[Scene: Misty Bamboo Grove – Early Morning]
Mist coiled low through the stalks, silver threads weaving silence through the bamboo forest. Morning sun filtered through slits in the canopy, dappling the floor with light and shadow.
Max moved slowly, breath steady, steps light. His battle with the Ironhide Fangboar had left him sore, but not broken. His Qi had recovered—barely—but the flickering lotus flame within his core had grown ever so slightly brighter.
Yet something gnawed at him.
"I touched something in that moment… but I still can't hold it. I need to grow stronger."
He came to a clearing near a shallow spring, and seated himself in the lotus position. The bamboo grove around him pulsed faintly with ambient Qi—a good place to meditate.
Max closed his eyes. The Lotus Flame Seed Breathing Technique activated. Qi streamed into him.
He pushed it inward.
Deeper.
Toward the boundary of the next Minor Realm:
Qi Initiation — Minor Realm 2: Channel Harmonization
He could feel the threshold. Like a wall of glass. Transparent, thin… but unmoving.
He focused harder, burning his remaining Qi, cycling it faster.
But the flow buckled.
His meridians trembled. The lotus mark dimmed.
And then—snap!
He coughed blood and fell backward, clutching his chest. His inner Qi collapsed back to its base form.
"Still not enough…"
⸻
[Scene: Bamboo Grove – Moments Later]
A rustle in the bushes.
Max tensed and pulled a blade of Qi to his palm, barely stable.
A figure emerged—not beast nor threat, but… human.
A girl.
⸻
She was perhaps a year younger than Max. Short, slight, with tangled chestnut hair and pale skin. Her robe was torn at the sleeve, her hands stained with blood and mud. A crescent pendant hung from her neck, cracked but still glowing faintly.
She stumbled forward before collapsing near the spring.
Max rushed to her side, checking her pulse.
Still alive… just drained. Internal Qi's nearly gone. And… poisoned?
Her breathing was shallow, but steady. Her eyes fluttered open for a moment.
"Don't… let them find me…" she whispered.
Then she passed out again.
⸻
[Scene: Shelter in Grove – Later That Night]
Max built a small camp under a bamboo overhang, lighting a controlled flame with his technique to ward off beasts.
The girl rested nearby, wrapped in a spare cloak. Her condition stabilized after Max used his remaining Qi to suppress the internal poison.
"She's no ordinary traveler. That pendant—it pulsed with… Lunar Qi?"
As he sat nearby, watching over her, his mind wandered.
I couldn't break through… not yet.
He remembered what Old Wu said once.
"The next realm isn't about raw force. It's harmony. Align your channels, find your rhythm. If your Qi stumbles, your foundation will collapse."
But how could he harmonize what felt fractured within him?
The wind stirred. The bamboo leaves shimmered.
"You talk to trees too?" came a soft voice.
He turned. The girl was awake, watching him.
Max smiled faintly. "Only when I lose arguments with myself."
She chuckled, then winced. "Hurts to laugh."
"You're lucky I found you," he said. "What happened?"
The girl hesitated. Then: "My name's Lian Yue. I was being hunted. By people who… wear silver masks. I stole something they didn't want me to see."
Max raised an eyebrow. "What did you steal?"
She looked at him, eyes piercing despite her condition.
"A piece of a map. And a name."
"What name?"
"Yours."
⸻
[Scene Shift: Distant Cliffside – Watching from Afar]
Far from the grove, a figure in a silver fox mask stood on a jagged cliff, looking down at the forest below.
He raised a communication talisman.
"Target has made contact with the boy. Begin Phase Two."
⸻
[End of Chapter 5]