Blue sat cross-legged in the center of his room, the elixir now a steady burn in his veins. His breath slowed. The surge of qi roared through him like a river breaking through an old damn. Heat rushed through his limbs like wildfire, spreading too fast, too chaotically. It was wild, unrelenting. His breathing faltered. "This is too much…"
He clenched his jaw and forced himself into the Twilight Flow breathing posture. Inhale. Pause. Feel the qi. Exhale. Flow with the qi.
A system message appears while Blue's eyes are shut
[System Sync]: Stabilizing… Conduit recognized.
"We'll do this together."
Blue doesn't see it. He's too focused. Gradually, the tide began to calm. The wild current bent to his rhythm. Flowing in. Filling his dantian. He didn't realize how long it took. Only that the pain faded...and something else took its place. Power. He opened his eyes. Sweat traced his jawline. "...it's done?" He pulled up the system window.
[SYSTEM]: Qi Absorbed: 100% +15 Years of Qi Acquired
New Passive Trait Unlocked:[Perfect Conversion] –
All elixirs consumed will be absorbed completely with no energy wasted
Blue stood, sweat cooling on his skin. His body felt light, clearer than it had in weeks. He grabbed his outer robe and stepped toward the door, needing fresh air. As he opened it, a blast of late afternoon wind met him. He looked up at the sky. "Hrmm...almost dinner time. I've been in absorbing the elixir for….almost 24 hours?"
He turned and froze. Standing ten paces away was an instructor. And behind him stood Ilho and Jinhu. "How long have you been there?" Blue asked. The instructor didn't acknowledge the question. Just gave him a flat look and said: "Good, now all of you have absorbed it...follow me."
Blue stared. Then glanced at Jinhu, who just shrugged. Ilho leaned in slightly and muttered under his breath. "We had two days right?" "That's what I thought," Blue whispered. Ilho signed. "The rod calls...we follow."
The three followed in silence, their footsteps crunching softly over the gravel paths. They crossed the outer courtyard and climbed the steps to a pavilion tucked behind the main barracks...one few recruits ever saw. At the center of the pavilion stood Wu Jin, arms folded, his expression unreadable as always. Behind him, mounted on a low wooden rack were swords. Not training blades, no dulled rods. Real steel. A dozen of them, no two exactly alike.
Wu Jin didn't speak as they approached. He just waited. As they came to a stop in front of him all three in line he spoke. "I'm going to give each of you a scroll...and a weapon." "Footwork is the foundation of all martial arts. Every strike you throw, every breath you take in combat...it begins with the way you move."
"We debated amongst ourselves which forms to assign each of you. Which Style. Which path."
He turned to Jinhu first. "Jinhu. You're strong. Aggressive. And far too big for someone your age."
Jinhu didn't smile...but his nostrils flared, just a little.
Then to Ilho. "Ilho. Smaller. Nimble. Reactive. You'll live longer than most if you learn when to move...and when not to."
Then his eyes settled on Blue.
"Blue.."
A pause.
"Blue, you are…"
Another pause. A twitch at the corner of Wu Jin's mouth, as if trying to say something...then discarding the idea.
"...you."
As blue was about to ask what Wu Jin meant though, three figures dropped from the rafters above. They landed silently, one in front of each recruit...movement so fluid it barely disturbed the air. Silent edge veterans. Their presence hit harder than any introduction could. Wu Jin nodded toward the three men.
"These will be the ones to teach you. Each of them has mastered the footwork and weapons we're entrusting to you." "Treat them with respect, as they've earned it. They may be your teachers now…but they'll be your brothers later."
The man before Jinhu straightened to full height...and kept going. Easily six foot eight, broad as a barn door, with arms thicker than some men's torsos. Veins rippled beneath scar-laced skin, and every inch of him looked carved from stone and tempered in war. He wore no visible weapon. Instead, his hands were wrapped in iron-weave bindings, and over them, gleaming dully in the amber light, were black gauntlets...not ornamental, but brutal. The knuckles were studded with dark plates forged from 10,000 year-old black steel. They didn't shine. They absorbed light.
Jinhu swallowed. The man didn't speak. He just raised both fists to his chest and tapped the gauntlets twice – clang, clang – a warrior's salute.
Wu Jin glanced at Jinhu. "You'll follow him. His name is Mu Jang, called the mountain fang. You'll learn how to strike like an avalanche...and move like one's coming."
The figure before Ilho was stillness incarnate. Lean, wrapped in charcoal robes that barely rustled despite the breeze. Not tall, not short...but perfectly poised. His eyes were dark. Not cold. Not cruel. Just...empty. Ilho felt a chill crawl across his skin. It wasn't fear...no…it was something worse, the sense of standing in front of someone who had long since forgotten how to be human.
The man bowed deeply and rose with the same ghost-like grace. Wu Jin's broke the silence. "Most of those in Silent Edge don't know his name. Fewer have heard his voice. But, we debated who would train you three...he spoke. He spoke one phrase, pointing toward you Ilho, that one is mine. And honestly, we don't question him."
