As much as she admired Jiaying’s enthusiasm, there was one more thing Rika needed to understand before she could make her next move. As they talked, the girls made their way toward the section of the inner city where the Cult of Harmonious Stars made their home.

“So if you’ve spent the last month eavesdropping on your parents, maybe you can tell me what’s going on with this Lin Xiulan thing. Your parents made a strong case, but Xiulan came here to get away from the ostracization her sect faces back in Qin.”

Jiaying crossed her arms under her chest and grimaced.

“What does that have to do with helping Meili?”

“She’s the best healer there is, and next to Eunae she’s about the best expert we’ve got when it comes to soul damage. I need to know whether we can trust her.”

“I guess. It’s complicated. Lin Xiulan doesn’t want to take over Jiaguo, but she’s not strictly opposed to it. I think she understands that somebody is going to need to step up to replace Yoshika eventually, and after her falling out with Lady Yan, she may have lost faith in the current leadership.”

Rika sighed and shook her head.

“Xiulan thinks of Yue like a daughter. If she’s encouraging her to step down, it’s more likely because she sees how much the stress is tearing Yue apart than because she’s upset with her.”

Jiaying shrugged.

“It doesn’t really make a difference. Dad represents the mortal Qin faction, but we’re still used to deferring to cultivators. Most of our people tacitly follow Elder Lin’s lead, regardless of what Dad says. Lady Yan doesn’t have much support, but unless she willingly steps down or someone stages a coup, nothing will change.”

“Sure, but if Xiulan decides to seize power, who’s going to stop her?”

“Uh...good point, I guess. But actually, Mom and Dad have been pretty frustrated that she doesn’t seem willing to do that. She’ll accept the appointment if it’s given, but she’s not going to go out of her way to take it.”

Rika pursed her lips. It wasn’t perfect, but at least the nation wasn’t falling apart completely. They still needed Yoshika, though—that much was certain. Hopefully Lin Xiulan would agree.

They didn’t even need to announce themselves as they approached the cult’s cloister. Lin Xiulan came out to meet them directly.

“Hello, girls! I expected a visit much sooner.”

Rika chuckled nervously. She liked Lin Xiulan, but no matter how friendly she was, there was an intimidating air around her that was difficult to get past.

“I wasn’t snubbing you or anything, I just needed to get a handle on the situation before making the big decisions.”

“Of course, dear. Why don’t we talk on the way? No sense wasting any time.”

Jiaying frowned.

“On the way where?”

“Yoshika’s place, naturally. Your misgivings are reasonable, but we haven’t the time to dispel them. You’ll just have to trust that if I had any intention of usurping control, I’d have done so by now.”

Rika sighed.

“I guess I should have known you’d be a step ahead. Alright, let’s go.”

Lin Xiulan strode past them at a brisk pace, leading the two of them along behind her as she spoke.

“I can vaguely sense that her domain has returned, but there’s no power behind it—no will. Can you tell me what happened, and what her condition is?”

Rika briefly explained what she’d seen in the Hayakawa province, and what had happened in the castle before Yoshika arrived to save her.

“She managed to drive off Yu Meiren, but before we could make it all the way out of the castle, Sovereign Longyan showed up.”

“It’s troubling to hear that Yamato is in league with the demons—but you survived an encounter with the Demon Lord? What was he like?”

“It’s not the first time I’ve seen him, actually. He’s...weird. Overwhelming in a way that’s impossible to describe. Like every instinct is screaming at me to just prostrate myself and pray for mercy. Yoshika thought he might be injured or weakened, but it wasn’t even close.”

Xiulan frowned deeply.

“How did you survive?”

“Yoshika pulled me out of there, even though bringing me into her Soul Realm would exhaust her. If she hadn’t been protecting me...”

Rika grimaced. She hated the thought that her weakness was the cause of Yoshika’s defeat, but Yue wasn’t wrong when she said that it was her fault.

“None of that! What’s done is done. You fought, you lost, you survived. It matters not who is to blame—only what you do now. And what of Yoshika?”

“I didn’t see most of the fight. By the time I got my bearings, I was in the middle of the Soul Realm and Heian was bawling her eyes out.”

