A Song For The Ages

The days after his return slipped into quiet rhythm. Feiyin divided his hours between the Red Lotus mercenary headquarters and the courtyard where his family waited. But his mind, even in stillness, reached elsewhere- toward the elusive metal called Cleansing Gold. Hollowed Silver alone was not enough. The Purifying Needle he planned demanded both.

One afternoon he gathered with Qingling and Ruan in a quiet chamber at the headquarters. A low fire burned, casting shadows across a table scattered with maps and ledgers. Feiyin laid down his notes, brows drawn in thought. "I've traced a few mentions in what remained of the city archives," he explained. "Cleansing Gold once flowed through trade caravans decades ago. The records point to the central parts of the continent, in the highlands of Shanyu. But the mines were fought over, and the vein was sealed. It may be lost- or hidden."

Qingling rested her chin in her palm, eyes glinting with cheer despite the seriousness. "Lost mines, sealed veins? Sounds like the perfect excuse to stretch my network. We have made quite a few contacts in the last few months through different missions, be it merchants, mercenaries, or even a few shady tavern keepers- I'll squeeze every whisper. Leave that part to me."

Ruan spoke quietly, her gaze steady. "And I will gather what lies in shadow. I'm sure that the rich and influent must have some hidden records. If Cleansing Gold still exists, its trace will surface. I'll find it."

Feiyin looked between them, gratitude warming his chest as he showed a sincere yet joking smile. "Thank you. I wouldn't know what to do without your help."

Qingling's smile grew into a teasing expression. "We know. That's why we're with you."

Ruan inclined her head, a brief smile on her face, words soft but firm. "Until the end."

Later, in the courtyard house, Feiyin spoke of the matter to his parents as well. They listened as the winter light filtered through paper windows. "Cleansing Gold is the missing half," Feiyin explained. "Without it, the Hollowed Silver cannot become the alloy I need."

Mei Liao touched his hand, her expression gentle but resolute. "When we return to our lands, I will ask. Nobles, merchants, sects, old families- there are always those who remember where resources flowed. Someone will know of its whereabouts."

Cai Feng's voice was steady, iron beneath calm. "I will speak with old comrades as well. Soldiers remember battlefields, and ressources such as mines are often a reason for battles. Perhaps a clue lies buried in their memories."

Feiyin nodded his head in thanks, relief easing his shoulders. "Then I leave it to you."

Not long ago, both his companions and his parents began testing the first of the meridian-enhancing pills he had gifted them. Qingling laughed with delight when she felt her channels loosen, rushing to sit cross-legged as qi surged more freely than before. Ruan, more reserved, still closed her eyes immediately and tried to guide the flow, her lips parting in quiet surprise at how smooth her meridians had become. Even his parents, usually composed, were struck with wonder- Cai Feng remarking that his body felt years lighter, Mei Liao describing the cool clarity spreading through her chest. One by one they all tried to cultivate on the spot until Feiyin raised his hand with a wry smile. "Not yet. These pills must be taken as a set, spaced apart. Cultivating too early will reduce their effect." They subsided reluctantly, and so he had been keeping an eye on them until they finished taking the remaining pills.

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Each evening, when the lamps dimmed, he felt the stirring within his dantians. Ninety-nine percent, no more. He walked the city walls at night, breathing in the frost-laden air, letting moonlight spill across his skin. The cycles of yin outside seemed to whisper to him, as though the heavens themselves were urging him onward.

One night, the crescent moon hung sharp and silver in the dark sky. Feiyin stood atop a rooftop, hands clasped behind his back. His oscillation sense unfurled- not outward, but inward, listening to the faint songs of his organs, the flow of his meridians, the rhythm of his three qi nexuses. Then he noticed what he had missed all along: yin was not a single stillness. It shifted, it breathed, just as the moon above him waxed and waned.

His breath slowed, eyes fixed on the crescent above. The moon's silence was one note, but behind it he felt tides—the same tides that stirred oceans, blood, and marrow. Yin is not only stillness. Yin is also flow.

He guided the yin refined essence through his body, no longer pressing but attuning, letting his oscillation sense follow the natural rhythm. Within his dantians, the moons that circled his qi nexuses began to respond. First they became full, radiant and round, casting silver glow across his inner world. Then they waned, shrinking to thin crescents, yin retreating like an ebbing tide. They waxed once more, swelling with resonance. Phase after phase they turned—full, waning, waxing, full again—mirroring the heavens above.

Within him, the moons brightened further. Their light thickened, until they were no longer illusionary or mist-like but corporeal, silver spheres of condensed light. The moon in his dantians took shape as if carved from pure moonstone, glowing with a vivid luminescence.

As the yin cycles echoed within, his body responded in kind. The steady beat of his heart slowed to a tranquil drum, his breath deepened, his organs eased into harmony. The constant strain he carried dissolved into a tide-like rhythm—his body's hidden currents calming and regulating themselves. Where once tension gripped his frame, now a profound equilibrium spread, nerves quieting like strings soothed by a musician's hand. This inner balance allowed his body to rest and recover with every breath, strengthening the hidden systems that governed pulse and calm. It was as though his very flesh had awakened to the natural law of yin, flowing and still in perfect accord.

The moment it solidified, Feiyin felt his spiritual sense expand outward in a great wave. He inhaled sharply as the radius of his perception stretched further and further until it reached nearly 2,400 meters in every direction.

The city below seemed to breathe with him. He felt the faint flickers of lantern flame, the beating of hearts in distant alleys, the sigh of falling snowflakes drifting through the air. Every detail reached him, not as noise, but as part of the world's song.

A plume of mist left his lips as he exhaled, eyes opening. They reflected the crescent above with a clarity sharper than before. He had fully completed the Fourth Phase of Qi Condensation- the Yin Refining Phase.