The sun woke me, its pale light caressing my heavy eyelids. The damp grass stuck to my cheek, and every muscle in my body ached. The night had been short, riddled with nightmares in which I saw Zhao Kun vanish again and again into the beast's shadow.
I slowly pushed myself up, rubbing my eyes. The wind swept across the plain, making the tall grass ripple. It was calm. Too calm, almost unreal after the hellish night we had endured.
But that calm was broken by voices.
"We need to get out of here!" Yao, standing a few steps away, flailed his arms like a child in panic.
His reddened eyes shone with tears.
"If we stay, we die! The beast will find us, or worse, another monster will appear!"
Mei stood facing him, fists clenched.
"And go where, huh?! We've got no strength, no map, no shelter! You want to run blindly until you collapse?!"
"Anywhere but here!" Yao spat, his hands trembling. "We're sitting ducks out in the open plain!"
I staggered to my feet, my legs still heavy.
"What are you doing…" I murmured, but they didn't even hear me.
Mei stepped closer to Yao, her face just inches from his. "If you really want to die, then run! But I won't waste Zhao's sacrifice by fleeing like a brainless beast!"
Yao swallowed hard, his gaze flickering between rage and fear.
"And what do you suggest?! That we build a sect with what? With our empty hands? We're just orphans!"
His words cracked the air like a whip.
I clenched my fists. Yes, he was right. We had nothing. But Mei was right too. We couldn't run forever.
My lips moved before I even thought.
"We stay."
They both turned to me, startled.
"We stay," I repeated, firmer this time. "Not forever. But to breathe. To think."
I placed my hand on my chest, where my heart still pounded wildly.
"If we leave now, we run straight to death. If we stay a little longer, maybe we'll find a direction."
Mei nodded, her eyes gleaming with a dark resolve. Yao looked away, jaw tight, but he didn't protest.
The wind rose again, lifting blades of grass around us. And in that tense silence, I understood one thing:
We were broken. Lost. But still alive.
The wind stirred the grass gently, but the air remained heavy with tension. Yao stared at the ground, Mei crossed her arms, and I felt their gazes weighing on my decision.
I drew in a deep breath.
"Listen… We have to remember one thing. We're not disciples of some great sect. We have no masters to shield us, no treasures to protect us. We've got nothing… just our hands, and what Zhao left behind."
Yao clenched his fists.
"Exactly. Nothing! Other disciples train in lands where qi flows freely. Even kids from minor clans have artifacts or herbs to grow stronger. Us? We breathe thin, weak air…"
He spat on the ground.
"Even this plain is empty, no qi, nothing to strengthen us."
Mei lifted her head, her gaze hard.
"Then we'll make do. The qi is weak? We'll adapt. We'll grow tougher."
"You're dreaming," Yao shot back, his voice trembling. "We'll always be behind the others. Do you think we can catch up to youths who have masters, libraries, techniques passed down for generations?"
I closed my eyes for a moment, remembering the evenings when Zhao spoke of powerful sects. Towers touching the clouds, silk-clad disciples who could shatter mountains with their fists alone.
"Yao…" I whispered. "Do you think Zhao didn't know we were orphans? He knew better than us. But he always said…" I smiled despite myself.
"That even a pebble, given time, can become a spirit stone if you carve a dream into it."
Mei slowly nodded. "We have no clan, no territory, no master… But that also means we have no chains. Nothing dictating our steps."
"Nothing but hunger and fear," Yao muttered, but his voice had lost its bite.
I gazed at the horizon. The plain stretched endlessly, empty yet peaceful. "We'll find our path. Even if we must walk where no one has walked. Even if we must build our own sect with our bare hands."
A silence followed. The wind swept past us, carrying away the weight of words for a fleeting moment.
The silence stretched on, broken only by the whistling wind through the tall grass.
Yao finally spoke, his voice hoarse:
"Even if we wanted to build something… we'd die first. We've got no supplies. No medicinal herbs, not even a grain of rice. Hunger will kill us faster than any monster."
I thought Mei would explode again. But to my surprise, she sighed and lowered her head.
"…He's not wrong." Her fingers plucked at the grass. "We're at our limit. If we don't eat soon, our bodies will give out."
Her words struck like an iron verdict. My throat tightened. She was right. But dying here of hunger was worse than dying under a beast's fangs.
I gritted my teeth and pointed toward the horizon. "You're forgetting where we are."
They lifted their eyes to me, startled.
"That ravine…" I went on. "It marks the border of the Purple Lotus Sect's territory."
Yao's eyes widened. "You mean… we're already that close?"
Mei frowned. "That means we could run into their patrols at any moment."
"Yes," I nodded. "And it's a double-edged sword. If we meet them, they might take us as intruders… but at the same time, their land is watched. Spirit beasts don't roam as freely there."
Yao paled.
"You talk like we have a choice! The Purple Lotus Sect… it's a great sect! We're clanless orphans, they'll hunt us down like dogs!"
Mei didn't answer right away. Her gaze drifted toward the horizon, where the grasses swayed like a silver sea. "Maybe… but it's also our best chance to stay alive."
Yao collapsed into the grass, eyes lost in the sky.
