Jin Yue laid on his side for a long time after the Obsidian Maiden vanished, barely breathing.
The cavern was silent again, no footsteps, no voice, only the distant sound of the Black Stream and the soft crackle of dripping water eating through stone.
His hands trembled uncontrollably. The venom inside him twisted and burned, as if slithering through his blood. His entire abdomen throbbed with a strange pulsing heat, unlike anything he'd ever felt before.
He didn't even know if he could stand.
But he had to. The Obsidian maiden's words echoed in his mind,
"I'll be back for you in two weeks. Don't disappoint me, child or else."
Jin Yue swallowed, tasting blood . He pushed his palms against the cold stone and lifted himself little by little until he was sitting upright.
His bones screamed and his bruises throbbed with every heartbeat. But he didn't stop, not even when his vision blurred and stars flickered at the edge of his sight.
He forced himself onto his knees then onto his feet but He staggered and fell.
His legs shook as he stood again but this time he managed to stand upright
The darkness was absolute, but he could still make out faint shapes—moving images in the darkness , twitching shadows, crawling things that swayed with venomous grace. The beasts of this cave were more poison than flesh; even breathing near them made his lungs ache.
But the Maiden had thrown him here for a reason.
"You'll need to survive on poisonous beasts and the Black Stream alone."
He hated her but he feared her so he needed to listen if he wanted to stay alive.
---
Day 1 ( or whatever time passed here)
His stomach was still twisting violently from the snake poison. His dantian pulsed irregularly—like a small, flickering flame barely staying alive.
Each breath felt like it knives piercing his insides raw.
Hunger still clawed at him, He needed more food.
More venom.
He looked at the dead snake lying beside him. The first one he had killed. Its head was smashed into paste and its long body was limp, drained of blood.
He didn't want to touch it again.
The taste still lingered in his mouth—bitter, burning, awful.
But he forced himself to pick up the body again. His fingers trembled violently as he lifted it to his mouth. He closed his eyes tightly and bit down.
The poison hit him immediately.
His stomach heaved. His throat burned. For a moment, he thought he was going to die again.
But then like last time the venom slid slowly downward, gathering in the small, weak center of his abdomen_ His newly formed dantian. It throbbed painfully, trying to absorb what it could turning it into qi
He pressed his hand against his belly, forcing himself to keep breathing.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Inhale
He gagged twice before a black liquid expelled out of his mouth, quickly filling the air with a rancid scent then everything went black
---
Jin Yue woke up shaking, His body felt like it had been dipped in ice water and fire at the same time. The venom had been partially absorbed he felt a bit better .
But he was still starving.
He wished he had his mother's rice cake instead of eating wild and poisonous animals tears peeked at the corner of his eyes but he just wiped it away he didn't have the time or strength to cry right now he needed to gather
Jin Yue wiped his mouth and stood again, legs wobbling. He leaned against the cavern wall, panting, the dead snake that laid on the floor was nearly gone but he didn't want to eat it again he wasn't sure if he would be able to handle that right now besides there would surely be something else to eat
There were more creatures here. He had seen them. If he didn't hunt them, they would hunt him.
He needed to leave. Jin Yue took a shaky breath and peeked out of his little cavern hole.
More slithering sounds echoed out in the darkness.
His heart hammered in his chest, and sweat beaded on his forehead
He didn't want to fight, He didn't want to kill, he just wanted to go home but he wanted to live.
And so slowly, quietly, he began moving deeper into the cavern, eyes scanning every corner for movement.
---
Day 3? Day 4?
He lost count. He was pretty sure he hadn't slept at all.
His body refused to rest. Every sound, every flicker of movement kept him awake. Something could come out of the darkness and try to kill him at any moment.
He had found a routine which he followed daily:
Hide in the small cavern when the beasts became restless, Forage for small insects and tiny venomous lizards, Kill them with rocks and eat what he could stomach
Absorb venom, Collapse, Wake up vomiting excess poison, try again
Every day, he pushed himself a little farther from his hiding place and he learned a little more about how the venom felt when it flowed toward his dantian. The burning sensation was still unbearable, but he was beginning to understand the pattern.
He would sit with his knees pulled close, trembling, and try to follow the faint movements of qi within his body. It felt like tiny threads of heat weaving themselves together,slow, slow, painfully slow.
His vision adjusted to the darkness somewhat. The faint glows of venomous plants, insects, and beasts started forming a twisted landscape he could navigate.
His stomach no longer clenched painfully between each bite just a dull, constant ache.
