Zhao summoned Yan to the testing office the next morning. A small tea tray sat on the side table, and two cups had already been warmed. The elder did not mention the sealed Furnace Two doors at first. He poured tea and asked Yan whether his back had improved.
“It still hurts.”
“From the fire?”
“And the fall.”
Zhao nodded as though he had expected that answer. “You acted decisively in the hall. Ashfall needs disciples who can act when a plan fails.”
Yan accepted the cup. The tea smelled of toasted leaves. “The apprentices needed a way out.”
“Qinghe says you used Ashen Marrow and Blood Ignition.”
“I did.”
“When did you begin practicing Blood Ignition?”
Yan took a sip before answering. “I found fragments among confiscated papers. Gu He helped me reconstruct the sequence.”
“You practiced it before the furnace incident?”
“Yes.”
“And who told you it was complete?”
“Gu checked the sequence against the remaining notes. The final breath was in a second fragment.”
Zhao tapped the teapot lid with one finger. “You know the art’s warning.”
“I do.”
“Do you feel weak now? Any delayed pain? Has your appetite changed?”
“I’m hungry after a long rescue.”
“Was it different from your normal hunger?”
“More than usual.”
Zhao’s eyes sharpened.
The elder shifted the teapot closer. “Had you eaten before the furnace trial?”
“I had breakfast and a small lunch.”
“Then it was not simple hunger from missing a meal.”
“It could still be from the work. I held a beam and walked through smoke.” Yan set the cup down. “I can’t sort the causes by appetite alone.”
Zhao looked briefly toward the pulse slips. “You distinguish carefully when you want to.”
“I don’t want to guess.”
“Did you feel this appetite after the earlier practice?”
“After Blood Ignition? Yes, but not as much.”
“Was that a full activation?”
“Yes.” Yan did not add how good the warmth had felt. “I recorded the time and the breath sequence.” “When did you first notice it?”
“After the beam was down. I was hungry in the yard.”
“Did the art cause it?”
“I don’t know.” Yan left the answer there. “I know I ate two bowls.”
Zhao poured a second cup, then set it aside untouched. “Have you ever collapsed after using Blood Ignition?”
“No.”
“Has the life cost ever been delayed?”
“I haven’t experienced it.”
The elder leaned back. “You understand that the warning is based on ordinary cultivators.”
“Yes. It is accurate for them.”
“Yet you stand here saying you felt no weakness.”
“I’m telling you what happened to me. I’m not saying the art is safe for anyone else.”
Zhao watched him over the rim of his cup. “When did Gu reconstruct the last breath?”
“Before I practiced it.”
“When was the first activation?”
“Several days before the rescue, at the library yard.”
“How much qi had you gathered?”
Yan thought back to his notes. “I recorded the breath count and the sequence, but not an exact reserve. I can show you the page.”
“Did you practice after the first attempt?”
“Yes.”
“How many times?”
“Twice before the rescue. Once during it.”
Zhao set his cup down. “Do you believe the manual is exaggerated?”
“No. The warning is clear. I would not ask someone else to use it.”
The elder’s expression did not change. He seemed more interested in the order and timing than in Yan’s praise for the rescue. “Would you show me the manual?”
“Gu keeps it locked with the complete instructions.”
“Does he control the copy?”
“He has the library key. I can ask him.”
Zhao nodded slowly. “The sect needs capable disciples. Your work record and your conduct in the hall will matter in the examination.”
“I’ll take the test.”
“Good. You have earned the chance.” Zhao gestured toward the tea. “Finish your cup before you go.”
Yan lifted the cup, but Zhao did not return to his chair. “One more thing. If the examination asks what the art costs, what will you say?”
“That it burns an ordinary user’s life and vitality.”
“And your own result?”
“I’ll describe what happened to me. I won’t call it a general result.”
“Suppose the examiner asks whether you are lying to protect the method.”
“Then I’ll tell them I have no proof beyond my records.” Yan set the cup down. “I did not hide the warning. I won’t tell them the danger isn’t real.”
Zhao looked at the two cups. “You are willing to say you survived the art, but not why.”
“I don’t know why.”
The elder touched the teapot lid again, a slow tap this time. “A person can be honest and still keep something private.”
Yan waited to see whether that was a question. Zhao only motioned for him to drink. Yan finished the tea. The second cup stayed untouched, cooling on the table.
“Attendant Wu will need a baseline before the pulse reading,” Zhao said. “No further dose. Only the instrument.”
“I agree to the reading. I want to know what it measures.”
“Ask Wu.”
Yan drank it. The tea was better than the dining hall’s steeped scraps. He did not ask for the second cup, though it was waiting. Zhao folded his hands.
“You said the art’s cost did not leave you weak. What did you feel instead?”
“Warmth. Strength. I could keep holding the beam.”
“Did your channels change?”
“They remained clear.”
“After each activation?”
“Yes.”
“Did you measure them?”
“I wrote what I felt. I don’t have a precise measure for every change.”
Zhao glanced at a pulse strip by the door. “We can measure that now.”
“Is this part of the summons?”
“It is a follow-up to the rescue report. Attendant Wu has a reading ready.”
Yan considered the question. Zhao had asked him to come, and a pulse check was not another dose. “All right. I’ll let Wu check my pulse. I want the result recorded with the date.”
“It will be.” Zhao stood and opened the side door to the examination room. “You have become careful with records.”
“I’ve had reasons.”
Zhao’s mouth tightened at the edges, then relaxed. “That is often how a person learns.”
Yan set the empty cup on the tray. “The tea was good.”
“You’re welcome to it.”
He followed Zhao into the testing room.
Before the door opened, Zhao asked him to describe the first time he had used the art. Yan said Gu had checked the missing breath against a second fragment and that he had practiced only after reading the full sequence. Zhao asked whether the warning had been attached to both pages. Yan said yes. He had kept the warning with the copy and had not separated it from the instructions.
“Could you have practiced from the first fragment alone?” Zhao asked.
“I would have stopped. It did not have the full return.”
“Yet you found the other page.”
“Gu found it in the archive.”
Zhao seemed to measure that answer. “You were cautious enough not to practice incomplete instructions.”
“I wanted the art. I didn’t want to guess the ending.”
The elder gave a brief nod. “Attendant Wu will take your pulse now. If he needs another reading, he will ask first.” Yan agreed to the condition. He wanted the comparison dated and filed, not separated from the account of what he had done. The summons had been polite, the questions precise, and the answer still unfinished. Yan had said what he knew about the method. He had kept the rest of his private experience to himself.