Yan Yun felt as if the world was spinning around her.

Thunderous Heavenly Qi crackled within the chambers around Lu Jie, as he sat deep in meditation. Her heart thundered in her chest as her Qi rumbled in turmoil, crackling. Even Leiyu had left her dantian, perching upon her shoulder, too impatient to stay within.

A tribulation, in the 4th realm? Yan Yun didn’t know anyone other than the great founder of her sect who’d managed such a thing. A man, whose name still echoed throughout the empire centuries after his passing.

Was Lu Jie truly a genius of such calibre? She couldn’t bring herself to believe that.

“Yan Yun needs to step away. The tribulation Qi spares none in its path,” Leiyu spoke in her mind, his concern audible in each spoken word. He was unsettled, and she didn’t blame him. All of them were. History was taking shape in front of their eyes.

“Heavens. I’m too old for this many disturbances,” the old woman spoke, taking a seat as she quietly sipped her herbal tea. Yan Yun almost burst out in a fit of anger and frustration at her behaviour.

Taking a moment to calm her Qi, Yan Yun asked the old woman. “Is there no way to stop this? He’s going to die. I’ve seen his cultivation, and it is unremarkable. Perhaps he stumbled upon some great secrets as he tried to fix the core, but his spirit won’t handle it. It’ll be in shambles even if he survives.” Yan Yun said, clenching her hands as thunder Qi pulsed around her. She couldn’t lose Lu Jie, her future relied on him.

“Patience, young girl. You let your Qi have the best of you. Tame your thunder, and watch. Mortals do not dictate the path Heavens take,” the old woman said, opening her eyes a slit. The woman turned to look at Lu Jie, taking another sip of her tea. A sigh escaped her mouth as she set it aside.

“Making my old bones creak, all you young bright eyed cultivators,” the woman grumbled. “Su Lin, ward the shop. Take Chen and Yun to help you. Be quick, before any cultivators sense where the source of the tribulation is.”

Su Lin stared at the old woman in surprise. His expression soon turned resolute, as he rushed out of the room.

“Yi boy. Or girl. Can never tell with the Yi. Pull Zhang away from the boy, the connection is cut. It’s all him now,” Granny Lang said, as plumes of smoke rose above her hand, slowly heading towards Zhang’s mouth.

“The old fool. Raising a disciple like this at his age. Still hasn’t given up has he? Heavens curse him,” the woman muttered, as the plume of herbal Qi settled all over Zhang.

Yi Liuxiang obliged, pulling Zhang away. The black splotches receded on his body, leaving behind skin that began to heal visibly. Yan Yun could visibly see the boy recovering in front of her eyes and she could scarcely believe it.

Lu Jie had truly done it.

She extended her senses to scan the boy’s core, frowning as she found it still shattered, albeit pieced together like a broken mirror that had been stuck together. The core was whole, but cracked, ready to crumble at the lightest touch. A smaller knot of Qi burned within that shattered core, spreading Qi around the boy’s pathways and returning life to his limbs.

“Now, head out. It’s going to begin soon,” Granny Lang instructed, standing up as she walked towards Lu Jie. She hovered her hand above his abdomen, muttering some things that made the Qi pulse as the frown on Lu Jie’s face eased.

The next moment, light shimmered nearby, as a turtle and a rat appeared within the chamber. Lu Jie’s spirits.

The rat sparkled with thunder, squeaked as the turtle held her in its mouth. Looking silently at the boy’s sitting form. A sinking premonition began to settle in Yan Yun’s mind as she watched the events unfold.

“Labby needs to go to her Master! Let her go!” the rat screamed, her Qi flaring as arcs of purple lightning flared around her.

“Stay quiet. You can’t help your master now. Do not interfere or you shall shoulder his death!” Zhi Zhu said, her Qi subduing the rat's. The little spirit rat continued to protest.

Yan Yun stared at the spirits silently, before looking at Lu Jie. She clenched her fists as she watched the pure arcs of golden thunder swirl around him. An odd envy blossoming alongside her worries.

“We need to step out. Now,” Granny Lang said, as she took one last look at Lu Jie. “Carry Zhang outside. Let’s hope the boy knew what he was doing.”

Yan Yun stepped outside, as the rest followed her out. She clenched her fists, feeling the weight of the heavens descend upon her shoulders, making her chest tighten. She could only wonder what it was like for Lu Jie.

The next moment a pillar of lightning struck down upon the boy, blinding her sight and senses. She sensed the shattering of a core, carried by the great pulse of heavenly Qi. Lu Jie’s spirit was torn apart, splitting in two.

