“Why do you have such a morose expression on your face, Darian?” Astra said, glancing at me. “You’re about to start your journey along the path towards immortality, and you look like a child denied his favorite toy.”

I scowled at her, before schooling my expression into something more neutral. She was right. I was about to start cultivating, and here I was sulking like a spoiled child.

The two of us walked down a long, spiral staircase. It was wide enough for two people to walk beside each other with space to spare. The ceiling was lower than I preferred. A part of me feared that the mountain would come crashing down and bury us alive. An irrational fear, I knew, but knowing that didn’t diminish my fear. After all, I wasn’t a cultivator yet. I couldn’t survive being buried by a mountain.

Light crystals embedded into the walls at regular intervals provided a steady source of warm and gentle yellow light. The staircase spiraled downward at a gentle incline, allowing Astra and I to walk down at a steady but leisurely pace. It felt cool down here, though not to an uncomfortable degree. It was clear that we were deep underground, where temperatures remained constant.

Unlike with the cave from before, the walls, floor, and ceiling of this staircase were smooth. It was clear that they had been carved with care. While there weren’t any ornate carvings or decorations, there was a beauty to the staircase’s simplicity. To my surprise, the air didn’t smell stale. It wasn’t fresh, but it smelled of stone and earth, which I found somewhat pleasing. Still, I would have preferred the open air.

After Astra declared that we would head towards the meditation chamber at the heart of the mountain, she went to the wall on the far side of the entrance and performed a hand seal. To my surprise, a part of the wall melted and disappeared, revealing a stone corridor.

As I followed Astra down the corridor, we walked past several empty rooms and side stone corridors that went to places unknown. Unlike the cave at the entrance, the walls, floors, and ceiling of these rooms and corridors were carved stone. It didn’t take us long to reach the entrance to the spiraling staircase.

“This used to be my immortal cave, back when I first started cultivating,” Astra had explained to me when I gave her a questioning look. “I moved out a long time ago, but I maintained this place in case I ever needed to use it again.” She chuckled. “That said, I never thought I’d bring someone like you here, Darian.”

For some reason, I felt touched that Astra would go this far for me. Still, I felt disappointed that we were heading deeper into the mountain instead of outside.

“I know,” I said in response to her earlier question. “I’m just feeling a little…” I paused to find the right words. “…stir crazy. I’m used to wide open spaces. Not cramped quarters like this. I want to go outside and breathe fresh air.”

Astra snorted with amusement.

“Only someone raised among Wind cultivators would call this cramped,” she said, gesturing to the staircase around us. “As for going outside…That will have to wait until after you reach the Qi Condensation realm. The area beyond this cave is dangerous, especially for mortals. I’ll show you what I mean after we finish for today.”

I nodded despite my displeasure. It wasn’t like I could force Astra to bring me outside. I was trapped in here unless she said otherwise. Until she gave me a reason not to, I decided to put my faith and my trust in Astra. I had no other choice.

After what felt like close to an hour, we reached the bottom of the staircase. It led to a small spherical antechamber. It was about the same size as my house back on Mt. Wind Dance. Light crystals dotted the ceiling. They looked like stars adorning the night sky. On the far side of the antechamber, stood a wooden door. A seal glowing with black light marked the door. Otherwise, the antechamber was barren and empty.

“The meditation chamber is in there,” Astra said, gesturing to the wooden door. “However, I should warn you that you will feel discomfort and pain once we enter.”

I frowned at that.

“Why?” I asked.

“That room contains Earth Fire,” Astra explained. “It’s a magical fire born in the depths of the earth. Cultivators use it when concocting pills and refining magical treasures. It also produces Fire qi. Fire cultivators, or cultivators with Fire-aligned spirit roots, who cultivate near Earth Fire will find their cultivation speed increased by a significant margin.” She wore a reminiscent expression. “During my younger years, I found this place by accident and benefited from it a lot. Now, it’s your turn.”

Her words erased my earlier misgivings, and I felt annoyed at myself for my ungrateful attitude. Astra was doing all of this for me and I had the gall to feel disappointed that I couldn’t go outside. Granted, she benefited from this arrangement as well, but still.

“Thank you,” I said, trying to convey my sincerity and gratitude.

Astra flashed me a brief smile.

“Don’t thank me just yet,” she said. “Normal Earth Fire is already dangerous to mortals. It’s hot enough to melt steel with ease.” She nodded towards the wooden door. “I modified the Earth Fire in there with an array powered by divine elemental stones, changing the qi it produces into divine fire qi. It is anathema for those with demon blood like us. I can shield myself, so it won’t affect me, but you won’t have any protection.” She frowned. “And I can’t place a shield on you either. In order to cultivate with the Soul of Divine Fire technique, you need to use divine fire qi. Regular Fire qi won’t do.”

