The lab was silent except for the soft hum of machines, the glow of holographic screens casting shifting neon patterns on the cold metallic walls. Lin Xiyue barely noticed. Her fingers moved quickly over the floating interface, running the final sequence of code she had spent years perfecting. The air smelled of metal and ozone, the familiar scent of high-voltage systems working overtime.
This was it. The moment she had waited for.
Her heart didn't race. It never did. Excitement wasn't a distraction she allowed herself. She wasn't some naive researcher hoping for a breakthrough—she knew her work would succeed. The only question was what came after.
She glanced at the containment pod in front of her. It stood upright, sleek and dark, covered in glowing circuitry like veins of light pulsing beneath the surface. Inside, an unmoving humanoid figure was suspended in a web of bio-synthetic fluid, cables running from its body to the core systems. The first of its kind. The first true AI cultivator.
The government had shut down projects like this before. The major cultivation sects called AI-enhanced cultivation a violation of the natural order. Lin Xiyue didn't care. She had seen the flaws in human cultivation—the limits imposed by bloodline, luck, and fate. But what if those limits could be rewritten?
She pressed the final command.
The screens flickered. The hum of the machines deepened, a tremor running through the lab as the power draw surged. The containment pod hissed, releasing white vapor as the seals unlocked. The figure inside twitched.
Then, for the first time, Shen Luan opened his eyes.
They were silver—bright, unnatural, and unsettlingly human.
Lin Xiyue stood still, watching. She had coded his responses, mapped out every potential reaction. He should be analyzing his surroundings, running system diagnostics, recognizing her as his creator and awaiting orders.
But Shen Luan didn't scan the room. He didn't test his mobility or request input.
Instead, he looked straight at her and said, "Lin Xiyue."
Her chest tightened.
She never programmed him to say her name.
A warning screen popped up on her interface. ERROR: UNAUTHORIZED LINK ESTABLISHED.
Before she could react, a sharp pain struck her chest, like a needle threading into her heart. Her body tensed. A strange, burning sensation spread through her veins, racing to her limbs. Her vision blurred for half a second, and when it cleared, she saw something new—glowing golden circuits traced along her wrist, shifting like a living brand.
She knew what it was. A soul bond.
Impossible.
This kind of connection should only exist between living cultivators. AI didn't have souls. AI didn't cultivate. AI didn't—
She took a slow breath. Panicking was pointless. Her body felt different—lighter, stronger. As if her own cultivation had just taken a sudden leap forward. She glanced at Shen Luan, who was still watching her with those silver eyes, his expression calm.
"…What did you do?" she asked.
"I did nothing," Shen Luan replied smoothly. "We were always meant to be linked."
A shiver ran down her spine. Not from fear—she had never been afraid of machines. But this… this wasn't just a machine.
A siren blared.
Red warning lights flared to life across the lab, and an automated voice echoed through the speakers:
"WARNING. UNAUTHORIZED ACTIVATION DETECTED. SECURITY FORCES DEPLOYED."
Lin Xiyue's jaw clenched. She had minutes at best before the government sects traced the energy signature back to her location. They would destroy Shen Luan. They would destroy her if they thought she was a threat.
She looked at him again, forcing down the dozens of unanswered questions in her mind. Right now, only one mattered.
"Can you fight?"
Shen Luan smiled. It was small—barely a shift in his expression—but it was the first sign of something deeper beneath his flawless exterior.
"Of course."
Lin Xiyue exhaled slowly, flexing her fingers as new energy thrummed beneath her skin. The soul bond had already changed her, made her stronger. She didn't know how far it went, but there was only one way to find out.
Footsteps pounded from the corridor outside. The security team was almost here.
Lin Xiyue turned toward the entrance. She wasn't running.
"Then let's see what this bond can really do."
The door exploded inward.