Part Four
Outside the hall, the air felt different.
Not heavier.
Charged.
Lian followed him into the corridor.
"You pushed too far," she said quietly.
"No."
"Yes."
"They were not testing alignment anymore," he replied. "They were testing fear."
"And you gave them neither."
He stopped walking.
"You intervened."
Her jaw tightened.
"I was preventing escalation."
"Or preventing revelation?"
The question cut deeper than accusation.
She turned away briefly.
"I do not want you destroyed."
"I am not seeking destruction."
"You are destabilizing structure."
"Structure built on denial destabilizes itself."
She looked at him fully now.
"You think you are reforming the sect."
"I think I am exposing it."
Wind moved through the corridor.
Controlled.
Filtered.
Even nature here felt curated.
"You are being watched," she said.
"I know."
"Not only by the elders."
He understood.
The giants.
Heaven.
Something beyond the sect's reach.
He nodded.
"Then let them watch."
Above the Inner Grounds, beyond formation and doctrine—
A ripple passed through unseen space.
Not thunder.
Not light.
Attention.
Zheng Wen Te lifted his gaze toward the narrow slice of sky.
He did not pray.
He did not kneel.
He did not ask.
He simply stood.
Unsevered.
Unbowed.
Integrated.
And for the first time—
Heaven did not feel entirely silent.
It felt—
Curious.