I shrugged.

“When I agreed to cultivate with a divine cultivation technique rather than a demonic one, I figured that I would have to go through something like this,” I said. “A little pain is a small price to pay.”

Astra gave me a serious look.

“It won’t be just a little pain,” she warned. “While Earth Fire won’t actually burn you as long as you stay far enough away, you will still find it uncomfortably hot. And that is on top of the divine fire qi, which is like poison to our kind.”

I paused for a moment before responding.

“I’d rather go through that than return to Mt. Wind Dance,” I said in a quiet voice. “At least here, I have a chance at cultivating and changing my fate, which is much better than chasing after a false hope.”

Astra studied me for several seconds, before nodding.

“All right,” she said. “If you’re sure, then let’s stop wasting time and go inside.”

I smirked at her.

“I find it amusing that you’re the one hesitating when this was your idea in the first place,” I said.

Astra scowled at me.

“I can’t help it,” she said. “You’re so weak and fragile. The littlest thing can kill you. Of course I’d be worried about my litt-…my junior martial brother. I mean, my future junior martial brother.”

Huh. I hadn’t thought of it like that before. Members of the same sect viewed each other as family and addressed each other as such. One’s master was considered akin to one’s parent, while those of the same generation were considered as one’s siblings. Those of the senior generation who weren’t one’s master were considered one’s aunts and uncles. However, I also knew that one’s cultivation played a big part in one’s ranking within a sect’s hierarchy. Those with more power had more seniority.

At least, that was how I figured it worked. I based this off my experiences within Clan Wind Dance, since cultivator clans worked in a similar way.

If I managed to pass the entrance exam and join the Dawn and Dusk Sect, Astra and I would become the equivalent of siblings. She would become my senior martial sister, and I would become her junior martial brother. That explained her behavior towards me. She treated me the same way an older sister treated her younger brother. That thought warmed my heart.

“Wait a moment,” I said with a frown. “If you become an elder, wouldn’t that make you my martial aunt instead of my senior martial sister?”

Astra leaned in close, wearing a solemn expression on her face.

“If you ever call me anything other than Astra or Big Sis Astra,” she said, her voice suffused with menace. “I will discipline you, Darian.”

A chill ran down my spine. With the way she treated me, I had almost forgotten that Astra was an old and powerful demon. My heart trembled at the thought of whatever she considered discipline.

“Understood, Big Sis Astra,” I said, giving her a forced smile.

Astra returned my smile with one of her own, before reaching over to ruffle my hair.

“Good boy,” she said.

I scowled at her before brushing her hand away. Astra smirked, before walking over to the door.

“Ready?” she asked.

I nodded.

Astra made a hand seal, before opening the door. The moment she did, heat and light flooded the spherical antechamber, hitting me like a physical force. The impact stunned me.

Once, when I was a child, I burned my hand while trying to make tea. While my hand never touched the flame, it still scalded my skin. The heat that flooded the spherical antechamber felt akin to that, except I felt it all over my body.

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Worst of all, there was something about the heat and the light that repulsed me. It felt like it would burn me to ash and consume my very being. Fear blossomed within my heart. I wanted to run away, to flee as far as I could. It was an instinctive reaction. If I stayed, I would die. I knew it.

I stepped back, unable and unwilling to step into the chamber beyond the wooden door. I took deep breaths to try and calm myself down, but that just made things worse. I felt the heat and the light within my body eating away at me from the inside.

I took another step back, ready to flee. However, before I could, Astra closed the wooden door, cutting off the source of the heat and the light. With a gesture, she purged the spherical antechamber of any lingering heat, until everything was cool and dark once more.

My legs wobbled and I fell to my hands and knees, panting. With each breath, the heat and light inside my body disappeared. Sweat covered my entire body. The stone felt cool against my hands, which helped calm me down. After I regained my composure, I pushed away from the floor and sat down with my legs crossed. Astra watched me with a worried expression on her face.

“That was divine qi?” I asked, still a little stunned.

Astra nodded.

“Divine fire qi, but yes,” she said.

“You want me to cultivate with that?”

The very thought sounded insane. Just breathing in the divine fire qi put me in a panic. The thought of cultivating with it filled me with dread. When I agreed to Astra’s idea of cultivating with a divine cultivation technique, I hadn’t realized what that meant. Now I did.

If I felt this way when Astra just opened the door, how would it feel to enter the chamber with the Earth Fire itself? I shuddered at the thought.

Astra walked over and crouched in front of me.

