Xuan Cheng sat cross-legged on the jade mat in the highest pavilion of the Azure Lotus Temple, the midnight wind carrying incense into the tranquil air. Around her, lotus blossoms carved from jade sighed softly, holding spilled starlight in their petals.
Her breathing was slow and even; within her, qi refined through the Seven Pathways of Cultivation radiated outward, each pulse a ripple in a moonlit pond.
Her eyes were closed, yet behind those lids her Jade Eyes saw far beyond the temple walls, gazing into the city as if piercing veils of darkness. Yet even as she sank into meditation, something stirred in the edges of her mind – a faint echo of unrest, like whispers in half-remembered dreams.
In the silent sanctum of her mind, the Jade Eye opened fully. The world around her faded into a velvet darkness, replaced by the luminous gardens of qi blossoming in her vision.
