The road south curved like a scar through the mountains, descending into a mist-shrouded basin where the land turned damp and restless. Bamboo gave way to twisted willow groves. The wind no longer whispered—it listened.
Jin Mu-Won traveled alone, his breath quiet, the broken sword now wrapped in cloth across his back. Each step along the moss-slick stone path echoed faintly through his Hollow Pulse, as if the very world beneath his feet carried memory.
Ahead, the mist parted—and he saw it:
The Crimson Thread River.
A wide, slow-moving vein of water that shimmered red beneath the moonlight. It was not blood—but something worse: qi-soaked residue. Saturated with centuries of battle, betrayal, and unfinished oaths.
Locals refused to cross it.
Jin didn't hesitate.
🩸 The River Speaks
As he stepped into the shallow current, his Hollow Dantian tightened.
Something old was pulling at him—not hostile, not kind. Just… witnessing.
"This river remembers."
The current tugged at his spirit more than his body.
A voice drifted into his ear—neither male nor female.
"Blood unatoned. Life unlived. Memory unburied. Do you walk alone, Hollow Son?"
Jin didn't answer aloud.
But his Hollow Pulse did.
A deep chime echoed across the riverbed, and in that sound, the mist rose.
From it emerged three figures, translucent and glowing faintly—cloaked in qi-woven armor and bearing weapons from forgotten ages.
They were River Wraiths.
Remnants of warriors who died in combat with unresolved techniques.
Bound by the river's memory.
⚔️ Wraith Duel – Memory vs. Memory
The first charged—dual sabers drawn, eyes locked on Jin's stance.
Jin slid backward across the water like smoke.
"Grieving Flow – Step One: Mourner's Reversal."
He caught the sabers not with strength—but with absence. The wraith blinked once—and disappeared into mist.
The second came from above, descending with a halberd made of fractured qi.
Jin inhaled.
He moved with a twist—half step, half dance—adapting Wen Dai's One-Armed Crane form.
His shoulder brushed the halberd's edge. His knee turned.
"Crane Requiem."
A strike to the chest, silent and final. The wraith shattered into mist.
Only one remained.
This one didn't attack.
Instead, it bowed—and opened its arms.
A challenge.
A request.
A ritual.
Jin nodded and mirrored the motion.
Their palms met.
And suddenly—memory flooded his Hollow Core.
🧠 [Echo Fragment Unlocked – "The Battle Beneath the Blood Sky"]
You once fought beneath a bleeding sky against an army of oathbreakers. Alone. You didn't survive… but you never retreated.
[Third Form Revealed: "Oathless Step" (Incomplete)]
Jin stumbled back, breath ragged.
The final wraith dissolved without combat.
But its memory remained—in him.
📜 Combat Insight Gained
[Qi Memory Resonance Increased]
+1 Third Form Fragment Discovered: "Oathless Step – Base Flow"
[Martial Class: Hollow Pulse Form 3 – Initiated]
As the mist cleared, the river calmed.
Jin looked down.
Beneath the water, dozens of weapons lay buried—unclaimed legacies, waiting to be remembered.
He stepped forward, quietly.
"I'll return when I'm ready."
Then he continued south—toward a sect that once specialized in oath-bound blades.