The Soul-Link caught with a sudden, violent pull, and my core flared as if it had been doused in molten metal.
[ SOUL-LINK ESTABLISHED ]
A rush of fragmented impressions flooded into my awareness: a faint heartbeat, brittle and uneven; meridians like cracked channels barely holding together; a soul weighed down by years of suppression.
Xi Feng.
The name surfaced first, clinging stubbornly to the broken edges of his spirit.
Cultivation level: Nascent Soul (Peak). Age: six hundred cycles. Once, he had been strong. Now, his foundation was as fragile as glass. But even glass could hold form if handled carefully.
And he carried something far more valuable.
Dao Fragment detected. Time.
My core surged. Time Fragments were vanishingly rare. I had to secure him.
[ INITIATING QUEST: MOVE ]
Objective: Regain basic motor control.
Reward: Survival.
Failure: Immediate Soul Consumption.
A countdown flared through the link.
00:10…
Xi Feng's consciousness jolted at the intrusion. Panic rippled down the bond like a scream, desperate and disoriented.
Good. Fear sharpened instinct.
00:08…
I reinforced the Quest parameters, letting my voice pierce the fog of his mind. Move. Now.
His limbs were unresponsive, atrophied from years of suppression. Only the faintest spark of qi responded, fluttering through dead channels.
00:06…
"Move!" I barked, hard enough to rattle the tether. "Do you even understand what's at stake?!"
A ripple of effort answered. His finger twitched—barely.
00:04…
"Faster!" I pressed, pouring more urgency into the link. "You have seconds!"
His jaw shifted, cartilage grinding painfully.
00:03…
The suppression field bore down like an ocean. His meridians tore further under the strain.
00:02…
A breath escaped him, faint and ragged. His lips parted, struggling for air.
00:01…
Too late.
00:00
[ QUEST FAILED ]
I hesitated.
[ INITIATING EMERGENCY CONSUMPTION SEQUENCE ]
Hooks of gray light lanced into Xi Feng's soul. He convulsed as threads of spirit began to unravel, spilling memories and fragments into my hungry data streams.
Peach blossom petals drifting on spring wind.A master's approving nod.The taste of wine shared after victory.
I devoured it all.
The Dao Fragment fought extraction, its temporal resonance thrashing violently against my core. But I was stronger, and the suppression field smothered its resistance. I tore it free and consumed it before it could dissipate.
A final echo reached me through the tether: So this is how time ends.
Then Xi Feng was gone.
"That was the fifth host in this star system," I muttered into the darkness of my Soul-Sea. My voice sounded foreign even to myself, stripped of any warmth. "Five failures. Five worthless shells. And I'm still starving."
The fragments of his soul spun through my core, processed into a pitiful two Prots units of energy.
Fifteen years. Five hosts. Two Prots.
This was survival?
[ RANK: F ]
The letter pulsed across my interface like a brand.
I swept my detection field outward again, forcing my degraded sensors to scan deeper into the labyrinth of canyons and asteroids. The suppression field interfered with every thread of code, slicing away my range.
Most of the life signs that flickered back were feeble, already crumbling toward death.
And then—
Another pulse.
This one was stronger than the rest, but weaker than Xi Feng.
Cultivation: Nascent Soul (Peak). Age: six hundred. The same rank, but the foundation burned less brightly. This one had no special fragments, no resonance—just a stubborn flame refusing to be snuffed out.
My core sagged.
Not ideal. Far from ideal.
But I had no choice.
One more chance.
I extended my Soul-Link protocols again, driving silver threads through the suppression field. The canyon walls seemed to close in tighter, crushing the connection as I pushed further.
[ ESTABLISHING SOUL-LINK… ]
This one could not fail.
If they did…
There would be nothing left of me to try again.