Mikes heart in his chest felt like an overheated piston Every time it slammed his ribs it burned like fire Ten then nine The blood red numbers on his vision jumped with each heavy beat

  When the sha qi vanished weakness flooded his legs and tried to fold him to the ground He refused to collapse He clenched his teeth and ran like a wounded animal toward the spirit pig pen That pen was where he began in this world

  And now it was the only road left

  Behind him Elder Xuanji roared in frantic fury But the sound drifted far away like wind across a long empty highway Mike stumbled through the gate and fell into the fermented stink of the pen He dropped beside the giant spirit pig he had named Big Mama

  Eight then seven His heartbeat raced like a heavy truck going downhill with no brakes The needle in his mind was already buried in the red If he did nothing the next beat would be an engine blowout

  He sucked air in ragged gulps and the edges of the world began to blur He forced himself to stare at Big Mama as she slept This creature weighed tons yet her breathing was slow Her belly rose and fell with a strange loose rhythm

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  That looseness felt like the moment on Route sixty six when he slid an eighteen wheeler into neutral

  Six then five Neutral shift to neutral Mike shouted the command inside his own skull He closed his eyes He stopped trying to fight the dying beat with brute force

  He imagined himself back in the cab He eased off the throttle He pushed the shifter He cut the power connection His blood felt like it understood In the instant the clutch cut the frantic surge turned into a steady glide

  Four He breathed in long like a midnight highway Three He breathed out calm like an engine at idle The pressure that had threatened to split his veins vanished

  In its place came a silence he had never known Not just slow Control Like a mountain heavy machine sliding on pure inertia without a sound

  This was Taiji stillness Stillness inside movement Movement that still carried stillness

  In the moment his breath and heartbeat finally matched The countdown stopped The blood red digit froze at one Then it softened into a warm gold light and scattered through his limbs

  Outside the pen Elder Xuanji stood in rags and watched Mike sit there with eyes closed The sight drove him into a rage A great inner elder had been toyed with by a mortal If the sword formation was broken then they would die together

  His face twisted He spat a mouthful of blood essence His hands formed seals in a blur His exhausted dantian flared like a dying lamp burning its last oil Blood light swallowed him

  And he became a living sword pill packed with ruin He screamed as he blasted straight toward Mike to kill him in one strike

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