Ten winters passed on Sky-Piercing Celestial Peak. The Divine Cloud Sect marked the mountain as an unstable fault and kept its surveyors away. Nobody else climbed above the cloud line.
Pei Jing finished the remaining Tier 2 drills early. Tier 3 took longer. The Ledger could measure two hours of work when his body was ready for it. It couldn’t make his nerves ready to carry more than they could hold. Sometimes he went months strengthening a single part of his back before he could repeat the practice that changed the reading. On those days he worked on his bones, hunted below the ice, and kept the blade in order.
He had moved from the oilcloth shelter into a cave near the summit. Cold and repeated strain from the Eye had left gray bands at his temples. The wind had cut shallow lines at the corners of his eyes. His core still kept his joints and marrow in their prime. His bones were heavier than when he’d arrived. A dry warmth rose off his shoulders and kept the stone around him free of frost.
He sat on his slab for the final Tier 3 session. The nine-inch soul inside the core had a web of silver channels now. They carried his intent through its arms and legs. Today he meant to join them to the nerves in his own back.
