Sitting beneath the largest tree at the center of the Hidden Realm's forest, Jin Shu unfolded a letter bearing his na—one he had found near the entrance.
Hey, Jin Shu. It's Tian Li.
There wasn't enough ti, otherwise everyone would have written sothing.
We wanted you to know that we probably won't be able to co here for a while. It was harder to establish a foothold than Master and the elders expected. There have been constant attacks by demonic beasts since we arrived, and we've found traces of other factions making their way into the desert. (They haven't found the path into the deepest area—where we are—yet, but it's only a matter of ti.)
But we're all safe, and everyone misses you.
See you soon! Kisses 💋
(That wasn't ! Li Xue wrote that!)
He scoffed at the half–crossed-out lipstick mark at the end of the note. If Li Xue had ti to ss around, she should have at least written sothing aningful. Then again, she wouldn't be herself if she did.
It sucked that he wouldn't be able to et them here, but he didn't want to waste the trip. Drawing in a deep breath, he closed his eyes and let his mind sink into his soul space.
The other two were already waiting.
They sat cross-legged beneath their elental affinities. Raging, hurricane-like winds churned tsunami-sized waves in a small ocean. Overhead, a ball of fire shone like a miniature sun, lightning buzzing through the dark clouds around it. Hidden within the chaos was an itty-bitty green seed.
Jin Shu joined them, crossing his legs and forming hand signs over his lap. The three of them slipped into ditation.
Shining threads of energy flowed from their souls into the suspended elents. Among them, three threads burned brightest, converging upon the tiny seed.
Thoughts flashed through their minds at rapid speed.
The Wood elent centers on trees, Jin Shu thought, but it is truly the embodint of all plant life.
His soul thread pulsed, and the seed grew slightly.
Wood draws nutrients from Earth, drinks Water to grow, cultivates energy from Fire, and filters Wind into breathable air, Gold shared.
Gold's thread flared brighter than Jin Shu's, and the seed expanded by two more sizes.
As the focal point of life, Wood is the most essential elent for cultivating Life energy, Shuang contributed. However, every elent must be present for life to exist—and to grow.
All of Shuang's threads blazed, causing each elent to swell slightly. The Wood seed responded the most, growing yet another size.
Their insights flowed in rapid succession, each thought strengthening an elent, though the majority of their focus remained on Wood.
After an indeterminate amount of ti, their insights were exhausted, and the soul threads withdrew.
Jin Shu opened his eyes—then blinked again at the changes overhead.
"Isn't this cheating?" he asked.
The other two looked up as well, just as stunned. The hurricane winds and storm clouds had rged, forming a colossal funnel of water that looked capable of swallowing the sky of their soul space. The once-tiny ball of fire now resembled a true sun, illuminating everything beneath it. And the seed—
It had beco a small sapling.
Its roots stretched toward each of the other elents, though two sections still lacked an elent to grow toward.
"Honestly?" Shuang said, nodding. "Kind of."
"Really?" Jin Shu asked.
He'd been joking.
"Yeah." Shuang nodded again. "Normally, even when three people share insights, you wouldn't see growth like this. That's because they're different individuals walking different paths. But we're technically the sa person—and we walk the sa path."
"So our insights stack," Jin Shu said.
"They multiply," Shuang corrected.
Jin Shu watched the elents interact, eyes bright. "Cool."
Stretching his soul body, Jin Shu yawned. "I didn't realize I could feel tired here."
"We've expended a lot of ntal energy," Shuang said. "It makes sense that we'd feel fatigued."
"I'm going to sleep," Gold announced.
A bed instantly manifested inside the soul space, and he collapsed onto it without another word.
Jin Shu and Shuang blinked at each other, then shrugged. Shuang followed Gold's example, while Jin Shu opened his eyes in the physical world. He pulled a real bed from his storage earring and settled down within the Hidden Realm.
With zero danger present, he slept more comfortably than he had in a long ti.
A heavy sandstorm raged across the desert, hurling tons of sand into chaotic spirals. Yet an even stronger wind tore straight through the storm's center, carving out a safe tunnel.
At the heart of that wind stood a brown-haired woman dressed in yellow. Perched on her shoulder was a small, silver, tiger-eared girl, her tiny wings beating rapidly to keep her balanced.
"How co your wind is as strong as mine?" Yin'er asked Li Xue curiously.
Her Wind elent was innate, and both her father and everyone else had always told her that her affinity was exceptionally powerful. Yet sohow, Li Xue's wind rivaled her own—despite only having awakened it not long ago. Yin'er couldn't understand how that was possible.
"Because I ate a rock."
Yin'er gave her a look that hovered sowhere between confusion and horror. "Um… I don't know a lot, but even I know you're not supposed to do that. You'll get a stomach ache."
