The apothecary courtyard is a scene of ruin. Black ichor stains the stone, and the toxic mist has hardened into razor-sharp, floating needles. General Wei’s discarded mace lies near a pool of shadow. A scarred wanderer, Jian (ID:7), emerges from the swirling vapor, his hand resting on a bamboo scroll case.

Jian holds out a small, obsidian compass that pulses with a cold, rhythmic light, pointing toward the mountains.

Chun Li moves like a striking cobra, her leg blurring into a singular, unstoppable arc that slams into Jian’s chest with the force of a falling temple bell. The air shrieks as the impact sends him reeling, his ribs buckling under the legendary kick. He stumbles back, blood blossoming across his tunic, yet he lunges forward in a desperate, jagged motion, his hidden blade grazing Chun Li’s shoulder.

Jian collapses to one knee, the obsidian compass slipping from his bloodied grip, clattering across the uneven flagstones. He wheezes, his eyes dimming as he stares up at the sky. A distant, rhythmic thrumming begins to vibrate through the floorboards of the Sun Temple high above.

The ground beneath the courtyard erupts, not with earth, but with cold, calcified bone. A massive, skeletal hand bursts through the flagstones, pinning Jian

to the spot. From the rift, a figure draped in funerary robes emerges, its face hidden behind a weeping porcelain mask. It ignores Chun Li entirely, reaching instead for the vibrating obsidian compass.

The Grave-Keeper pauses, his head snapping toward Chun Li with impossible speed. A hollow, metallic rasp echoes from beneath the mask as he raises a hand, causing the violet aura of the compass to flare into a blinding, jagged shockwave that cracks the surrounding stone pillars.