Now more than ever, Han Yu felt like his path—though twisted and strange—was beginning to connect. Soul Qi, rogue manuals, and forgotten knowledge. Maybe he wasn't lost in the dark after all. Maybe he was just… on a different road.
He smiled to himself and blew out the lantern.
Tomorrow, he'd test the theory. Fingers first.
The next morning, Han Yu woke up early with the eagerness of a child testing a new toy and the wariness of a cultivator experimenting with volatile Soul Qi.
After a quick breakfast and some tea brewed from dried peach blossom leaves—an acquired taste he had yet to get used to—he cleared the center of the room in his inn, rolled up the simple rug, and sat cross-legged on the wooden floor.
The book, Secrets of the Needle Finger Alchemist, rested beside him. Its cracked spine and faded lettering belied the strange insights within. Han Yu opened it to a page he had marked the previous night and reread the section describing the basic Finger Needle Technique.
