The growl died in Li Jin's throat, replaced by a raw, ragged gasp. The strength fled his body all at once, leaving him empty and trembling on the frozen ground. He stared at his own hands. They didn't feel like his anymore. They were the weapons of a beast.
Wang An approached, hesitant. There was no longer anger in his eyes, only a deep, profound sadness. He helped Li Jin to his feet. His touch was cautious, as if he feared his friend might shatter, or snap. Fear was an invisible wall between them.
Xiao Lie's two cronies scrambled to their feet. One of them hauled their unconscious leader onto his shoulders. The other shot a look of pure hatred at Li Jin. "You'll pay for this, demon." They vanished into the night, carrying their broken comrade and their promise of vengeance.
Li Jin didn't answer. He stared at the rock where Xiao Lie had crashed. A small, dark stain marred the stone. Blood. His blood. Drawn by Li Jin's own uncontrollable fury. The Grand Master was right. He was a danger.
"I should leave," Li Jin murmured, his voice cracking. "Leave the mountain before I hurt someone else. You, maybe."
Wang An shook his head, his loyalty warring with his fear. "No. Leaving would be letting that… thing win. You're still Li Jin. I saw it. You stopped yourself."
He had stopped. It was true. That one moment of clarity, that single shard of will, had been the hardest battle of his life. A battle he wasn't sure he could win again.
Master Chen arrived like a shadow. He didn't need to ask what had happened. The scene told the story: the churned earth, the bloody mark on the rock, the state Li Jin was in. His face was grave, but without reproach. Just an immense weariness.
"The Grand Master is waiting for you," he said simply.
Li Jin followed the master without a word. He didn't look back at Wang An as he left. Shame was a cloak too heavy to bear.
He found himself once again in the Grand Master's private study. The solitary candle still burned. Xiao Lie was there, laid out on a mat, being tended to by another master. He was conscious, but his gaze was vacant. His arrogance had been shattered, replaced by a hollow fear. When his eyes met Li Jin's, he flinched.
The Grand Master paid Xiao Lie no mind. He dismissed the others with a gesture, leaving only himself and Li Jin.
"I gave you one instruction," the old man began, his voice quiet but carrying the weight of a glacier. "Build a cage. Instead, you fed the beast."
Li Jin prostrated himself. "I have failed, Grand Master. I am unworthy. Banish me."
"Banishment is for disciples who fail," the Grand Master countered. "Not for weapons that become unstable. To let you go would be to release a starving tiger into a marketplace. The fault would be mine, not yours."
He rose and walked around the desk, approaching Li Jin. "You are not the first. Long ago, others received the Mark. Disciples stronger and more talented than you. They all believed they could master this force, use it for their own glory."
His gaze drifted into the past. "They all ended the same way. Consumed by the Tiger's rage. They became monsters we were forced to put down. The history of our school is built on their silent graves."
The revelation struck Li Jin harder than any physical blow. He wasn't unique. He was just the latest in a long line of sacrifices. A failed experiment, repeating itself.
"Then… there is no hope?"
"I said they tried to master the Tiger," the Grand Master corrected. "That was their mistake. One does not master an earthquake. One does not command a typhoon. One learns to survive within it. One finds the calm at the eye of the storm."
He returned to his desk and picked up a small object. A simple disc of polished wood, unadorned and worn smooth with age. "Isolation has failed. Suppression will only make the beast stronger. We must try something else. A method we have not dared to use for centuries."
He placed the wooden disc in Li Jin's hand. It was warm, almost alive. "You will no longer try to silence the Tiger. You will listen to it. You will watch it. You will learn to know it as you know yourself."
The Grand Master fixed him with a look of fearsome intensity. "You will go down to the Chamber of the Soul-Mirror."
The name alone sent a chill through Li Jin. It was another of the school's legends. A place of spiritual trial so dangerous that some disciples were said to have lost their minds within it.
"Beneath the main monastery is a chamber, carved from a single vein of black jade," the Grand Master explained. "Its floor is polished like a mirror. It does not reflect your body. It reflects what is inside you. Your trial will not be to fight demons, but to face your own."
"What must I do?" Li Jin asked.
"You will sit at the center of the chamber. You will hold this disc. It is made from the wood of the Heartwood tree that grows near the sanctum. It will help keep you anchored. You will look at your reflection. And you will wait. When the Tiger shows itself, you will not fight it. You will not run from it. You will watch it. That is all."
It was a simple instruction, but a terrifying one.
Master Chen was waiting outside. He led Li Jin not up the mountain, but down into the monastery's depths. They descended a long, spiraling staircase, the air growing colder and damper with every step. They came to a circular stone door, with no lock and no handle.
Master Chen placed his palm on the door. A faint green light emanated from his hand, and the door pivoted inward with absolute silence.
The Chamber of the Soul-Mirror was a perfect sphere. The walls, ceiling, and floor were of a black jade so pure it seemed to drink the light. The only illumination came from a single phosphorescent crystal suspended in the center, casting a pale, spectral glow. The floor, as the Grand Master had said, was a perfect mirror.
"Once this door is sealed, it will not open again unless the Grand Master wills it, or until your heart stops," Master Chen said, his voice echoing strangely in the curved space. There was a flicker of pity in his eyes. "Find your peace, Li Jin."
Li Jin stepped inside. The door swung shut behind him, plunging him into a total, absolute silence. The outside world no longer existed. There was only him, and his reflection.
He sat cross-legged at the center of the room. The jade floor was cold as death. He clutched the wooden disc in his hands. It was his only anchor, the only warm, living thing in this stone tomb.
He looked down. The reflection that stared back at him was that of a frightened young man. Dark circles under his eyes, his face pale. He saw nothing else. He breathed, remembering the master's words. Watch. Wait.
Hours passed. Or perhaps it was minutes. Time had no meaning here. Hunger, thirst, fatigue—they all seemed to belong to another world. There was only the silence, the cold, and his reflection.
Then, something changed. The reflection in the jade floor began to ripple, like water. The frightened young man's face twisted. The features elongated. The eyes widened, their color shifting to a predatory green.
The mark on Li Jin's chest began to burn, an intense heat spreading through his body. He gasped but did not look away. He held the wooden disc tighter.
In the mirror, the reflection was no longer human. It was a humanoid silhouette, but made of shifting shadows and green light. Ethereal fangs pierced its lips. And its eyes… they were the same eyes he had seen in his vision. Two molten emeralds, filled with ancient intelligence and a bottomless hunger.
The Tiger was here. It was no longer hiding in the corners of his mind. It was facing him.
The creature in the mirror smiled. It was not a friendly smile. It was the promise of being devoured. It raised a clawed hand, not to attack, but in a gesture of invitation. It did not speak with words, but Li Jin heard its voice in every fiber of his being.
Finally. We are alone.