"It did give a stomach ache," Li Xue admitted, nodding. "But it also unlocked my Wind affinity and pushed my cultivation into the Spirit Realm."
She tilted her head, studying Yin'er. "Say, shouldn't you have broken through by now? You've been stuck in the Core Realm forever."
"Big Sister i'er and Big Sister Chen said I need a special cultivation technique," Yin'er said. "And that only my clan would have it. Except…" She hesitated. "I don't have a clan."
"Aren't you a tiger?" Li Xue asked. "Can't you just find the Tiger Clan?"
Yin'er shrugged. It all sounded far too complicated. She only knew what she'd been told—and no one had ever outright said she didn't have a clan. That part was just her own assumption.
Not long after, their group erged from the sandstorm and stepped into the blinding sunlight beyond.
Li Xue relaxed her concentration. Yin'er stopped beating her wings. The wind dissipated around them.
Li Xue imdiately clutched her head. "Ah! Why does my head hurt so bad?"
"Because you overdrew your ntal energy by controlling the Wind elent for too long," Sun i'er said, approaching from behind. She placed a gentle hand on Li Xue's head.
Soft white light blood from her palm, washing Li Xue in a soothing warmth. Li Xue sighed in relief.
"Thanks," she said. "But how co I never hear Jin Shu complain about this?"
"That boy is special," Sun i'er replied calmly. "His ntal strength is stronger than three people combined."
"I see," Li Xue said, nodding. "He's a cheater."
"Basically."
"You're a cheater too!" Yin'er accused. "Rock-eater!"
Li Xue waved her hand, mimicking the sound of rushing air. "Fwoosh."
A sudden gust of wind tossed Yin'er off her shoulder.
Yin'er transford mid-flight, her body expanding into a dium-sized adolescent tiger. Her wings unfurled to nearly a ter wide, beating furiously as she charged back toward Li Xue, kicking up waves of sand and forming her own miniature sandstorm.
"Eat sand!" Yin'er shouted, giggling happily.
Li Xue summoned a twister around herself and dove straight into the sandstorm, bursting out the other side with her arms spread—ready to tackle Yin'er and turn this into a lee.
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She skidded to an abrupt halt.
Her face went pale. Her eyes widened in pure horror.
Standing behind Yin'er was Tian Li, arms crossed, scowling hard enough to carve grooves into stone. She glared daggers at Li Xue.
If looks could kill, Li Xue would already be minceat.
Li Xue imdiately raised both hands in surrender. She knew better than to ss with Yin'er when Tian Li was present.
There were two people in this world who loved Yin'er more than anything else. One was, of course, her dad—Jin Shu.
The other was Tian Li.
And of the two, Tian Li was far scarier.
"I—I didn't hurt her," Li Xue said ekly.
Yin'er tilted her head, glancing between them in confusion.
"I don't mind you playing around with Yin'er," Tian Li said, her smile chilling rather than warm. "However, would you care to explain these?"
She held up four crystal orbs.
Li Xue gulped.
"Haha… so you found those?" she said with a dry chuckle. "Sooo… um… t-those were j-just a joke. N-no need to worry! I—I'll just take them back."
She lunged forward, trying to snatch the image-recording stones.
Tian Li effortlessly sidestepped.
"I have two questions for you," Tian Li said coolly. "First—are you doing this on purpose? You left these in the robe you gave to repair." Her eyes narrowed. "Second—are you so kind of voyeur? Otherwise, why would you have recordings of us bathing?!"
"That was three questions—"
Tian Li took a single step forward.
Li Xue snapped her mouth shut instantly.
"Tell why," Tian Li said softly, "and maybe I'll spare you an inch of your life."
"I can explain! I just—"
Li Xue detonated the twister that had been calmly spinning around her. Sand exploded outward in a blinding wall, completely obscuring her from view.
She didn't attack Tian Li.
She ran.
Bolting in the opposite direction, Li Xue fled at full speed, kicking up chaos as she attempted a desperate escape.
As she ran, Li Xue passed a dead desert tree, thinking nothing of it.
Until—
The tree suddenly burst with new growth. Its roots tore free from the sand and lashed around Li Xue's ankles.
She barely had ti to yelp before Biyu appeared above her, Bai Wang manifesting at her side.
"Tie her up," Biyu said flatly.
Webs materialized in midair, wrapping tightly around Li Xue's hands, legs, and chest. The ones around her chest, however, were so loose they were practically useless.
"Are the ones around my chest really necessary?" Li Xue protested. "You're just humiliating !"
Biyu glanced at the webbing, then looked at Bai Wang with a questioning expression.
"Sorry—old habit," Bai Wang said apologetically.
She didn't remove the webbing. Instead, she grabbed the threads and slung Li Xue over her shoulder.
