The moon hung low over the Su estate, casting long, jagged shadows across the wooden floorboards of Su Chen's room. He lay on his back, staring up at the dark rafters.
His breathing was slow and rhythmic. It was the practiced pace of a man who had spent hours pretending to be asleep. The house was finally quiet. The distant sound of a night bird was the only thing breaking the silence of the courtyard.
'It is time,' he thought.
He sat up slowly. He made sure his weight shifted gradually so the bed didn't let out a single creak. He had spent the last hour identifying every loose board in his room. He knew exactly where to step.
His bare feet touched the cold floor. He chose not to wear boots. The leather would only make a dull thud against the polished stone of the hallway. Bare skin was better for feeling the vibrations of the house.
He moved toward the door. He opened it just enough to slip through. The hinges had been oiled recently, likely by Meiling herself during her obsessive cleaning rounds. The hallway was a tunnel of silver light and deep black shadows.
He could smell the lingering scent of the spirit spring from earlier. It was a mixture of crushed herbs and damp stone.
He stayed close to the wall. He moved with the grace of a shadow, his eyes darting toward the corners of the ceiling.
He knew the guards were stationed at the outer gates, but Meiling was the real threat. She was a genius for a reason. Her senses were far sharper than any common soldier.
He reached the door to her private suite. He stopped and held his breath. He could hear the soft, steady rhythm of her breathing from inside.
She was asleep. He reached for the handle, but he stopped before his fingers touched the wood.
A faint, shimmering heat radiated from the doorframe. It was the friction of spirit energy rubbing against the air. He closed his eyes and focused his inner vision.
'A detection array,' he thought. 'And it's high-level!'
The array was a complex web of thin, golden threads. They were woven into the very grain of the door. If anyone without her specific Qi signature touched the handle, the threads would snap.
It would trigger an alarm that would wake the entire wing of the estate. More than that, it would probably paralyze whoever was standing there.
He felt a bead of sweat roll down his temple. Meiling was more paranoid than he had imagined. She didn't just want to protect him.
She wanted to make sure she was the only one who could get close to him.
He took a deep breath and summoned a tiny fraction of his silver Qi. He kept it contained within his fingertips. He began to reach out, his energy moving like a needle through a haystack.
He was trying to mimic the frequency of the golden threads.
It was a delicate process. If he moved too fast, the silver Qi would clash with the gold. He felt the vibration in his bones. It was a low hum that threatened to shake his focus.
He gritted his teeth and pushed through. He found a small gap in the weave, a place where the energy was slightly thinner.
He slipped his Qi into the gap. He created a temporary bridge, a bypass that would allow the door to open without alerting the core of the array. It took several minutes of intense concentration.
His muscles ached from the effort of staying perfectly still. Finally, he heard a microscopic click. The tension in the air vanished.
He pushed the door open. It slid back on its tracks with a ghostly silence.
The room was filled with the scent of jasmine and old parchment. It was a large space, filled with bookshelves and tall cabinets. Meiling lay in the center of the room on a wide, silk-covered bed.
She was sprawled out, her long dark hair fanned across the white pillows. She looked small in the middle of all that luxury.
He stepped inside. He kept his eyes on the vanity near the window. That was where he had seen her tuck the scroll earlier.
He began to move toward it, but he stopped when a low sound came from the bed.
"No... not yet," Meiling whispered.
Su Chen froze. He dropped into a low crouch, his heart hammering against his ribs. He waited for her to wake up. He waited for the blue flare of her Qi to illuminate the room and end his journey.
But she didn't move. She turned onto her side, her brow furrowed in a deep, troubled sleep.
"Chen... please," she mumbled. Her voice was thick with emotion. "Don't go into the light. The blood... it will take you. It always takes the beautiful things."
Su Chen felt a chill that had nothing to do with the night air. He watched her. Her hands were clutching the silk sheets so tightly her knuckles were white.
"They'll find you," she continued, her voice rising to a frantic pitch. "The Creator... he doesn't want you to wake up."
He stared at her, a sense of deep unease settling in his gut. This wasn't just the overprotective nature of a sister. This was trauma. She spoke of the Creator as if he were a monster.
'She really thinks she's saving me?' he thought.
The realization was a bit creepy. He felt a wave of discomfort wash over him. Being the object of that kind of obsession was a heavy burden.
But he couldn't let it distract him. If what she was saying was true, then the danger outside these walls was far greater than he had realized.
He reached the vanity. He saw the scroll sitting next to a small jade hairbrush. He reached out and grabbed it. It felt heavy in his hand.
The paper was cool and slightly rough. He tucked it into the waistband of his trousers.
He looked back at Meiling one last time. She had gone quiet again. Her face had settled back into a peaceful mask, but the words she had spoken lingered in the air.
'I need to get stronger,' he thought grimly.
He turned and began to make his way back to the door. Bypassing the array again was easier now that he knew the frequency. He stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind him. He didn't stop until he was back in the safety of his own room.
He sat on the floor and pulled the scroll out. He broke the red wax seal with a quick flick of his thumb. He unrolled the parchment. The ink was dark and sharp.
It was an invitation to the Great Sect Trials. But it wasn't just a request for his presence. It was a formal demand. The Main Branch was ordering every heir of the Su line to report to the capital.
They were looking for something. They were searching for a specific signature of Qi that had appeared during the Testing Stone incident.
'They suspect me,' he thought. 'Meiling knew this. She wanted to hide it so I would stay here?'
He looked at the bottom of the scroll. There was a small, secondary note written in a different hand. It was a list of requirements for the trials. One of them caught his eye. The participants would be tested on their ability to cultivate the "Seven Star" technique.
His eyes widened. He had heard of that technique in the fragments of his memories. It was an ancient, high-level method. It was dangerous, but it was exactly what he needed.
It was a way to refine his Qi.
He felt a surge of excitement. For the first time since he had arrived in this world, he felt like he had a path forward.
'I'll go to the trials,' he decided. 'I'll find that technique. And I'll do it right under their noses!'
He rolled the scroll back up and hid it beneath a loose floorboard under his bed. He lay back down, his mind racing with plans. He could still hear the echoes of Meiling's voice in his head.