The river had taught me patience, but patience alone would not strengthen my core. Strength alone would not bring me true mastery. Elder Sun had known this from the start, though he had waited until now to speak of it.
"You have learned to move," he said as we stood on the bank of the stream. "Now, you must learn to breathe."
I frowned. "I breathe every day."
Elder Sun's expression did not change. "And yet you do not cultivate."
Cultivation. The path to refining one's inner energy, one's qi. Among my peers, many had begun their cultivation years ago, training their bodies and minds to harness the unseen force that flowed through all things. I had focused on my strength, on my sword, but now I understood—without cultivating my qi, I would always be incomplete.
"Sit," Elder Sun commanded.
I obeyed, lowering myself onto a flat rock beside the river. The water murmured softly, an eternal whisper between stone and sky.
"Close your eyes. Feel the breath entering your body."
I inhaled deeply, filling my lungs with the crisp mountain air. The chill settled in my chest before I released it slowly.
Elder Sun's voice was steady. "Qi is not simply gathered. It is guided. Draw it in as the river draws the rain. Let it flow through you, not force it."
I tried. I focused on the rise and fall of my breath, on the distant hum of energy in my limbs. It was there—I could feel something—but it was elusive, slipping through my grasp like water through my fingers.
Minutes passed. Or perhaps hours. The sun had moved slightly in the sky when Elder Sun finally spoke again.
"You hold too much tension," he said. "You wish to control the river before you understand its course."
I opened my eyes, frustrated. "How long will it take?"
Elder Sun's gaze met mine, calm as the mountain itself. "As long as it must."
I exhaled slowly and nodded. Slow. Steady.
This, too, was a path I would walk. A new discipline, a new foundation. If I was to truly grow, I could not rely on my sword alone.
Tomorrow, I would step into the river once more. But tonight, I would breathe with the mountain.