"The wind cannot be held. It can only be followed—or feared."
— Lotus Monks' Wind Sutra, Verse IX
🌬 The Monk Descends
From the Southern platform, the monk stepped into the arena.
His robes were white edged with gold thread, but the fabric rippled as though caught in a storm no one else could feel.
He bowed—not deeply, but with the weight of unshaken composure.
"I am Soryan, Third Breath of the Nine-Petal Lotus Empire, Keeper of the Southern Seal.
In this trial, your weapon is useless. Only your breath may save you."
Jin raised an eyebrow.
The Leviathan Blade dissolved into water vapor and vanished from his hands without him releasing it.
💨 The Breath-Lock Field
The arena shifted—stone beneath their feet turned translucent, revealing a vast sky beneath.
Wind roared from all directions at once. It wasn't natural wind—it was dragon-breath wind, a force said to be able to strip flesh from bone in moments.
Jin's lungs constricted. He could feel the qi around him being stolen, drawn into the vortex Soryan controlled.
"Survive until the wind calms," Soryan said simply. "If you can."
🌀 The Sky-Wind Kata Begins
Soryan's feet barely touched the ground as he moved through the Sky-Wind Kata—a flowing martial form that bent the currents around him, sending shockwaves of compressed air toward Jin.
Every strike wasn't a blow—it was the removal of the air around Jin's body.
For a heartbeat, Jin could neither inhale nor exhale.
His mind flickered to the depths of the sea—Shellspine Isle, the crushing silence, the cold tide pressing against his ribs.
He smiled faintly.
🌊 Adapting the Tidebound Sutra
Instead of fighting the wind with brute force, Jin shifted into the Tidebound Reversal Sutra—not to redirect a single strike, but to match the rhythm of Soryan's movements.
When the monk's palm swept the air away from him, Jin leaned into the absence, letting it carry him like a wave's pull.
When the vortex tried to crush him, he bent around it like water flowing past a rock.
Step by step, he began breathing with the storm, each inhale timed with the fleeting gaps Soryan left.
🪷 The Lotus Bloom
Soryan's eyes narrowed.
The air around him condensed into a single, massive lotus made of wind, each petal sharper than steel.
He spun, unleashing it toward Jin—a slicing cyclone that could have sheared through a skyship.
Jin inhaled deeply, then exhaled into the strike.
Steam burst from his lips—water qi meeting air qi—softening the cyclone's edge. He stepped through the petals without a single cut.
When he reached Soryan, he simply placed a palm on the monk's chest.
The wind died.
🐉 The Third Seal
Soryan smiled faintly, then bowed deeper this time.
"You listened to the breath of the world. That is enough."
A mark shaped like a swirling vortex appeared beside the other seals on Jin's arms.
Three runes now blazed on the arena floor—Western, Northern, and Southern—forming a triangle of power.
⚠ The Fourth Challenger
From the Eastern platform, the air grew heavy.
The Mourning Emissary—still veiled in black silk—stepped forward.
"The Trial of Shadow waits for you, Hollow Flame.
And here… even memory may betray you."
The arena dimmed.
The light began to fade.