Swallowed Star: Heavenbreaker

The underground parking structure pulsed with low, steady light. Three disciples knelt at its center, sweat dripping from their brows as they forced the unruly threads of Primordial Qi through their untempered meridians. Zhang Wei gritted his teeth, jaw locked in silent defiance of the pain.

Lin Xuan circled them in silence, each step precise, his gaze cold and analytical. Acceptable progress, he thought. But their foundations are fragile. Without tempering, they'll shatter at the first real test.

He stopped before Zhang Wei. "Again."

Zhang Wei's eyes flickered open. "I—I can barely hold the circuit—"

Lin Xuan's palm struck like lightning, slamming into Zhang Wei's shoulder. Pain exploded through the man's body, and his struggling Qi spiraled out of control — until Lin Xuan's own thread of silver energy wove into it, forcing the wild torrent back into order.

"Do you think the beasts will pause because you're tired?" Lin Xuan asked, his voice devoid of heat. "Pain is the forge. Endure, or die untempered."

Zhang Wei swallowed hard and resumed his cultivation, sweat mingling with blood from his bitten lip.

---

Later, as the disciples collapsed in exhaustion, Lin Xuan moved to the far corner of the structure where a scavenged alien panel lay. He had salvaged it from the scout's remains, a black slab etched with jagged spirals. Now, he coaxed it to life, feeding it a thin trickle of Primordial Qi.

Blue glyphs flickered across its surface, rearranging themselves into patterns Lin Xuan's stolen memories interpreted automatically: invasion vanguard: T–48 hours.

So soon. His eyes narrowed. The Eternal Shadows' vanguard was already en route.

His gaze shifted to his disciples, sprawled unconscious from exertion. They're not ready. None of them are. But they must be tempered in real battle, or they'll never survive what's coming.

---

At dawn, Lin Xuan summoned the survivors. "A pack of scale-beasts roams the eastern ruins," he said, voice carrying over the nervous murmurs. "You will hunt them."

Zhang Wei blinked, still stiff from the previous day's training. "We? Alone?"

"You are disciples of the Heavenbreaker Sect," Lin Xuan said, silver light glinting in his gaze. "Strength is your only law. Today you will temper it in blood."

A ripple of unease swept through the group, but none dared challenge him. The three disciples exchanged glances before nodding grimly.

"Go," Lin Xuan commanded. "Return with the beasts' cores… or not at all."

---

They set out into the city's broken skeleton, Lin Xuan shadowing them at a distance. The ruins were a jagged maze of collapsed towers and overgrown streets, silent save for the distant, guttural roars of prowling beasts.

Zhang Wei led, rifle at the ready. Behind him, Mei Yan and Luo Jin crept through the rubble, their movements tense and uncertain. Each carried a crude blade fashioned from scavenged steel, their newly awakened Qi faintly visible as flickering traces of silver light.

They found their quarry near the husk of a derelict train station — a pack of four horned lizards feasting on the carcass of some larger predator. The beasts lifted their gore-slicked maws, crimson eyes locking onto the intruders.

Zhang Wei swallowed hard. "On my mark," he whispered. "Two on the left. I'll draw them."

But hesitation slowed them — a single heartbeat too long.

The beasts lunged.

---

From his vantage point atop a crumbling overpass, Lin Xuan watched impassively as the battle unfolded. Zhang Wei's first shot tore through a beast's eye, dropping it instantly, but the recoil threw him off balance. Mei Yan slashed wildly, her blade glancing off armored scales before a clawed forelimb sent her sprawling. Luo Jin froze, terror rooting him to the spot as another beast barreled toward him.

Pathetic, Lin Xuan thought, silver light flickering briefly in his gaze. They cling to hesitation like a shield, not realizing it is what kills them.

Zhang Wei roared, driving his blade into a beast's exposed throat, silver Qi flaring along the edge. Mei Yan scrambled to her feet, blood streaming from a gash in her shoulder, and hacked desperately at the beast pinning her down. Luo Jin finally moved, panic lending speed to his strike as he drove his sword into a beast's flank, the blow fueled by a sudden, instinctive surge of Primordial Qi.

Moments later, all four beasts lay still.

---

Lin Xuan descended silently, his presence freezing the disciples mid-breath. He toed one of the corpses with his boot. "Barely adequate."

Luo Jin flinched. "We… we killed them."

"You survived by chance," Lin Xuan corrected. "Not by mastery. The beasts were young, untempered. Had they been adults, you would already be corpses."

Mei Yan clenched her jaw. "Then… what do we do?"

"You fight again," Lin Xuan said. "Until hesitation dies, or you do."

---

By dusk, the disciples staggered back into the parking structure, bloodied and exhausted, their packs heavy with beast cores. Lin Xuan accepted the spoils in silence, channeling their condensed Primordial Qi into his dantian. Power thrummed through him, refining and expanding his foundation.

The disciples collapsed into uneasy sleep, their dreams haunted by claws and blood. Lin Xuan stood over them, silver eyes cold and contemplative. They're breaking — but breaking is the first step toward reforging.

---

Later that night, as the others slept, Lin Xuan climbed to the roof. The city burned in the distance, smoke twisting upward to blot out the stars. And beneath his feet, the slumbering heartbeat pulsed, louder now, resonating with the cadence of his own.

A whisper brushed the edge of his consciousness — faint, almost inaudible, yet laden with ancient power.

"…Heavenbreaker…"

Lin Xuan stilled, silver light flaring in his gaze. The voice carried neither language nor sound, yet it thrummed through his very bones, a resonance that awakened something long buried.

A slow, feral smile spread across his lips.

You feel me, don't you? Soon, I will find you.

---

End of Chapter 6.