"Master Feng," Lin Kai's voice cracked. "Thank you. For the food. For the books. For saving my life. I... I will come back. I swear it. When I am strong enough, I will come back and take you out of this cage."
Feng Xiu smiled—a genuine, warm smile that wrinkled the corners of his eyes.
"I will be waiting, Kai. Now go. Fly."
As Lin Kai braced his legs to jump, Feng Xiu took a step forward and grabbed his arm with surprising strength.
"Wait. One last thing."
Feng Xiu lowered his voice, his expression intense and desperate.
"When you are out... if Xiao Bai continues to be weak... find Soul Nourishing Herbs. Do not look for beast pills. Look for Soul medicine. Remember this!"
Lin Kai was confused. 'Soul medicine for a fox? Usually, beasts need Blood pills to evolve.'
"I remember!" Lin Kai promised. "Soul Herbs!"
"Goodbye, my child."
Lin Kai didn't look back. He didn't wait for the shouts that were echoing faintly from the forest edge. He took a deep breath, filling his lungs until they burned, and threw himself into the swirling abyss.
SPLASH.
The cold shock was instant. The water tasted of sulfur, iron, and rotting magic—the flavor of a thousand failed alchemy experiments.
Lin Kai kicked his legs, driving himself downward, straight into the heart of the whirlpool. The murky water stung his eyes, turning his vision into a blur of green and grey. He held his breath, his chest tight, and directed his hazy gaze around the underwater gloom.
'Where is it? Where is the passage?'
For a terrifying second, he saw nothing but silt. Then, he spotted it—a narrow, circular opening near the bottom, pulling the water in with a silent, heavy suction.
He kicked harder, propelling himself toward the hole.
As his head broke the threshold of the tunnel, he felt a strange vibration. He swam forward, pulling his body into the cramped stone pipe. Just as his feet cleared the entrance, a heavy grinding sound echoed through the water.
Rumble.
He glanced back instinctively. The rocks and mud behind him were shifting. The entrance wasn't just closing; it was sealing shut. The array was resetting. The path back to the Lin Clan was gone.
Total darkness swallowed him.
The only reassurance in the suffocating void was the weight on his chest. Xiao Bai was trembling, her small paws clutching his wet skin through the cloth binding, her claws digging in slightly. She was terrified, but she was there.
'Just us now,' Lin Kai thought, turning his face forward into the pitch-black current. 'Forward. Only forward.'
Above the surface, the ripples faded into nothingness.
Master Feng Xiu watched the water settle. With a sharp exhale, he pulled his staff out of the mud.
Thud.
A pulse of Earth Qi rippled through the ground. The whirlpool collapsed instantly, the mud rushing back to fill the void. Within seconds, the pond returned to its stagnant, placid state. A frog hopped onto a lily pad, croaking lazily, as if a boy had not just vanished into the earth.
Feng Xiu didn't relax. His eyes scanned the ground.
The dirt was churned up from Lin Kai's fight and his sprint to the pond. There were chaotic footprints everywhere.
'Good,' Feng Xiu thought.
He waved his sleeve. A gentle breeze swept across the ground where he had been standing, erasing his own footprints completely. However, he deliberately left Lin Kai's frantic tracks leading to the water's edge, as well as the scuff marks from the fight with Lin Bo.
"The narrative is mine to write," Feng Xiu whispered, his face shifting.
The calm, wise expression of the healer vanished. In its place, a mask of sheer panic and distress took over. His eyes widened, his breathing became shallow and ragged.
He didn't wait for Lin Bo or the Deacon to arrive. If they found him here, he would be on the defensive. He had to be the accuser.
Whoosh.
Feng Xiu vanished from the spot, using his movement technique to streak toward the Central Sector.
The massive obsidian doors stood open, guarded by stone lions. Inside, the atmosphere was grim and silent. Several Elders sat on high chairs, reviewing case scrolls.
Suddenly, a figure stumbled into the hall, looking disheveled and frantic.
"Emergency! Elders, emergency!"
The presiding Elder, a stern man with a scar running down his cheek named Elder Mo, looked up, frowning. "Feng Xiu? You are from Medicine Hall. Why are you making such a ruckus in the Hall of Law?"
Feng Xiu dropped to one knee, panting heavily, his voice trembling with feigned shock.
"It is Lin Kai! The boy... he is gone!"
Elder Mo narrowed his eyes. "Gone? What do you mean gone? He is restricted to the Southern Quadrant."
"I went to check on him..." Feng Xiu stammered, pointing a shaking finger back toward the south. "I found his hut empty! There were signs of a struggle! Blood on the ground! The trees were destroyed!"
The other Elders exchanged glances.
"I searched the area," Feng Xiu continued, his voice rising in hysteria. "I found footprints leading to the waste pond, and then... nothing! Only silence! I fear... I fear someone has attacked the boy to silence him! Or perhaps... driven him to a desperate end!"
"Silence him?" Elder Mo stood up, his aura flaring. "Who would dare attack a disciple inside the Clan, even if he is trash? We are not savages!"
"I do not know!" Feng Xiu cried out. "But earlier today, I heard rumors... rumors that Young Master Lin Bo had a quarrel with him! Please, Elders, you must investigate! If the boy is dead, the Clan Leader will—"
"WHAT?!"
Elder Mo shouted, his voice booming like thunder, shaking the dust from the rafters. The mention of the Clan Leader—and the implication that the "Bait" might be dead—sent a jolt of terror through the room.
"Sound the alarm!" Elder Mo roared, jumping down from his dais. "Seal the Southern Quadrant! Summon Lin Bo immediately! If that boy is missing, heads will roll!"