Re-birth: The Beginning after the End - Chapter 138

Chapter 138: ABILITIES ASSESSED
As Li Hua followed, she knew she would never approach techniques the same way again. The Permission Barriers, False Cores, Dimensional Shifts—they were no longer tools to be used, but remembrances of a time before she understood. She had become something else entirely—not a practitioner of concealment arts, but a being who could exist in the spaces between existence itself.

Her brothers waited at the forest’s edge, their faces showing a mix of exhaustion and curiosity. Li Wei sat cross-legged on a fallen log, his scholarly mind already analyzing their experience, while Li Hao paced restlessly nearby. Both looked up as Li Hua and Grandmaster Yu emerged from the mist.

“Six days,” Li Wei said, a note of admiration in his voice. “You lasted six days against Grandpa.”

Li Hao stopped pacing. “How did you do it? After the third day, it felt like the entire forest was helping him hunt us. My Phantom Steps, your Permission Barriers—it was like the realm itself learned to read through every technique we tried.”

“Because it was,” Grandmaster Yu said, settling onto a stone with the easy grace that made him seem ageless. “The Seventh Keeper isn’t a person at all. It’s the realm itself.”

The siblings exchanged startled glances.

“The other keepers guard their domains,” he continued, his voice carrying the weight of ancient knowledge. “But the realm? It watches. It judges. It decides who is worthy of its secrets.”

Li Hua remained standing, feeling the forest’s presence around them differently now. Not as a space to apply techniques in, but as an entity—ancient, aware, and impossibly vast.

“So this wasn’t just about mastering the techniques,” Li Wei said slowly, pieces falling into place. “When my Soul Reflections started showing truth instead of deception…”

“When my False Cores began moving in sync with the forest…” Li Hao added, understanding dawning in his eyes.

“We weren’t just learning skills,” Li Wei finished. “We were learning to communicate with the realm itself.”

“In a way,” Grandmaster Yu nodded, his expression thoughtful. “The Six Realm is more than a place between places. It’s a consciousness that has existed since the first cultivators discovered how to slip between worlds. The techniques you learned—the Phantom Steps, the Permission Barriers, all of them—they’re not just methods of concealment. They’re different dialects in the realm’s language.”

“The mist,” Li Hua said quietly, remembering how it had moved with her rather than around her during those final moments. “The shadows, the spaces between spaces—they’re all part of its voice.”

“Yes.” Grandmaster Yu’s approval was evident. “The keepers don’t control the realm—they interpret it. Guide those who would learn from it. But in the end, it’s the realm that decides who can truly walk its paths.”

Li Wei leaned forward, his scholarly interest piqued. “Is that why our parents trained here? Did the realm choose them too?”

A shadow passed over Grandmaster Yu’s face, there and gone so quickly they might have imagined it. “Your parents… discovered things about this place that few others have. Things that made them both valuable and vulnerable.”

“Your mother,” Grandmaster Yu continued, choosing his words carefully, “was drawn to the realm’s mysteries. Like you, Li Hua, she saw beyond the surface, though she never fully grasped its nature as you have.”

Li Wei straightened, hunger for knowledge clear in his expression. “And Father?”

A hint of amusement touched Grandmaster Yu’s features. “Your father was a scholar at heart. He spent countless hours in these forests, trying to understand how the realm moved, how it thought. He documented things the keepers themselves hadn’t noticed. But understanding isn’t the same as belonging.”

The siblings nodded.

“Come,” Grandmaster Yu said, then paused, his stern demeanor softening into something more familiar. “Let’s go eat. I’ve been craving your beef stew since we started.” His eyes sparkled with their usual warmth when food was mentioned, the formidable seeker once again becoming their grandfather who could match Li Hao bowl for bowl at dinner.

“Thank heavens!” Li Hao’s shout echoed through the trees, his earlier defeat forgotten at the mention of food. “I’m so hungry I could eat an entire spirit beast! Sister, please tell me it would be quick?”

Li Wei automatically started to correct their brother’s manners but stopped himself, a rare smile touching his lips. After days of tension, Li Hao’s familiar enthusiasm was oddly comforting.

Li Hua smiled softly as they began their walk back to their quarters. The transition felt strange—like waking from a deep dream. She was still aware of the forest’s consciousness brushing against her own, but now it felt more like a gentle acknowledgment than the all-encompassing merge of before.

The familiar path back to their quarters seemed different now. Where before she had seen simple stones and trees, now she felt the subtle pulse of the realm’s awareness in everything they passed.

While her brothers washed away the forest’s dust, Li Hua moved through their kitchen with practiced efficiency. She added precisely cut chunks of beef to the simmering broth, the familiar motions of preparing her signature stew helping to ground her racing thoughts. Vegetables sizzled in the wok beside the stew pot, their aromatic steam filling the kitchen with promises of comfort.

They gathered around the low wooden table, steam rising from bowls of hearty stew and plates of stir-fried vegetables. For a while, there was only the sound of eating—even Li Wei forgetting his usual proper manners in the face of hunger born from days of hiding.

Once the edge of their appetite had dulled, Grandmaster Yu set down his bowl, though his eyes still held appreciation for the meal. “You’ve each shown different strengths these past few days,” he began, his voice carrying both pride and assessment.

He turned to Li Wei first. “Your analytical mind created patterns within patterns—techniques that would have fooled even most of the keepers. But remember, sometimes understanding can become its own trap. The greatest mysteries can’t always be solved through logic alone.”

Li Wei nodded thoughtfully, absorbing the critique with his usual scholarly attention.

“Li Hao,” Grandmaster Yu continued, a hint of amusement touching his features. “Your chaos was magnificent. Few could maintain such complete unpredictability for so long. But you let your emotions become part of your technique—and emotions, even wild ones, have their own patterns.”

Li Hao grinned through a mouthful of food, somehow managing to look both abashed and proud.

Finally, Grandmaster Yu’s gaze settled on Li Hua. “And you, little one…” His voice softened with something deeper than simple approval. “You did something even the keepers struggled to achieve. Instead of fighting the realm or trying to deceive it, you learned to exist as part of it. That’s not just technique—that’s transformation.”

Li Hua felt her brothers’ eyes on her, saw the mix of pride and wonder in their expressions. She couldn’t quite conceal her smile, a familiar warmth of accomplishment spreading through her chest. The realm’s presence still whispered at the edges of her awareness, like a conversation just out of earshot but somehow perfectly understood.

“For now,” Grandmaster Yu said, picking up his empty bowl and reaching for seconds, “you’ll continue learning from the keepers. Each of them still has much to teach you. But remember—your greatest lessons will come from listening to what the realm itself is trying to show you.”