Chapter 5: Kevin's Escape
As the vision faded, Kevin stood in the centre of the plateau, his breathing perfectly still. He looked at his hands, they weren't just glowing they were vibrating with the raw frequency of the "Flowing Essence." In a single, reality bending night, he had bypassed decades of gruelling physical training. However, the surge of Godlike power came with a devastating cost. A sharp, searing pain bloomed in his chest, a reminder that his mortal body was not yet a sturdy enough vessel for such celestial energy. His vision flickered, rimmed with a dangerous golden heat that threatened to consume him from the inside out. Far below, at the base of the mountain, three dark SUVs pulled up to the riverbank. Men in tactical gear stepped out, their faces obscured by high-tech visors. They held scanners that emitted a piercing, high-pitched alert, their needles pinned towards the red dot. "Signal is peaking at the summit," the lead operative barked into his comms. "The power has awakened. Move out containment, protocols are actived. Do not let the signal fade." They moved with a synchronized, lethal efficiency, beginning their rapid ascent up the mountain. Kevin, still struggling to stabilize the fire in his veins, realized he didn't have time to recover.
Kevin, sensing that his sudden outburst of power might have been detected, decided to leave the top of the mountain. He chose to desend in a different direction, from the one he had ascended earlier that evening. Even though his powers weren't yet stabilized, the speed at which he could now move was far beyond human capabilities. He vanished into the darkness of the night, taking his backpack along and leaving behind the destruction of the mountain summit caused by his newfound power. After distancing himself from the summit he stopped using his power, returning to normal and hiding in the bushes while looking back in the direction he had just left." Was I paranoid?" he thought to himself. A minute later a few figures came into view, all wearing masks and using high-tech gadgets. Kevin pressed his back against the rough bark of an ancient cedar, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. Just yards away, the crunch of gravel under tactical boots sounded like thunder in the stillness of the mountain.
"Thermal signature is cooling," a distorted, mechanical voice whispered. A beam of harsh, blue light swept over the bushes just inches above Kevin's head, illuminating the swirling mountain mist. "He was here seconds ago. The ground is still ionized. "Kevin held his breath until his lungs burned. He knew he couldn't use his power the golden glow would be a lighthouse in the dark, and the "vibration" of his Qi would lead them straight to him. He had to rely on the shadows and the gruelling terrain he had known since childhood. Slipping his backpack on, he began to crawl backward, inching down a steep, crumbly embankment that led toward the Devil's Throat a narrow, jagged ravine that even the local hunters avoided. As he moved, a loose stone tumbled. Clack. Clack-clack. "Movement! Sector four!" The forest erupted. Red laser dots danced across the trees like angry fireflies. Kevin didn't wait. He threw caution to the wind and slid down the embankment, the dirt and pine needles stinging his skin. He hit the bottom of the ravine and scrambled into a narrow crevice just as a drone buzzed overhead, its red eye scanning the forest floor.
He lay there in the damp dark, smelling the wet earth and the metallic tang of his own fear. Above, the voices grew faint, then vanished into the wind. He had escaped the summit, he realized the mountain was no longer a sanctuary. It was a cage. Kevin focused on the "Earthbound" memories stored in his mind. He didn't want to tap into the raw, golden Qi in his Dantian just yet; he needed to see what his physical body could do first. Even without the energy, his muscles felt denser, and his reflexes sharper than any world-class athlete. With Grandmaster-level physical speed, Kevin became a blur. He didn't just run; he flowed over the terrain. He leaped over fallen logs with a single bound and navigated the jagged rocks of the Devil's Throat as if they were flat pavement. Every step was silent, his feet finding the most stable ground instinctively. To any onlooker, he would have looked like a mountain predator on the hunt. He bypassed the main roads, taking a vertical shortcut down a Cliffside that would have taken an hour to hike. He descended in seconds, using his fingers like iron claws to grip the stone. By the time he reached the edge of the Alley, his heart rate hadn't even increase. His "Grand Master" status was already far beyond what any normal human could achieve.
Kevin walked through the alleyway towards his home, after making sure, he was not being followed. On entering his home he was greeted by his parents, "why did you come home so late again?" He told them he was night fishing with his friends at Wang Xian River, which was a lie, but he didn't want to worry them. He quickly shuffled to the dinner table to enjoy his mother's cooking. After eating he kissed his mother on the forehead, made his way to his bedroom and locked the door. While sitting on the edge of his bed, he looked down at his hands. They were steady. The "orb's" knowledge was a library in his mind, and the power in his Dantian was a dormant sun, waiting for the right moment to be unleashed. He could hear his parents in the dining room, their voices low and heavy with the exhaustion of his late return. Kevin laid in his bed, closing his eyes and recapped the day's events. The knowledge he gained was so vast, that anyone it was revealed to could cause chaos in the world. He wondered who the people that had come after him were. Even though he survived the mountain, he had returned as something the world wasn't prepared for.
Back at the mountain summit the masked men searched the entire night. Although they found no one, they still manage to uncover a lead. They now knew that the artifact,that there organization was after, had not been destroyed in that car accident that occurred about nine years ago near Wang Xian Mines. They still had hope to leave this decrepit village and return to the outer realms, however, their unit was stuck in Wang Xian Valley in Jiangxi Province following their failure several years ago. Striker, the agent in charge of the operations reported to his Superior the new information. They were then instructed to clear out before daylight and to leave the scene as if they were never there. It was necessary for the team to regroup and formulate new tactics to retrieve the artifact. They couldn't identify who was in possession of the orb but it was clear that its power had been accessed. Retrieval was now more difficult and the risk increased expeditiously as time passed.
As the morning rays enter Kevin's bedroom, they revealed a subtle, golden shimmer dancing across his skin; a residual glow from the energy he absorbed the night before.
He sat up, feeling a lightness in his chest. The "Dantian" pulsed with a steady, warm rhythm, like a second heart. He moved to his desk and picked up a simple wooden pencil; with a mere thought, he channelled a fraction of "Golden Qi " into his fingertips. The wood didn't just break it disintegrated into fine, grey ash. Kevin's eyes widened. This wasn't just knowledge; it was sovereignty over the physical world.
A knock at the door startled him. "Kevin? You're up early," his father called out. "I'm heading back to the mines. There's talk of some 'surveyors' blocking off the high ridges near where you were yesterday. Best stay clear of the summit for a while." Kevin gripped the edge of his desk, his knuckles turning white. He knew those weren't surveyors. They were the shadows from his dream the ones looking for the artifact currently bonded to his soul. If he stayed in this house, he was bringing a storm down on his parents. "I'll be careful, Dad," Kevin replied, his voice sounding calmer than he felt. As soon as he heard the front door click shut, Kevin grabbed a worn leather backpack. He didn't need much. The library in his mind provided the locations of ancient "Qi nodes" scattered across the Jiangxi Province places where he could cultivate his power in secret. He looked at his reflection one last time. He wasn't the boy who got bullied by Garvin anymore. He was a Grandmaster in the making, and the journey to the top was just beginning.