Wang Lin awoke three days later, lying on a straw mat in a quiet cave. His body felt like it had been crushed under mountains. Every breath was pain. Every thought, a blur.
He turned his head. Elder Shu sat nearby, meditating, a thin trail of smoke curling from his incense burner.
> "You're awake," the old man said without opening his eyes. "Good. I thought you'd burned your soul out."
Wang Lin coughed. "What… happened?"
> "You touched a power not meant for mortals. You survived. Barely. But you're broken."
Wang Lin looked down. His hands trembled. His meridians felt scorched. The strength he'd shown during the fight… was gone.
> "I feel… empty."
> "Because you are," Elder Shu replied bluntly. "The Abduction Path doesn't give. It takes. It drains you. You used it without training, without control — like a starving child trying to swallow the sun."
> "But I fought them. I won."
> "You survived," Shu corrected. "You didn't win. That man — the one in the mask — he let you live."
Wang Lin said nothing.
Elder Shu finally opened his eyes. "You need to learn. From the beginning. No shortcuts. No miracles. If you truly wish to walk this path, then I will teach you how to crawl first."
---
A Place of Ashes
Elder Shu took him deep into the mountains — a place abandoned by cultivators long ago, where spiritual energy was weak, and nature was harsh.
> "Why here?" Wang Lin asked.
> "Because the weak don't need comfort. They need challenge."
There, Wang Lin began his first true cultivation — not through borrowed memories or stolen techniques, but through sweat, blood, and patience.
He chopped wood. Carried water. Climbed cliffs barefoot. Learned to breathe in rhythm with the earth. At night, Elder Shu forced him to memorize the foundations of Qi circulation — no shortcuts.
> "Forget what you stole," Shu warned. "It will poison you until you learn to master your own Qi first."
Wang Lin obeyed.
Day after day.
Week after week.
He meditated under freezing waterfalls. Fought off wild spirit beasts with only his fists. Fainted from exhaustion, then woke up to do it again.
There were no miracles.
But slowly… he grew.
His breathing became steady.
His strikes grew sharper.
His mind, clearer.
And within him, the Abduction Path stirred — not violently, but like a sleeping beast waiting for its master to mature.
---
A Visitor in the Mist
One night, while meditating near the edge of a cliff, Wang Lin heard a voice behind him.
> "You're not him. Not yet. But you could be."
He turned.
No one was there.
But in the mist… a shadow moved. A figure with long white robes and eyes like polished glass.
Elder Shu appeared seconds later, blade in hand.
> "Leave, Mo Xie!" he roared.
The figure smiled faintly. "Ah. So he has a name now."
> "You're not welcome here."
> "I'm not here for him. Not yet. I just wanted to see the boy… before he becomes what I once was."
And then — the shadow vanished.
Wang Lin looked at Elder Shu.
> "Who… was that?"
The old man was silent for a long time.
> "Your enemy. The only man to ever master the Abduction Path before it destroyed him. His name is Mo Xie, the Eternal Reclaimer. And if you don't surpass him… he will tear the world apart."