She closed her eyes, as silence descended upon the chamber. The only remaining sound, the cries of protest and grief from the spirit rat.

Turmoil filled her heart, alongside an odd grief. She’d barely known the boy, yet his demeanor had still given her hope. To pursue her Path with the same burning desire he had. The stand against her grandfather. Yet the Heavens were kind to none, especially those who lacked strength.

Even if Lu Jie survived, he would never cultivate again.

Yan Yun turned, wishing to not face the boy when he woke up but suddenly she heard Liuxiang speak up with a hiss.

“He’s there. Something’s there. This one needs to heal the Senior’s body. His spirit is still there,” Liuxiang said, rushing inside.

Yan Yun turned, about to stop the boy. Denial would do nothing, she herself had felt his core split in two halve-

Yan Yun froze, as an odd sensation reached her senses. Her eyes widened in surprise as she stumbled within the chamber watching Liuxiang working to heal the boy’s burnt and bleeding body.

“This- couldn’t be. Are Leiyu’s senses playing tricks on him?” her spirit murmured. Yan Yun wished someone could tell her as well.

She stared at Lu Jie, as he lay on the ground, clothes burnt and tattered with charred flesh covering his body, yet a defiant grin still hung on his face and Yan Yun felt her heart thunder at the sight. Yan Yun extended her senses and felt at the strange marvel of nature in front of her.

Lu Jie had formed two cores.

***

I remembered saying how cultivation was almost addicting. How the growth was addicting, as the Qi increased your lifeforce and all that? Well, I take it back. It sucked and it sucked a lot.

Pain wracked every inch of my body as fire seemed to pulse through my veins. My cores shuddered, as they pulsed at once, revolving around each other in a slow and smooth cycle.

The smell of herbs touched my nose, and I felt a tingling sensation on my cheek. I opened my eyes to a furry grey rat sitting on my chest, sleeping peacefully.

My eyes burned, and pain still wracked my body and yet I smiled anyway as I watched Labby. Ah, I guess I did survive. I’ll have to thank Lu Jie for that one.

My gaze turned sideways, as I noted Sheldon sleeping nearby as well. Moonlight drifted in through the windows and for a moment, I almost felt like I was back to the day I’d woken up in Old Man’s chamber. Confused and scared and with my body aching all over.

“Keep lying down you fool. Your spirit was torn in half today,” a voice came, and I turned to spot Granny Lang walking towards me with her trusty cane by her side. She looked a hundred at the best of her days, and yet today, the old woman still managed to look a decade older.

“You’ll send this poor woman early to the grave if you keep doing foolish things like that,” she said, as the cane descended on my forehead with surprising speed. I flinched, clutching the sore location. That actually kind of hurt.

I rubbed my forehead, lying back down as I patted Sheldon’s shell gently. The little turtle’s eyes flickered for a moment, but he remained asleep.

“Did it work? With Zhang?” I asked the woman.

“You almost die and the first thing you ask is that? Kids these days,” the woman said, almost as if scolding me for it. “He can’t walk yet. But he’s getting there. And if you meet Su Lin, don’t say anything about his eyes. I’ve known the boy for years now and I can’t remember the last time I saw him cry.”

I smiled at the Old Granny’s words. I closed my eyes, letting the scent of herbs and gentle Qi flow over me.

A few moments later, I focused on my dantian and found two cores present within. I could feel my spirit tied to the core filled with Qi, and I could sense the presence of the core of Miasma, tied to Lu Jie’s spirit.

Within each core, there were two circles, denoting a new foundation and the entrance into the second circle. But despite that, the cores themselves were present at the peak of the third realm, as if perpetually in the midst of breaking through. The two cores attracted each other, diverting their energies in a cycle between them that kept them in a stable state, despite their perpetual half step into the fourth realm.

I guess I was in realm 3.5 now? Two times realm 3.5? The poor man’s 7th realm?

I snorted, before redirecting my attention back to my cores. At any moment I could reach out to either of them, and push them over, breaking through to the 4th realm. Not once, but twice.

But that would be such a waste. This here was possibly the only chance I’d have to study the breakthrough process, and take my time with it. Not to mention, the stable binary system of two opposing forces within the cores themselves. The fact that I wasn’t exploding from the inside was already amazing.

Feeling curious, I Iet my spirit shift, and reached out to the core of Gu. I felt my spirit brush against Lu Jie’s. His spirit was dormant, sleeping, yet there was still some awareness present in him. I let my spirit mingle with his, as the central core within my dantian changed to one of Miasma.

