Su Xiaomeng was lying on the stone bench, bamboo shoots covering her and providing ample shade. A cool wind blew through the garden, softening the heat of the sun.
Her mother, Su Yulan, was arranging the dishes with care. Her flowing black hair, braided in several places, perfectly complemented her white dress. Her attention to detail was evident as she adjusted the cutlery at the slightest sign of being out of order.
"What are you looking at?" her mother asked gently.
Looking at her mother, the teenage girl answered, "How long will it take for father to bring out the main dish?"
"You won't have to wait any longer, little pea!" A boisterous voice rang out from inside. A scholarly man wearing blue robes came out carrying a large golden pot filled with meatballs and thick broth.
He set it down carefully on the table and gestured for Su Xiaomeng to come for a hug. Su Xiaomeng ran toward him and, just before reaching his embrace, jumped over his head and landed in her seat. Then, looking at his frozen expression, she asked, "Father, why aren't you sitting yet?"
Su Wenhao snapped out of his reverie and gazed at his young daughter. Where is the little girl who used to promise that she would marry me when she grew up?
Watching the father and daughter's early afternoon antics, Su Yulan smiled softly. Taking pity on her husband, she said, "Dear, sit down. Otherwise, the food might get cold."
Su Wenhao, the obedient husband, quickly sat at the table, his face full of smiles.
Soon they started eating with relish. "The lionhead meatballs taste exactly as I remember from grandmother's home!" Xiaomeng exclaimed, taking a bite.
"Of course, they taste the same," Su Wenhao said proudly. "I learned her special recipe just to make sure my little pea would enjoy it,"
"Father!" Su Xiaomeng's face flushed slightly. She said in a dissatisfied tone, "I am not young. I am already forty-seven years old and a proud Nascent Soul cultivator."
"Isn't that considered still wet behind the ears here in the upper realm?" Her father looked utterly innocent.
"You!" Su Xiaomeng decided to ignore him and continue her meal in silence. Seeing his daughter puff her cheeks like a little squirrel as she ate, Su Wenhao stopped his teasing. Su Yulan just watched in silence, a slight twinkle in her eyes.
After a few more juicy meatballs, Xiaomeng heard her mother's question. "You mentioned something about closed-door cultivation last time?"
Xiaomeng's chopsticks stopped moving, and she looked at her mother. Swallowing the food in her mouth, she took a drink of the spirit water beside her. Then she slowly replied, "After recently breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm, I feel that my cultivation has stagnated. To mediate it, I have decided to go into closed-door cultivation for the first time."
Su Wenhao also stopped eating. The realization that he would not see his daughter for several months or even years hit him. "No!" He slammed his hands on the table. The mother and daughter gave him a bewildered look. "We can just buy more cultivation resources and pills to supplement your growth. We're not rich, but we're not poor either."
Su Xiaomeng's family was a distant branch of the Su clan in the upper realm. Even as distant relations, they had advantages. They had enough income to meet their basic cultivation and living needs, but not enough for extravagance. They owned a small floating island inhabited by a few hundred low-level cultivators. These cultivators grew and sold spirit herbs, and the Su family received a small share. It wasn't much, but it kept them comfortable.
Su Xiaomeng slightly opened her mouth at her father's reaction. Soon regaining her composure, she said, "Father, there's no need. Everyone has to go into closed-door cultivation at some point. I'm just starting early." She continued, "Besides, I need to practice my alchemy. I'm close to another breakthrough and just lacking insight. Maybe during this closed-door cultivation, I'll find it. You wouldn't want your lovely daughter to miss such an opportunity, would you?" Her tone turned slightly coaxing.
Seeing the pleading look on his daughter's face, Su Wenhao finally sat down. The bright mood had grown somber, so Su Yulan interjected, "Let's not get so worked up. She'll be out in a few days at best. Just look at how she's devouring your cooking, dear. She'll miss it and come back for it as soon as possible." Hearing his wife's words, Su Wenhao's gloom lifted. Such a simple man, Su Yulan thought. But she was the one who fell for that simplicity.
Soon, the meal ended, and the family discussed the closed-door cultivation. "So which cave are you going into?" Su Wenhao asked.
"The one grandmother used last time she visited," his daughter replied. He nodded at this choice. It was the best and most well-maintained cultivation cave on their small island. The cave sat near a small spiritual vein, which meant the energy inside was denser and more stable than elsewhere. The grandmother had chosen it for that reason, and over the years, she had added formations to keep it that way.
