The days passed in a slow, measured rhythm.Feiyin y on his bed, staring at the wooden ceiling of their home, feeling the faint hum of the world around him. His body no longer ached as sharply as before, but a deep soreness lingered—a reminder of his mistake.He had been so sure. So certain that he had do right.A, he had lost trol.It frustrated him, g the edges of his mind like an itch he couldn’t scratch. He had matched the osciltion of fire, felt the powerful resonan his body, but instead of trol, he had been ed. Why? What had gone wrong?His mother’s soft footsteps interrupted his thoughts. Mei Liao walked in with a small ceramic bowl, the familiar st of medial herbs filling the air.“Time for your treatment,” she said gently, sitting beside him.Feiyin pushed himself up with a sigh, taking the bowl from her hands. He had growo the taste by now, though the bitterness still made him wince. Mei Liao chuckled at his expression, adjusting his bs as he drank.“You’re lookier today,” she observed. “Your internal state is more stable.”Feiyin wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “I feel fine. Just… annoyed.”Mei Liao raised an eyebrow. “Annoyed?”He frowned, gripping the empty bowl in his hands. “I got the osciltiht. I know I did. It felt perfect, like I was oh the fire… but then it turned on me.” He ched his jaw. “I don’t uand what I did wrong.”His mother studied him for a moment before taking the bowl from his hands aing it aside. Then, she tapped his forehead lightly with her finger.“You’re overthinking it.”Feiyin blinked. “What?”She smiled. “Fire isn’t just a. It has a nature of its own. It is wild, uable, both life-giving aructive. You matched its osciltion, yes, but you didn’t trol it. You let yourself bee part of it, but not its master.”Feiyin’s brows furrowed. “Then… how do I trol it?”Mei Liao leaned back, folding her arms. “That is the hardest question of all. trol is a matter of bance. In my , we specialized in the soft application of irength, learning how to guide energy rather than force it. Some elders spoke of a fabled realm of trol—one where extreme yang births yin, areme yin births yang.”Feiyin’s ears perked up. “What does that mean?”She tapped her , thinking. “Imagine a raging fire, burning at its peak. What happens when it reaches its absolute limit?”Feiyin thought for a moment. “It… burns out?”Mei Liao nodded. “Yes. It es everything until it colpses in on itself. That is the principle—when something reaches its extreme, it transforms. Extreme heat bee cold. Extreme light creates shadows. The stro fme will, at its peak, give birth to its opposite.”Feiyin’s eyes widened slightly. “So… if I reach that level of trol, I make fire… into something else?”She smiled. “Perhaps. But reag that realm takes a lifetime of mastery. I myself never uood it fully. You, however, might have a better ce.”Feiyin looked down at his hands, flexing his fingers slightly. He had always thought of trol as simply getting stronger, but his mother’s words painted a new picture—trol was not about overp something, but about uanding it to its core.A newfouerminatioled in his chest. He had a long way to go, but he wouldn’t stop here.Mei Liao ruffled his hair. “Don’t think too hard just yet. Focus on rec first. Then you get back t things.”Feiyin huffed. “I wasn’t trying to burn anything.”She gave him a knowing look. “Mm-hmm.”

  By the time he had fully recovered, the frustration in his heart had lessened, repced by curiosity.That evening, as the sun dipped below the horizon, Feiyin sat with his father outside their home, the cool air carrying the st of pine and soil. Cai Feng was sharpening his bde, slow, deliberate strokes gliding against the whetstone.Feiyin watched the rhythmient before finally speaking.“Father… I want to uand the elements better.”Cai Feng paused mid-stroke, gng at him. “Oh? And what brought this on?”Feiyiated, then admitted, “I thought I had trol over fire, but I didn’t. I want to uand why.”Cai Fehe sword aside, resting his forearms on his knees. “You’ve felt the elements through osciltion, haven’t you? You see how they exist within the world, how they i.”Feiyin nodded.His father picked up a stick from the ground, twirling it between his fingers. “Then tell me, what happens when you set fire to wood?”Feiyin frowned. “The fire burns it, turning it into ash.”Cai Feng nodded. “Yes. And what happens to the ash?”“…It bees part of the earth?”His father smiled faintly. “Good. And where does water go when it seeps into the soil?”Feiyin’s mind turned. “It nourishes the ground… helping pnts grow.”Cai Feng leaned forward slightly. “Everything in this world exists in cycles, Feiyin. Just as your body cycles energy, the elements cycle through creation aru.”He drew a quick diagram in the dirt, illustrating a circle.“This is the Creation Cycle,” he expined. “Wood feeds Fire. Fire creates Earth. Earth produces Metal. Metal carries Water. Water nourishes Wood. Each element flows into the .”Feiyin traced the circle with his eyes, feeling the logic within it.“Then what about the opposite?” he asked.Cai Feng smirked and drew another set of lines, f a star within the circle.“This is the Destructive Cycle. Fire melts Metal. Metal cuts Wood. Wood buries Earth. Earth absorbs Water. Water extinguishes Fire.”Feiyin stared at the two cycles, his mind rag. “So… if I uand these cycles, I trol elements better?”His father nodded. “It’s not just about trolling them—it’s about knowing when to nurture, and when to restrain. Fire burned you because you let it run unchecked. But if you had Water as its ba wouldn’t have raged out of trol.”Feiyin’s fiwitched. It made se all made sense.“So I o think about the elements as part of a whole, not just by themselves,” he murmured.Cai Feng smiled. “Exactly. trol isn’t about force—it’s about uanding bance.”Feiyin sat back, his heart rag with newfound crity.His mistake hadn’t been in matg fire’s osciltion. It had been in not terbang it. He had let it exist in isotion, rather than as part of the natural flow of energy.The answer had been there all along—hidden within the elements themselves.His father stood, sheathing his bde with a practiced motion. “You’re on the right path, Feiyin. Just remember—knowledge without patience is as dangerous as strength without wisdom.”Feiyin exhaled, a small smile f on his lips. He had rushed ahead before, but now he knew better.He wasn’t just learning how to trol fire.He was learning how to master the world itself.