The next day dawned in eerie silence.
Ethan sat cross-legged in the monastery's underground chamber, his shirt stripped, revealing scars some from battle, some from acupuncture. Four silver needles were embedded down his spine, channeling Qi toward his Fire Vein.
He was approaching the threshold of Foundation Phase – Level 2.
Steady your breath,
Elena instructed, circling him slowly.
Let the Qi rise like smoke, not like fire.
But Ethan's cultivation didn't obey smoothly. His spiritual energy flared unevenly rushing through one meridian while stalling in another.
He grunted in pain.
You're trying to control it, she said.
Don't contol it. Guide it.
With a focused exhale, Ethan let go of tension and something shifted. The pulse of energy found rhythm. Internal resonance. A quiet hum from within.
A flicker of stabilization.
The moment it clicked, the room darkened. Not from failure but from power gathering.
Elena's eyes widened.
You just passed the threshold.
Foundation Phase – Level two?
Ethan asked.
She nodded.
Faster than most.
But now you need to temper the Qi.
Vane entered with a pot of crushed red bone leaf and vitality saffron, rare herbs known to stabilize early-stage breakthroughs. He poured them into a boiling cauldron and stirred until the brew turned a shimmering orange.
Ethan drank without complaint.
It burned like acid.
Good, Vane said
That means it's working.
Suddenly, the candles flickered.
A low hiss slithered through the chamber.
What's that?
Ethan asked.
A talisman on the far wall burst into flame and a shadow stepped from the smoke.
Not Kade.
But someone else.
A man draped in a robe of stitched flesh, eyes milky white, hands ending in long bone-carved acupuncture needles. He stepped over the threshold without sound.
Who is that?
Ethan reached for his spiritual needles.
Don't move, Vane growled.
He's a Blade Collector.
Ethan's breath caught,
He'd heard rumors. Cultivators who failed their breakthroughs sometimes became unstable. Others, corrupted. Blade Collectors were something worse those who harvested fallen cultivators' Qi techniques and wore their meridians like trophies.
This one looked directly at Ethan.
You have the Flame Vein, the creature whispered. Give it and I'll end you quickly.
Ethan threw a Ghost Meridian Needle.
The Blade Collector moved impossibly fast sidestepping mid-air, catching the needle, and tossing it back.
It missed but only because Elena appeared between them.
She flicked five needles into the intruder's joints. Frozen Meridian Points a paralyzing technique.
The creature shrieked and stumbled, bones cracking unnaturally.
Now, Ethan
she yelled.
He concentrated, focusing the rising Foundation Qi. His heart pounded, spiritual energy condensing in his palm. He launched a Flame Vein Burst, a swirling spiral of fire-laced Qi.
It struck the intruder dead-center.
The creature howled then collapsed, twitching.
Smoke rose from its robes.
Ethan's hands trembled.
Was is that? he asked.
A test, Vane said, kicking aside the corpse. Someone sent him to see how far you've progressed.
And now they know, Elena added.
Ethan looked at the ashes.
I hope they're watching, he said.
Because I'm not stopping until I reach him. Kade.
The Eye,
All of it.