Qi Refining Realm Four

Night fell, but Zhao Xunan lay awake, his mind churning. The little maid's words still rang in his ears—"If you can truly sense the heavens, you'll see the vault of stars!" Could it be true?

He sat up, staring at the moonlit window. For months, he'd dismissed her playful jabs about his "heavenly connection" as childish nonsense. But tonight… he'd tried. Closing his eyes, he'd focused on the flow of qi in his meridians, letting it spiral upward. And for the first time, he'd felt it—the vastness of the sky, the weight of the mountains, the hum of the earth itself. It was as if the world had whispered back.

The little maid hadn't been lying.

But that realization only deepened his unease. The difference between Qi Refining Realm Three and Four wasn't just a step—it was a chasm. Three was the threshold of "outer qi"; four marked the shift to "inner cultivation," where one drew power not from the world, but from the laws of the world.

Legends said that crossing this threshold required "heavenly approval"—a resonance with the universe itself. In the past, even geniuses from Kunlun's secret realms struggled. Some never made it. Others took decades.

And yet… here he was, a former commoner with a patchwork past, possibly on the cusp of breaking through. Why?

Because of her.

Zhao Ping'er.

The little maid who'd followed him through life and death, who'd somehow become a part of his very being. Earlier, she'd joked about her own breakthrough, claiming she'd "felt the sky touch her skin." At the time, he'd scoffed. Now… he wasn't so sure.

If their fates were intertwined, what did that mean for her? For him?

Restless, he threw on a robe and wandered the Martial Arts Academy. The moon cast long shadows over the thatched huts and stone courtyards. By dawn, he'd made up his mind: If the academy was his home, he'd make it worthy of that name.

The next morning, he rode to the Celestial Strategy Office. The guard on duty, a weathered veteran, nearly fell off his stool when Zhao Xunan mentioned "funding for repairs."

"Repair?!" The man gaped, gesturing to his frayed red uniform. "This used to be crimson, bright as fire—symbol of the Great Qin's might on the battlefield. Now look at it!" He tugged at the threadbare cloth, revealing a patchwork of gray. "We're lucky to have armor left at all!"

Zhao Xunan's heart sank. He knew the state of the military; he'd seen it in the markets, where veterans begged for coins. But the academy… his academy…

He rode on to the White Tiger Hall, where the Grand Marshal presided. The man greeted him with a booming laugh. "Money? Son, you're asking the wrong man!" He yanked Zhao Xunan down to inspect a gilded chair. "See this? A single seat like this'd fetch five taels on the market. Take it, sell it, keep the profit. But the academy? It's under the Ministry of War—my budget's already stretched thin!"

Zhao Xunan left the hall with a bitter taste. The academy's main hall was protected by the Azure Dragon Formation, but the outer buildings were crumbling. If even the military couldn't spare funds…

Wait. The Grand Marshal had mentioned the Ministry of Works.

The Ministry of Works was a world apart—grand, bustling, and rich. Zhao Xunan was ushered into a side hall with silk cushions and premium tea. A green-robed official, Sun Qiliang of the Ministry's Maintenance Bureau, arrived with a smile.

"Apologies for the delay, Lord Zhao. May I assist with your… uh, 'renovation needs'?"

Zhao Xunan explained his request: repairing the academy's walls, clearing overgrown paths, basic upkeep. Sun Qiliang stroked his beard. "The academy's historic, but it's far from the capital. Why spend on it?"

"Because it's mine," Zhao Xunan said simply. "I took it as my home, and I'll see it properly maintained."

Sun Qiliang eyed him, then nodded. "Understood. Materials are no issue—I can allocate them. But labor costs… that requires approval. Shall I draft a request to the Three Ministers?"

"How much would labor cost?"

"Two to three months of work, maybe five hundred taels total. The builders are already on retainer—we could start today if you pay upfront."

Five hundred taels. Zhao Xunan almost laughed. With the academy's hidden treasures (and the little maid's occasional "gifts"), he could afford it.

Within hours, carts of lumber and tools rolled into the academy. Dozens of workers arrived, chatting and laughing as if they'd come to a festival. Zhao Xunan watched them hack at weeds and patch walls, shaking his head.

"Pay 'em double, and they'll work twice as hard," he told Zhao Ping'er, who'd snuck out to supervise. "Don't skimp—they're earning it."

By the end of the month, the academy was transformed. Crumbling walls were reinforced, overgrown paths cleared, and the once-desolate courtyard now bloomed with fresh flowers.

Then, on the night of the fifth day of the fifth lunar month—exactly one month after his breakthrough to Realm Three—something extraordinary happened.

Zhao Xunan stood atop a nearby peak, hands clasped in meditation. The stars above seemed… closer. He'd spent weeks studying the Compendium of Rare Herbs and practicing the celestial incantations from the Azure Dragon Formation. Tonight, the qi in his meridians felt different—sharper, hungrier.

A low rumble shook the earth.

He looked up.

A meteor, large as a mountain, blazed across the sky, trailing a tail of fire. It crashed into the distance, and for a moment, the world went dark. Then—

Light.

Endless, brilliant light.

It poured from the east, flooding the valleys, the rivers, the mountains. The stars themselves seemed to fall, swirling around Zhao Xunan like a storm.

He raised his hand. The light touched his palm, and he felt it—the pulse of the earth, the rhythm of the stars, the breath of the universe.

This was the "heavenly approval."

This was crossing into Qi Refining Realm Four.

Thousands of miles away, in the Forbidden City, Phoenix—once the Imperial Preceptor—stared at the glowing horizon. "A single mortal… moving the heavens?" she murmured.

Long ago, when she'd broken into Realm Four, she'd shaken the Dà Yǎn Secret Realm. But this… this was different. This was a human—a former commoner, a "heretic"—who'd somehow tapped into the world's deepest laws.

Somewhere, a divine sense probed the mountain where Zhao Xunan stood. It recoiled, shocked by the sheer depth of his cultivation.

But Zhao Xunan didn't notice. He stood there, grinning, as the light seeped into his bones.

For the first time, he understood what it meant to be "favored by heaven."

It wasn't about power.

It was about connection.

And tonight, he'd connected to something far greater than himself.