"The tracks indicate they headed east," Azure observed as I examined the disturbed earth where Rocky once was. "Two sets of footprints, probably male given the size and depth. They were struggling with something heavy."

Wei Lin and Lin Mei spread out to search the surrounding area while I concentrated on the main path.

"Look at these marks," Lin Mei called out, crouching to examine some crushed vegetation. "Someone definitely dragged something heavy through here."

"And recently too," Wei Lin added, picking up a fragment of rope. "This fiber's barely started to fray.”

I nodded, following the trail with my eyes. Whoever had taken Rocky had left clear signs of their passage – broken twigs, scuffed earth, even some frayed rope fibers caught on a bush. Either they weren't trying to hide their trail, or they were too focused on moving their heavy "prize" to care.

Liu Chen had been unusually quiet since we'd discovered Rocky's disappearance, which worried me more than his crying had.

"The spiritual residue is still fresh," Azure continued. "They can't have gotten far."

I was about to reply when I felt it – a surge of spiritual energy that made my skin prickle. My body instantly dropped into a defensive stance, expecting an ambush.

I spun around, ready for an attack, only to find... nothing but a cloud of dust where Liu Chen had been standing moments before.

"That aura..." I started, but Wei Lin cut me off.

"It's Liu Chen!" He pointed down the road. "He just took off in that direction!"

I blinked in surprise. That pressure I'd felt... it had been around the level of a pseudo sixth-stage Qi Condensation cultivator. But Liu Chen was just a kid. Unless...

"The soul bond," I realized. "Rocky must be sharing his power somehow."

There wasn't time to analyze it further. I could see Wei Lin and Lin Mei were already winded from our initial sprint – they were only at the third stage of Qi Condensation, after all.

"Go on ahead," Wei Lin wheezed, waving me forward. "We'll catch up."

I immediately took off but even at the fifth stage of Qi Condensation, keeping up with Liu Chen proved challenging. The boy moved with desperate speed, his small form barely visible ahead of me as he darted between trees and over rocks.

I could have used the suns' energy to close the gap, but the risks outweighed the benefits. The red sun's power might make me appear as a demonic cultivator, while the blue sun's unique energy could attract unwanted attention from whoever was performing those soul experiments.

"Master, the boy's qi fluctuations are becoming increasingly erratic. If he maintains this level of power output..."

I pushed myself harder but the distance between us only grew.

Liu Chen might have access to surprising power, but his young body wasn't conditioned to handle it, especially considering the power wasn’t his own. If he kept this up, he could seriously hurt himself.

The sound of voices carried on the wind, growing louder as I ran. One was raised in anger, another pleading, and underneath it all, a familiar grinding sound that could only be Rocky.

I burst through a final stand of trees just in time to see a flash of golden light. A cultivator – well-built, with brown hair and a confident stance – disappeared from where he'd been standing, reappearing instantly in front of Liu Chen with his hand raised in what looked like a slap.

Time seemed to slow. The boy couldn't dodge in time. Rocky was still partially in his breakthrough form, not fully materialized. And the attacker's aura... seventh stage Qi Condensation. Far beyond what I could handle normally.

But "normally" wasn't an option.

My body moved before my mind could second-guess itself. Red sun energy surged through my fundamental rune, the familiar warmth spreading across my chest. The Blink Step rune on my thigh flared to life as the Titan's Crest blazed on my hand. In that fraction of a second, I felt my physical essence spike and the world blur around me.

I reappeared between Liu Chen and his attacker just as the strike was about to land. I caught the man's wrist with one hand while driving my other fist forward in a perfect Phantom Strike directly into his chest. The impact sent him sliding backward several meters, his boots leaving twin furrows in the dirt.

Immediately, I cut off the red sun's energy flow, but the damage was done. Liu Chen stared at me with wide, uncertain eyes.

"Big brother Ke Yin?" His voice trembled slightly.

A rumbling sound drew my attention as Rocky shifted his massive form, one stone hand reaching down to pat Liu Chen gently. The gesture seemed to calm the boy somewhat, though his eyes still looked me up and down as though trying to figure out if it was really me.

"That aura..." The cultivator I'd struck narrowed his eyes, his voice trailing off as he studied me. "For a moment, I felt... but now it's gone." He shook his head. "No, I'm certain. There was something demonic about that energy."

"Brother," a second voice called out nervously. I noticed another cultivator – shorter, rounder, with the same brown hair – trying to fade into the background. "Maybe we should just leave? That stone elemental clearly has friends, and..." His voice dropped to a whisper as he pointed to my robes: "They're from the Azure Peak Sect..."

"Shut up!" The first cultivator snapped. "The Mountain Tiger Gang will be here any moment. We can handle a few—"

"What? Where?" The second cultivator's head whipped around in panic. "I don't see anyone coming!"

"Didn't I tell you to shut up, you fool? Let your big brother handle this!"

"Master, their reactions to their supposed allies are... interesting."

"They're trying to use their old gang's name to intimidate us,” I replied mentally. “But they're clearly deserters themselves."

The arrival of Wei Lin and Lin Mei drew the first cultivator's attention. He looked them over dismissively, then laughed. "Third stage cultivators? They won't make any difference."

Liu Chen tugged at my sleeve. "Big brother, these bad men tried to steal Rocky! They were going to sell him!"

I patted his head gently. "I understand. I'll take care of this." Turning to face the two former bandits, I let a small smile play across my lips. "You must be either very brave or very foolish to steal an elemental guardian belonging to a Core Disciple."

The first cultivator's eyes narrowed at my words, while his brother seemed to lose what little color remained in his face.