Su Xiaomeng had already packed her belongings several days ago. Her storage ring held everything she might need—changes of clothes, some spirit stones, a few pills her mother had given her for emergencies, and a small teapot that kept water warm through a minor formation carved into its base. She had packed carefully, knowing she might be inside for longer than expected.
Her parents accompanied her to the cave at the island's center, where spiritual energy was most abundant. The path wound through a small grove of bamboo, then opened onto a flat stone platform. Beyond it, set into the hillside, was the cave entrance—a simple stone door with a formation array carved into its surface.
Her father glanced at her mother from the corner of his eye, then quickly brought out some of his hidden stash of spirit candies and handed them to her when Su Yulan wasn't looking. She took the small packet and hid it in her storage ring without a word. Unbeknownst to them, Su Yulan also watched from the corner of her eye but said nothing. She had known about his candy stash for quite some time. It was a small thing, but it made Su Wenhao happy to think he was getting away with something.
Then Su Yulan approached her daughter and produced a small golden mirror. Images of their time together floated within its surface. The family picnicking by the lake, her grandmother teaching her to identify herbs. The mirror was a common but precious memory artifact. It stored moments and let them play back like looking through a window into the past.
"If you can't bear the loneliness, you can find comfort in this," Su Yulan said. "But if it becomes too much, you can always come back to us. There's no shame in that."
Xiaomeng nodded, took the mirror, and placed it in her storage ring beside the candies. She hugged her mother, then her father, holding each for a moment longer than usual.
Waving goodbye, she entered the cave. The stone door slid shut behind her with a soft grinding sound, then sealed itself with a quiet hum. She stood in darkness for a moment, letting her eyes adjust, then activated the array at the side of the entrance. Light bloomed from the walls as the formation came alive, and she felt the cave lock itself away from any prying spiritual senses. No one outside would be able to perceive what happened within.
Feeling the connection cut off, her parents turned and walked back toward home. Neither spoke much on the return journey.
Inside the cave, Su Xiaomeng looked around. The space was simple but comfortable—a stone bed with a thin mattress, a small desk and chair carved from the same rock, shelves built into the walls holding a few empty jars and a kettle. A small stream of water trickled down one wall into a basin before disappearing through a drain. The spiritual energy here was noticeably thicker than outside. She could feel it pressing against her skin, seeping into her pores with every breath.
She sat cross-legged on the bed and took out the spirit candies her father had given her. She ate them slowly, savoring each piece. The sweetness spread across her tongue. Once cultivators formed their golden core, they no longer needed food. But her family still ate together. Partly because food still tasted good, and partly because it gave them an excuse to sit together and talk. After a few pieces, she wrapped the remaining in the packet and put it away.
Then, folding her hands in a meditative posture, she closed her eyes and turned her senses towards her sea of consciousness.
It stretched before her like an endless sky. Floating islands drifted in the misty sky; some were large and solid, others were smaller and still forming. At the edge of the largest island, near where the mist grew thick and uncertain, stood an ancient-looking wooden door.
Red, blue, and gold threads swirled across its surface in patterns that seemed to move when she wasn't looking directly at them. She didn't know where it came from or who its previous owner was. Yet it had always been with her since her birth, but she was not able to access it.
When she had told her parents about it, they scanned her sea of consciousness. But they were not able to find it; their senses bypassed it as if it were out of their plane of existence. To spare them worry, she stopped mentioning it after that. For years, she simply ignored its presence, pretending it wasn't there.
At first, she had feared it. But when she formed her Nascent Soul, knowledge about the door imprinted itself in her mind.
The door was exactly what it appeared to be. A doorway that connected to the three thousand lower realms that existed beneath the upper realm where she lived. These were places where cultivation was harder, spiritual energy scarcer, and the peak of power far lower than anything here. But they were also vast and varied, filled with things she had never seen before.
The true purpose of this closed-door cultivation session was to test the door. Her parents wouldn't let her roam outside the island. They always said it was too dangerous for someone at her level.
With her current cultivation, she could only send her soul through the door. However, it guaranteed her soul's safety. No matter what happened on the other side, she would not be permanently harmed. At worst, she would be thrown back into her body and wake up with a headache.
Taking a deep breath, she steadied herself. Then extended her spiritual sense toward the door.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then the door caught hold of her senses and began to pull. It wasn't painful, but felt very strange. Dizziness washed over her, thick and disorienting. She felt her soul detach from her body and pass through the opened door.
Then everything went dark, and all that was left behind was a soulless body.