Chapter 76: Trial Of The Soul
The sunrise over Hekou was clear and cold, but my body felt like it was still trapped under the mud of the eastern road.
I stood in the center of the training yard behind our house, barefoot on the frosted earth. My shirt was off, hanging over the fence rail. The morning air bit at my bare chest, but I barely felt the chill. All my attention was narrowed down to the right side of my ribs and the sluggish, broken flow of spirit through my channels.
I stepped forward into a basic striking stance, a movement I had performed ten thousand times since I was seven years old. A simple straight thrust, the foundational stroke of our family's physical method.
I threw the punch.
Halfway through the extension, a sharp needle of pain drove straight into my core. The force of my own momentum collapsed inward. My right knee hit the dirt hard, and I caught myself on one palm, coughing until my lungs burned.
Bolin stepped over the low fence rail, his heavy boots crunching on the frozen weeds. He set a stack of architectural drawings on the post and watched me with a steady, critical eye.
"The spirit channels around my ribs are bound up," I said, wiping a smear of dirt from my chin as I pushed myself back onto my feet. "The trauma from the bridge ruptured the smaller pathways. Every time I try to drive qi through to extend a strike, the energy hits a wall and rebounds straight into my chest."
"Then stop trying to drive strikes," Bolin said, resting his hands on his hips. "You are treating an internal rupture like a stubborn door you can kick down. Have you tried sitting still? Meditation, quiet breath circulation, letting the body settle instead of forcing it?"
"I have tried sitting," I said. "It feels the same inside. Come here. Check my Mai channels for me while I meditate."