Eui’s visit with Misun had left her with more questions than answers. Both Misun and her mother professed to simply trust her to do whatever was best for Haeun and Eunae, but neither of them gave the other that same benefit. In a similar vein, neither of them had actually made a specific request of her. Her best guess was that both were trying to manipulate her into something that they could plausibly deny any involvement in, but what?

If Misun’s self-described crackpot theory about Seong Heiran was true, then Minhee would have to be complicit in hiding it, but if Eui stopped to think about it, was that really so strange? Seong Heiran was one of the most hated people in the entire history of the continent, let alone the country, and that was reason enough to want to cut ties.

And what exactly was Misun trying to imply, anyway? Did she think Seong Heiran had somehow brainwashed her older sisters? To what end? As far as Eui knew, the Kumiho’s bewitching gaze didn’t work on other members of the Seong Clan. Or was it the other way around? Did Seong Eunhee have a hand in turning Heiran into the monster she was remembered as?

There wasn’t much point in guessing. It would have made things easier if she could investigate the claim more thoroughly, but that was difficult to do when she’d sworn herself to secrecy.

If only Qin Zhao hadn’t left—if anyone could have helped her unravel difficult questions about lost history, it would have been him.

Although, there was one other option. Heian had once shared ancestral memories with her, and while they’d been messy and difficult to parse, it had revealed quite a bit about the history and origin of half-spirits—another subject of scholarly debate largely lost to history.

If Misun was concerned about the influence of the Kumiho, perhaps it would be possible to ask the Seong’s spiritual ancestor directly.

That would require Eunae’s cooperation, however, and Eui didn’t want to bother her while she was in the middle of preparing for her breakthrough. Maybe there would be time after the girls had taken their test.

Eui returned to their room to find the girls in the middle of a heated debate.

“Narae, that’s far too dangerous. What if you fail?”

Narae waved off Haeun’s concerns.

“Heian might die, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

Eui crossed her arms and snapped her tail like a whip.

“Excuse me?!”

Narae winced, sweating nervously as she rushed to explain herself.

“I-I mean, I don’t think it will actually happen! And she said she’s interested, and—can I just explain first?”

Eui sighed and shook her head. She couldn’t leave these girls alone for a second.

“Maybe you’d better. What’s this about killing Heian?”

Haeun slammed her hands on the table and pointed accusingly at her partner in crime.

“Narae thinks she’s figured out something that’s stumped the entire world for the last ten thousand years or more.”

Narae waved her hands and shook her head urgently.

“No I don’t! You’re making too big a deal out of this, Haeun. I just had an idea about a new problem that might also solve an old one.”

For her part, Heian rested her head on the table and watched the entire proceeding with a mildly amused expression on her face, her tail swishing lazily behind her. Eui pinched the bridge of her nose and groaned.

“Stop making excuses and just explain. What’s this idea? How does it involve killing my daughter?”

Narae swallowed nervously.

“It doesn’t, honestly! Er, probably not. Maybe.”

“Narae!”

“Okay, sorry! I think it might be possible to refine a divine crystal by—”

Eui moved faster than the eye could follow, slapping a hand over Narae’s mouth and rapidly weaving multiple privacy spells with the other.

“Okay, not another word until I say so, understood?”

Narae squeaked affirmatively and nodded her head.

Her disciples waited in silence as Eui took the time to properly draw out a set of thorough magical wards to prevent any chance of eavesdropping. When she was finished, she let out a sigh of relief, then whirled on her little sister angrily.

“What the hell were you thinking?! Jiaguo’s reflecting pool is one of the few things I’ve told you very specifically not to talk about.”

Narae winced.

“S-sorry, I thought it would be fine as long as we didn’t actually talk about divine crystals in connection with it.”

Eui turned to Haeun.

“And you didn’t think any better of it?”

“Erm, I thought the same thing, actually.”

“Unbelievable. Heian, what’s your excuse?”

Her daughter rolled over and shrugged lazily.

“I don’t really care, and I wanted to hear more. I like her idea.”

Huh. Well, that was actually a ringing endorsement.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Fine, Narae. Let’s hear it—but I hope you know that there’s almost no chance I’m letting you present it to Seong Min.”

She nodded seriously, clearing her throat and composing herself.

“So, we know that in theory a balanced mana stone can potentially be refined into a divine crystal—I figured it was okay to talk about that much, since it’s not really new information. Dae knew about it before we started using them to power the reflecting pool.”

Eui sighed—maybe she’d overreacted a little bit.

“Alright, fair enough—and you think you’ve figured out a way to do it that involves Heian somehow?”

“Right! Those neutral stones can be attuned to any sort of mana, and even given intent using tricks like Haeun’s summoning. But, what if instead of attuning a mana crystal with one of those pseudo-spirits, an actual spirit charged it with their own essence?”

Eui furrowed her brow. That was actually an excellent question. She turned to Heian with a questioning glance. Her daughter dutifully answered her unasked question.

“I’m not sure either. Usually I just eat mana crystals and convert the useful bits into more of myself. That’s how spirits are born and grow. What Narae is suggesting would only be possible with a mana crystal that was either already perfectly attuned to my essence, which doesn’t exist, or...”

“Or with a perfectly neutral one.”

Heian nodded. Eui hummed thoughtfully as she considered it. It was an intriguing idea, but there were a lot of gaps that needed to be filled.

“I assume you’ve got a working hypothesis about what you think will happen. Where did divine crystals come from?”

