The courtyard stones were warm beneath Shadow's feet as he walked in silence toward the outer quarters. The late afternoon sun dipped behind the mountains, casting long shadows that stretched like fingers across the sect grounds. Birds sang in the trees, but their melody was distant, swallowed by the thoughts racing through his mind.
> "I can see it now—the gaps in their forms, the unnecessary tension in their shoulders, the wasted steps."
> "None of their martial arts fit me. But perhaps… I can create one that does."
> "A style that doesn't rely on Qi harmony. One that flows like evasion, strikes like certainty, and moves like memory."
> "Not built to guide energy—but to overcome the lack of it."
The idea burned gently inside him.
> "My martial art. A system built not from power… but from survival."
His eyes narrowed slightly, and his lips curled in the faintest trace of amusement.
> "If the Heaven-Stealing Sutra is my foundation, then my art must be its blade."
He turned down the narrow path leading toward his ruined hut, still scorched from the thunder that changed everything. But before he reached it, a sharp voice cut through the path ahead.
> "Where do you think you're going, lightning rat?"
Shadow stopped.
Five figures stepped out from the side trail. Four stood in formation, blocking the path. The fifth walked with a casual swagger, head tilted, a mocking smile already on his face.
He was tall, lean, and wore his outer disciple robe loosely, a faint glow of spiritual energy pulsing beneath it.
> **Foundation Building Realm, Second Level.**
> **Ren Kai.**
Younger brother of Ren Jue, one of the outer sect's top ten. His name carried weight, but it was the four behind him who moved first.
> "Shadow, right?" Ren Kai said, voice full of contempt. "Let's see what Heaven left behind."
He turned to his subordinates.
> "Don't kill him. But make it fun."
The first one stepped forward with a laugh.
> "I've been wanting to see what trash lightning makes."
He launched forward with a wide punch, a wave of Qi bursting off his fist.
Shadow didn't move until the last second. Then his body shifted.
Not backward—**sideways**.
The punch missed entirely, crashing into a tree and sending bark flying.
Shadow spun lightly, placing two fingers on the attacker's shoulder and redirecting his momentum. The man stumbled forward and fell face-first into the dirt.
> "Too slow," Shadow muttered.
The second came immediately, a broad-shouldered youth with a blade drawn from his hip.
His swing was wild.
Shadow ducked low, sliding beneath the strike. He planted a palm on the attacker's knee, twisted, and swept his leg.
The man collapsed with a grunt.
> "Telegraphed."
The third and fourth attacked together.
One used a spear. The other charged with fists clad in spirit energy.
Shadow stepped between them, timing his movement perfectly. The spearman's attack narrowly missed Shadow's head—and instead struck his partner square in the chest.
The fourth stumbled backward, winded.
Shadow pivoted and raised his elbow. The spearman turned to recover, only to catch the strike squarely on his jaw.
Four down.
All in less than a minute.
Ren Kai's grin faltered.
Shadow didn't even look winded.
> "Are we done?" Shadow asked, dusting off his sleeves.
Ren Kai stepped forward, his aura flaring for the first time.
> "You got lucky."
> "Or maybe your dogs are too weak," Shadow said evenly.
The tension spiked.
Disciples from nearby fields had started to gather, murmuring among themselves.
> "That was fast."
> "He didn't even use a technique. Just… moved."
> "Is that really Shadow?"
Ren Kai's eyes narrowed. His pride demanded action, but something in Shadow's stance made him hesitate.
> "You and me," Ren Kai said. "Soon. No one else."
Shadow met his gaze.
> "I'll be there."
As Ren Kai stormed off, dragging his groaning subordinates with him, Shadow turned and continued walking toward his ruined home.
> "They weren't strong."
> "But I saw enough."
> "Even weakness has patterns. And now… I begin to build my own."
Shadow took only two steps.
The murmurs of the watching disciples still echoed behind him, blending with the rustling trees and fading laughter of defeated subordinates. His body was relaxed. His mind already drifting back into thought, weaving through the fragments of movements and patterns he'd seen.
> "I need to isolate the cleanest moments—moments where instinct overrode hesitation."
> "From there, I can build..."
A sharp burst of Qi exploded behind him.
Shadow spun instantly, instincts honed from a lifetime of being hunted by fate itself.
Ren Kai was mid-air, his aura burning with violent spirit energy, sword in hand, eyes locked with fury.
> "Let's see you dodge this!"
He roared and brought down his blade in a brilliant arc.
> **"Falling Fang Slash!"**
A basic but brutal **Wood Low Tier martial art**, designed for raw suppression—its power came not from complexity but from relentless force. Perfected over years of sparring, it was more than enough to crush most outer disciples.
The blade fell fast, a blur of light.
Shadow moved.
Not back.
Not away.
But forward—**inside the arc**.
The tip of the sword missed his shoulder by inches. The downward momentum of the attack pulled Ren Kai forward, just as Shadow sidestepped at the last possible moment.
> "Too committed. Too proud."
Shadow's eyes were calm.
Ren Kai shouted and spun, following with the second movement—an upward vertical slash meant to catch opponents as they recoiled.
But Shadow hadn't recoiled.
He had stepped **under**.
The sword cleaved through the empty air where Shadow had been.
> "His blade is fast, but his body can't keep up."
Ren Kai snarled, chaining the third and fourth strikes—horizontal to vertical, aiming to trap Shadow in a cross pattern.
The spectators gasped at the display.
> "He's using a full set!"
> "He's serious now!"
But Shadow was already gone from that space, his feet barely touching the ground.
He weaved through the final strike, stepped around Ren Kai's right shoulder, and finally moved to act.
A single hand extended.
Two fingers tapped the inside of Ren Kai's elbow.
The sword jerked.
Shadow stepped behind his opponent, and with a twist of his waist and a precise palm, struck Ren Kai cleanly across the back of the neck.
> **CRACK!**
The force wasn't brutal.
It was **placed.**
Ren Kai's body stiffened, then dropped to the ground, his blade clattering beside him.
Silence.
Shadow stood over him, still steady, still expressionless.
> "He used a technique. I used understanding."
He turned toward the circle of stunned disciples.
> "This is only the beginning."
No cheers followed.
Only awed silence.
Even the four subordinates didn't move.
Ren Kai lay unconscious at their feet.
Shadow walked past them, vanishing into the twilight.
Behind him, one disciple whispered:
> "He defeated a second-level Foundation user... with no martial art."
Another replied:
> "He used no sword, no Qi burst, no form."
> "What kind of monster is he becoming?"