The first sensation that greeted Nova as consciousness returned was power.
A power he hadnt felt in a long time.
Not the faint flicker of qi he'd grown accustomed to over the years, but a roaring current of energy flowing through his meridians like a river unleashed from a dam. His dantian, which had been little more than a dried husk, now thrummed with vibrant spiritual force.
The seventh stage of Qi Refining.
Nova's eyes snapped open as the realization crashed over him.
He'd broken through. Not just one stage, but seven in a single night. His cultivation base, stagnant since his first breakthrough centuries ago, had exploded upward in one violent surge of advancement.
He could feel it—the way his life force no longer guttered like a dying candle but burned steady and strong. His lifespan had extended by decades at minimum. The suffocating weight of impending death that had hung over him for so long... had simply vanished.
Slowly, Nova became aware of his surroundings.
This wasn't the bathing chamber. He was in a bed—an impossibly soft bed with silk sheets that probably cost more than he'd earned in a lifetime of service. The room around him was elegant and spacious, decorated with tasteful furniture and artifacts that screamed wealth and power.
This was Luna Ophelia's private quarters.
Memory returned in a heated rush. The bathhouse. The energy exchange. The way they'd... and then later, they'd moved here, to her bed, continuing through the night until—
Nova's face burned.
He sat up slowly, and that's when the second realization hit him.
His body felt different. Wrong. No—not wrong. Changed.
He looked down at his hands and froze.
These weren't the gnarled, spotted hands of an old man. They were smooth, strong, the hands of someone in their prime. Nova touched his face with trembling fingers—no loose skin, no deep wrinkles, just firm flesh over strong bones.
He turned his head and caught his reflection in a polished mirror across the room.
A stranger stared back at him. A man who looked perhaps thirty years old, with sharp features and clear eyes. His hair, formerly white as snow, was now deep black with distinguished silver streaks at the temples. His face could only be described as... handsome. Genuinely, strikingly handsome.
The breakthrough hadn't just advanced his cultivation—it had restored his youth entirely.
"You're awake."
Nova's head snapped toward the voice.
Luna Ophelia stood by the window, her back to him, wrapped in her purple robes. Her posture was rigid, her shoulders tense. She didn't turn to look at him.
Nova immediately moved to kneel on the floor beside the bed, his head bowed. "This servant apologizes for—"
"Stop," Luna interrupted, her voice quiet but strained. "Just... stop talking."
Nova fell silent, keeping his head lowered.
The silence stretched between them, heavy and suffocating. Nova could hear Luna's breathing—slightly uneven, almost shaky. When she finally spoke again, her voice was barely above a whisper.
"What happened last night..." She paused, and Nova heard her take a shuddering breath. "It cannot happen again."
Nova said nothing. What could he say?
"I was compromised," Luna continued, still not turning around. "The technique—it put me in a state where I couldn't... where I lost control. The things I said, the way I..."
Her voice trailed off, and Nova could see her hands clenching at her sides.
He remembered. The way she'd begged him. The explicit words that had fallen from her lips. Master, fuck me harder. Over and over, growing more desperate as the night wore on.
The memory made his face burn, and clearly Luna was reliving the same moments because her shoulders hunched slightly, as if trying to make herself smaller.
"This servant understands," Nova said quietly, keeping his eyes on the floor. "This servant will not speak of it."
"You'd better not," Luna said, but there was no real threat in her voice. Just exhaustion and shame. "If word of this got out... my reputation... everything I've built..."
She didn't finish the sentence.
Another long silence.
Nova risked a glance up and saw Luna's reflection in the window glass. Her face was flushed, her expression a complicated mixture of mortification and something else he couldn't quite identify. And even as she tried to maintain her composure, he caught her eyes flickering toward him in the reflection—quick, furtive glances that she immediately looked away from.
It happened again. And again.
Nova looked back down quickly, but not before noticing the way her gaze had lingered on his transformed appearance.
"You've... changed," Luna said suddenly, her voice still not quite steady. "Your appearance. Your cultivation. You're at seventh stage Qi Refining now."
"Yes, Sect Leader."
"That's..." She paused, seeming to struggle with her words. "That's good. Your lifespan should be extended significantly now."
Nova wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he simply nodded.
Luna finally turned to face him, though she still couldn't quite meet his eyes. Her face was flushed, a deep red that spread down her neck. When she did glance at him, her eyes widened slightly before she forced herself to look away again.
"I've achieved a breakthrough as well," she said, her voice taking on a more formal tone, as if discussing cultivation was safer territory than acknowledging anything else. "From Spirit Transformation Realm to True Self Realm. The bottleneck that held me back for decades... it shattered completely."
