Qiao Wen led the engineers in replacing the split east marker. The new stone went several paces farther from the platform, beyond the path where a fragment could reach the bowls. The crew packed dry gravel around its base and set the grounding rod into a reinforced socket.
Wei reassigned the guards to posts behind the stone markers. No one would stand beside the rods while a cycle was running. The broken marker remained outside the safety ring, its halves tagged with the time and place of the strike.
Yan waited with Qinghe beyond the platform line while the engineers worked. They reviewed his readings from the completed cycles. His body, foundation, and channels had gained strength. The soul bowls had remained coherent, and he felt more control over the storm current. The strike had injured Hedo from outside the method; it had not shown any weakness in Yan’s own cultivation.
“Any pain from the cycles?” Qinghe asked.
“No. I feel stronger.”
She wrote down his answer. The question was part of the record, not a gate on whether he could continue. The Palm had steadied Hedo’s vitality, and a medic was still treating the guard’s cheek and shock. Yan asked how the guard was doing.
