chapter Two: dissapearing qi
Morning had not yet arrived.
The sky outside the servant quarters was still dark, faint moonlight slipping through the broken wooden window. The room was cold and quiet, filled with the slow breathing of sleeping servants.
Xiao Chen opened his eyes.
He did not move immediately.
His body was sore from the previous day's labor, his arms aching faintly from lifting rubble and sweeping stone dust for hours. Yet this was nothing new. Pain had long since become a familiar companion.
He quietly sat up.
There was still time.
At least one hour remained before the servants would be summoned for their chores.
That one hour… was precious.
Xiao Chen crossed his legs on the hard wooden floor and closed his eyes. He slowed his breathing, just as he had done countless times before. His mind gradually calmed, pushing aside the fatigue, hunger, and dull ache in his muscles.
He began to sense the world around him.
Qi.
Thin, faint streams of qi drifted through the air, barely noticeable to ordinary people. To most of the servants in this place, qi was nothing more than a word spoken by disciples—a distant, unreachable concept.
Many of them were worse off than Xiao Chen.
They could not sense qi.
They could not feel it.
No matter how hard they tried, the world remained empty to them.
At least Xiao Chen was different.
He could feel it.
He could draw it in.
Slowly, carefully, he guided the qi toward his body.
It responded.
The faint streams of qi entered him, passing through his skin, flowing into his meridians.
For a brief moment, Xiao Chen felt hope.
Then—
It vanished.
Gone.
The qi disappeared as if it had never existed.
Xiao Chen's brows tightened slightly, but he did not stop.
Again.
He drew in qi.
Again, it entered his body.
Again, it disappeared.
Time passed quietly.
He repeated the process over and over, his breathing steady, his posture unchanged. Sweat slowly formed on his forehead, trickling down the side of his face.
This had been his routine for five years.
Five long years.
Every single day.
No matter how early he woke up.
No matter how tired he was.
No matter how hopeless it felt.
He never stopped.
Xiao Chen did not know what was wrong with his body.
He did not know where the qi went.
He only knew that something inside him swallowed it every time, leaving nothing behind. His dantian remained empty, silent, lifeless.
Yet… he still did not give up.
Maybe tomorrow, he thought.
Maybe just one day… the qi won't disappear.
He clenched his fists lightly.
He did not want to rely on anyone.
Not in the Moonlight Kingdom.
Not in this god-forsaken world.
He did not need to be the strongest.
He did not dream of standing above everyone else.
He just wanted power—enough to protect himself.
In this world, the strong ate the weak.
And Xiao Chen had been weak for far too long.
His thoughts drifted.
If his parents were still alive… he would find them.
He wanted to know why they abandoned him.
Why they left him behind and never returned.
Why they brought him into this world if they were never going to care for him.
And those people—
The ones who beat him when he was a child.
The ones who kicked him aside like trash.
The ones who left scars across his body, scars that still ached on cold nights.
He would remember them.
As these thoughts poured through his heart, Xiao Chen continued to channel qi, stubbornly, desperately, as if trying to pour everything he was into it.
Then—
Something changed.
Xiao Chen's eyes snapped open.
His body trembled.
At first, it was faint—so faint he almost thought he imagined it.
A vibration.
It came from inside him.
Not from his muscles.
Not from his bones.
But deeper.
Something… stirred.
Xiao Chen's breathing quickened.
The vibration grew stronger, spreading through his body like ripples through water. His skin prickled, and his heart began to pound.
"What…?"
Before he could react, the qi around him surged.
It no longer trickled in gently.
It rushed.
Waves of qi poured into his body violently, faster and stronger than ever before.
Panic rose in his chest.
Xiao Chen tried to stop.
He tried to cut off the flow, to calm himself, to regain control—
But he couldn't.
No matter how hard he tried, the qi kept coming.
His body shook violently.
The vibration intensified, rattling his bones, making his vision blur. He lost balance and fell forward, crashing down from his meditation posture onto the floor.
Pain exploded in his head.
It was unbearable.
It felt as if something inside his skull was tearing him apart.
Xiao Chen clutched his head, his fingers digging into his hair. His body curled instinctively, his breath coming out in broken gasps.
He had never experienced pain like this.
Never.
Not even when he was beaten until he could not recognize his own reflection.
This pain was different.
It was deeper.
Crueler.
As if something was ripping him open from the inside.
His consciousness began to fade.
His vision darkened.
Just before everything went black—
He saw it.
A shining white thing.
It glowed brilliantly inside his body, blindingly bright.
Isn't that… that thing…?
That final thought flashed through his mind