The cave was beautiful in a way that hurt the eyes. The walls were covered in Ice Spirit
Crystals, pulsing with a rhythmic blue light. The temperature was so low that Li Wei had to wear
a heavy fur coat and sit by a magical fire pot just to keep his blood from freezing.
Su Mei sat in the center of the spirit vein. She had stripped off her outer robes, wearing only a
thin white shift. The cold didn't bother her; it embraced her.
She had been in meditation for seven days.
Li Wei sat near the entrance, gnawing on dried jerky. He was the gatekeeper. A useless
gatekeeper. If anything came in, he could do nothing but scream to warn her.
The air in the cave suddenly grew heavy. The crystals began to hum, a high-pitched resonance
that made Li Wei's teeth ache.
[System Warning: Beneficiary Breaking Through.] [Stage: Foundation Establishment.]
[Anomaly Detected: The Heart Demon Trial.]
Li Wei stiffened. "Heart Demon? What happens?"
[The cultivator faces their greatest attachment. To build a perfect Foundation, one must
be like a rock—unmoved by wind or rain. Attachments create cracks in the foundation.]
In the center of the cave, Su Mei's face twisted. She wasn't in physical pain; she was in a
nightmare. Her brow furrowed. Tears—actual tears—began to form, freezing instantly on her
cheeks.
"No..." she murmured. "Don't go... Li Wei..."
Li Wei's heart leaped. She's dreaming of me. She's afraid of losing me.
For a moment, hope flared in his chest. She still cared. The coldness was just a mask. Deep
down, she was still his Mei'er.
He stood up, wanting to rush to her, to hold her hand.
[STOP. Do not interfere. If you touch her now, the Qi backlash will vaporize you and
cripple her.]
Li Wei froze. He could only watch.
Su Mei's expression shifted. The fear turned to anger. Then, slowly, to a terrifying blankness.
"I... accept," she whispered.
The air exploded.
A shockwave of pure blue energy blasted outward. Li Wei was thrown back against the cave
wall, protected only by the System's emergency barrier.
The humming stopped. The crystals dimmed.
In the silence, a sound echoed. Crack.
Su Mei stood up. She didn't use her hands to push herself up; she simply rose, levitating three
inches off the ground. The air around her distorted.
She opened her eyes. They were no longer brown. They were a pale, icy blue, rimmed with
silver.
She took a breath, and the entire cave seemed to inhale with her.
"Foundation Establishment," she said. Her voice echoed, sounding like it came from everywhere
at once.
Li Wei scrambled to his feet. He brushed the dust off his coat. "Mei'er! You did it!"
He stepped forward, smiling, relief washing over him. "You were crying. I was so worried."
Su Mei looked at him. She tilted her head, studying him as if he were a stranger she vaguely "Crying?" She touched her cheek, feeling the frozen tear. She flicked it away. "It was... a
necessary purge. The illusion tried to bind me with fear of loss."
"Illusion?" Li Wei asked, his smile faltering.
"The Heart Demon showed me your death," Su Mei explained calmly. "It showed me a future
where I stayed in the mortal world, and you died of old age in my arms. It tried to make me feel
regret."
"And?" Li Wei whispered.
"And I realized," Su Mei said, floating closer, towering over him even though she was shorter,
"that death is inevitable for mortals. Regretting the sunset is foolish. To ascend, I must accept
that the sun sets, and I must remain in the dark."
She placed a hand on his shoulder. It wasn't affectionate. It was heavy.
"I severed the fear, Li Wei. I am no longer afraid of your death."
Li Wei felt the blood drain from his face. She hadn't severed him—she wasn't that far gone
yet—but she had severed the part of her that panicked at the thought of losing him. She had
accepted his mortality as a sunken cost.
"I see," Li Wei said. His voice sounded hollow. "That is... good. For your cultivation."
"Yes. It is perfect."
She walked past him toward the exit. She didn't walk; she glided.
"Come, husband. I can fly now. We no longer need the carriage."
They exited the cave. The sky was clear. Su Mei waved her hand, and her spirit sword enlarged,
hovering in the air. She stepped onto it gracefully.
She looked down at him. "Give me your hand."
Li Wei reached up. She pulled him onto the sword, placing him behind her.
"Hold on," she commanded.
The sword shot into the sky. The ground fell away instantly. The trees became specks. The wind
roared in Li Wei's ears, cold and biting.
He wrapped his arms around her waist to keep from falling. Her body was hard as stone,
protected by a layer of Qi that he couldn't penetrate. He wasn't holding his wife; he was holding
a statue.
He looked down at the world below. It was so small. So insignificant.
This is how she sees me now, Li Wei realized. Small. Down there.
"Where are we going?" he shouted over the wind.
"The Azure Cloud Sect," Su Mei called back, her voice filled with ambition. "They rejected you
ten years ago. Today, they will beg to take me in."
Li Wei rested his forehead against her cold back and closed his eyes. He was finally going back
to the place that had ruined him, carried by the very thing that was destroying him.