The air in Taeyang City was sharper after the Summit. Not just colder—but tighter. Tense. As if every street, rooftop, and alley held its breath.
Jin Mu-Won felt it immediately when he stepped outside the inn the next morning. The Lotus Seal on his back pulsed faintly, reacting to something unseen—some disturbance in the natural flow of qi.
Beside him, Lin Xue yawned. "Something's off. I can hear pigeons flying wrong."
Yu Fei raised an eyebrow. "Flying wrong?"
"They flapped in reverse rhythm. They're scared."
Jin nodded. "Something's watching."
---
They moved cautiously through the city. The Summit of Eight Winds had ended in silence, but Jin knew peace was an illusion. Too many factions. Too many egos. And now, too many eyes on him.
At the temple square, the Iron Sage of the Northern Blades was giving a public speech—meant to calm the people. Jin noticed the guards were doubled. Snipers positioned on roofs. A military parade in disguise.
Hye Rin murmured, "This is a stage."
Yu Fei's gaze narrowed. "No. A trap."
Jin's eyes went gold.
Boom.
A figure exploded from the crowd, moving too fast for the naked eye. Blades out. Aim: the Iron Sage's throat.
The assassination had begun.
Jin didn't hesitate. He moved.
---
Lotus Step triggered.
Time bent.
He blinked through the space between the assassin's strike and the Iron Sage's neck, palm glowing with radiant Lotus energy. He caught the assassin mid-air, slammed them into the ground with a thunderous pulse—and the entire crowd gasped.
The assassin coughed blood.
She was... young. Maybe 19. Slim frame. Masked. But her aura screamed elite.
"Who sent you?" Jin asked calmly.
She spat at him. "The world doesn't need gods."
Then—boom—a puff of black smoke erupted around her.
Yu Fei shouted, "Smoke bomb!"
But Jin was already moving again, chasing her into the alleys.
---
The chase was fast and fluid—across rooftops, through fish markets, under bridges. The girl was skilled. Exceptionally so. Her movement was like shadow given form, and Jin was forced to use Lotus Vein Vision, a new technique that let him track her qi signature.
She turned sharply into a narrow tunnel—and was gone.
Or so she thought.
Jin was already waiting at the other end.
"I'm not your average target," he said.
She tried to strike again—this time with a chain dagger—but he caught the chain mid-spin, yanked her forward, and pinned her against the wall.
Her mask fell.
She was... stunning.
Short black hair, red eyes like dying embers, and a burn scar across her collarbone. Her breath hitched.
"Do it," she said. "Kill me."
Jin didn't move. "What's your name?"
She blinked. "Why does that matter?"
"Because if I kill you," he said gently, "I should know who you are."
She looked away. "My name is Shi Mei."
Yu Fei arrived, panting. "You didn't kill her?"
"No," Jin said. "She's not a killer. Just... broken."
Shi Mei flinched.
Lin Xue caught up next, offering a piece of melon. "Want to join our weird family?"
"What?"
Jin smiled. "You don't have to be what they made you."
Shi Mei stared at them like they were aliens.
Then, softly, she whispered: "I don't know how to be anything else."
---
They returned to the inn.
Shi Mei was quiet. Distant. But she didn't run. She sat near the fire that night, clutching a blanket, not speaking. But listening.
Bai Yiran dropped next to her with a mug of tea. "You tried to kill a summit leader. Now you're sitting with his savior. How's that feel?"
She glared. "Strange."
"Good. We're all strange."
Jin watched her from across the room. She didn't know it yet, but she'd already taken her first step out of darkness.
And into his orbit.
---
The next morning, Ren appeared again.
This time, not alone.
He was standing beside a coffin.
Jin blinked. "What is that?"
Ren tapped it. "A relic. From before the Lotus."
Yu Fei stepped between them. "Why are you here?"
Ren looked at Jin. "Because I need your help."
Jin raised a brow. "You don't ask for help."
"I'm not," Ren said quietly. "I'm offering a partnership."
---
They met in a private shrine.
Ren opened the coffin. Inside was a sword. Black. Wrapped in chains. It hummed with malevolence.
"This," Ren said, "is the Void Fang. A weapon made to kill Lotus Bearers."
Hye Rin stiffened. "Why show this to us?"
"Because others are looking for it too. And if they find it first—"
"They'll kill me," Jin finished.
Ren nodded. "Join forces. Just for now. Find the rest of the Lotus Artifacts before the enemy does."
Jin stared at the sword.
Then at Ren.
Then nodded. "Deal."
Yu Fei crossed her arms. "I don't trust him."
"You shouldn't," Ren said with a grin. "But I don't lie. I just leave things out."
Shi Mei spoke up, voice quiet. "Where do we go next?"
Everyone turned to her.
It was the first time she'd spoken voluntarily.
Ren smirked. "Looks like the assassin's growing a conscience."
Shi Mei ignored him. "Where?"
Jin looked south. "To the Searing Wastes. Where the Sixth Petal is buried."
Lin Xue pumped her fist. "New place, new fight. Let's go!"
---
They left the next day.
The group was larger now. Shi Mei had joined them—not officially, but by proximity. She didn't smile. Rarely spoke. But she followed. Watched. Learned.
Yu Fei noticed how Shi Mei kept glancing at Jin when she thought no one saw.
Lin Xue noticed it too.
And smirked.
Hye Rin whispered to Jin one night, "Your harem grows by the day."
He sighed. "They're not—"
"They are."
---
Their journey to the Searing Wastes took four days on wind beasts—giant falcon mounts summoned through Lotus energy. Jin had learned to tame the winds themselves, and now used them like roads in the sky.
The Wastes were brutal. Red sands. Boiling air. Geysers of steam erupting from the cracked earth. But under that heat lay an ancient temple—buried, half-sunk into the sand like the bones of a dead god.
This was where the Sixth Petal slumbered.
But it wasn't unguarded.
The temple doors were sealed by blood and fire. And the guardian that emerged from the sands was no beast.
It was a former Lotus Bearer.
Twisted by centuries of hatred.
---
He rose from the ground—skin cracked like desert rock, eyes hollow, voice like thunder.
"I was Jin Long. The Lotus failed me. Now I fail it."
Jin Mu-Won stepped forward. "I'll carry what you couldn't."
Jin Long roared. "Then prove it!"
---
The battle was epic.
Fist against fire. Blade against soul. Jin had never faced someone who knew the Lotus as intimately as him—but also knew how to break it.
Yu Fei and Shi Mei worked in tandem to flank the specter, while Lin Xue threw herself into battle with her twin fans, slicing wind and fire alike.
Ren held the perimeter, fending off desert shades that poured from the temple.
Hye Rin chanted old Lotus verses, weakening the seal.
And finally—Jin activated the Fifth Petal's final ability: Lotus Bloom.
A golden lotus erupted from his chest. Light poured out, washing over Jin Long like a tide.
The old bearer screamed, fading.
But in his final moments, he smiled.
"You're worthy... bloom, my heir..."
He vanished.
And the sixth petal appeared—glowing, waiting.
Jin stepped forward—and accepted it.
---
The Lotus Seal expanded again.
He felt it—power surging, beyond comprehension.
Six petals.
Only one more remained.
---
That night, as they camped beneath a crescent moon, Shi Mei sat beside Jin for the first time.
"You didn't kill him," she said.
"He was still human."
She hesitated. "Would you show me? The Lotus?"
He turned, surprised. "Why?"
"Because I want to understand... you."
He smiled faintly. "Then watch."
He activated Lotus Bloom again.
And the petals swirled around them.
Shi Mei's eyes widened.
And in that moment—her heart stirred.
Another flower began to blooom.