THE SYSTEM IS NOT MINE

​Two months had passed since the silence fell over the guardhouse cellar.

​Sunset City had a short memory. Markets reopened with their usual clamor, caravans groaned under the weight of new silk, and the strange, smiling deaths were traded for the more familiar gossip of trade and taxes. Life moved forward because it had no other choice.

​The war had ended or rather, it had stepped back to catch its breath. With the armies withdrawn, Tan Suzi’s life had changed as well. The frantic logistics of General Han Defu’s supply lines had been replaced by the steady, cold pulse of trade.

​She worked for the ghost of a man now: Chu Feng. He sat in the royal capital, but his reach was long enough to stir the dust in every kingdom from Noir to the hostile borders of Shin.

​That evening, the courtyard behind Tan Suzi’s house was still. The only sound was the dry rattle of leaves dancing across the stone. In the center of the yard, the earth had been churned and packed tight.

​Yan sat buried in the dirt.

​Only his head remained above the surface, eyes closed as the cool pressure of the soil acted as a small reliever .To Yan, the earth wasn’t a weight; it was a stabilizer. The spiritual qi beneath the surface was heavier, calmer and felt more closer.

Ever since he drank the amount of green liquid, although this time comparability did not increase, but he felt that he could absorb spiritual qi faster.

​Slowly, the internal barrier that had resisted him for weeks began to fray. It didn’t break with a bang, but with the quiet finality of a seedling pushing through a crust of frost.

​Spiritual Qi Foundation—Layer 7.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

​His breathing deepened, his internal organs humming with the reinforced strength of a Layer 9 body. The soil around him suddenly felt lighter, as if the earth itself were acknowledging his progress.

​Footsteps crunched on the gravel. Tan Suzi had returned and stopped a few steps away, looking down at his head with a look of practiced annoyance.

​“You’re still at it,” she said, sighing. “That habit is going to get you stepped on one day.”

​Yan opened his eyes. He didn’t move, looking up at her from the ground like a stone carving. “It’s faster this way”

​“ Whatever it is, you love being buried” She folded her arms, her expression sharpening. “Get up. We have things to discuss.”

​Yan studied her face, catching the tension in the set of her jaw. “Did you find something?”

​“Clues,” she corrected. “Chu Feng has a new partner. A merchant named Fan Yu, out of the Western Kingdom of Choi.”

​Yan frowned faintly, the movement shifting the dirt around his neck.

​“ The alliance looks shady ,” Suzi said, her voice dropping. “Fan Yu is known as a criminal who deals with shady stuff in the business”

​Yan remained still for a moment, processing. “And they are having negotiations it seems, I feel the green liquid here”

​She pointed toward the setting sun. “They’re both in Trade Miller City right now for the negotiations, it has not happened yet”

The soil around Yan vibrated as Yan pulled himself out of the pit while dust fell from his body as he appeared out.

He looked at Tan Suzi and said ”I am going”

”Of course, you should go, but before that there is a goat tied outside”

​Yan looked toward the entrance.

”Maa”

A goat looked back at him and chewed grass simultaneously.

​“I am craving some meat, butcher it, and you can dry some meat for the travel”

​Far to the north, in the training yards of Golden Eagle City, the air was filled with the rhythmic whistle of a spear.

​Chen Yu moved with steady steps, the tip of his weapon carved through the cooling air until a soldier hurried into the courtyard, breathless and bowing low.

​“Commander Chen Yu!”

​Chen Yu pulled the spear back, the butt of the weapon striking the stone with a sharp crack. “What is it?”

​“A summons, sir. From Sir Han Defu himself.”

​Chen Yu wiped the sweat from his brow, his eyes narrowing. The General rarely sent personal messengers unless the ”peace” was about to end. “Where am I going?”

​“The Royal Capital, Commander. You’re expected immediately.”

​Chen Yu looked at his spear, then at the darkening sky. The currents were moving again, pulling them all toward a centre they couldn’t yet see.