“I see. I could see her injuries being enough that her aura became too weak for either myself or the Seong girl to sense, but Heian is a bonded spirit. Her soul is directly linked to Yoshika—if she thought her mothers died, then they died.”

Jiaying went pale, but Rika put a comforting hand on her back.

“They did. Heian thinks that a vestige of their soul managed to claw its way back out of the afterlife.”

“That would be unprecedented, but I’ve been following Seong Misun’s research on death and reincarnation. That academic exchange initiative was a work of genius, by the way. Based on her observations, my understanding is that it’s not impossible for shades or vestiges to return as something like a spirit or ghost—though they would typically be restricted to the twilight realm between the physical and spiritual.”

Rika blinked—she hadn’t followed a word of that.

“Uh, yeah. I’m not really sure how Yoshika did it, but maybe Heian’s connection to the shadow world helped.”

Xiulan tapped her lips thoughtfully.

“Perhaps... The question then becomes whether this vestige can truly be considered Yoshika, and whether there’s enough of her left to be worth healing.”

Jiaying gave the elder an affronted look.

“What do you mean ‘worth healing’?!”

“I mean, dear, that our efforts will be for naught if all that’s left of her is a hollow shell of a soul with nothing inside it. We don’t need her shadow, we need the one casting it.”

They arrived to find a small crowd waiting for them. Eunae had been busy, gathering up many of Yoshika’s friends and family and bringing them along. Dae and Yue were there, along with Lee Jung and Narae, An Minjun and Chunhei, and even little Seong Haeun.

Rika looked askance at Eunae as they approached.

“What’s all this?”

Eunae smiled and gestured to the gathered crowd.

“When we healed Zheng Long, it was his childhood friends and fellow disciples Yan Yue and Han Yu who helped bring him out of his catatonic state. I can’t be certain that the same principle will help Yoshika, but it can’t hurt. It’s good that you were able to bring Pan Jiaying—I was hoping you would.”

Lin Xiulan stepped into the humble abode and looked around curiously.

“I recognize this. I didn’t realize they still lived here—how quaint! I can sense their presence here, but it’s still faint.”

Rika looked around nervously. There were a lot more people here than she’d been expecting to bring, and Heian had specifically told her not to bring Xiulan.

“It takes a lot of energy for Heian to bring people across. It shouldn’t be too bad this close to the center of Yoshika’s domain, but it’s still not easy. Trust me, I tried.”

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Xiulan turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow.

“We’ll be entering her soul realm physically? That will be a first for me.”

“Actually...Heian won’t bring you over. It’s too much of a risk.”

The sect elder furrowed her brows and sighed.

“That’s rather vexing. I understand the reasoning, and even agree with the decision, but it still stings. Perhaps you can convince her to allow me a small projection—weaker than a mortal. Just enough that I can still provide consultation, at least.”

Rika nodded.

“I’ll ask. The rest of you...well, most of you have done this before so it shouldn’t be too bad but brace yourselves. Heian doesn’t have quite as light a touch as her mothers.”

She wasn’t entirely certain how to signal to Heian that they were ready, but she reached out with her domain as if she were using a telepathy technique to speak to Iseul. She couldn’t sense Yoshika’s domain, but after a moment she felt Heian’s aura poking around curiously.

As soon as Heian touched Rika’s aura, the room was flooded with power as the formations permeating Yoshika’s Soul Realm flared to life. With a soul-deep lurch, their surroundings shifted slightly to take on a subtle ethereal quality that was only noticeable because of the sudden change.

Rika hadn’t experienced the portal to Chou’s realm before Yoshika had inherited it, but she imagined it must have felt something like that.

Predictably, Lin Xiulan had been left behind, but the rest had appeared alongside Rika, each taking the transition a little differently. The stronger cultivators like Dae and Yue barely reacted, while Jiaying and Lee Jung reeled a bit. By far the worst were the An couple. An Chunhei nearly passed out, and her husband’s attempt to catch her failed when he too was brought to his knees.

