Chapter 34: Beneath Still Waters
The moon hung low over the Qingye Sect, casting its pale silver across the still pond at the back of Lin Ho's courtyard. Not even the insects stirred. A faint mist curled along the ground, thick and heavy, unnatural.
Lin Ho sat cross-legged on a flat stone, meditating — though his thoughts were anything but calm.
The woman's words echoed again and again:
> "The Primal Chaos has stirred once more…"
He didn't know what "Watcher" truly meant, but he recognized power when he saw it. She hadn't revealed any cultivation level, yet the heavens themselves seemed to yield before her. That wasn't something ordinary cultivators — not even sect elders — could comprehend.
> "If she knew… does that mean others will come too?"
He opened his eyes. The Chaos Qi in his dantian pulsed more violently than usual, as if stirred by unseen tides. It was no longer calm and steady — it wanted something. To expand, to move, to devour.
---
Moments Later – Within the Mountains
Elder Qiu stood atop an old cliff, facing the horizon. His robes fluttered in the wind, eyes scanning the darkness with deep concern.
Elder Mo appeared beside him silently.
> "You felt it too?"
Elder Qiu nodded.
> "That wasn't just an envoy. That was a signal."
> "What do we do?"
> "Nothing… yet. We let Lin Ho grow. If she's right about him… then holding him back would be suicide. For the world."
> "And if she's wrong?"
Elder Qiu turned to leave.
> "Then we're already too late."
---
At the Pond – Deeper Night
A ripple moved beneath the water's surface.
Lin Ho's eyes snapped open. His Chaos Qi instantly formed into a defensive shell. The pond's water, moments ago glass-smooth, now churned silently — and then a shadow emerged.
Not a beast. Not a human. Something else.
It rose with elegance — a translucent humanoid figure, draped in kelp-like mist, its features obscured but vaguely feminine.
It spoke, but not with words. Lin Ho felt it in his mind.
> "You are not ready… but your time draws near."
He stood.
> "What are you?"
No answer. Instead, a single glowing scale floated toward him from the entity's chest. As he caught it, it burned briefly in his palm, then vanished into his body.
The entity dissolved.
Lin Ho staggered back, but felt… different.
His Chaos Qi now pulsed with a resonance that reached beyond him — to the ocean, to the sky, to something sleeping far below.
> "Another piece of the puzzle," he murmured. "And I still don't know what the picture looks like."
He turned back toward the sect halls.
There were no more still waters.
Only rising tides.
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End of Chapter 34