The panel hung in the dark a beat longer than any panel had hung in the dark before. The gold border collapsed in on itself and reformed into a thin black frame that pulsed once, slowly, the rhythm of a system taking its time on purpose.

’Mira.’

[ Loading. ]

’Mira, this is loading slower than a mule carrying stones, or when a game is copying its files.’

[ It is an important technique, Xuan. I would like to do the presentation some justice. ٩(◜▿◝)۶ ]

He pulled himself further up against the pillow, careful with the side that still had two ribs in disagreement with the rest of his torso, and waited the system out. The lamp on the bedside table burned at its quiet lowest. Outside the window, Yuncheng was working through the hours of the night when the city pretended it could sleep, which was the same set of hours during which patriarchs of regional sects walked through corridors signing notices.

The pulse on the frame stopped.

The panel opened.

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[ SECRET TECHNIQUE REVEALED ]

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[ Name: FALLING STARS ]

[ Pattern: Beidou Qixing ]

[ ▸ Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper ]

[ Rank: ??? ]

[ Type: Sword Art / Spatial Geometry ]

═══════════════════════════════

Lin Xuan read it, blinked once, and read it again.

’Mira.’

[ Yes, Xuan. ]

’That is the Big Dipper.’

The panel dimmed for half a count, which was the system equivalent of an offended exhalation.

[ It is the Constellation of Destiny, host. The cornerstone of celestial cartography in this world. Immortals align their formations by it. Show some reverence. ]

’I used it to find north at a camp when I was eleven.’

[ Host. Please. ]

’We made bracelets with beads that traced the shape. My mother still has mine hanging on a wall.’

[ This. This is exactly the comment that ruins presentations, Xuan. I have spent three hours thinking about how to hand this to you, and you come out of the gate with bracelets. ]

He let the small grin happen for a beat, because Mira deserved it after the gloating speed of the load bar, and then he wiped it off the corner of his mouth and went to work.

"Talk me through it. I know what I am looking at on the surface. I do not yet know how it works underneath."

The panel changed register. The playful glow softened to the working line Mira used when she was talking technique.

[ Seven steps. Each step plants a silver point in the air at the exact position where the sole of your foot leaves the ground. The points do not drop. They hold where you placed them. When the seven of them surround your opponent in the Beidou pattern, the threads between the stars light up. A single sweep of Plain Steel that crosses one thread is transmitted to the other six at the same moment. ]

’Seven cuts from seven angles in the time of one.’

[ Correct. ]

He worked it through. He pictured the Arena, the polished stone, a stationary opponent at the center. He saw himself walking the seven points, and he ran through what a Foundation cultivator would catch while he was placing them.

’They would notice by the third or fourth, Mira. Anyone watching me put down points in mid-air would know something was up by then.’

[ Yes. The technique has a window. The first four stars need to go down inside the natural rhythm of Cloud Step. Treat them as evasions. Do not break stride to plant them. Once the rival realizes that the points are not afterimages, you have two beats to place the remaining three under pressure. ]

’And the cost?’

The panel opened a sub-window.

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[ FALLING STARS - Parameters ]

═══════════════════════════════

[ Qi cost: 35% of dantian capacity ]

[ Movement required: 7 unobstructed Cloud Steps ]

[ Warning: pattern interruption invalidates the technique ]

═══════════════════════════════

’Mira. This is built to size against Yan Wuji.’

[ What a remarkable coincidence, Xuan. ]

’You picked it out of the catalogue.’

[ I have not said any such thing. ]

’Mira.’

[ I simply have good taste. (¬‿¬) ]

————————————

He closed his eyes and tried to walk the sequence in his head. He moved the right foot a finger’s width along the sheet, planting the first imaginary star. He brought the left foot around. He tried to find the rhythm Mira had described.

[ That is not the angle, Xuan. ]

’I am in a bed.’

[ I can see that you are in a bed. ]

’I cannot plant stars in a bed.’

[ You can plant the intention. The technique does not work only with the feet, it works with the rhythm of the steps. If you cannot find the rhythm sitting down, we are going to have problems. ]

’Mira. I have two ribs that have decided to spend the next week filing complaints. If I get up to practice right now, what you are going to witness is a Young Master returning to the floor in a professional manner.’

[ Fair. The formal practice begins tomorrow when you can hold a combat stance without whimpering. ]

’I would not whimper.’

[ You have been whimpering since you woke up. ]

’That is because someone did strange things to my body last night.’

[ Things that saved your life, you ingrate. ]

He let out a small laugh that hurt the ribs and then made him laugh again because it hurt the ribs.

———

’Show me where we are, Mira. The long panel. I want to know what I am bringing to the bracket.’

The panel reorganized into the long form he had only ever seen at major transitions.

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[ HOST STATUS ]

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[ Name: Lin Xuan ]

[ Realm: Qi Refining - Stage 4 ]

[ Dantian Capacity: 6% ]

[ Qi Reserve: 41% ]

[ Sword Absolute Physique ]

[ ▸ Sync: 14% → 17% ]

[ ▸ Next threshold: 25% ]

[ Origin Points: 10,150 ]

[ Karma Celestial: 74 / 500 ]

═══════════════════════════════

His attention stopped on the Origin Points line and stayed there. It slid up half an inch to the Karma Celestial number, registered it without comment, and slid back down to the line he was looking at.

[ I see you, Xuan. I see exactly where you are looking. ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ]

He set the panel aside in his peripheral vision and stretched his good shoulder against the pillow.

’Mira.’

[ Yes. ]

’I have ten thousand origin points.’

[ Yes. ]

’Time to spend a little.’

[ Oh boy. ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و That sentence is music, Xuan. I mean it. Music. ]