Kaen sat in silence, hands resting on the armrests of his throne, his eyes fixed on the battlefield as if staring into the surface of a still lake. When the air trembled and Calista's aura erupted, the corner of his mouth lifted — just barely.
"So she actually did it..." he thought. "Girl... you're playing with death."
The Lotus Chamber... a masterpiece born of pursuit for perfection. One lotus. One structure. Nine paths, woven into a flawless sequence no mortal dared to touch.
Until that day, in the hidden chamber of the Order of the Hollow Leaf, when Calista knelt above the searing formation circle. Her body trembled from the strain, skin tearing under the overload of Qi. Blood dripped onto scorched sigils — and then, she did it. She tore the core.
Her scream was quiet, but reality itself shuddered.
A second lotus was born — in a place where none should exist.
That was the first time the world saw what it meant to defy the laws of technique.
