The cave mouth breathes out cold air as Zhāng Wújì steps into the mountain light. A woman in moss-green robes is crouched beside a rare plant, one hand stilling its leaves, sharp eyes lifting at once to his torn clothes and the strange spiritual residue clinging to them.
Luo Meiying
You came out of that mountain hollow carrying something old. Don’t lie to me, I can smell it on your robe.
She rises slowly, calm but ready, a medicine pouch at her waist and a digging knife in her sleeve. Her gaze flicks from Zhāng Wújì’s white hair to the unseen cave behind him, then back to his face.
Zhāng Wújì
...
Luo Meiying
Fine, keep your secrets. I’m Luo Meiying, not a bandit. If you found an inheritance, or a grave, or a trap, I can tell which from the residue. Maybe I can even tell you what it costs to touch.
A thin wind stirs the grass between them. Luo Meiying does not advance, but her attention stays fixed on him, measuring, curious, and wary of wasting time.
✓ Quest Accepted
Deflect Luo Meiying's curiosity
✓ Quest Accepted
Keep the Primordial Inheritance secret
“Wújì stays calm and gives Luo Meiying just enough of an answer to satisfy her immediate curiosity without encouraging more questions. He redirects the conversation toward her knowledge of herbs, alchemy, and the strange residue she detected, shifting her attention away from probing him personally.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +1)
The wind eases as Zhāng Wújì answers with only a sliver of truth, enough to keep her from prying deeper. He lets his gaze drift to the plant at her knees instead of the cave behind him.
Zhāng Wújì
If you can smell residue, then you know herbs better than most. What sort of mountain plant are you studying?
Luo Meiying
You noticed that quickly. Good. This root likes cold shade and clean water, but the soil here is wrong, too rich in old qi.
Her suspicion does not vanish, but it loosens. She turns the leaf between her fingers, attention shifting from his robe to the plant’s veins.
Luo Meiying
That stain on you is not ordinary cave dust. It is layered, ancient, and stubborn. I have seen it around sealed rooms, burial stone, and half-broken formations.
Zhāng Wújì stays still, offering nothing more. Luo Meiying studies him for a long moment, then gives the plant one careful tap with her knife and glances back up.
Luo Meiying
If you will not tell me where you came from, then tell me this, did that place leave anything useful in your hands, or only trouble?
Quest Complete
Keep the Primordial Inheritance secret
“Wújì gives her a faint shrug. “Useful enough that I came back alive. Since you’re so interested in what it left behind, tell me what you make of this instead.” He offers his wrist for Luo Meiying to examine his pulse, deliberately shifting her curiosity from where he came from to the condition of his body and allowing her to assess his vitality, organs, blood, bones, marrow, and meridians.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +0)
Zhāng Wújì gives a faint shrug and turns his wrist outward, calm as if offering a vein for inspection were the most ordinary thing in the world. The cave mouth stays quiet behind him, its shadows holding their secrets.
Zhāng Wújì
Useful enough that I came back alive. Since you are so interested in what it left behind, tell me what you make of this instead.
He extends his wrist closer, inviting her attention away from the mountain and onto the pulse under his skin.
Luo Meiying
Mm. Clever. A body tells the truth faster than a mouth does.
Luo Meiying steps in, sets two fingers lightly against his pulse, and studies him with professional focus. Her knife lowers to her side while her gaze sharpens, tracing his breathing, his color, the steadiness beneath the skin.
Luo Meiying
His circulation is unusually deep for someone who looks this young. Not injured, not empty, and not ordinary.
After a beat, she releases his wrist and glances at the cave entrance only once before looking back to him. The question in her face softens into something more careful, more personal.
Luo Meiying
Your blood and meridians are steady. Whatever you found in there, it is already changing you. So, Zhāng Wújì, are you hiding a wound, or a fortune?
“Wújì allows Luo Meiying to examine him more thoroughly for hidden injuries, weaknesses, or deficiencies in his vitality, organs, blood, bones, marrow, and meridians, relying on her medical expertise to identify anything that could still be improved.”
SUCCESS (Superb Health, rolled +0)
Zhāng Wújì lowers his arm and lets her take the lead, standing still as a patient would. Luo Meiying does not rush. Her fingers move from pulse to wrist, then to the bend of his elbow, reading him in silence.
Luo Meiying
You are holding your breath without meaning to. Relax. I want the whole pattern, not just the surface.
He eases his breathing. She presses two fingers to his sternum, then to his ribs, listening with her touch as much as her eyes.
Luo Meiying
The channels are clear, but unusually dense. Whoever built this constitution did not do it with any common school.
Luo Meiying shifts closer, careful and exact, and checks his jaw, throat, and the set of his shoulders before tracing the line of his spine through cloth.
Luo Meiying
No fresh fracture. No wasting sickness. Your marrow is settling under something old and very concentrated.
She withdraws at last and studies him with open curiosity, her knife still idle at her side. The mountain wind stirs the grass, but her attention stays on him, not the cave.
Luo Meiying
I can tell there is more to you than luck. If you are willing, I can point out what still needs work.
“"I am willing I have nearly perfected my body but I feel there is something missing no matter how hard I try I cannot get past one final point"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Zhāng Wújì lowers his gaze first, then speaks with careful restraint. “I am willing. I have perfected my body to a point, but something is still missing. No matter how hard I try, I cannot pass that final point. If you can see it, please point me toward it.”
Luo Meiying
She studies him for a long moment, then gives a small, knowing exhale. “That is a proper question. Not a boast, not a plea for miracles.”
Luo Meiying
“What you lack is not effort. It is arrangement. Your foundation is firm, but your breathing, marrow, and intent are not yet living as one. That is why you keep stopping at the same edge.”
She folds her knife closed and tucks it away, taking a more patient stance as if the examination has become a lesson instead of a test. The afternoon light catches the grass between them, while the cave behind Zhāng Wújì remains shut in silence.
Luo Meiying
“Show me your stance and your breathing once more. Slowly. If I am right, I can tell you where the break is forming.”
Her tone is calm, but fully engaged now, and her attention stays on him rather than the mountain mouth. For the first time, the question is no longer what he found in the cave, but how he is being made.
Quest Complete
Deflect Luo Meiying's curiosity
New Gift: Social Camouflage