"You can call me Cor.", he said, his voice echoing around her inner world.

Jian Li was left speechless after that. She blinked rapidly several times as she tried to take it all in. It felt as though her head was filled with murky water.

"What... happened? What did you do to me?" Jian Li finally managed to ask.

Cor gave a chuckle in response. "You must think I'm a joke or a figment of your imagination, don't you? That is understandable."

"Obviously not, what are you even saying? How did you get into my inner world? Who are you? Where are you from? Why are you here?", Jian Li was starting to panic slightly, but she had to know the truth.

"I told you already, I'm a friend. Just a friend. And why should that be such a big deal to you? Everyone has friends.", the unsettling echoes kept going off.

"But... You’re probably not even human right? Why are you in my inner world, talking to me?", Jian Li asked, her tone becoming increasingly suspicious as she spoke.

"You have clearly seen the state I am in. If you thought other humans could just leave and enter inner worlds, then you clearly have yet to learn how things work. You could easily be the one in my position at the moment," Cor said.

Jian Li was silent for a moment as she felt that a headache imminent. "Alright, alright. You're probably a spirit or something then. So, what do you really want from me? And why did you fall out of the void?"

"I will answer that question soon enough. For now, I shall tell you why I fell out of the void."

Jian Li immediately became more interested and raised an eyebrow at the clouds.

"I fell out of the void because of you. Well, for lack of a better word, your kind. You seem to have quite the effect on me.", Cor said, gradually switching to a more serious tone.

"You are a living being. You exist in a body, and I am a non-living entity.", he continued to explain.

Jian Li blinked at his words, somewhat dumbfounded. "But why are you even here? In this world, and in my inner world? Could you please make it make sense?"

That's a rather difficult question to answer, don't you agree?", a playful tone took over again, as Jian Li strangely felt like she could hear him smiling.

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"I don't understand.", she said.

"Of course not. I do not understand either.", Cor said.

"Are you being deliberately vague?", Jian Li asked in exasperation.

"If you'd stop asking questions, you wouldn't need to be annoyed at my answers.", he said, still maintaining the same tone.

"Hmph..." Jian Li huffed, then decided to try a different approach. "Fine, I'll keep it simple. One question. What are you here to do?"

Cor laughed lightly before responding. "To help you, of course. I can feel that your strength is not where you want it to be. I'm sure you've noticed that, too, right?"

"I suppose I have, but what does that mean? Why are you helping me? How are you helping me?", Jian Li asked.

"Didn't I say I'm a friend? Friends help their friends.", he said, with a slight chuckle escaping his lips.

"And how exactly am I supposed to repay you?" Jian Li said bluntly.

"By continuing to cultivate and become stronger. By becoming stronger, you will naturally be able to help others.", he said.

"Oh. I see. I guess I owe you one after all." Jian Li smirked. "So, when are you going to tell me about who you really are?"

"When the time comes, I shall,". The constant echoing started to sound faint before abruptly ceasing to exist altogether.

"And when does this time come? Hello?", Jian Li strangely sensed a presence leave as there suddenly was no response. Unsettled by not getting any answers from him, Jian Li kept calling out to Cor for a couple minutes before giving up.

After that, she began to ponder on the strange meeting with Cor. He seemed friendly, and Jian Li felt that he didn't have the intention of harming her. Still, there was something off about his behaviour, but Jian Li could not put a finger on it. He never told her why he looked so damaged in the first place.

However, the strange feeling that Jian Li had felt in the void being brought to her inner world made her have her guard up against him. The feeling made her uneasy as she pondered on what might happen if she actually met him again.

Jian Li had never met anyone in the real world who could freely pass through the void into another person's inner world, nor was she aware of anyone in her sect or in her family, who possessed this ability.

Later on after asking He Yu, she had told her that some Spirit Arts were capable of forcing their way into others inner worlds in order to damage them from the inside. Avoiding the strange look that He Yu gave her, Jian Li decided against telling her about what transpired.

She felt like it was unnecessary to bring up something this weird to He Yu, especially since she probably had enough to think about with the vanishing of Jian Ye. Even asking the other, elders randomly about a man named Cor raised eyebrows, as no one knew anything.

Besides, if the strange man really wanted to hurt her, Jian Li had a hunch that he could have done so whenever he wanted to anyways. It still felt uncomfortable for Jian Li that someone could forcibly just enter her inner world at any point.

‘Is it even my own inner world anymore?’, Jian Li pondered this for days before finally calming down. Since it took him over 10 years to meet with her again, there was probably a long time before their next meeting. And even if she wanted to meet him, she had no way of getting in touch with him in the first place. Jian Li was pretty certain that the only time they would meet would be when he wanted to.

So, Jian Li had to be satisfied with the knowledge that she was safe for now. And besides, there was nothing to be gained in worrying. She was happy to at least focus on her own training for the moment.

She decided that she could worry about the future when the future came.