Fortuitous encounter?

Finally, it was midnight. Zhou Fan stepped out of his home and made his way toward the academy to claim his reward. The village was silent, the streets empty except for the occasional flickering lantern.

As he approached the academy gates, the guards stationed there blocked his path. One of them narrowed his eyes and asked, "Why are you here? It's too late for students to be wandering around."

Zhou Fan remained calm. "I'm here to collect my reward. I've reached the mid stage of rank one."

The first guard scoffed, folding his arms. "Who are you trying to fool? Have you gotten drunk or something? It hasn't even been a day."

The second guard glanced at Zhou Fan suspiciously before muttering, "He must be from one of the four families. No commoner could break through so fast..."

Zhou Fan released his essence, and the guards' eyes widened in shock. The energy he radiated was undeniable—this really was the aura of a rank 1 mid-stage cultivator.

They exchanged glances, still processing what they had just witnessed. One of them hesitated before asking, "May we ask the young master's name?"

"Zhou Fan," he replied calmly.

The guards stiffened. "Zhou Fan? Not from the four families?" One of them muttered, "He must have exceptional talent…"

Without wasting time, they hurried to inform the academic elder. When he heard the news, the elder frowned in disbelief. "Zhou Fan? The one who didn't even pay attention in my class?" He tapped his fingers on the desk. "How is this possible?"

The academic elder sighed, still struggling to believe what he had just heard. After a moment of thought, he took out ten qi pearls and an obsidian storage ring, handing them to the guards. "Give these to him," he instructed. As they turned to leave, he muttered to himself, "Was Zhou Fan listening to my lectures all along while pretending not to care?"

The guards quickly returned to the academy gates, where Zhou Fan stood waiting. One of them extended the rewards. "The academic elder has acknowledged your achievement. Here are your ten qi pearls and a storage ring."

Zhou Fan took the storage ring and slid it onto his finger. With a thought, he activated it, and the ten qi pearls vanished from his hand, stored safely inside. The smooth, black obsidian gleamed under the moonlight. Without a word, he turned and left the academy, vanishing into the quiet night.

Zhou Fan was walking, lost in thought. His mind wandered to Ching Shi, an ordinary man who had stumbled upon a fortuitous encounter. Because of that single stroke of luck, he became a refinement path cultivator, rising above countless others. Rumors said he often wandered through the Mist Forest, scattering petals wherever he went.

"If only I had seen that place in my previous life," Zhou Fan murmured to himself.

…

Meanwhile, Fang Min arrived at the academy to collect his reward. As he approached the guards, one of them informed him, "You're not the first. Another student already came before you."

Fang Min frowned. "Who?"

"Zhou Fan."

Fang Min's eyes widened. "Zhou Fan? The same student who slept through the entire class?" He couldn't believe it.

...

Refinement Path was different from other cultivation paths. Unlike Qi cultivators who absorbed the world's essence or body cultivators who tempered themselves, anyone could refine pills, artifacts, or even living beings through the Refinement Path. However, the greatest obstacle was enlightenment levels.

What were enlightenment levels? They referred to a person's understanding of their chosen path. The deeper one's comprehension, the greater their success in refining powerful creations. Talent mattered, but without enlightenment, even the best resources and techniques would be useless.

Enlightenment levels determined how deeply a cultivator understood their craft. A beginner might blindly follow a pill recipe but fail without knowing why. Someone with moderate enlightenment would recognize mistakes and make adjustments, like controlling the temperature to avoid ruining ingredients.

A cultivator with high enlightenment would go beyond the recipe, discovering new methods to improve the pill's effectiveness. At the peak of enlightenment, a master wouldn't need instructions at all—they could refine purely by instinct, achieving results beyond ordinary limits.

Zhou Fan wandered through the market stalls, carefully selecting seven different types of petals, each with a distinct color. After making his purchases, he left the village and made his way toward the Mist Forest.

The forest lived up to its name—thick mist covered everything, obscuring sight beyond a few steps. Zhou Fan stepped forward cautiously, his expression calm. Taking out the first set of petals, he scattered them into the air.

Nothing happened. The petals drifted to the ground, vanishing into the mist.

Zhou Fan stood at the edge of the Mist Forest, turning the petals over in his palm. Each one had its own color, its own meaning. He had gathered them carefully, hoping one would react to whatever was hidden in this place.

He tossed the first—a crimson fire petal. It drifted through the thick fog, disappearing without a trace. Nothing changed.

Next, he tried a blue moon petal, a flower that supposedly held traces of moonlight. It landed softly, swallowed by the mist like the first. Still, no reaction.

One after another, he threw , but the fog remained the same—dense, unmoving, unwilling to reveal anything. Zhou Fan's brows furrowed. Was it just a rumor after all?

Finally, he reached—the black void petal. Dark and almost weightless, it was said to grow in places where the natural energy of the world twisted and pooled unnaturally. He flicked it forward.

The moment it touched the ground, the air shifted. The mist trembled, as if something had disturbed it from within. Then, slowly, it began to clear, swirling away like smoke caught in the wind. Shapes emerged from the haze—twisted roots, damp earth, the faint outline of trees.

And then, directly in front of him, a hole in the ground. A hidden entrance, now fully revealed.