“I’m sorry, Darian,” she said. “When I first came up with this idea, I hadn’t realized just how adversely it would affect you. I let my excitement blind me, and you suffered as a result. This is my fault. I should have known better. I did know better. Even if you meet the requirements, trying to cultivate divine qi as a demonkin is still risky.” She shook her head. “This was a bad idea. I’ll get you a different qi refining cultivation technique. It’s better than putting you through that again.”

I almost agreed with her. My brief encounter with divine qi filled me with a fear that I felt deep in my bones. I even opened my mouth to say the words. However, I stopped. The same stubbornness that pushed me to practice the Dancing Wind Blade fighting style, despite knowing that it was pointless, held me back. I practiced for years, enduring my clan’s hatred that entire time, without once giving up. How could I give up here, after just one attempt?

“No,” I said. “I want to keep going.”

Astra frowned at me.

“Darian,” she said. “This is a bad idea. Don’t try to act tough in front of me. I saw how the divine fire qi affected you. You don’t need to force yourself for my sake. I won’t judge you for stepping back and choosing another path.” She shook her head. “The chances of success were low to begin with. After what just happened, it’s clear that the risk isn’t worth it.”

I shook my head.

“I’m not forcing myself for your sake,” I said. “I’m doing this for me.”

I paused, wondering how much I should tell Astra. While she treated me well, she was still a demon. Opening up my heart to her could backfire in the future. However, in the end, I chose to trust her.

“For years, I pushed myself to try and prove my worth to my clan, despite knowing that it was pointless,” I said. “For years, I trained every day in order to earn my uncle’s approval, despite knowing that he would never grant it. For years, I endured abuse and mockery at the hands of my kin, the very people who should have loved and cherished me. They looked down on me and treated me like trash.”

Astra’s expression darkened, and she opened her mouth to say something, but I held up a hand to silence her. Rather than punish me for my insolence, she acquiesced and kept quiet.

“Even Lucius, the one person who treated me like family, looked down on me,” I continued. “He didn’t mean to, and he wasn’t malicious about it, but he did. I saw it in his eyes. He treated me with kindness out of pity. In a way, that hurt me more than the deliberate cruelty I received from the rest of my kin.”

I looked Astra right in the eyes.

“Do you know why I put up with all of that?” I asked. “Why I kept trying rather than giving up and wallowing in despair? To prove to myself that I wasn’t the pitiful weakling they wanted me to be. I refused to accept it. Was that foolish of me? Yes. However, giving up meant accepting that they were right about me when they called me a weak and filthy demonspawn.” I clenched my fists. “I wanted to beat them at their own game and force them to acknowledge me. I didn’t give up then, and I won’t give up now.”

Astra studied me for several long moments.

“Brave words,” she said in a cold voice. “But you’ll need more than bravado to cultivate divine energy as a demonkin. I advise you to pick another path.” She looked me up and down. “However, if you insist on this foolishness, then I’ll do everything in my power to aid you. Since this was my idea in the first place, I should see it through.”

Relief flooded me. For a moment, I thought she would force me to turn away from divine cultivation and choose a different cultivation technique.

“Thank you, Big Sis Astra,” I said.

Astra shook her head, though I saw the corners of her lips turn up.

“You’re a fool, Darian,” she said, her voice full of affection despite her words. “And I’m a bigger fool for going along with this.” She frowned. “It’s clear that we’ll have to move slower than I initially thought. We’ll have to take smaller steps. At this rate, I doubt you’ll be ready for the upcoming entrance exam.”

“Do we have to start with the Soul of Divine Fire technique?” I asked. “Why not start with Asura Crucible Body, and then do the Soul of Divine Fire afterward?”

Astra shook her head.

“No, that won’t work,” she said. “Once you become a demonic cultivator, you won’t be able to cultivate divine energy. You would just kill yourself trying. Cultivating with a more orthodox cultivation technique and trying to switch to a divine cultivation technique will lead to the same result. You need to start with a divine cultivation technique, or you will never become a divine demon. There is a reason why there are so few of them, even within the Dawn and Dusk Sect.”

I frowned in thought as I digested her words. After Astra agreed to help me continue trying to become a divine demon, my first thought had been to cultivate with a different cultivation technique and cultivate with the Soul of Divine Fire technique afterwards. However, that wasn’t an option. I had to cultivate with divine qi first. A pit opened up in my stomach at the thought.

“How do regular cultivators become divine cultivators?” I asked.

Perhaps knowing the answer to that will help.

“Most can’t,” Astra answered. “Divine cultivation is inherently more difficult than regular cultivation and demonic cultivation. It’s easy for regular cultivators to become demonic cultivators, since they can use demonic qi to corrupt their spirit roots. However, the opposite is not true. Most divine cultivators are born with the ability to cultivate divine qi, usually as the result of their heritage. Many of them are the descendants of heavenly beings, such as divine beasts and Immortals. A lucky few gained the ability to cultivate divine qi due to a fortuitous encounter.”

