyes. “But how—”

Lady Wei’s voice floated to them, though her form remained absent. “Because I do not fight the world—I become part of it.”

And then, with a ripple so subtle it might have been imagination, she reappeared exactly where she had been. The demonstration was effortless, almost casual, but its impact on the siblings was profound. This was the Breath of the World technique in its purest form—the ability to merge one’s energy so completely with the natural flow that detection became impossible.

Li Hua exhaled slowly. So that was the first lesson. Not power. Not speed. But absolute harmony with the world around them.

“Your breath mirrors your energy,” Lady Wei began, folding her hands in front of her. “To be unseen, you must first understand what it means to be part of the world’s natural rhythm.” She gestured to the mist drifting lazily around them. “The wind does not call attention to itself. The rivers do not resist their flow. To hide your inner core, you must become like these things—indistinct, untraceable, a presence that moves without resistance.”

Li Hua nodded once, closing her eyes.

She was familiar with breath control—meditation, slowing the heartbeat, finding balance. But this was something deeper. It was not about controlling herself, but about letting go completely.

She inhaled, slow and steady.

The world did not breathe with her.

She exhaled, gentler this time.

The world remained unchanged.

Something was wrong.

Li Wei sighed beside her, shaking his head slightly. “We are trying to suppress something that defines us,” he murmured. “Our core is meant to flow. To still it feels unnatural.”

Lady Wei’s lips curved in approval at his observation. “That is because you are trying to suppress yourselves rather than become part of the world’s breath.” She moved behind them, her presence an unspoken force as she placed a hand lightly on Li Hua’s shoulder. “This is the Breath of the World technique. Your energy should not be silent—it should be indistinguishable. It should move as the wind moves, as the river flows, as the mist gathers. Do not hold it. Let it dissolve into the greater flow.”

Li Hua breathed again, softer this time. She stopped thinking of herself as separate from the air around her. Instead of trying to control her presence, she let it spread out, thinning like mist in morning light. Her awareness expanded to the natural currents around her—the way leaves stirred in the breeze, how moisture gathered and dispersed in the air.

Slowly, something shifted. Her core didn’t vanish, but it began to ripple in harmony with the world’s own rhythm. No longer a concentrated point of power, but part of the endless dance of natural forces.

A slow thrill passed through her, quiet and deep. This was it. This was what it meant to fade without vanishing—the first step of the Still Lake Method.

Lady Wei nodded in approval, stepping back. “Good. Now we move to the next stage. Maintaining this state even under pressure.” She circled the siblings slowly, her voice taking on an edge of steel. “A cultivator who can only hide while meditating is still vulnerable. You must learn to keep your energy as still as an undisturbed lake, even in motion, even under attack.”

“Now,” Lady He’s voice cut through the stillness like a blade, her tone carrying none of Lady Wei’s gentle guidance. “You must learn to protect what you have hidden.” She stepped forward, her robes bearing those intricate patterns of interlocking gates that seemed to shift with each movement.

Her gaze was unyielding, a wall of iron and certainty. “A hidden core is useless if someone can force you to reveal it. Through the Empty Presence Technique, you must not only disappear—you must become untouchable. Undetectable even to those actively searching.”

Without warning, she struck. Not with physical force, but with something far more intrusive—a probing pressure designed to expose their presence.

Li Hua flinched.

Her carefully maintained state shattered, her core flaring in response, an instinctive reaction to defend against the invasion.

Lady He’s frown carried centuries of disappointment. “Wrong. You must learn to accept such probes without response. Let them pass through you as if you don’t exist.”

Li Hao exhaled sharply, frustration evident in his voice. “It’s impossible not to react. Our core is part of who we are.”

“Then you will die,” Lady He stated flatly. “Every cultivator who hunts others knows to send out such probes. The moment you react—” she snapped her fingers, the sound sharp as breaking ice, “—they have you.”

Li Hao scowled, wiping sweat from his brow. “Then what are we supposed to do? Let an enemy’s probe just pass through us?”

“Yes.” Lady He lifted a single finger. “You must construct what we call a Permission Barrier. Think of it as a lock around your very existence. Without the key, without proper authorization, no one should be able to even confirm you exist.”

She struck again.

Another invasive probe.

This time, Li Hua gritted her teeth and focused on Lady Wei’s earlier lesson. Instead of defending or reacting, she tried to let her presence become like the mist—something that couldn’t be grabbed, couldn’t be proven to exist or not exist.

The probe passed through her, searching for something solid to latch onto—but finding nothing.

Lady He nodded once, the barest acknowledgment. “Better. But still too conscious. The barrier must be automatic, absolute. Again.”