"Liu Chen," I continued casually, "what do you think your master will do when he learns some bandits tried to steal the elemental guardian he gifted to his favorite disciple?"

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The boy caught on immediately. "Master will be really angry," he said, his voice quavering perfectly. "Even I get scared when he's mad."

"Yes," I agreed with a frown. "Life Realm cultivators can be quite temperamental."

The shorter brother edged closer to his sibling. "Brother, I think we really messed up. Just look at the aura rolling off that kid – he must be some old monster’s personal disciple. Which elder wouldn't want a talent like that? And it would explain the stone elemental..."

"Let me think!" The first brother snapped, his eyes darting between me, Liu Chen, and Rocky. I could almost see him calculating odds, wondering if he could take us all.

Time to push things a little further.

"Liu Chen," I whispered, knowing that the former bandits could still hear me, "maybe you should activate that life-saving treasure your master gave you. It's a waste to use something that can kill Stellar Realm cultivators on mere Qi Condensation practitioners, but I'm sure he'll give you another."

Liu Chen, proving himself quite the actor, nodded and pulled out a necklace I hadn't even known he possessed.

It was an old piece, the metal tarnished with age, but the craftsmanship was evident even under the wear. Small formations were etched into its surface, too worn to make out clearly.

I found myself genuinely curious about the necklace's origin. Was it a powerful artifact from whatever mysterious background Liu Chen came from or just a family heirloom?

The first cultivator studied the necklace intently. Though it gave off no obvious aura, something about it clearly unnerved him. I watched his golden qi aura flicker and fade as he reached a decision.

With a formal bow that wouldn't have looked out of place in a noble's court, he said, "There seems to be some misunderstanding. My brother and I recognized immediately that this wasn't a mere boulder, but rather property of the Azure Peak—"

"A member of the Azure Peak Sect," I corrected smoothly.

"Yes, yes, of course," he continued without missing a beat. "A member of the sect. We were simply trying to return it, worried it might have gotten lost."

His brother's exasperated sigh spoke volumes about what he thought of this excuse.

I had to admire the cultivator's shamelessness – his face showed such earnest sincerity that if someone had walked up right now, they might actually believe his story. This was the kind of quick thinking that kept confident liars alive in the cultivation world.

"Ah, so it was all a misunderstanding," I said, matching his tone. "In that case, we should thank you for your help."

Liu Chen started to protest, but I quieted him with another pat on the head. "Trust me," I murmured, and he subsided, though his doubtful expression suggested he questioned my judgment.

"Since that's cleared up," the first cultivator said brightly, "we should really be going—"

"Oh, but surely you'll help us a bit longer?" I smiled, gesturing towards Rocky. "Our friend seems quite tired from his breakthrough. You wouldn't mind helping carry him back to the sect, would you?"

Right on cue, Rocky let out a grinding sound that somehow perfectly mimicked an exhausted yawn.

I watched as the former bandit’s face went through a rapid series of micro-expressions – frustration, calculation, resignation – before settling back into his practiced smile. "Of course! My brother and I would be happy to help."

"For once," his brother spoke up, "I actually agree. It's the least we can do after this... misunderstanding."

"How thoughtful of you both," Wei Lin smiled. "It's so rare to meet such... helpful strangers on the road these days."

"Yes," Lin Mei added with sweet venom in her voice, "especially ones who are so good at recognizing valuable things that don't belong to them."

I studied the shorter fat one. Despite his earlier cowardice, or perhaps because of it, he seemed to have a decent grasp of when to cut his losses. That kind of common sense was surprisingly rare in the cultivation world, where pride and face often led people to their deaths. In my experience, being able to recognize when you were outmatched was an underrated survival skill.

We watched as Rocky's massive form slowly collapsed in on itself, returning to the boulder shape we'd left him in. The two brothers approached cautiously, probably half-expecting another transformation, but Rocky remained still. They positioned themselves on either side, their faces straining slightly as they lifted him up.

I noticed Liu Chen’s expression, it seemed like the boy hoped for some kind of revenge, but killing them would have been foolish for several reasons.

First, I wasn’t confident of being able to take a seventh stage Qi Condensation cultivator even if I used the combined power of both suns and had Rocky’s help, it would be a risky battle with no guarantee of success.

More importantly, we'd just discovered someone was bringing the dead back to life and ‘helping’ them get revenge. The last thing I needed was to become the target of someone's resurrection-powered revenge plot.

In this world, avoiding enemies was often smarter than making them. Let others play protagonist and antagonist – I was perfectly happy staying alive in the background, growing stronger.

"Master," Azure's voice broke into my thoughts as we began the journey back to the sect, our unwilling porters struggling with Rocky's weight ahead of us. "You handled that well. Though I'm curious about the boy's necklace.”

"Add it to the growing list of mysteries," I thought back. "Along with his sudden burst of sixth-stage level power and whatever background he's running from."

But those were questions for another time.

Right now, I was content watching Wei Lin and Lin Mei flank our new "friends" while Liu Chen practically bounced along beside his stone guardian, keeping up a running commentary about how Rocky liked to be carried "just so" and how they should really be more careful with his friend.

I had just started to relax when I felt it - that same subtle energy from the way station sweeping through the area like silk sliding across skin. Within my inner world, the suns reacted instantly, diving beneath the Genesis Seed's branches once again.

The pressure passed over us like a gentle breeze and for a moment, my heart stopped.

Had I been caught?

Then it was gone, leaving me to release a shaky breath I hadn't realized I was holding.

"Master," Azure's voice was barely a whisper in my mind, "if you had used the blue sun's energy..."

I knew exactly what he meant. I wouldn't have made it back to the sect.