Narae nodded enthusiastically.

“We actually had a class about it once, right Haeun?”

“Well, yes, but I still think you’re jumping to conclusions.”

Ignoring her friend’s skepticism, Narae soldiered on.

“According to modern understanding of mana theory, divine essence is a higher form of mana that can only be achieved through careful refinement and perfect balance. But if that was all it took, then any old balanced mana stone would be a divine crystal, and while those are hard to manufacture, they’re not impossible for even a highly skilled and determined houtian cultivator to produce.”

“Did you just quote that directly from Dae?”

“Uh, no.”

Haeun snorted.

“It was from Professor Hwang.”

“Haeun, you snitch!”

Eui sighed and shook her head.

“Never mind, keep going.”

“Right. So every xiantian cultivator describes it differently—if they’re even willing to talk about it at all—but there’s something extra needed to trigger the transformation from regular essence to divine essence. Some sort of spark of animus that separates thinking beings from stuff like plants and bugs.”

“Melati was once a colony of ‘unthinking’ insects, you know.”

Narae shrugged.

“Maybe they’re wrong about plants, too. That’s not the point—the point is that a divine crystal can’t be created without that spark. In other words, no matter how perfectly refined or balanced you get them, they’ll always just be mana stones.”

“Why not elementals? That’s usually how they’re born, isn’t it?”

Haeun raised her hand to answer.

“We can’t say with absolute certainty that they wouldn’t, but it’s most likely impossible for elementals to form from neutral essence. According to the origination hypothesis, if life could emerge from pure divine essence, that’s the only kind of life that would exist.”

“That’s a pretty flimsy thing to hang your entire theory on.”

Narae shook her head undeterred.

“That’s why we have to test it! If we assume that pure essence elementals aren’t a real thing, and that Jianmo’s testimony about the existence of divine crystals is accurate, then by process of elimination, there’s only one way for a neutral mana stone to gain the spark necessary to ignite its transformation into a divine crystal. A spirit!”

Eui crossed her arms.

“That also implies that all divine crystals are sentient beings and that using them as any sort of power source is extremely immoral.”

“Uh...yes. I guess it does. I...did not think of that.”

Before she could say anything else, Heian interjected.

“I don’t really care about the divine crystal thing. Possessing a mana stone like that sounds a lot like creating a core, and if I can inhabit a core, then that core can inhabit a body. I can finally have my own physical form.”

Suddenly, the pieces all fit together, and Eui understood exactly what she’d walked in on earlier.

“So that’s what you meant. As soon as Heian attunes the crystal, if you’re right about any of this, then there’s a risk that it will trigger a tribulation to punish her for achieving embodiment.”

Narae nodded.

“Exactly! It’s risky, but I think it’s worth the risk. We just need to prepare for it like any other tribulation.”

“And you’re not at all concerned about the fact that no spirit has ever successfully survived embodiment?”

“Jianmo did it, didn’t they? And no spirit has ever done it our way. Besides, you’ve been planning on giving Heian a body since forever. You have to try something eventually.”

Eui put her hands on her hips.

“Yes, after carefully planning things out, testing ideas, and minimizing the risk as much as possible. We don’t just try out random ideas with potentially life-altering—or ending—consequences on a whim!”

Heian looked up at Eui with an arch expression and Eui pointed warningly at her.

“Not a word.”

Narae huffed.

“Oh come on! We all think it can work—even Haeun. And Heian wants to try it, right? Shouldn’t she be able to make her own decision?”

Eui hesitated. That was a compelling point, but she couldn’t make the choice by herself. For the second time in as many hours, Yoshika had to take a step back and give the problem her full attention.

On one hand, Narae was correct—Heian had the right to her own self-determination. Her theory was...if not good, then at least well-founded. Heaven knew that they’d made far graver choices on much flimsier foundations—but usually under extremely dire pressure. Usually, but not always.

On the other, they were young—even Heian, despite the ageless nature of her soul. Making mistakes was the privilege of youth, but protecting the youth from those mistakes was the responsibility of those older and wiser.

Ugh, was she really turning into the stodgy old elder that refused to let her disciples explore on their own? No, her concerns were valid. The risk outweighed the merits, and that was before even considering the implications of demonstrating all of this to a rival who, now that Yoshika was thinking about it, was almost certainly trying to bait her into exactly this sort of reckless disclosure of cultivation secrets.

In the end, however, it was Heian’s eyes that made the decision for them.

Even in the near-stillness of Absolute Awareness, the pleading gaze of Yoshika’s daughter bored into her soul. This was her chance. The first real opportunity to become what she’d always strived to be—what Yoshika had been raising her into from the beginning. Heian wanted to be a person, and Yoshika couldn’t possibly deny her that.

“I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this.”

The girls’ faces lit up, but Yoshika held up two fingers to pre-empt their celebration.

“I have two conditions. First, you check absolutely every single part of this with me before any experimentation. Not a single mote of Heian’s essence touches a mana stone or formation without my express permission.”

They nodded solemnly, waiting for Eui to continue.

“Second, I’m going to be giving the three of you a set of drills to practice your spellforms. I want each of you to complete the entire set of drills a thousand times.”

Narae’s eyes practically bulged out of her head.

“In just two weeks?!”

Eui scoffed.

“No, don’t be ridiculous. Not a thousand in two weeks.”

She couldn’t help but smile at her little sister’s premature sigh of relief.

“That’s per day.”