Rika caught them both, gently supporting them as they recovered their senses. Heian pouted at her.

“You should have warned me if you were going to bring mortals! The Sovereign’s Tear is powerful enough that its essence can disrupt the meridians of living things.”

“Sorry!”

She winced, checking Eui’s parents for any signs of injury. Heian shook her head and sighed.

“They should be okay for now. Normally Mom would shield them entirely, but I can only dampen it. They can’t stay long.”

“Okay, we’ll try to move quickly, I guess. Xiulan suggested that she could send a projection of herself to consult if you don’t trust her to fully enter the Soul Realm.”

Heian scrunched up her nose.

“I don’t know...that still means making an opening for her, and if she decides to tear that opening wide, I might not be able to stop her.”

“For what it’s worth, she said it would be weaker than a mortal, and I don’t really think she’d do that. Couldn’t you just let the Tear’s power wash her projection away or something?”

“Hmm, okay. I’ll tell her.”

She closed her eyes for a moment, then a perfect image of Lin Xiulan popped into existence next to her.

“Ah! Thank you, dear. Yue, your mother’s techniques are quite flexible aren’t they? I’m glad I took the time to study them.”

Yue grimaced.

“I don’t recall giving you permission to do so.”

Rika was almost impressed at how fast Yue was failing to mend that bridge. She was a true genius in the art of pissing people off. Stepping between the two, Rika tried to redirect the conversation back on track.

“Okay! I don’t know how much time we have, but the sooner we can get Yoshika back the better. The only people who’ve ever attempted something like this are Yoshika, Eunae, and me—and honestly, the last two are kind of cheating because we were Yoshika at the time.”

Jiaying raised her hand timidly, a little overwhelmed by the number of people involved.

“Um, actually Princess Seong Eunae did something similar with Luo Mingyu and me.”

Eunae shook her head.

“The entire point of that exercise was to do only superficial damage—enough to break the resonance with your spirit jade tablets without actually doing anything permanent. This is almost the opposite. It’s like the only thing left is a few superficial remnants of her domain.”

Rika frowned. She didn’t like the sound of that.

“Let’s not give up too quickly.”

Xiulan wandered over to the pedestal where the Sovereign’s Tear floated alongside Yoshika’s core.

“Is this it? Somehow I expected the source of all life to be something grander. Princess Eunae, what do you sense from the core?”

Eunae approached as well, looking to Heian for permission.

“May I take a look?”

Heian nodded.

“Just be careful. Your fire can only take away, not put things back.”

“I understand—I’ll be delicate.”

Eunae placed her hands on either side of Yoshika’s core and closed her eyes in meditation. After a tense silence, she frowned.

“There’s...not much here. I’m amazed that it’s even able to sustain her domain, even as weakly as this. If Yoshika’s soul were a spirit, then I’d have to consider it to be either nascent or...”

She trailed off, casting a worried glance at Heian, who just stared down at her feet in silence. Rika scratched her head and sighed—that couldn’t be it. After they’d brought everyone together, Yoshika’s closest friends and family, had it just been to sit with Yoshika on her deathbed?

Something about that thought struck a chord within her. The people they’d brought together—the people Yoshika had brought together.

“Eunae, Xiulan, souls can fix themselves, right? In Qin, they say that the soul is inviolable, but the truth is actually just that it’s self-repairing.”

Lin Xiulan nodded.

“It is indeed quite resilient, though not as invulnerable as the orthodox masters would have us believe. My theory is that one’s true self—the core of their identity—is spread out evenly through the soul. As long as enough of it remains, it can rebuild itself from that identity.”

Dae stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“Like crystals following the pattern of whatever seed they grow from.”

“Sure? I’m not sure what you mean, but it sounds right. The trouble is, I’m not sure we have enough of Yoshika’s soul to work with.”

Rika’s mind raced. She had known Yoshika for a long time. As long as anybody. Sure, there were people that knew Jia or Eui better than she did, but nobody—not even Yan Yue—had known Yoshika for longer than Rika.