She gestured to me.

“Ironically, demonkin have an easier time trying to cultivate divine qi than other humans. This is because they’re more sensitive to it due to their demonic heritage, but still human enough that they’re not as weak to it as full demons. Most of the divine demons within the Dawn and Dusk Sect started out as demonkin.” She made a so-so gesture. “Of course, demonkin risk serious injury or death in the process. No human has ever died trying to cultivate divine qi. At least, I haven’t heard of any.”

I sighed.

“So, there is no easy path forward,” I said.

“No. Your only option is to take small and incremental steps,” Astra said. “Again, I advise you to take another path. I know plenty of qi refining cultivation techniques that would suit you. Many of them aren’t demonic cultivation techniques either. Just because you are demonkin doesn’t mean you have to become a demonic cultivator.”

I shook my head.

“I want to become a divine demon,” I said. “At least, I want to give it a try. If I fail after giving it my best, I won’t have any regrets.”

Astra pursed her lips.

“You make a compelling point,” she said. “Trying and failing is better than regretting what could have been. At least this way, you won’t form a heart demon.”

I stared at her.

“A what demon?” I asked.

“I’ll explain later,” Astra said. “We’ll have plenty of time for lessons later.”

I thought about pushing her for answers, but decided against it.

“We’ll start by getting you used to divine fire qi a little at a time,” Astra said. “Your body can’t acclimate to it, but you can at least temper your mind. Entering the Earth Fire chamber before that point would be counterproductive.”

When Astra mentioned tempering my mind, I had an idea.

“You said that I can’t start with Asura Crucible Body or a regular qi refining cultivation technique, since that would make it impossible for me to cultivate divine qi, right?”

Astra frowned and nodded.

“Yes. What about it?”

“What about starting with a mental refining cultivation technique?” I asked.

Since they were intended for novices, each of the manuals Astra gave me contained basic primer on cultivation. According to the primer, there were three different kinds of cultivation. The most common one was qi refining. A cultivator refined their vital energy, their qi, using their body as a crucible in order to achieve higher and higher states of being. This allowed them to use mystic arts, wield magical treasures, and perform other miraculous feats.

For physical refining, a cultivator used qi to temper their bodies in order to enhance their senses, endurance, and physical might. While physical refiners couldn’t use mystic arts, unless they were also qi refiners, their superior physiques gave them an advantage over qi refiners in combat. Physical refining was also several times more difficult than qi refining, which was why it was less common. Those who had a special constitution or heritage like me had an advantage in this regard.

However, there was also mental refining. Instead of refining one’s vital energy or tempering one’s body, mental refiners instead focused on improving their minds. This increased their willpower, their spirit sense (whatever that was), and gave them the ability to use mental techniques. It also increased their resistance against any mental techniques used against them, such as bewitchments and mental domination.

The third manual, the one I didn’t discuss with Astra earlier, was for a mental refining cultivation technique called Song of Dawn and Dusk. I read the whole manual since Astra asked me to, but I focused more on the manuals for Soul of Divine Fire and Asura Crucible Body. However, if enduring divine fire qi was a matter of will, then perhaps it was best to start with Song of Dawn and Dusk. Unless doing so prevented me from cultivating divine qi.

Astra looked thoughtful at my words.

“I suppose you could begin with mental refining,” she said, speaking each word with care. “At least, I never heard of mental refinement interfering with divine cultivation. That said, no one starts with mental refinement. Without a cultivation base, it’s not as useful. Most start with qi refining or physical refining, and even then, they view mental refinement as supplementary to their primary cultivation technique. There are those who specialize in it, but they also start with either qi refining or physical refining.” She frowned, before grinning at me. “Good job, Darian. You managed to think of a solution for a problem that stumped me.” Her expression turned solemn. “However, there is a chance that starting with the Song of Dawn and Dusk technique will interfere with your attempt to cultivate divine qi. Just because I haven’t heard of it happening doesn’t mean it won’t. I’m not infallible. Are you prepared to take that risk?”

I nodded.

“Good,” Astra said. “We’ll start with getting you used to the divine fire qi first. Obviously, it’s best to practice the Song of Dawn and Dusk technique during dawn and dusk, and sunset is several hours away.”

I figured as much. From what I read, those who practiced the technique meditated on the mysteries of dawn and dusk. While it was possible to do so outside of those times, why make things more difficult for myself? Cultivating divine qi was problematic enough without me getting in my own way.

I stood up and walked to the center of the room. At the same time, Astra walked over to the door to the Earth Fire chamber.

“Ready?” Astra asked.

I nodded. She opened the door, and once again flooded the room with divine fire qi.