btth: crafting even heaven

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🌫 **Crafting Realm - Outer Ring, Dawn Mist**

While the first morning light hadn't yet kissed the mountain peaks outside the Xiao Clan walls, within Tianzun's personal crafting realm, battle echoed through illusions and silence.

Tianzun was stripped of all Dou Qi. Not because it was gone, but because it had been sealed—by his own request.

His opponent? Ling Yuan. And gravity. And the oppressive silence of simulated battlefield terrain.

He moved with clean, precise steps. Feet sinking into the spirit-forged ground, every muscle refined under the burden of invisible force.

No Dou Qi. No flame. Just instinct, awareness, and raw martial technique.

"Better," Ling Yuan commented lazily, dodging a sweep from Tianzun's palm and retaliating with a two-finger jab to the sternum.

Tianzun rolled backwards with a grunt.

"Don't rely on timing alone. Predict intention. Read the center of gravity. Trust your second mind."

Sweat rolled down Tianzun's cheek, but his eyes sharpened further.

> "If my enemies expect fire, I'll show them shadow. If they expect power, I'll offer silence."

Ling Yuan gave a sly grin. "There it is. The predator beneath the scholar."

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🌸 **Xiao Clan – Garden Courtyard, Later That Morning**

Elsewhere in the real world, the Xiao estate was alive with quiet activity. Xun'er walked along the stone garden path, her fingers grazing the surface of the koi pond as petals drifted overhead.

She wore a soft green robe, elegant yet simple, her hair tied up with a jade pin. Her presence was serene, but her thoughts raced.

> *"He's not here today either..."*

For days now, Tianzun had vanished from the visible parts of the estate.

Xiao Yan approached, drying sweat from his brow after morning drills.

"You're always here in the mornings," he said with a smile.

"So are you."

They sat together on the edge of the pavilion.

"Your brother's not around today," Xun'er noted.

Xiao Yan shook his head. "He does that sometimes. Goes quiet. Trains alone. Or disappears into the old parts of the manor."

He paused, then looked at her seriously.

"I don't really know how strong Ti Zu is. Once, I asked him about his cultivation level. You know what he said?"

Xun'er glanced sideways. "What?"

Xiao Yan puffed out his chest and mimicked Tianzun's calm tone: "'I cultivate at the pace of inevitability. Not urgency.'"

He laughed, thinking it cryptic.

But Xun'er's eyes narrowed slightly, mind clicking pieces together.

> *"Not urgency... He hides his level. Not because he's proud—but because he's already prepared for everything."*

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🕯 **Xiao Clan Inner Pathway - Sunset**

Tianzun, freshly bathed and in clean robes, walked the narrow lanes between ancestral buildings. His pace was slow, body still burning from the day's training.

Then he heard her.

"You look different when you're exhausted," Xun'er said from a shaded alcove.

He turned, eyes calm. "You noticed?"

She stepped closer. "Can I walk with you?"

He nodded.

They walked in silence for a while.

"I don't see you often anymore," she said. "You're... elusive."

"Perhaps you're not looking in the right places."

"Or you're hiding in plain sight."

He didn't deny it.

Then a third figure appeared—Yoru, emerging from a side path, wiping her face with a hand towel.

"Master, you're out early."

Tianzun gestured calmly. "Training's done. Yoru, meet Xun'er. Xun'er, Yoru."

The two girls bowed lightly to each other.

"I've heard of you," Xun'er said politely. "You train under Tianzun?"

"More like survive under him," Yoru replied dryly, with a smile. "He's... difficult, but worth it."

Tianzun smirked faintly. "I'm standing right here."

Yoru raised an eyebrow. "Exactly."

The three continued their walk as night fell across the Xiao Clan walls.

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