The final figure stood before Blue. Shorter than him. Hooded. Still. He didn't move. Didn't nod. Didn't speak. No bow, no warrior's gesture. Blue tried to read him…and failed. Nothing. Just empty space.
Wu Jin's voice came low. "Blue the one in front of you…" He paused. "Be careful. That's all I can say."
"Tomorrow morning, training begins with your assigned teachers. One-on-one. No hand-holding. You will convene together again mid-afternoon. Drill together. Learn how to move and fight like a unit."
"You have one month. At the end of it, you will fight in a tournament against recruits from other corps, other sects. Some will be stronger. Some will cheat. Some will aim to break your bones. All of murim will be watching, and you are not allowed to fail."
"You know what happens to failures, don't you?"
The three boys and their instructors shouted as loud as possible, in unison
"STARVE!"
Wu Jin stepped forward just before they left. He reached to the rack and tossed a heavy pair of gauntlets to Jinhu. The metal clanged in the air before landing in Jinhu's grip with a dull thud. The plates were solid iron across the knuckles.
"Here," Wu Jin said. "Use your brute strength for something good, you over sized child."
Then he turned to Ilho. From beneath his sleeve, he drew two sheathed butterfly swords...sleek, curved and sharpened perfectly. He tossed them low, and Ilho caught them by instinct.
"Maybe with these…" He approached Ilho. "you'll learn to be quiet." He took another step forward and added in low voice that only Ilho could hear: "Crack."
That sound of a single world...like the memory of the rod...made Ilho flinch. Wu Jin said nothing else. He pointed his stick at Jinhu and Ilho's teachers. They grabbed their recruits, turned and left without saying a word.
Blue remained still, unable to read the hooded figure before him. Wu Jin approached the figure from behind, removing his hood. The man didn't flinch. "Father, that's enough. You've scared him thoroughly."
Blue blinked. "Wu Cheng?!"
THUD
Tang Yeol jumped down from the rafters, wide grin on his face. "Scared ya, didn't he?
Blue turned between them, confused. "Wait...you're with Silent Edge?"
Wu Jin crossed him arms. "Who do you think started it?"
Yeol gestured with his thumb. "He's been recruiting in bars and the slums for years. I never joined, even though he keeps pestering. But I enjoy tagging along."
Blues eyes widened. The bar. The graveyard. Now Silent Edge. It all made sense.
Wu Jin turned to leave. "Blue, when I said be careful...it wasn't for the old man's sake." He glanced over his shoulder. "It was for yours." Then a grin. "The rod sees. The rod hears." And he walked off, leaving behind a very amused Wu Cheng chuckling under his breath.
Tang Yeol pulled out a scroll.
"This is the footwork Yoryeon created," he said softly. "Not Tang lineage. Not sect-tied. Something of his own. He called it Flowing Steel. Said it could adapt to any qi.
Wu Cheng stepped beside him, his voice low with nostalgia. "He called it movement without pattern. I still remember the day we tried to follow him during a mission. He was chasing a high rank assassin through a forest pass. We lost sight of them in three steps."
Tang Yeol laughed. "We couldn't replicate it fully, but fragments remain...woven into what we use now. You'll inherit both the original... and our mistakes. But do you know who did master it?"
Blue looked on with curiosity. "If you two couldn't, who else possibly could. Wu Jin?"
Yeol grinned. "Good guess, but no. So-Yeon. That damned So-Yeon. She mastered it. Father had trained her in it after bringing her back to the Tang clan. She mastered it in secret, under father's instructions. When it was time for me to step down, So-Yeon was the only natural choice. Flowing Steel is what allowed your sister, to take the mantle of Matriarch. It laid the foundation for her rise as a General of the Martial Alliance, and the creation of the Crimson Veil Corps.
Wu Cheng added, "Yoryeon left this scroll with Yeol when he became Patriarch. Told him to protect the clan, and his nieces and nephews. That's why he ran through fire when the monsters invaded. Why he didn't stop until he found where each one of your siblings were.
Tang Yeol's voice dropped. "He told me, before he passed. "If anything happens to me...protect the ones too young to bear it. "That meant you. That meant So-Yeon. Haejin. Ryul. All of you."
He looked up, a glint of pride hidden in his weathered eyes. "This scroll is yours now. Not because of your lineage, but because you've earned it.
He passed the scroll the Blue. Then Wu Cheng walked to the rack of weapons and tossed Blue a Jian, a single-edged blade, built for precision and speed.
"Yoryeon favored this type of sword. Said it matched the footwork perfectly."
As blue took the blade in one hand and the scroll in the other---
[SYSTEM NOTICE]New technique recognized: Flowing Steel – First Form: 0%
New weapon compatibility recognized: Jian class – initializing tracking.
Blue blinked, then dismissed the message.
He had work to do.