She said it matter-of-factly, but Nova could hear the underlying significance. A breakthrough of that magnitude was extraordinary—the kind of advancement that normally took a century or more of dedicated cultivation.
And she'd achieved it in one night.
Because of him.
The thought was almost too large to wrap his mind around.
"This servant congratulates the Sect Leader on her advancement," Nova said, still keeping his head bowed.
Luna let out a sound that might have been a laugh or might have been something else entirely. "Congratulations. Yes. How... appropriate."
Another pause.
"I should kill you," Luna said suddenly, and Nova's blood ran cold. But her voice lacked conviction, sounding more confused than threatening. "That would be the smart thing to do. The safe thing. No witnesses means no scandal."
Nova's mind raced. Why hadn't she killed him already? If she wanted him dead, she could have done it while he slept. The fact that he was still alive meant... what? That she was hesitating for some reason?
Was it related to the technique? Had something happened during their energy exchange that bound them together somehow? He'd read fragments about dual cultivation methods in her study over the years, but never the complete texts.
Or perhaps... perhaps she simply didn't want to kill someone who'd helped her achieve such a significant breakthrough?
Nova didn't know. He could only wait and see what she decided.
"But I won't," Luna continued, her voice soft and almost bitter. "I won't kill you."
She moved across the room, and Nova heard the rustle of fabric. Two objects appeared in his line of sight—a jade scroll and a storage ring, placed on the floor in front of him.
"The scroll contains the Yang portion of the Primordial Yin-Yang Fusion Scripture," Luna said, her voice carefully controlled now, back to something resembling her usual commanding tone. "The ring contains cultivation resources—spirit stones, medicinal pills, things you'll need to advance."
Nova stared at the objects, not daring to reach for them. "Sect Leader, this servant doesn't understand—"
"You don't need to understand," Luna cut him off. "Just take them. Cultivate. Improve yourself. Your current level is... insufficient."
Insufficient for what? Nova wanted to ask, but didn't dare.
"This servant thanks the Sect Leader for her generosity," he said instead, reaching out to take the jade scroll and storage ring with trembling hands.
"Don't thank me," Luna said sharply. She turned away again, moving back to the window. "Just... go. Return to your quarters. Don't come back here unless I summon you."
Nova stood, still clutching the precious items. He bowed deeply. "Yes, Sect Leader."
He moved toward the door, but paused at the threshold when Luna spoke again.
"Nova."
It was the first time she'd used his name. Not "old servant" or "you" or any of the other dismissive terms. His actual name.
He looked back.
Luna still had her back to him, but her shoulders were less rigid now. "The things I said last night... the way I acted... that wasn't me. The technique made me lose control. You understand that, don't you?"
"Yes, Sect Leader."
"Good." Her voice was barely audible. "Then we never speak of it again."
"This servant swears it on his life."
Luna nodded, just a slight inclination of her head. "Go."
Nova left, closing the door softly behind him.
The walk back to his quarters felt surreal.
The morning sun was just beginning to rise, painting the Lotus Palace in shades of gold and rose. Disciples were starting to emerge for morning training, and several did double-takes as Nova passed, clearly not recognizing him in his transformed state.
Nova kept his head down and walked quickly, not wanting to draw attention.
His small quarters sat just outside the Lotus Palace grounds—a simple stone building that had been his home for so long. But as he stepped inside and closed the door, everything felt different.
He was different.
Nova set the jade scroll and storage ring on his small table and stared at them.
A supreme-tier cultivation technique. Resources. And perhaps most importantly—time. Time he thought he'd run out of, now stretched before him in abundance.
He looked down at his hands again—young, strong, capable.
His mind drifted back to Luna, to the way she'd looked so ashamed and upset, unable to meet his eyes. To the way she'd flushed when she glanced at his new appearance. To the confusion in her voice when she'd said she wouldn't kill him.
Something had changed last night. Not just their cultivation bases, but something between them.
Nova didn't understand what, exactly. But he suspected he'd find out soon enough.
For now, though, he had work to do.
He picked up the jade scroll, feeling the cool weight of it in his palm.
The Primordial Yin-Yang Fusion Scripture. Yang portion.
His cultivation had stagnated for centuries. His comprehension was mediocre at best. But now he had a real technique, real resources, and a real chance. He would do his best.
Nova opened the scroll and began to read.
If the Sect Leader wanted him to improve, then he would improve.
Even if he didn't fully understand why.