Luo led the candidates to the second station. Narrow stone plinths crossed a shallow pit, curving from the start platform to a wider one at the far end. A brass token sat on the raised platform. The safe route went around the pit’s edge and took nearly twice as long.
“Touching the floor disqualifies the attempt,” Luo said. “You may take the safe route or cross the plinths. The token must be brought back. A clean finish counts more than a fast one, but speed is part of the score.”
Wei looked over the distance. “The safe path is longer but wide.”
“And the stones are close enough,” Pei said. “No one is required to jump farther than the next plinth.”
Beside the start platform lay a faded movement scroll. Yan recognized its pattern from Ashfall’s discarded archive. Three short lines described a method called Three-Step Ash Run. The last burst was marked with a warning: ordinary practitioners could rupture their tendons if they used the sequence at full force.
The paper had been folded so many times that one edge had gone soft. The title remained clear. Yan remembered the old archive shelf and the drawing that had shown the three breaths in a single line. This copy had the full wording beneath it, including the last turn of the foot. It was not a fragment, and it was not a rumor passed between candidates.
