The corridors of the secluded study hall stretched before Li Feng, his footsteps hesitant as he approached the chamber where his mentor resided. A thousand thoughts swirled in his mind, each a different scenario of how Xian Wei might react to his findings. Would he dismiss the results outright? Would he grow angry at the notion of overturning the model he had so rigorously defended? Or, worst of all, would he be disappointed?

  His hand hovered over the wooden doors, fingers curling and uncurling into a fist.

  For weeks, he had wrestled with this dilemma. The principles he had grown up believing, the cultivation arts derived from those principles—all now stood on unstable ground. And yet, could he ignore the truth he had witnessed with his own eyes? The deflected particles, the evidence of a concentrated positive charge within the atom—all of it pointed to a flaw in their understanding. His mind wavered, but deep within, he knew: the experiment was sovereign. His duty was to the truth, not to comfort.

  Taking a breath, he pushed open the door.

  Inside, Xian Wei sat in quiet contemplation, eyes skimming over an ancient scroll. The scent of aged parchment and ink filled the air, mixing with the faint aroma of smoldering incense. He did not look up immediately, but Li Feng knew his presence had been acknowledged. Finally, the elder’s gaze lifted, sharp yet unreadable.

  “Li Feng,” he said, setting the scroll aside. “You have come with something weighing heavily on your mind.”

  Li Feng swallowed, his pulse a hammering drum.

  “Yes, Master,” he said, his voice steadier than he felt. “I have completed my experiment. And… I believe our current understanding of the atom is incorrect.”

  A flicker of interest crossed Xian Wei’s face. He gestured for Li Feng to continue. Encouraged but still uncertain, the young scholar pressed forward.

  “I used alpha particles to probe the atom, expecting them to pass through mostly undisturbed if the positive charge was uniformly spread. But… some of them deflected backward, as if they had struck something immensely dense and charged. The only explanation is that the positive charge is concentrated in a small volume—a nucleus.”

  He exhaled, the weight of the revelation finally leaving his chest. He braced himself for rejection, rebuttal, or worse. But the expected anger never came.

  Instead, Xian Wei leaned back in his chair, his expression unreadable.

  A long silence stretched between them, broken only by the occasional crackle of the incense burning in the corner. Li Feng clenched his fists, every second of silence feeling like an eternity.

  Then, to his utter disbelief, Xian Wei let out a soft chuckle.

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  “So, you have finally reached the point where my guidance is no longer necessary,” the elder said, his eyes gleaming with something Li Feng could not quite place.

  The words struck Li Feng harder than any rejection ever could.

  “Master?” he asked, uncertain if he had heard correctly.

  Xian Wei folded his hands together. “Your conclusion follows the principles of experimentation and logical deduction. More importantly, you have placed truth above comfort—even when it threatens your understanding. That is the mark of a scholar. And so, you have graduated from my tutelage.”

  Li Feng staggered back as if the floor had disappeared beneath him. This was not what he had expected. The sudden shift left him scrambling for words.

  “But, Master, I still have much to learn—”

  “And now, you shall learn on your own path,” Xian Wei interrupted, his voice kind but firm. “This is not the end of our discussions, but the beginning of your true journey.”

  For a moment, Li Feng could only stare. Then, as the weight of the elder’s words settled, a deep sense of both loss and liberation washed over him. He had entered this room expecting resistance, but instead, he had been set free.

  But Xian Wei was not finished.

  “As for your experiment,” the elder continued, “your reasoning is sound, but your measurements are incomplete. If you wish to approximate the size of this ‘nucleus,’ you must consider the fundamental theorem of energy conservation.”

  Li Feng blinked.

  “Energy conservation?”

  Xian Wei nodded. “Imagine a lighter particle, such as your alpha particle, moving toward a heavier, stationary one with charge Ze. The only force acting on it is the electrostatic repulsion. As it approaches, it slows until it reaches a turning point where all its kinetic energy has converted into potential energy. That closest approach is your boundary.”

  Li Feng’s mind raced, already calculating.

  “Then, if we increase the energy of the alpha particles…”

  “You can probe deeper,” Xian Wei finished. “Refining your measurements, until you determine the true size of this ‘nucleus’ you have discovered.”

  Awe filled Li Feng as the implications settled in. His experiment had revealed a flaw in the old model—but this approach could measure the very core of the atom itself.

  Xian Wei unrolled the scroll and began sketching a simple analogy. “Imagine two magnets with the same poles facing each other. No matter how hard you push them together, there is a minimum distance they will reach before repelling.”

  Li Feng nodded. “And if we throw one magnet at the other with greater force, it will get closer before repelling.”

  “Exactly.” Xian Wei’s eyes gleamed. “Now replace the magnets with charged particles. If we hurl positively charged alpha particles at an atom, they will be repelled by the nucleus. By increasing their speed, we can measure the distance at which they stop, giving us an estimate of the nucleus’s size.”

  Li Feng’s breath quickened. The implications were staggering. “Then we could prove that the nucleus is incredibly small compared to the atom.”

  He had expected rejection. Instead, he had been handed the key to the next door.

  The journey was far from over. It was only just beginning.

  The days that followed were filled with feverish preparation. They gathered the necessary materials, refined their calculations, and reinforced the experimental array. Every detail had to be precise—this was not just an experiment; it was a battle for truth.

  As they activated the formation, beams of alpha particles were hurled towards the target atoms. Most passed through undeterred, but some… some rebounded sharply, repelled by something impossibly small yet undeniably real.

  Li Feng’s hands trembled as he recorded the data. When they completed the calculations, the answer lay before them: an approximate size of 10?1? meters for the nucleus, a stark contrast to the 10?1? meters of the atom itself.

  Li Feng exhaled. “It’s so… small.”

  Xian Wei placed a hand on his shoulder. “And yet, it is everything.”