The warrior monk Xhianghu stepped down into the antechamber of the underground temple, and stood just inside the passageway leading into the maze.  

With a resounding thud of finality, the double bronze doors sealed closed behind him.

The trials had now begun, and there would be no way out but forward, unless …

He thought momentarily of the talisman around his neck that would teleport him out into the safety of the temple grounds, if at any time he feared for his life or became injured - but the penalty would be never being able to try again, and thus live a life of regret. Indeed, that was probably why so many initiates did in fact perish within the walls of this unforgiving temple …

But there would be no use for that, he vowed to himself again - there was only one triumph, or absolute defeat, however that might play out.

After all, had he not trained his entire life for this day? He would earn the right to become a true warrior monk, ready to set forth on his own quest to attain renown and immortality, and that life would begin today.

With renewed resolve, he walked forward to begin the first trial.

The passageway ended after about fifty feet and opened out into a vast open area with a wall about thirty feet ahead made of smooth dark stone that extended to either side for what seemed like hundreds of feet, and with a dozen open passageways spaced unevenly along its length.

The ceiling was about fifty feet above, and though were no obvious sources of light, the space was well-lit enough to see and navigate like a normal candle-lit room in the monastery. 

He regarded the entrances ahead of him for a while, and not noticing anything to distinguish them, he started toward the entrance just to the left of the middle one, when the wall suddenly groaned and started to shift all along its length. Large blocks of the wall began shifting about and rotating and closing up the previous passages and opening up new routes.

He stopped and looked on in astonishment, as the wall settled into a new configuration, now with only six entrances ahead. 

Seeing as how there really was no difference, he chose the nearest entrance at about the midpoint of the wall, and carefully moved in.

The passageway was spacious enough to walk comfortably, almost wide enough to stretch his arms out to either side.

He was wary of any traps along the walls and ceiling, and tripwires where his feet stepped - but as he continued on, seeing how the tunnels rearranged themselves every few minutes, he realized that tripwires would be impossible and even trapdoors on the floor were unlikely, so he moved about with greater speed and only looked around quickly as he made his way 

With the walls constantly shifting around, he had to continually step aside and follow the walls and passage to keep from getting shoved around or crushed. And, as he realized, the way out was going to be impossible to find this way, unless there was some kind of clue or pattern. 

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Carefully looking along the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling high above, he looked for anything that might distinguish certain features or routes of any kind. There was nothing unusual at first except for the same smooth stone everywhere - but then he noticed a palm-sized indentation on a wall just ahead, and he moved up to inspect it. 

It was a sigil character depicting one of the virtues of the monk’s spiritual teachings - Perseverance, as it turned out. Certainly, this was important. He would follow this marker when the walls shifted again. 

As the wall with the marker separated into different segments and slid away in different directions, Xianghu tried his best to keep it in sight as it shifted over into another area, where he had to step around another part of the passage. 

And as he did so, he heard a rumble, or what may have been the sound of crashing weight.

Was that an animal he just heard farther into the maze? 

The walls stopped shifting, and he stood silent, intently listening. He couldn’t hear the original sound, but he expected the challenge was getting increasingly difficult with time.

He had to figure out a way out of here quickly, with every moment being a possibility of encountering whatever was now lurking in these same passageways. He eventually stepped over to where the marker was and hoped that this was the right way to reach the exit. 

As the walls shifted once again, he caught a glimpse of another indentation to his far left as a wall rotated into place. He was uncertain - should he follow that one now, as it had appeared from following this first one? 

Hesitantly, he decided to explore the possibility of this as a pattern, going from one marker to the next visible one and so on. He walked over and saw that it was another virtue from the teachings, Courage. So now, at least, he had confirmed the theme of the markers. And realizing this, he knew there were eight of them in total, as part of the 8-Petal Lotus mandala that they were based on. 

The walls shifted, and he followed this marker through the permutations, and after a few turns, he saw yet another marker. He made his way over and saw that it was the very first of the virtues, Humility. 

He followed this newest marker for a while, until he heard an unmistakable roar of some beast from somewhere toward where he assumed to be the center area. Indeed, there might even be several beasts there by now.

Two additional markers presented themselves this time, but in opposite directions. This seemed to go against his assumption. As well, it seemed as if the markers were steadily moving him toward what might be the middle of the maze, where the majority of the noises were coming from.

He chose to go to the right marker, and saw the sigil for Diligence. On a whim, he touched the indentation this time, but nothing happened. 

He stopped to reconsider the strategy. There must be something to this pattern that he was missing.

He was standing and moving along with the blocks of the wall, and some of the previous markers rotated into view. He spotted the marker that he had just left, and starting at it, he got an idea.

He moved back to the Humility marker and pushed it in. It didn’t stop, but suddenly it changed its motion and began to slide and rotate in a different direction, soon passing through and around the other blocks that had been rotating around it. Curious, he stood in place as the segment moved and he was carried along with it as it moved and shifted continuously for quite a long distance, much longer than usual.

And then, it finally slowed down and ground to a halt, with all of the other walls stopping as well. 

Then a short pause later, the walls began to shift around as usual, but this first marker was locked in place.

So he had set the first piece of the puzzle in place, then. He enjoyed a moment of satisfaction, then determined to work through the rest of the puzzle.