The Stone Construct steps into the seam of light, stone arms spread wide, sealing the last approach to the core. Its surface hums with the Primordial Inheritance's quiet rhythm.
The Stone Construct
Show the Primordial Foundation. If your breath is true, the path opens. If not, you are only a thief with a warm pulse.
The air tightens. Beneath Zhāng Wújì's skin, an older pressure stirs, the faint foreign thread of Xùn testing for a weakness in his center.
Zhāng Wújì
It is reaching for the same opening the hall is testing.
Zhāng Wújì anchors his stance and draws on the Primordial Foundation. His qi settles low and clean, meeting the construct's pressure without wavering.
The Stone Construct strikes once, then again, each blow measured like a judge's verdict. Zhāng Wújì absorbs the force, turns it through his body, and sends the returned rhythm back into the floor.
The monument's crack flares bright. For one dangerous instant, the foreign thread surges higher, then breaks against his stabilized breath. The construct lowers its arms and the core path opens.
“Has Xùn's influence been broken for now?”
YES (VeryLikely, rolled 20)
The oppressive, cold pressure that had been clawing at the back of Zhāng Wújì's mind suddenly evaporates, leaving behind a hollow silence where the foreign thread of Xùn once coiled.
Zhāng Wújì
The connection is severed. The inheritance no longer feels like it is being watched from the outside.
The Stone Construct
The parasite is purged. You stand alone before the core, as the Ancestor intended.
“Is the core already open to me?”
YES, BUT (VeryLikely, rolled 80)
The core is accessible, yet the threshold remains guarded by a final, shimmering barrier of solidified qi that refuses to yield to his touch alone.
The Stone Construct
The path is clear, but the power within demands a master who can command its weight, not merely one who can stand before it.
“Does the barrier yield to my current foundation?”
YES (Likely, rolled 45)
Zhāng Wújì
The barrier resonates with the same rhythm as my own meridians, as if it were waiting for this specific density of qi.
The Stone Construct
You have refined your vessel to the threshold, Zhāng Wújì. The barrier recognizes the foundation you have built.
“I press into the core chamber”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +0)
Zhāng Wújì lowers his shoulder and drives his qi forward. The barrier gives with a soft, glassy sigh, then parts around him like mist.
He steps through in one smooth breath, and the light behind him thins into a wavering veil. The core chamber opens before him, still and immense.
The Stone Construct
The threshold accepts you. Core custody remains unsettled, but passage is yours.
Luo Meiying
His meridians are matching the chamber now. That density is becoming stable.
Golden light faintly rims Zhāng Wújì's skin as the hall's synchronized pulse answers his breathing. Behind him, the black monument's crack glints once in the dim.
The barrier ripples shut in his wake, transparent but intact. Ahead, the core chamber waits without hostility, as if awaiting his next command.
“Has the core already accepted my qi?”
NO (Likely, rolled 87)
Zhāng Wújì channels his qi into the core pedestal, but the energy rebounds instantly, refusing to bind with the ancient mechanism. The chamber remains cold and unresponsive to his touch.
“I force my qi into the pedestal again”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -1)
Zhāng Wújì sinks his will deeper and drives qi into the pedestal a second time. The dark stone shivers, then accepts the pressure instead of throwing it back.
A thin line of light crawls through the pedestal’s seams, and the core chamber answers with a low, steady pulse that matches his breathing.
The Stone Construct
Accepted. Core custody recognizes your rhythm.
The transparent veil behind him thins further, while the black monument’s crack flashes once, as if the inheritance itself is blinking awake.
Luo Meiying
His circulation just locked onto it. That was not luck.
The pedestal’s surface warms under Zhāng Wújì’s hands, and the chamber’s pressure settles into a calm, obedient stillness.
The Stone Construct
The core is held. Speak your next intent, or step away.
Quest Complete
Control the Primordial Inheritance's core power
New Gift: Primordial Resonance