There was no day or night.
But Yun Yun was beginning to sense the rhythm of the Gate through other signs: the heat radiating from the rocks, the intensity of distant roars, the way the air pressed tighter when danger was near.
Had it been… three days? Maybe five. It was hard to tell. Her body had begun to measure time not by hours, but by healed wounds, by the number of bites of food she had managed to eat, by how many times she had opened her eyes hoping to see something other than shadows.
And yet… every time the silence became unbearable, her mind went back to him.
That man.
The first time, she had seen him from afar. But now, she had observed him more than once.
Never close enough to call it an encounter, but never too far either.
He seemed to know she was watching.
He made no gesture, sought no interaction.
But neither did he ignore her.
It was as if they recognized each other within the silence itself. As if they shared a language that needed no words.
On her fifth day, a rain of ash began to fall.
It was an unusual phenomenon, even for the Gate: tiny black specks, like fragments of charred bone, drifting down from the invisible ceiling of that abyss, spreading an even denser haze.
Yun Yun covered her face with her robe as she descended into a narrow ravine where she hoped to find stagnant water. She knew she couldn’t drink it without purification… but at least she could wash her hands.
She didn’t expect to find another creature there.
Much less… a bone larva.
The beast emerged from a fissure without warning. It was long like a serpent but had spiny legs and a mouth of three rotating jaws, like a withered flower of teeth. It lunged at her with brutal speed.
Yun Yun stepped back, but her foot slipped on a slick rock.
She fell. The silver needle slipped from her sleeve. The creature launched itself toward her.
And then, a rock flew through the air.
It wasn’t a cultivated weapon, not a technique. Just a stone.
But it was thrown with such precision and force that it struck the larva squarely on the skull, knocking it off course.
The creature’s body slammed down inches from her face, still twitching.
Yun Yun pushed herself up, breathing hard, just in time to see a silhouette appear through the mist.
Him.
Zhu Xian.
—You shouldn’t come down to the drains alone, —he said, calm, his voice pulled from somewhere deep and cold.
She stared at him in silence. Her heart was racing. Not out of fear. But because of that presence—one that carried no Dou Qi aura, but the weight of a mountain.
—Are you following me? —she finally asked.
—No, —he replied simply. —I was looking for stones.
She arched a brow.
—Stones?
—The ones that vibrate. They’re useful for meditation. Some still remember the old Qi that lingered before everything was sealed.
Silence.
The larva was still convulsing on the ground. He stepped forward and crushed its neck with a sharp, dry snap.
Then… he crouched, picked up the fallen silver needle, and wiped it clean with his sleeve.
He tossed it back to her without a word.
She caught it. The needle felt cold, like touching a block of ice.
Like dipping her fingers into a frozen lake.
—Thank you, —she said, more out of need than courtesy.
—It wasn’t an act of kindness, —he replied evenly. —I just didn’t want that thing to eat you. You’re the first living person I’ve seen in a long time.
Yun Yun blinked, momentarily caught off guard.
Their eyes met.
And for the first time since she had arrived at the Gate, Yun Yun felt something she hadn’t felt since she was a child:
Calm.
Not protection.
Not admiration.
Not desire.
Just… calm.
A soul that didn’t try to hold her. That didn’t need her. But somehow, existed beside her own.
He turned away.
—There are fewer larvae that way, —he said, pointing toward a side path. —But there’s more fog. I don’t know if that bothers you.
—No, —she answered, stepping after him. —I like the fog. It makes it easier to hide… when you don’t want to be seen.
He said nothing.
And so, they began to walk together. Still speaking little. Still keeping their names to themselves.
But something, without a doubt, had begun.