The work began without ceremony.
No proclamation echoed across the mountains.
No grand formation ignited the sky.
No miracle descended to validate their decision.
There was only wind, dry earth, and the sound of footsteps settling into unfamiliar ground.
If anyone had passed by and seen them, they would not have believed this gathering to be a sect's foundation. Eleven Foundation Establishment cultivators....each capable of shaping rivers, splitting stone, or standing as pillars elsewhere.....were scattered across a tired valley with their sleeves tied back, examining dirt.
It looked… ordinary.
And that was precisely why it felt so strange.
Lui Ming stood at the center of the valley.
He did not move much.
He did not command constantly.
He observed.
The land stretched outward in uneven layers, its surface marked by faint scars where something had once been harvested again and again. There were no violent signs of destruction....no burn marks, no shattered formations, no lingering resentful Qi.
Instead, there was absence.
Like a field walked across too many times.
Like a well drawn from too often.
Like something that had given more than it should have.
"Strange," Zhou Liu murmured.
The senior elder moved slowly, each step deliberate, as though he feared disturbing a pattern only he could see. His white robes brushed the ground lightly as he knelt, drawing a simple array with his fingers....not one meant to activate power, but to listen.
A faint blue glow traced his movements.
Lines spread outward.
Then dimmed.
Then spread again.
"It's not resisting," Zhou Liu said.
"That's because there's nothing left to resist," Chen Guo muttered from nearby, kicking at the soil.
Zhou Liu shook his head.
"No. This is not emptiness."
He paused.
"This is fatigue."
Several elders exchanged glances.
Fatigue?
Land did not grow tired.
It either lived… or it died.
Yet the more they examined the valley, the harder it became to call it dead.
Bai Tusu worked quietly within the marked testing square, carefully pressing new seedlings into the soil. Her movements were gentle, deliberate, as though she were apologizing to the earth for disturbing it again.
She did not flood the ground with Qi.
She fed it slowly.
Patiently.
The way one would offer water to someone exhausted—not drowning them, but helping them remember how to drink.
Her long ears tilted slightly, sensing fluctuations others might miss.
"…You're still here," she whispered to the roots.
Lin Yue watched from a short distance away, leaning on her spear.
"I've never seen someone talk to plants like that."
Bai Tusu didn't look up.
"I'm not talking to them."
"Then what are you doing?"
"Listening."
Lin Yue snorted.
"That sounds worse."
But she didn't interrupt.
Time passed.
Not quickly.
Not dramatically.
Just steadily.
And slowly, the valley began revealing things.
"Qi flow here," Zhou Liu called.
Several elders gathered.
The faint observation array he had laid down now pulsed weakly, its light uneven, like a heartbeat struggling to find rhythm.
"It doesn't circulate," he explained. "It seeps."
"Like a leaking vessel," Han Wei added.
"Like something drank from it," another elder said.
Chen Guo crossed his arms.
"Then whatever drank from it is gone."
"No," Lui Ming replied.
The answer came so simply that they did not question it at first.
Until they realized what he meant.
"…You think it's still here?" Han Wei asked.
Lui Ming didn't answer directly.
Instead, he crouched and pressed his palm lightly against the soil.
He did not release Qi.
He did not probe.
He simply remained still.
Feeling.
Wind passed.
Dust shifted.
And beneath the quiet surface—
There was weight.
Not pressure.
Not hostility.
Presence.
Lui Ming stood.
"This valley supported something larger than cultivation."
Zhou Liu's eyes narrowed.
"An ecosystem?"
"No."
Lui Ming looked across the land.
"A balance."
Before further explanation could form—
The ground trembled.
Not violently.
Just enough to make loose stones shift.
Every elder froze.
Lin Yue's spear struck the earth instantly.
"Formation?"
"No activation," Zhou Liu replied, eyes wide.
Another tremor followed.
Then another.
Each one spaced evenly.
Measured.
Like breathing.
Bai Tusu slowly withdrew her hands from the soil.
"It's responding."
Chen Guo stared.
"…To what?"
"To us."
Silence fell.
Heavy this time.
Because none of them sensed aggression.
No killing intent.
No disturbance.
Only awareness.
"It didn't attack previous sects," Zhou Liu realized aloud.
"They left before reaching this point."
Lin Yue's grin returned....not amused, but sharpened.
"So we stayed long enough to introduce ourselves."
Another tremor rolled outward.
The testing square sank slightly....not collapsing, but settling.
Adjusting.
Accommodating.
Lui Ming watched carefully.
Then spoke.
"Stop all restoration work."
Bai Tusu hesitated.
"But it was stabilizing...."
"Yes."
"And that's why we stop."
She understood immediately.
This wasn't resistance.
It was reaction.
The valley floor shifted again.
This time more noticeably.
Dust cascaded down shallow slopes.
Ancient channels.....barely visible before.....emerged beneath the surface like scars being uncovered.
Zhou Liu stepped closer, eyes widening.
"These are… conduits."
"Not carved," Han Wei added.
"Worn."
Used.
Repeatedly.
Over a long time.
Chen Guo exhaled slowly.
"So this place didn't collapse."
"It was maintained," Zhou Liu corrected.
"Until something changed."
Lui Ming looked toward the horizon.
"This place was never meant to be empty."
Another tremor.
This one deeper.
Carrying a faint resonance.
Not sound.
Not energy.
Memory.
Bai Tusu shivered slightly.
"It's not angry."
"No," Lui Ming said.
"It's waiting."
The realization spread gradually.
This valley was not abandoned.
It had been left alone.
Like something too large to remove.
Too stable to destroy.
Too necessary to interfere with.
Until it was forgotten.
Lin Yue adjusted her stance.
"…So what now?"
Lui Ming answered without hesitation.
"We continue."
Chen Guo stared at him.
"You want to build a sect on top of that?"
"Yes."
"That's insane."
"Yes."
Chen Guo opened his mouth—
Then stopped.
Because Lui Ming wasn't arguing.
He wasn't persuading.
He was stating.
"We came here to build something that doesn't rely on dominance," Lui Ming said calmly.
He looked across the valley again.
"This place survived without dominance."
Zhou Liu let out a quiet breath.
"…Then perhaps we chose correctly."
The wind shifted again.
Not restless.
Not uncertain.
Watching.
And for the first time since they arrived—
The valley did not feel empty.
It felt acknowledged.
End of Chapter 3