The Medical Pavilion smelled of iron and sterile herbs. Woa lay on a stone slab, his breathing shallow and ragged. The nurses moved with frantic efficiency, but they all froze when a shadow fell across the doorway.
The 1st Great Elder stepped in. He was the pillar of the Cult, a man whose presence made the air feel thin. He didn't speak; he simply walked to Woa's side and pressed two fingers against the boy's wrist.
'Machine!' Woa screamed in his mind. 'The 1st Elder is here! If he feels the Qi we awakened last night, I'm dead!'
[Scanning... 1st Elder's detection level is 'Divine'. Ordinary masking will fail.]
[Initiating 'Great Heart Protocol'. Diverting all active Qi into the Dao Machine's internal storage cells. It will act as a 'Black Hole' any Qi he sends in will be swallowed before it can resonate with your meridians.]
Woa felt a terrifying sensation, like his very soul was being vacuumed into a tiny point in his marrow.
The 1st Elder closed his eyes. He sent a thin, needle-like thread of his own immense Qi into Woa's arm. Usually, when Qi enters a body, it reacts—like a spark hitting tinder. If there is even a drop of cultivation, the body will "hum."
But as the Elder's Qi traveled through Woa's meridians, it found... nothing. It was like dropping a stone into a bottomless well. No echo. No resistance.
The Elder's brow furrowed. He pushed deeper, checking the Qi Sea in Woa's lower abdomen. It was bone-dry. The poison seals he had seen years ago were gone, but the vessel itself seemed "broken," unable to hold a single breath of energy.
"Strange," the 1st Elder murmured, withdrawing his fingers.
"Is he... is he alright, Great Elder?" a nurse asked, bowing low.
"His body is a wreck. The 2nd Young Master was far too heavy-handed," the Elder replied, his voice cold. "But as for his talent... it is as the reports said. He has no internal energy. The boy survived that fight through sheer, suicidal desperation. He used his own bones to trap the Young Master's strikes."
The Elder looked at Woa's unconscious face one last time. "Heal him. But do not waste the high-grade Spirit Pills. A vessel that cannot hold Qi is not worth the expense."
As the Elder's footsteps faded, the "vacuum" in Woa's chest released.
[Warning: Great Heart Protocol deactivated. Returning stored Qi to Host's meridians. Expect minor 'pressure' pain.]
'Pressure?' Woa thought, his eyes snapping open as a jolt of power flooded back into his veins. 'That felt like my heart was being turned inside out.'
"Young Lord!" Seol-Ah rushed to his side, her eyes red from crying. "The nurses said... they said you'll never be able to cultivate. They said you're a 'Dead Vessel' now."
Woa looked at her, then at the door where the most powerful man in the Academy had just stood. He felt the humming resonance in his marrow—the Dao Machine was already beginning to stitch his broken ribs back together with shimmering, invisible gold threads
'Dead Vessel?' Woa thought, a dark, silent laugh echoing in his mind. 'I'm the only one in this entire Academy who is truly alive.'
"Don't worry, Seol-Ah," Woa whispered, reaching out to pat her hand. "The 'Dead' have a way of coming back to haunt people. Help me up. We have a class to attend."
[Host, your recovery rate is currently 400% above the human limit. I recommend walking with a limp for at least three days to maintain the 'Hurt' persona.]
'I know, I know,' Woa replied. 'Just show me the map to the Cinder Class. It's time to see what "scraps" they give the failures.'