The qi reached before he moved — the invisible extension of Nascent Soul Mid Stage output, the specific telekinetic application he had refined in the cave months ago and had since applied to several situations requiring different categories of persuasion.
She came off the branch.
Not falling—the qi closed around her with the specific care of someone who was moving a person rather than an object, catching her at the waist and the shoulder and drawing her forward and downward with the smooth inevitability of something she could not prevent without the cultivation stage to contest it.
Her spear arm moved immediately. The instinctive throw-response of a warrior whose first reaction to restraint was offense.
He caught the spear.
