The moment that strange energy entered his meridians, Snake’s whole world had changed. Through the fleshy walls of his body and the ethereal meridians, he watched the constant circulation with fists clenched.

He was close to the 8th Step of Body Tempering Stage, and this time he just knew he could push through that final boundary. His fingers itched. His body shook with excitement. He could feel the strength of his muscles building slowly as the energy fed into them.

Big Brother Lei’s food is the best.

Not just because they were full of energy, but also the feeling about them. It was like his father’s cooking. Close. Warm. Every time he tasted it, even after a long day under Teacher Luli’s training, he felt his mind ease and thoughts grow silent.

It was during times like these he realized how good life could be. People around the table. Loved ones talking and smiling. His brothers and sisters. Stone slurping those bowls as if he had a horse chasing after him.

Home. That’s how it felt. The restaurant or Big Brother Lei’s old place in the ruins. Wherever he went, so long as he was with them, he was in the place where he should be. He belonged to these people, and these people to him.

He almost poked Stone with an elbow but decided against it. A smile bloomed on his lips. Just this once, he’d leave his Little Brother alone.

……

Zhu Luli marvelled at the strange energy coursing through her meridians. Every minor circle felt like a completely new experience, one that she couldn’t get enough of. It almost seemed like the energy wanted to be used, but also there was an underlying, different strength to it that threatened to take control.

Therefore, she watched the circulation with all her focus, stepping in whenever the energy tried to ooze out from her meridians. A little poke there, a little poke here. Her command over spiritual energy remained strong even as her heart thumped in her chest.

She didn’t want to think too much about it, but when the 80th minor circle was completed, a giddy jolt ran down her back. She was getting close… close to the Qi Condensation Stage.

In her mind, she knew that she’d already bound a star, which was the most difficult part of the breakthrough. The rest was just an energy issue. Get enough spiritual energy to complete 81 minor circles, then she’d be in the Qi Condensation Stage. Nothing complicated.

That didn’t mean she could keep a steady mind, though. This would be her first step to what many thought of as the true start of the Immortal Path. A new world waited for her, a world that she’d dreamed of since she was a little girl.

What would’ve Father said if he were here?

Surely he would’ve grumbled that she didn’t let him help her with the resources. Zhu Clan had more spiritual pills than one could count, Sages who could teach the Immortal Path, and Divination Masters that could’ve made the star-binding process a whole lot easier.

But Zhu Luli had refused all of that. Her Father might’ve forgotten, but he was the one who told her that every cultivator had their own path. Without adversity, simply coursing through the cultivation stages meant little if one wished to be something more than one of those Young Masters in the capital. They were a dime a dozen. Nothing special.

Above all that, she wanted to prove to her Father that she wasn’t a weak, fragile statue carved from glass and teetered on the brink of destruction with but a touch. She was her own woman, not just the Zhu Clan’s Youngest Miss who’d grown under the mighty mountain that was her father. She could do everything on her own. No, she had to, lest she’d think less of herself.

The odd energy sent a jolt of excitement when the 80th circle was completed. It was finally here, the last minor circle that would complete the first major circle of her lifetime.

Through her bond, she could feel the joy of that distant star, how it trembled in expectation, waiting to be fully immersed into her own soul.

We will become whole after this.

With a final, concentrated breath, Zhu Luli forced the energy into her meridians and winced when pain bloomed in her mind. She wrapped mental chains around the emotion and leashed it to the cage of her soul. Leashed it there and commanded it to stay silent. Nothing, not even her own emotions, could prevent her from taking this final step.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

……

Wang Lou breathed in deep and felt the energy stir in his meridians. The taste of that stew was still fresh in his mouth. He would’ve cherished it a little longer, and perhaps eaten two or three more bowls, but the pressure had become too much for him to handle. That was why he’d decided to cultivate.

As he watched the energy course through his body, his mind started to wander.

It’d been a time of chaos lately, a time of happenings that seemed to drag them around and around with no particular destination. It seemed at every turn they came across something they never expected to see or be swept into. And yet, life had the tendency to flourish during difficult times.

His old man didn’t stare at him like he was a useless, talentless fool anymore. His gaze now had a tenderness Wang Lou hadn’t known existed. Perhaps it was the old age. Death creeping about. The earth calling him back. Or perhaps Wang Lou had really become something more than a ‘Fatty’ that wasted his life doing this or that after he’d met with Brother Lei.

That brother-in-arms of his was a different man. Certainly not from this little town. That much had been made very clear the first time they’d met. He had a funny way of talking, a strange gap in the knowledge that made little sense to him, but what impressed Wang Lou was the man’s dedication.

