Spark's First Flame

When Mentor Wen was awakened by the charcoal pencil, it was just dawn. The paper under his arm was crumpled into a ball, and the three characters "Cloud Mist Sect" were blurred and illegible.

Lu Qinghe brought in a bowl of hot water and placed it on the corner of the table. "Take a break."

"Sigh." Mentor Wen rubbed his face, picked up the bowl, and slowly drank. The water's warmth seeped through the rough earthenware bowl, warming his palms. He looked at the grayish-white daylight outside the window and suddenly asked, "Brother Lu, what do you think Lu Yuan is after?"

Lu Qinghe rubbed his thumb against the callus on his index finger and remained silent for a while.

"He wants to take a different path," the old man said in a low voice, "A path... one where he doesn't have to rely on fate for his livelihood."

Mentor Wen was stunned.

Lu Qinghe didn't say anything more, turned around and left. The curtain swayed, and the morning light shone in, falling on the paper.

After breakfast, everyone crowded into the main room. Bai Zhi stood by the curtain, leaning against the door frame. Her brother was fast asleep in the inner room, his breathing steady.

The room was crowded. Morning light streamed through the paper windows, and dust particles slowly floated and sank in the beams of light.

Lu Yuan stood before the table, with the simple sketch of the Thousand Needle Stone Forest behind him. His gaze swept over every face—his father's silent wrinkles, Mo Chen's bright eyes beneath his disheveled hair, Shen Moxin's calm scrutiny behind her glasses, Mentor Wen's tightly pursed lips, Su Yan and Li Wangye's taut backs, and Bai Zhi's quiet, drooping eyelashes.

He spoke, his voice low, but it fell silent.

"From today onwards, we have a name."

Everyone looked up.

"It's called ' Spark,'" Lu Yuan said, tapping his index finger twice on the table. "Spark is weak, but it's not easily extinguished. The stronger the wind, the brighter it sometimes burns."

Mo Chen's throat moved. Shen Moxin adjusted her glasses.

"We've gathered here not because of blood ties, not because of sect tokens," Lu Yuan said calmly, "But because we all feel that the path everyone is walking—where Martial Soul determines destiny, Soul Power determines rank, and birth locks in the ceiling—is wrong."

He looked at Su Yan and Li Wangye. "Some people have ordinary talent and are deemed to have no future. Some people have unorthodox Martial Soul and are thrown into a corner to fend for themselves."

Su Yan gripped the seam of her trousers tightly with her fingers.

"This is unreasonable." Lu Yuan's voice deepened. "Knowledge should not be monopolized, and potential should not be defined by birth. We've gathered here to verify one thing—"

The room was so quiet you could hear someone breathing.

"With systematic knowledge, a deep understanding of the essence of Soul Power, and through collaboration and creativity, can we break through those seemingly unbreakable Shackles?"

Mentor Wen, breathing rapidly, nodded vigorously.

Lu Yuan looked at Mo Chen. "We don't rely on bloodline inheritance, nor on plundering by force. We rely on research, on teaching, and on turning knowledge into a tool that anyone can use."

Mo Chen grinned. "It should have been done a long time ago."

"At this stage, there are three things to do," Lu Yuan held up three fingers. "First, do everything possible to improve everyone's strength. Second, gather intelligence and rescue Lin Xiao."

The atmosphere in the room tensed slightly upon hearing Lin Xiao's name.

"Third, accumulate experience. Lay a foundation for the future." He looked around at everyone. "This path is difficult; you'll offend people and face suppression. It's not too late to quit now."

No one moved.

Su Yan was the first to speak, her voice tense. "I won't back down."

Li Wangye followed up, saying, "Me neither."

Mo Chen scoffed, "I've been ostracized for half my life, what am I afraid of?"

Shen Moxin gently pushed up her glasses, standing ramrod straight. Mentor Wen straightened his hunched back. The seed bracelet on Bai Zhi's wrist made a soft tinkling sound.

Lu Qinghe remained silent, then walked half a step behind Lu Yuan and stopped.

Lu Yuan nodded without saying a word. He pulled out a piece of paper from under the table and spread it out.

"Division of labor." He pointed to the first line, "I'll oversee the research direction and planning. Teacher Shen Mr. Wen will be responsible for the theoretical framework and teaching."

Shen Moxin Mentor Wen nodded simultaneously.

"Mo Chen is in charge of artifacts, Soul Tool improvements, array base plates, and detection and communication tools."

Mo Chen rubbed his hands together. "We should have gotten some decent stuff a long time ago."

"Su Yan, Li Wangye," Lu Yuan said, looking at the two boys. "You are the first batch of 'students.' Your training will be doubled, and you can't miss a single theory class. I will use my essence to help you break through to the next Soul Power node. The process will be tough."

"We can hold on!" they both said in unison.

"Miss Bai Zhi," Lu Yuan turned to the doorway, "You will be in charge of medical care, herbs, and logistics. Your brother's treatment is a priority. Also, keep an eye on the movement of medicinal herbs in town and the movements of unfamiliar faces."

Bai Zhi nodded gently. "Understood."

"Father," Lu Yuan finally looked at Lu Qinghe, "You'll handle the outer perimeter security, supplies procurement, and dealing with the town."

Lu Qinghe hummed in agreement.

With clear division of labor, no one objected. A strange sense of order permeated the simple main room.

Lu Yuan put away the paper. "The backyard will be renovated starting today. Clear away clutter, build sheds, and divide the area into zones. Keep it quiet."

He looked at Mentor Wen: "Mr. Wen, please compile the first version of the basic Soul Power theory outline within three days. It should be concise and easy for Su Yan and the others to understand."

Mentor Wen immediately agreed, "I'll begin."