“Stop that,” the old woman said, her voice sharp. “I don’t know what you have done to yourself boy, but do not let others sense your core of Miasma. You will be killed immediately, and no one will stop it.”

I nodded, letting the miasma briefly flow through my spirit. I could sense my pathways burning as the Miasma flowed through it, and if I continued to use it, I would soon lose the ability to channel.

I shifted back to my Qi core, flooding my pathways with Qi as I washed away the Miasma from my body. My mind was still in pieces, trying to come to terms with everything that I’d learned. The fact that I was Lu Jie, or a soul that had been inside Lu Jie ever since his birth. That I didn’t even remember my own name.

The strange circumstances of my core and cultivation served to distract me from those thoughts. From the sinking sensation that I may not even be real. I had never had an existential crisis before, and I was glad. It truly sucked.

“Why didn’t you kill me then?” I asked the old woman, as the sound of herbs being crushed played like a soothing rhythm on my ears.

“I do not kill, child. My job is to heal. And I especially do not kill the saviour of one of my children. Not to mention, you hadn’t turned into a demon,” Granny Lang said, as she walked closer and held a pill to my mouth. I opened and swallowed, grimacing at the bitter taste.

“How does that work? The demon thing. My memories are… not trustworthy, is all I can say about them.”

“Hah! You ask as if an old woman like me would know the secrets of heavens and demons themselves,” the woman said, and if I could’ve given her an unamused glare, I would've. I sufficed with a grunt.

“The spirit can fall astray from its path. There are reasons why breakthroughs are often made in secured isolated locations. It is when the spirit is at its most vulnerable. When it can be corrupted away from the path. When that happens, the cultivator slowly begins to lose control over his Qi, before soon descending into madness. If left long enough, a demon would be born from whatever remains, consuming the Miasma that had accumulated, after weathering away the soul of the cultivator.”

With how stupid and arrogant some cultivators could be, I was wondering if half of them might just be corrupted as well.

“Then what about me? I feel pretty alright.” I uttered, as I slowly began to feel strength returning to my limbs. The granny’s pills were just as good as the Old man’s, I’ll have to give her that.

“Boy, you are the single most strange thing I have ever seen in my entire life. And I’ve lived well over a century by now. Now stop flapping your lips and rest up, I have other work to do,” Granny Lang said, as she slapped my arms one last time, making me cringe before walking away.

Labby stirred on my chest, crackling with lightning for a moment and I reached out to her with my spirit. Our bond snapped back in place once more as I tested out pulling her in my spirit. The action came with practiced ease. I worried for a moment how my second core may affect her, but a brief check on the bonding art showed that she’d be fine. Gently, I pulled Labby back in my core.

“Senior?” Liuxiang’s voice came, and I turned to see the boy standing near the entrance. His cheeks had lost whatever pink shade he’d put on with the powder returning his skin tone to a placid white. I almost preferred the slightly inhuman look on him now.

“You guys decided to stay?” I asked, realising that it had probably been a while seeing how it was nighttime.

“The Sect and the city had been scrambling to locate the elder who had initiated the tribulation. A storm had been brewing. The sect would be willing to overlook the absence for today,” Liuxiang said, and I frowned, realising just how much of a ruckus I’d caused.

Really shouldn’t have gone Xianxia MC mode back there with all the heaven defying. Absolutely regret it. My body felt like it had been sent through a wringer.

“Senior, there is someone who’d like to meet you,” Liuxiang said, and I raised my eyebrows in wonder.

A figure walked in, hands wrapped around the boy who I recalled to be Cao Chen’s shoulders for support. A figure that looked both unfamiliar and familiar at the same time to me.

Zhang stood with Cao Chen’s support as I stared at the boy silently. His skin was still wrinkled and his limbs weak, but there was fire in his spirit now. The same fire I’d witnessed within the cultivator inside his core.

For whatever reason, neither of us felt the need to exchange any words. I felt the lotus I’d left within his core, and felt my anchor tying his spirit to mine.

In silence, he bowed his head, and in silence I nodded in acceptance.

“We will never be able to repay you Lu Jie. Not me, not Yun and not Su Lin. We may not be of much worth as cultivators, but if you ever need us, we will be there,” the boy said, his voice trembling. I nodded silently as the two of them walked back out.

I let my head back down, feeling exhaustion creeping back. I closed my eyes, as I felt an odd sense of satisfaction filling my chest. One fading thought remained, as I drifted back to sleep, accompanied by the image of Zhang’s bowed head, and the gratitude I saw in his eyes.

Perhaps it really wasn’t so bad to defy the Heavens sometimes, after all.