Chen Wuya's fingers trembled slightly. The wisp of golden light in his palm had yet to fade, and the anomaly at the third section of the meridian in his left arm continued. Rather than dissipating, that current of force quietly sank like a thin stream, reaching a hidden meridian beneath his dantian that had never been activated. He did not open his eyes, merely slowed his breathing and sank his breath into his abdomen, allowing the power to circulate on its own.
He sensed the change—this was no longer simply the circulation of Misaligned Force, but some deeper restructuring. True qi slowly revolved through the hidden meridian, like a seed falling into soil; though its shell had yet to break, it had already taken root.
Bai Zhi stood beneath the corridor, her gaze resting on him. She did not move or speak, but her fingers lightly rested on her sword hilt, as if ready to face any sudden change. Chen Xuan and Chen Yao sat side by side on the stone steps, their eyes still fixed on the forked web of light in their father's palm. Mo Feng crouched nearby, his charcoal pencil hovering at the edge of the blueprint, his brow faintly furrowed.
"This route... is wrong," he murmured. "It shouldn't branch here."
As soon as he spoke, Chen Wuya slowly spread open his palm. The golden light that had originally traveled in a single line had now become two tracks, running side by side between his palm lines. At times they crossed, at times they separated, until they finally wove into a dense mesh-like pattern in his palm. A nearly imperceptible ripple stirred in the air, followed by a translucent interface silently appearing before the three of them.
Runes flowed, layering and reforming as a scroll slowly unfurled,