"The worst and the best place…" he muttered, as if the bitter taste of the paradox lingered in his mouth.
Mei crouched beside him, her eyes serious.
"Not the Purple Lotus' heartlands. We'd be crushed before we even existed."
"Then where?" I growled, my throat still dry from the night.
She raised her hand toward the horizon, pointing to the distant hills where pale grass faded into mist.
"In their poor lands. The margins they despise. Where the qi is weak, where no disciple wants to train. Where the masters don't even look."
I understood instantly. A territory abandoned by the mighty… yet still shielded by the Purple Lotus' name. Safe enough to hide, empty enough for no one to notice us.
Yao laughed faintly, shaking his head. "A sect in the ruins of their shadow… Hahaha… pathetic." Yet his eyes gleamed with a strange light. "But maybe… that's where our luck begins."
I clenched my fists, my heart pounding harder. "Then we'll hide. We'll learn. And one day… we'll make Zhao's name shine in this desert of qi."
Mei rose, her silhouette cut against the morning light. Her face was hard, but her eyes burned with a new flame.
"Yes. We'll build in the shadow of those who despise us. And when the time comes… they will remember us."
We stayed silent for a while, cradled by the wind that stirred the plain. But the idea had already taken root, too strong to be pushed aside.
Mei finally broke the silence. "If we really want to survive here, we need shelter. A place they never look, but that can hide us."
Yao nodded, lips pressed tight.
"A cave, a ruin… anything. As long as we can hole up without drawing attention."
I stood again, wiping the dried mud from my arms. My gaze swept the horizon. Hills rolled on endlessly, dotted with jagged black rocks. Further off, thin crooked woods twisted, stunted as if the weak qi had stifled their growth.
"There," I said, pointing to a ridge of stone cutting against the sky. "If caves exist, they'll be under those cliffs. With some luck, they'll open onto the back of the plain, far from patrol routes."
Mei nodded at once. "Perfect. A discreet place. And if the qi is weak, no one will search for treasures there."
Yao grimaced, though his eyes shone despite himself. "Weak, yes… but stable. Even the poorest seeds can grow in barren soil, if tended."
A shiver ran through me. His words, even unmeant, echoed Zhao's dream.
Mei turned on her heel, her voice firm:
"Then let's go. We'll find nothing waiting for hunger to take us."
We resumed walking, our steps crushing the tall grass, our silhouettes outlined in the pale morning light. Behind us, the night and the beast already seemed like another world. Ahead, the forgotten lands of the Purple Lotus awaited us.
And perhaps, in the hollows of those abandoned cliffs, the first breath of our sect would be born.
The silence stretched, broken only by the rustling of grass. Mei finally said, her tone sharp:
"We need to know where each of us stands. Otherwise, we move blind."
She turned to Yao.
"You. What Phase?"
He bit his lip, eyes lowered.
"…First. Shadowed. I barely feel the qi… and it slips away at once."
Mei sighed, fists clenched.
"No wonder you collapse every time."
Yao growled, stung. "Like you're any better!"
"Second Phase," she shot back instantly. Her gaze was hard, but her voice trembled with bitterness. "I can hold it… but not guide it."
I walked behind them, hesitating, then finally breathed:
"Same. Second. But… I feel I can go further."
Silence fell. The wind lifted the grass around us, hissing like a mocking whisper.
And suddenly, Zhao's image filled my mind.
His solid figure, his powerful breath, the qi that pulsed around him like embers ready to ignite.
He had already reached the Third Phase of the Shadowed… while we still struggled with the Second.
I clenched my fists, throat tight.
"Shadowed or not, we're at the bottom. If we stay here… we'll die like dogs. Zhao was three steps ahead, and he died for us. So either we climb, or we die."
Our steps carried us through the tall grass until the plain broke off abruptly.
Before us, gray cliffs rose, austere, like scars carved by the heavens.
The wind blew harder here, carrying the scent of stone and dust. At their base, dark fissures cut through the rock, some gaping like open maws leading down into the depths.
Mei stopped short, eyes narrowed.
"There. If we hide, it's here."
Yao blanched. "Here?! Look at those holes!" He pointed with a trembling hand. "They look like beast dens! And the qi…" He inhaled, then grimaced. "Weak. Too weak. We'll suffocate before we grow!"
"Exactly," Mei replied, implacable. "If it's weak, no one will want it. It's perfect for us."
I stepped forward, my hand brushing the rough stone. A shiver coursed through me.
The qi here was faint, almost gone… but stable. No chaotic currents, no immediate threat.
"Yao…" I said softly. "We don't have the luxury of choice. We're too weak to aim higher."
He clenched his fists, jaw tight. "…So this is our dream? A sect born in a hole?"
I turned to him, heart heavy but resolute.
"No."
I pressed my palm against the stone, feeling the chill of the rock under my fingers.
"This is where it will begin. But one day… it will rise far above these cliffs."
A silence weighed. Mei, her eyes shining despite her exhaustion, slowly nodded. Yao looked away, lips trembling, but he didn't protest further.
Before us, the cracks in the rock seemed to wait. Perhaps a trap. Perhaps a refuge.
But surely… our first ground.