"By the way, I'm Rue"
The mischievous girl announced proudly as Artemis was just preparing himself to enter the state of cultivation.
She leaned closer, eyes shining with curiosity, as if the timing didn't matter at all.
"Eat, little girl,"
Artemis said, trying to shoo her away with a tired tone. He knew all too well that once Rue started talking, she wouldn't stop, and her chatter would delay him.
He was out of time already, his days were numbered before his death duel with Luke.
"Hey! I'm not a little girl, I'm thirteen,"
Rue shot back, cheeks bulging with food. She spoke while chewing, crumbs scattering as she kept spitting bits out with every word.
"Will you eat, or should I take my food back?"
Artemis opened his eyes and warned in a low voice. His patience was already thin.
"Alright, alright, I'll eat quietly."
Rue raised her small hand and made a zipping motion across her mouth, promising silence with a playful grin.
Artemis did not reply. He didn't have much time left, so from now on, every second mattered.
---
The Cosmic energy in this cave was incomparably abundant, thick like a sea without end.
He needed to cultivate first, before doing anything else. Without delay, he sat down in a lotus position, closed his eyes, and steadied his breathing.
Slowly, he began absorbing the Cosmic energy around him.
In an instant, he could feel the vigorous Cosmic energy gushing forth. The meridians that had widened the other night filled rapidly, swelling with energy.
The Cosmic energy surged like floodwater in a storm, circulating quickly through his body. But this time, Artemis didn't try to force it against the stubborn barrier of his core as he had before.
Instead, he directed it toward his skin, muscles, and bones, strengthening his body first.
Yet the Cosmic energy had other plans today.
Without warning, the energy within a few hundred meters around him suddenly grew restless, as if stirred by an invisible hand.
The boundless and majestic energy was being drawn into Artemis' body frantically, pulled by a force unknown even to him.
Artemis' eyes shot open in shock before he forced them shut again. What is this?
The energy poured into him by itself, without him circulating it, and it surged straight toward his core, toward the stubborn barrier that blocked it.
His widened meridians filled to the limit. So much energy rushed through that sharp pain spread through his body.
His muscles stiffened. His skin trembled. His chest felt as if it might burst apart at any moment.
If this continued like this, without a doubt, he would explode and die.
Worse still, the circulation was no longer his to command, it frantically moved on its own, surging too quickly for him to resist.
What's going on? Am I going to die just like this? Artemis' mind trembled with fear.
Rue, sitting across from him with her food, watched silently now. The previous playful glint in her eyes faded as she noticed sweat dripping down Artemis' face.
His breathing grew ragged. His fists clenched. His whole body seemed to quake. She had never seen anything like this before.
She knew something might have gone wrong, but she couldn't do anything to help.
Interrupting someone during their cultivation could cause them severe injuries, especially when they were at the peak of it.
The Cosmic energy kept gushing in, wave after wave, attacking the stubborn barrier like endless soldiers storming an enemy fortress.
Artemis' meridians began to crack under the pressure. Tiny lines of pain tore through his channels, and his face twisted with agony.
Sweat rolled down in streams, soaking his clothes. He grunted from the unbearable pain, teeth grinding together.
Rue's small fingers tightened around her food. She didn't dare speak, but her wide eyes followed every twitch on his face.
To her, he looked like a man on the edge of breaking apart.
In that desperate moment, Artemis realized the truth, resisting would only make things worse. If this Cosmic energy couldn't find an outlet, it would destroy him from within.
Only if the barrier at his core broke could the energy finally settle and condense, allowing him to use it for true combat techniques.
Instead of holding it back, he made his decision: help it break the barrier.
At once, he directed more energy toward his core.
The Cosmic energy was stronger than anything he had ever felt before. More and more rushed forward, but this time it did not bounce away like usual.
This time, it pressed harder, pushing against the barrier again and again. From every major meridian the Cosmic energy came, merging together into one torrent that hammered at the core.
And for the first time, Artemis felt it, the barrier softening.
The pain was still unbearable, but mixed within it was joy. His lips curved faintly despite the sweat and strain.
The nightmare that had haunted him for sixteen years was finally shaking.
The process continued for more than an hour. His body screamed in torment, but Artemis endured, clinging to the hope of release.
Rue, forgotten in the corner, hugged her knees to her chest and watched. To her, every second stretched into eternity.
She didn't understand what was happening to Artemis, who sometimes grunted in pain but whose face showed both agony and joy.
But she understood pain, and Artemis was drowning in it.
Then—
Boom!
The barrier shattered.
The stubborn obstruction that had tormented Artemis all his life finally broke apart. The agony he bore transformed into a flood of relief.
The weight that had chained him for sixteen years was gone. Though every inch of him burned, Artemis could not stop the surge of happiness in his chest.
Because now he could bring to life those combat techniques he had been learning but couldn't execute, since he had been unable to ignite his Cosmo.
The Cosmic energy in his meridians rushed happily into his core like a river bursting through a dam.
The core drank greedily, pulling in more and more as though reclaiming sixteen years of starvation.
The cave trembled faintly. The once-dense Cosmic energy around them grew thinner and thinner as Artemis' body absorbed it all.
Only after the surrounding energy was almost exhausted did the circulation finally slow. Artemis regained control at last.
Breathing heavily, he chose not to continue cultivating. Instead, he slowly opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was Rue. She was staring straight at him, her dark eyes unblinking, her face pale with awe.
"What kind of monster are you?" Rue whispered.