A little stall around the market, with barely any money to run the damned thing. What fool could’ve dared dream of something like that? Honest work got you nowhere. Wang Lou knew it well. He’d once told his old man that being a baker or a butcher didn’t change the fact that they were born as lessers. Men with simple means. Men who didn’t deserve to hope for more.

And yet he did. He yearned for more. Who could blame him? A tiny ant gazing up at the heavens, dreaming he would become a dragon in the future. Trouble was, he never put the work in. He just waited for it to happen. A lightning strike to find him and show him the truth. The path upon which he would walk. The road that was his destiny, but hidden from his mortal eyes.

Now that he thought about it, a sadness washed over him. Life waited for no one. Thoughts and dreams left unrealized so long as you didn’t strive for them.

I’m trying now, aren’t I?

All those turns and twists. It was a big hurricane. The stall. The mountain. The kids. The restaurant. There was so much to think about, so many things to care about that he couldn’t just stop. He had no time to waste. People depended on him. People! On him!

That was the strange reality he found himself in, and he couldn’t have asked for anything better.

He pushed, with teeth clenched, heart thundering in his chest, the energy to round into another minor circle. A cultivator’s will was steel, Sister Luli had told him. A cultivator’s shackle is their own mind. So he leashed his thoughts and drove out the ones that kept telling him that he was a failure, a nobody trying to rise against the odds.

So be it. Even if the endless skies proved too high, even if this grand world had no place for a good-for-nothing man like him, so be it. He would live for his own. The ideals he’d come to cherish would be the cornerstone of the rest of his life. He had things to fight for, and those weighed more than anything he ever knew before.

Something stirred in his core. The energy rose in response, circling around his meridians with a speed he could hardly trail. His body ached and trembled. Sweat poured down his face.

Scowling, he swept his inner world with an eye and paused when he saw the little seed growing in the thick of his core. A lusterless dot that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

It was calling out to him, with a beckon that seeped into his soul. Arms cradled him and filled him with warmth. His thoughts grew distant. He himself grew distant. A spectator watching his own body from above, and yet, deep down, aware of all the changes.

What is this?

What could be so warm, so close that even though he’d just seen it then, he felt like it was there all along? He tried to touch it. Found himself being drawn to its two-colored shell. One half was completely white, the other a deep black. A hole opened on its surface and let his soul in.

Once there, the realization dawned on him.

This was his own Dao. Born out of his yearning. Of lives lived. Of paths walked, all different and strange. Inside was empty still. His soul could only fill a part of it. It would take time. Time to realize this Duality.

…..

Lei tapped a foot to the ground, arms crossed over his chest, watching the group cultivate in what seemed like a storm of different emotions.

Brother Lou had a serene, almost intoxicated expression on his face, fingers trembling slightly. Zhu Luli’s face was twisted up in a stubborn frown, one that looked so sharp that it could cut through stone.

Snake was smiling. Ever the slippery brat, he was smiling even as sweat drops trickled down his cheeks. Next to him, Stone was one furious rock, face red and muscles bulged in defiance. Waves of spiritual energy-mana blend spread from him.

Lastly, Little Mei and Little Yao were busy rocking back and forth. The little squirrel was sprawled over on Little Mei’s lap, stretched into a shape that seemed more like a furry rope than a real animal. Hard to understand how she could cultivate in that form. Perhaps, Lei then thought, it didn’t matter so long as she somehow kept skin contact with Little Mei.

They both looked fairly relaxed.

Lei himself felt at ease. Looked like the new energy didn’t harm them in any way. Pushed them, sure, but a little push might be just the thing they needed.

Beyond the main hall’s town, he could feel the city stir. Mana rose in waves from the three sources, spreading over Jiangzhen like a foul, thick fog. Once they were done here, they would first pay a visit to Aunt Lifen’s place. Then…

Lei swallowed. Then they would put an end to this madness and quench those sources one by one.

“Ohh!” Fatty Lou pried his eyes open, staring about himself in a daze. He rose to his feet and stretched his legs out, then let out a satisfying sigh. “That was some good cultivation there, a good session, I daresay!”

Zhu Luli’s skin glistened with ethereal lights, her eyes deep as an endless sea. “Finally,” she muttered. “Qi Condensation Stage!”

Snake, Stone, and Little Mei were the last ones to finish their sessions. They looked strangely at each other.

“Ready?” Lei said, a smile tugging at his lips.

Everyone nodded.

“Then prepare to head out. We have a city to sweep.”

……