Chapter 14: The Group Qi Shield and a Wolf Dung Warning
The second day before the Enforcers’ attack dawned with a chill wind, carrying the sharp scent of pine from the western woods. Lin Yue was already at the Spirit Spring when the first light broke, his breath fogging in the air. Last night, after Xiao Yu told him about the dozen dark qi wolves, he’d stayed up late thinking—his small, single-person shield wouldn’t be enough. He needed to learn to extend his dragon qi, to help strengthen the disciples’ shields too.
Long Xuan’s voice was quiet, as if he’d been waiting for Lin Yue to reach this thought. “Group qi work is trickier. You can’t just push your dragon qi onto others—you have to weave it with theirs. Like braiding three ropes into one. Their qi is the base; yours is the thread that holds it together.”
Lin Yue nodded, closing his eyes. He summoned his dragon qi—not as a shield, but as a thin, flexible thread. He held it between his fingers, feeling its vibration. Then he focused on the spring’s qi, pulling a wisp of it to wrap around the dragon thread. “Now,” Long Xuan said, “find a target. Someone whose qi is steady, but weak.”
Lin Yue opened his eyes. Chen was walking toward the spring, carrying a bucket of water—his steps still a little unsteady, but stronger than yesterday. Lin Yue waved him over. “Chen, can you help me? I want to try something with qi.”
Chen set down the bucket, his face lighting up. “Of course! Whatever you need.”
Lin Yue guided Chen to kneel beside him. “Summon your qi shield—just the small one you practiced yesterday.” Chen closed his eyes, and a faint, flickering glow appeared around his chest. Lin Yue held out his hand, letting his dragon qi thread drift toward Chen’s shield. “Don’t resist it,” he said. “Let it wrap around your qi.”
The thread touched Chen’s shield, and for a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then the dragon qi began to weave—spiraling around Chen’s weak qi, reinforcing the gaps where it flickered. Slowly, the shield brightened, its edges steadying. Chen’s eyes flew open, surprised. “It’s… stronger. I can hold it longer!”
Lin Yue smiled, letting the thread fade. “That’s the idea. If I can do this for you, I can do it for the other disciples. When the Enforcers come, we’ll link our shields. Together, they’ll be strong enough to block the wolves’ claws—maybe even the Enforcers’ qi blasts.”
They practiced for an hour—Lin Yue weaving his dragon qi into Chen’s shield, then into the shields of two other disciples who joined them. It was tiring; each weave drained a little of his dragon qi, and by mid-morning, his hands were shaking. But it worked. The disciples’ shields held longer, brighter, more steady.
Xiao Yu found them at noon, her boots caked in mud, a scowl on her face. “We have a problem,” she said, holding up a handful of dried wolf dung. “The traps team found this near the hidden path. The wolves have been sniffing around—they’re testing the perimeter. Master Liu’s repellent incense might not be enough. They’re used to dark qi; they’ll push through if they smell us.”
Lin Yue stood, brushing grass from his robes. “What do we do? If the wolves break through the traps, they’ll reach the disciples before the Enforcers even arrive.”
Xiao Yu pulled a scroll from her cloak— a map of the western woods, with the hidden path marked in red. “The traps team has an idea. We can dig a trench along the path, line it with iron spikes dipped in wolf poison. The wolves are big—they’ll fall in. But we need more people to dig. The disciples… can they help?”
Lin Yue thought of the disciples, tired but determined from training. “They’ll help. We’ll split into two groups—half dig the trench, half keep training. We don’t have time to waste.”
By sunset, the trench was dug. The disciples worked in shifts, their hands blistered, their backs sore, but no one complained. Lin Yue helped dig for an hour, his dragon qi drained too much to weave shields, but the physical work helped clear his head. As he lifted a shovel of dirt, he glanced at the western woods, the trees darkening in the dusk. The wolves were out there, somewhere. Watching. Waiting.