The weight of gravity pressed down on Lin Mu as he stood in one of the training courtyards, suspended in the center of a gravitational vortex he'd woven from sixteen shifting anchor points. Dust hovered mid-air. His robes fluttered like leaves caught in a silent storm, yet his body remained still—like a star at the center of orbit.
Then he felt a presence approaching.
Lin Mu's eyes opened.
A monk in pale green robes bowed with quiet reverence at the edge of the field. The robe bore the subtle lotus sigil of the Green Lotus Temple, but this monk was unfamiliar. While Lin Mu had seen many monks in the temple, he couldn't say for sure he knew each and everyone of them.
"Benefactor Lin Mu," the monk said with clasped hands, "a message has arrived for you—from the temple, but not of it."
Lin Mu raised a brow and stepped out of the vortex. With a wave of his hand, the pressure field collapsed into silence.
The monk held out a lacquered wooden box.