His ribs finally let him breathe without crying, his bones still hurt, his arms still shook but he wasn't dying.
And that itself felt like a miracle.
---
On the seventh… eighth… maybe ninth day—
A creature lunged at him while he was drinking the awful poisonous water from the Black Stream.
It wasn't a snake this time, It was a scorpion like beast with too many legs and a tail dripping with thick purple venom.
It snapped its pincers at him, clicking its mandibles with hunger.
He froze but instead of running, he remembered how he killed the snake.
Jin Yue grabbed another rock—his only weapon and held it up defensively.
The scorpion lunged.
He swung and missed.
It grazed his thigh and pain flared like a white-hot needle.
He screamed and swung again.
This time the rock smashed down on its tail.
The scorpion shrieked, a horrible, high.pitched noise and he smashed it again, and again, and again until its twitching stopped.
He collapsed to his knees, panting hard.
His vision blurred and his breath became he could feel his dantain absorbing the venom but it felt like it wasn't enough
"Don't… don't die please" he whispered not to the scorpion, but to himself.
His hands trembled as he cleaned off as much venom as he could before biting into the scorpion's meat. It tasted even worse than the snake. His stomach twisted violently.
But he forced it down.
And the venom followed shortly after.
He screamed as more rushed into him, burning hot, burning everything and then the world darkened.
---
Jin Yue woke up again, He wasn't dead.
His dantian felt bigger. Not much but enough that he noticed.
He put a hand on his belly and cried quietly
He was still alive. He would survive this and go home
---
Day fifteen? maybe sixteen?
He grew used to the routine.
He learned which beasts were slower, which were faster, which hid under rocks and which slept near the Black Stream.
He moved with care, he fought when he had to and he hid when he must.
His body still ached constantly, his arms were still bruised, his legs trembled every time he stood and his ribs still felt like they were wrapped in needles. He hadn't healed not even close.
But he no longer collapsed every time he absorbed poison.
He no longer vomited blood every hour, he no longer shook every time he moved.
He still looked like a half-dead child but he wasn't dead.
His dantian is stronger now. Maybe the size of a small fruit seed, still tiny and weak but surely getting stronger.
He sat in the cavern, hands on his belly, breathing slowly. Sweat dripped down his forehead.
He didn't know what he was doing. Not really.
But something inside him worked.
Something was growing, he felt a little proud by just a little.
---
On the nineteenth ??? day
A faint sound echoed through the cavern. Footsteps, Slow and Effortless.
Jin Yue knew who it was and fear surged like ice water down his spine.
The Obsidian Maiden stepped out from the shadows like she had always been there, watching his every move.
Her eyes glowed faintly, scanning him and she smiled.
"Well," she said her voice low and smooth. "You survived."
Jin Yue didn't speak, he couldn't. His throat felt tight and his heart pounded rapidly in his chest
She crouched before him, grabbing his chin with two fingers and turning his face to examine him.
"Hmm Your dantian is still pitifully small."
Her smile widened, amused.
"But you did not disappoint me. How wonderful"
A strange warmth bloomed in his chest not relief or comfort but the smallest spark of pride at her words.
"Get up," she commanded, face now devoid of all emotions
His legs shook but he stood.
"You are ready," she continued her face still eerily calm.
He looked up, confused
"For what?" he asked, voice hoarse and weak
Her lips curled into an awful smile and Jin Yue felt a chill run down his spine "To climb of course"
His heart felt like it stopped beating for a minute as her words washed over him
"You didn't think I would carry you out of here, did you?"
She gestured toward the towering pit walls—slick, jagged and impossibly high.
"Climb out, Jin Yue," she said, her voice like a gentle breeze.
"Use that pathetic strength you've gained."
His legs trembled violently as he looked up at the endless darkness above.
He swallowed.
He was terrified but he had survived two weeks, he could survive this too.
His small hand reached for the first stone but his fingers slipped so he tried again and again.
The Obsidian Maiden leaned against the opposite wall, watching him silently, her expression unreadable.
Jin Yue gritted his teeth, grabbed hold of the wall, and pulled himself up.
Then again and again and again.
Slowly, Painfully and desperately.
He climbed.
He didn't know if he would make it—his arms shook, his body screamed and the pit swayed below him.
But he kept climbing.
Because he wanted to live.
Because he wanted to go home one day to meet his mom, his father and his sister
Because he refused to disappoint her.
And because, even in this hell he still had hope that he would survive.