She understood them better than anyone. Yoshika had been born from the union of Jia and Eui, but she was much more than that. That unity had only been the start—the seed from which she grew. Rika had felt it first hand—that feeling of ease and familiarity when she temporarily became part of Yoshika. As though she had been all along.

Because she was.

They all were. Yoshika wasn’t defined only by the aspects that shared their minds and soul—she was all of the people she cared about, the people she’d brought together from so many different backgrounds and statuses.

Courtesans, commoners, princesses, spirits, elementals, Qin, Yamato, Goryeo—Yoshika was always breaking down the boundaries of those around her and bringing them together. She was more than just a person or group of people representing Unity. Especially after her ascension, she’d started to become one with the very idea of Unity.

That had to be how the vestige had survived—how it had come all the way home from beyond the cycle of death and reincarnation. Yoshika wasn’t some scrap of soul-stuff barely holding her domain together inside of her core. Yoshika was all of them—everybody in the room carried part of her with them.

“Actually, I think we do.”

Rika’s comment drew curious glances from everyone, but she was still trying to put the pieces together. How would it work? They were already in her soul realm. What else did they need to do to give Yoshika the pieces she needed?

Ironically, Rika wished Yoshika was there. She’d always been so good at making these insane leaps from idea to action, just following her intuition wherever it led. That wasn’t Rika. She had to meticulously practice—to test an idea and fail over and over until she got it just right. But this wasn’t something she could fail. There would only be one chance.

But of course, that was foolish. She wasn’t going to solve the problem by thinking like Rika—she had to think like Yoshika. And Yoshika never did anything alone.

“It’s us. We’re the pieces she’s missing. I can feel it, but I just can’t figure out how to make it work.”

Yue’s eyes widened.

“Oh! Oh, Rika, I could kiss you—that’s genius!”

Eunae shot her an incredulous look.

“I beg your pardon?”

“I’ve yet to experience sharing a mind and soul with Yoshika as some of you have, but I’ve felt...a connection before. As though I could feel what she does—not as a form of empathy, but as though the emotions were my own.”

Jiaying and Dae nodded at the same time.

“We did too! Right after her breakthrough. She said that she could always sense what we were feeling as long as we wanted her to.”

Dae chuckled nervously.

“It was rather disconcerting, but she promised not to pry.”

This was it. It could work! Lin Xiulan crossed her arms and frowned.

“That’s an interesting theory, but I don’t think it’s feasible to have all of you learn and perform dual cultivation with each other at the same time. Even if Rika is correct, I don’t see any way to provide Yoshika with what she needs.”

Heian shook her head.

“They don’t have to. Aunt Rika is right—we’re already connected to her. If all of us are part of Mommy’s soul, then we just need to open our hearts and souls to her.”

An Chunhei cleared her throat nervously.

“How, um, how do we do that? Is that a normal cultivator thing, or...?”

Xiulan laughed.

“Hardly. Your daughter’s cultivation is anything but normal. Come sit with me, you two—I’ll guide you through some simple meditations that should help.”

Following her lead, everyone else sat and began to meditate. Rika searched within herself for that piece of familiarity that she’d felt when she’d been part of Yoshika. She thought about all the moments they’d shared—from her fateful meeting with Lee Jia, to the harrowing trial they’d faced after releasing Jianmo, their separation and reunion, the bonds of trust and companionship they’d formed. Yoshika had even brought Rika together with both of her wonderful partners, and their adopted daughter.

Through her memories, and the bonds they shared, part of Yoshika would always live on, and it was that part that she focused on. Rika prayed desperately that it would be enough.

All around the room, the others went through the same thing. Their thoughts and feelings coalesced as Yoshika’s core glowed brighter and brighter.

In the center of the room, a brilliant point of light shone down on each of them. As if drawing in energy through each beam, the point of light grew larger and larger, slowly taking the shape of a human silhouette.

Bit by bit, its shape grew more distinct—petite frame, flowing hair, triangular ears, long tail, and a single horn on the right side of her forehead. The light burst, shattering like a shell of glass as Yoshika collapsed to the floor. Not the avatar puppet shaped after her, but her true form in the flesh.

Yoshika was unconscious, her breathing weak and labored, but she was alive.