"Teacher Shen, a diagram illustrating the basic framework of Martial Soul's structure."

"Good."

"Mo Chen, a communication tool. The highest priority is short-range, covert, and difficult-to-detect communication methods."

"Alright." Mo Chen scratched his messy hair. "I happen to have a few ideas that I've been holding onto for a long time."

After giving his instructions, Lu Yuan waved his hand and said, "Disperse."

Everyone left one after another. Mentor Wen hurriedly returned to the east wing with old paper and charcoal pencils. Shen Moxin called Su Yan and Li Wangye to test their theory. Mo Chen went back to the west wing, where the clanging sound of rummaging through metal parts could be heard.

Bai Zhi went to the kitchen to brew medicine. Lu Qinghe picked up an axe and went to the front yard to chop firewood—the sound of chopping firewood could cover up the noise in the back yard.

Lu Yuan remained alone in the main room, his gaze returning to the sketch on the wall.

He stood there for a long time.

It took two days to renovate the backyard.

Lu Qinghe, along with Su Yan and Li Wangye, cleared away rotten wood and broken tiles. Mo Chen used scrap iron sheets and old wooden planks to build a makeshift shed. Shen Moxin Mentor Wen nailed a smoothed stone slab under the eaves to serve as a blackboard and moved stones over to use as stools.

The place is small and cramped, but the functional areas have been cleverly divided.

The eastern corner was the "Theory Corner," the western shed was the "Equipment Workshop," and the open space in the middle was the "Training Area." Bai Zhi had set up an old table under the eaves, stacking herb jars, with a small wooden sign hanging next to it that read "Pharmacology Department" in charcoal.

It was pitifully shabby.

But on the morning of the third day, when everyone stood in the backyard and looked at this small space that had been forcibly divided into different functions, a feeling they couldn't quite describe welled up inside them.

Mo Chen's eyes were a little red. He turned his head away and cursed, "That's fucking pathetic."

Shen Moxin took a soft breath, her eyes behind her glasses shining brightly. Mentor Wen touched the slate blackboard, his fingers trembling slightly.

Su Yan and Li Wangye stood ramrod straight.

Lu Yuan stood in the center of the training area, the morning light falling on his shoulders. He looked at Mentor Wen.

The Mentor Wen understood, walked to the stone slab, and picked up the charcoal pencil. His hand trembled slightly, but he wrote steadily.

He wrote two large characters in the upper left corner of the stone slab:

"Spark".

The handwriting is neat and the force is penetrating into the stone powder.

Below, a horizontal line is drawn, and the first line begins. "An Initial Exploration of the Essence of Soul Power —The Foundation of Energy Perception and Guidance."

The charcoal pencil scratched across the stone slab with a soft, rustling sound.

Everyone listened quietly. Even the wind subsided.

As night fell, a Soul Power lamp was lit in the backyard. Its dim light illuminated the writing on the stone slab.

After finishing the first lesson, Mentor Wen's voice was a little hoarse. Su Yan and Li Wangye were still sitting on the stone benches, their minds filled with a completely new concept— Soul Power was not a vague "qi," but an energy flow with a fluctuating frequency that could be precisely guided.

Mo Chen was banging something in the work shed, making clanging noises. Shen Moxin was organizing her notes, occasionally arguing quietly with her Mentor Wen about technical terms.

Bai Zhi carefully sorts the newly harvested herbs, examining each one meticulously.

After chopping firewood, Lu Qinghe picked up his axe and went into the backyard, where he stood silently in the shadows watching.

Lu Yuan emerged from the main room, handing a sketch to Mo Chen. "Communication tool concept. Based on Soul Power wave resonance, short-range, trigger-based. Materials: jade fossil thin slices and copper wire."

Mo Chen took it and glanced at it a few times, his eyes widening. "This structure... is ingenious! How did you come up with that?"

"Let's borrow the principle of acoustic resonance," Lu Yuan said briefly. "Give it a try. Failure is okay, just record the data."

"Clear!"

Lu Yuan then went to the theory corner, flipped through Shen Moxin's notes, and pointed out several unclear points. Shen Moxin frowned in thought, then nodded and made the corrections.

He circled around and finally stopped in the training area. Su Yan and Li Wangye were covered in sweat as they tried to sense the flow of Soul Power using the new method.

Lu Yuan watched for a while, then, without disturbing them, turned and went back to the main room.

late at night.

The backyard fell silent. The Soul Power lamp went out, leaving only the cold moonlight illuminating that meager yet stubborn little world.

The oil lamp was still lit in the main room.

Lu Yuan sat at the table, with a pile of fragmented intelligence about the Cloud Mist Sect compiled by Mentor Wen spread out in front of him. The information was pitifully scarce.

His gaze fell on the sketch of the Thousand Needle Stone Forest, his fingers unconsciously tapping the table.

To rescue Lin Xiao, we need to penetrate deep into the Cloud Mist Sect's territory. We need an inside man, a breakthrough, and the right opportunity.

They didn't have any of those.

Can Maple Leaf Town, this "blind spot," really remain hidden forever? With the arrival of Mentor Wen, the renovations in the backyard, and the daily commotion... the number of watchful eyes secretly probing the town will only increase.

Passively hiding may lead to being suddenly surrounded one day.

He stared at the blurry mark of the Cloud Mist Sect on the map, his gaze darkening.

Perhaps... I shouldn't keep hiding.

Perhaps we should proactively create some "stirring" to muddy the waters, divert the other party's attention elsewhere, and create opportunities amidst the chaos.

But it's hard to strike the right balance. Too little noise is useless. Too much noise might just turn the fire on yourself.

He needs a more proactive solution to break the deadlock.

A risky move.

The oil lamp crackled and flickered. His shadow on the wall swayed and stretched long.