The storm had passed.
Jin Mu-Won sat at the heart of the Ghost Sutra Outpost's ruined sanctuary—an open-air stone dome, where shattered wind chimes hung like skeletal ribs from the rafters. The walls around him bore faint traces of forgotten scripture, carved in styles that didn't belong to any known sect. Even the monk admitted he didn't understand them fully.
"This place," the monk had said, "was once sacred. Until silence became a curse."
Now, only Jin remained within it. He had eaten nothing in two days. Spoken no words. Let not a single breath escape his lips louder than snow falling.
And the Sutra watched.
📿 Memory Meditation: Entering the Sutra Dream
Jin's Hollow Pulse slowed.
Dum.
Dum…
…Dum.
His dantian dimmed, becoming more like a mirror than a core.
And then—
The air around him wept.
Not with sound. Not with rain. But with sorrow.
From the wall, one scripture bled, not ink or qi—but a single tear of shadow, falling upward.
Jin raised his palm and touched it.
"Who left this behind…?"
The tear absorbed into his hand. His consciousness collapsed inward.
🌀 INNER WORLD – Sutra Dream Memory
He stood in an infinite temple of white stone, drowned in silence. Ten thousand statues of forgotten cultivators surrounded him—heads bowed, fists clenched. At the center, a single sutra scroll, suspended in the air and wrapped in chains.
One voice echoed in the vastness:
"Second Form: You've called it 'Weighted Silence.' That is not its name."
Jin stepped forward.
The voice again:
"Its true name is…"
A whisper came, not in word—but in feeling.
Grief.
And then:
Resolve.
The scroll's chains broke, one by one.
"Second Form — Grieving Flow."
A wave of energy surged through Jin's spirit—not explosive, but mournful. Powerful like an ocean's depth. A technique not born of rage, but from understanding what must be let go.
🌑 Present — Sanctuary Dome
Jin gasped awake.
His body trembled—not from pain, but from echoes.
[You have remembered the True Name of the Second Form.]
Technique Unlocked: Second Form – Grieving Flow
[Your Hollow Pulse now resonates with Memory-State Emotions]
+1 Emotional Attunement (Sorrow)
Qi now responds to spiritual alignment. Future techniques will vary based on feeling, not formula.
The old monk stood at the doorway, eyes grave.
"It wept for you, didn't it?" he asked.
Jin nodded.
"The Ghost Sutra… it wasn't just a technique. It was a confession."
The monk lowered his head.
"All who walk the Hollow Path must confess. Not to others. To themselves."
🐉 Meanwhile – Western Border, Dragon-Cleft Plateau
Far away, in the Western Lands where the mountains were black and the wind smelled of iron, a low rumble echoed across a scorched valley.
Scales shimmered beneath stone.
Eyes opened—golden, ancient, slit-pupiled.
"Voidstyle," the voice whispered, old as time. "It stirs again…"
The dragon known as Qinshath the Fractured—sealed for four hundred years—stirred from his slumber.
📜 [Dragon Gathering Thread Initialized]
One of the Twelve Ancient Beasts has sensed the Hollow Pulse.
The Gathering of Scales will begin in 48 chapters.
[Future Encounter Flagged: Qinshath – Ice Wyrm of Memory]
Back in the sanctuary, Jin stood. He wrapped his torn robe, adjusted his breathing, and stepped into the cold once more.
"I've remembered the second form."
"And now?" the monk asked.
Jin looked toward the south.
"Now I go to the next sect."
"If I am to remember myself… I must be seen by the world again."
He turned.
"Let them come."