"What do you an old habit?" Li Xue shouted. "You've got a habit of tying up won with big boobs or sothing? Huh? You don't! You're just making fun of because I'm flat! Screw you!"
She kicked and struggled, making a huge fuss.
With a frown, Bai Wang lifted Li Xue off her shoulder and held her out at arm's length.
"Why would you care if your chest is big?" she asked, genuinely curious. "As long as your hips are wide and your butt is large, you can attract many mates. Then, when they are weak, you eat them to gain nutrients for your children."
Li Xue and Biyu both stared at her.
"What?" Bai Wang asked, clearly confused. "Did I say sothing wrong?"
"Sotis I forget you were a demonic beast," Li Xue muttered.
"Bai Wang," Biyu said patiently, "you can't sleep with n, then kill and eat them. That's a demonic path cultivator would do. We are orthodox cultivators—and so are you now that you're my guardian spirit."
Bai Wang's brow furrowed.
"Also," Li Xue added, tilting her head toward Tian Li, "human n aren't attracted to big butts. They like big chests. Like those."
"Nonsense," Tian Li said flatly, rolling her eyes.
"I see," Bai Wang nodded slowly, glancing between their chests. "So that is why you resorted to voyeurism. You could not attract a mate with your own rits, so you were acquiring bait. Very clever."
"No!" Li Xue shouted.
"It wasn't bait?"
"...Well," Li Xue hesitated. "It was, but not because I can't do it on my own—"
Tian Li and Biyu's expressions instantly frosted over.
"Wait! Wait—it's not like that!" Li Xue hurriedly said, panicking. "I thought if I gave them to Jin Shu, he'd finally do sothing instead of being so passive!"
"Of course he is," Biyu said, blushing faintly. "That's sothing for after marriage."
"If you want sothing to happen, shouldn't you act first?" Tian Li asked at the sa ti.
They paused, glancing at each other as they realized they were very much not on the sa page.
"No—wait! I wasn't talking about… sex," Li Xue said, cheeks warming. "I just wanted sothing more than kissing."
Both won raised their brows.
"And that involved secretly recording us bathing?" Tian Li asked.
"Uh, well…" Li Xue shrank slightly. "Momma said I should 'stoke his fire,' but she didn't explain how. And I'm not very confident because, y'know… compared to you two—and even Liu Hua—I'm short and… lacking."
"Still," Tian Li said coolly, gesturing at the bindings, "you could have asked. Not that we would have agreed—but this wouldn't have happened."
"Right…" Li Xue sighed. "So… can you let go now?"
"You rember what happened the last ti you pulled sothing like this, right?" Biyu said. "I still haven't completely forgiven you."
"But it all worked out in the end, didn't it?" Li Xue argued. "You awakened your physique, and we got to hear Jin Shu's thoughts about us."
"That doesn't excuse what you did," Biyu said after a mont. "But… fine. There had better not be a next ti. Otherwise, I really won't go easy on you."
She signaled to Bai Wang.
With a flick of her claws, the webs were cut. Li Xue dropped unceremoniously into the red sand with a soft thud.
"Seriously, girl, are you stupid?" Biyu asked. "There were so many ways you could've gone about this. Do you actually think he isn't attracted to you?"
Tian Li nodded along. "I grew up in a brothel. Trust when I say this—n are attracted to all won."
"Are you sure?" Li Xue asked, still uncertain.
Biyu sighed, rubbing her temple.
"He's already asked us to marry him—all three of us—and we haven't even been together that long," she said. "So tell . Attracted or not?"
Li Xue looked a little more convinced after that, though the three of them continued talking for so ti.
So distance away, Sun i'er and Chen Ai Yun watched the scene unfold.
"Look at them, 'sharing insights' like good sisters," Sun i'er laughed. "Our son is one lucky boy. If only he'd acknowledge all the effort I've put in for him."
Chen Ai Yun rolled her eyes, letting out a long sigh. "You spoil him rotten."
"Oh? Do I?" Sun i'er asked, her eyes curving into sly crescent moons. "Who was it that locked him away in her sect and disrupted my plans, hmm?"
Chen Ai Yun looked away guiltily. "We needed to confirm he wasn't possessed…"
"Sure—but I had to rush all the way back, and now we're stuck here without a foothold."
"It was too dangerous," Chen Ai Yun replied quietly. "Still is."
"Cultivation and danger go hand in hand," Sun i'er said lightly. "He'll have to learn that himself."
"I didn't an just for him," Chen Ai Yun said. "I ant you, too."
Sun i'er smiled warmly. "I love you too, honey~"
"I didn't—" Chen Ai Yun stopped herself and sighed again. "Whatever. I'm not arguing with you. Let's just focus on setting everything up."
She turned away from the girls and began issuing instructions to the assembled disciples and elders. Now that they had reached the heart of the desert, it was ti to establish their base.
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