Rain swept across the highland ridge.
Not the kind that cleansed.
The kind that whispered:
You're not meant to be here.
Kaifeng stood at the edge of the clearing, robe soaked through, eyes half-lidded. No weapon. No stance. No invitation.
Across from him, the challenger waited — a quiet prodigy from the Sun-Woken Sect, wrapped in ceremonial gold. She had come with a scroll signed by three grand elders and a will unshaken by war.
"You knew I would come," she said.
"No," Kaifeng replied. "I only knew someone would."
The duel was meant to be silent.
But as they stood across from each other, unmoving, nature seemed to bend around the moment.
The challenger struck first.
A perfected form — sweeping, grounded, sharp enough to cleave thought from intent.
But Kaifeng did not move.
And the strike did not land.
Not because it missed.
Not because he dodged.
But because she stopped.
Mid-motion. Mid-air.
Her foot had slipped — only slightly —
onto a patch of moss Kaifeng had noticed an hour earlier.
Her balance wavered. Her form broke.
And in that moment, she saw it.
Not error… but invitation.
Her blade lowered.
They stood in silence.
Two disciples.
One undefeated.
The other unarmed.
And then she stepped back.
"I thought I was here to test you."
"You were," Kaifeng said.
"And you passed."
That night, she returned to her sect.
She didn't report defeat.
She reported a pause.
And weeks later, three of her students stumbled mid-practice…
and each time, something new happened.
Elsewhere, in a shadowed cave lit by broken stars, Zhui arrived breathless, rain-soaked, and furious.
Kaifeng turned slowly.
Zhui dropped to a knee, clutching a girl with a bandaged shoulder.
"They're killing them now," he said.
"Children who move like you. Even when they don't know your name."
Kaifeng looked at the girl.
She was unconscious.
But her hands twitched in her sleep…
as if tracing a circle she'd never been shown.
End of Chapter 21