The jade box sat on the low table in front of me, radiating a chill that misted the warm air of my meditation chamber.
It was made of Deep Sea Frost Jade, a material worth a city on its own, but it was just a container. What mattered was the promise locked inside.
I sat in the lotus position, the silence of the Tranquil Bamboo Grove pressing against the walls. It had been days since I left the Chen Estate. Days since I left him.
"Focus," I whispered to myself.
I closed my eyes, trying to center my mind on the Azure Dragon's Genesis Scripture. I visualized the flow of water, the relentless force of the ocean. But the ocean kept taking the shape of his eyes. The rhythm of the tide matched the rhythm of his breathing as he had slept beside me.
I missed him.
It was a physical ache, a dull throb in the center of my chest that no amount of meditation could soothe.
In my past life, I had spent ten years longing for him, but that was a distant yearning. It was the longing of a peasant for the moon.
But this was different. This was the hunger of someone who had tasted the sun and was now forced back into the shade.
I remembered the weight of his arm around me. I remembered the rough warmth of his cheek against mine. I remembered the way he had looked at me on the balcony, as if I were the only reality in a world of illusions.
"I have to be strong," I said, my voice trembling slightly in the empty room. "For him. For us."
The peace we had found was fragile. Jin Hao was out there, a variable I could no longer predict. My sister, Su Lian, was a viper coiled in the grass.
To protect the future Arya had promised me, I needed power. I needed to stand beside him not just as his wife, but as his shield.
I reached out and placed my hand on the jade box. The cold stung my fingertips.
"A gift," he had said. "An adventure."
I broke the seal. The lid clicked and hissed as the pressure released. I lifted it.
My breath caught in my throat.
Inside, suspended in a stasis field, were five drops of liquid. They didn't look like water, or medicine, or any alchemical solution I had ever seen in two lifetimes of cultivation.
"Origin Liquid," I breathed.
He had downplayed it. He had called it a remnant. But a single drop of this could cause wars between Nascent Soul ancestors. And he had given me five.
"You fool," I whispered, tears pricking my eyes. "You reckless fool."
He had given this to me without hesitation. He hadn't hoarded it for his own cultivation. He had handed me a king's ransom because he wanted me to be safe.
The love I felt for him in that moment was so intense it was almost frightening. It was a fire that threatened to consume me.
I needed to honor this gift.
I took a deep breath, calming my racing heart. I was currently at the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment.
In my previous life, breaking through to the Golden Core had taken me another five years of grueling effort and the result had been imperfect… a fractured core that I had spent decades trying to repair.
This time would be different.
I lifted the box and used my spiritual energy to levitate a single drop of the Origin Liquid. It floated in the air, a pearl of cosmic light.
I opened my mouth and swallowed it.
There was no taste. But the moment it hit my tongue, it exploded directly into my meridians.
It was like a flood. A massive deluge of energy that washed through my body. It felt like standing under a waterfall of pure light.
My meridians, already widened by the Azure Dragon's Genesis Scripture, hummed as they were filled to bursting. The energy washed away the microscopic impurities I hadn't even known were there. It healed old injuries from sparring that I had long forgotten.
I grabbed the second drop and swallowed it.
The flood became an ocean. My Dantian vibrated. The liquid Qi within, the foundation of my cultivation, began to boil. It swirled faster and faster, a vortex of blue energy.
I took the third drop. The fourth.
The pressure inside me was immense, but it was the pressure of growth, of a seed bursting open to become a tree.
I felt my spirit expanding, my senses sharpening until I could feel the individual veins in the bamboo leaves outside my room.
I took the final drop.
The vortex in my Dantian collapsed in on itself. The liquid Qi became so dense it turned solid.
I knew this sensation. I had felt it once before, in a life defined by sorrow.
I guided the energy. I used the experience of my past life, the memories of a Nascent Soul expert, to sculpt the power. I wove the Origin energy into the structure of the core forming within me.
Condense.
The energy imploded. A blinding light filled my inner vision.
Solidify.
The light crystallized.
Ascend.
A shockwave of spiritual power erupted from my body. The heavy oak furniture in my room rattled. The tapestries fluttered as if caught in a gale.
I opened my eyes. The world seemed brighter. Colors were more vivid. The air tasted sweet.
I looked inward.
Suspended in the center of my Dantian was a sphere. It was a flawless orb of deep azure, swirling with a golden luster from the Origin Liquid.
Golden Core.
I had crossed the great divide.
In my previous life, I was twenty five when I reached this stage and I was considered a genius. Now, I am barely twenty. And my foundation was perfect.
I clenched my fist, feeling the power surge through my arm. It was intoxicating.
I spent the next few hours in deep meditation, stabilizing my new realm. The Origin Liquid was gentle, leaving no instability, but the jump in power required adjustment. I needed to relearn the limits of my own body.
Knock.
Knock.
I frowned. Lan knew I was in seclusion. She knew never to disturb me unless the sky was falling.
"Come in," I commanded, my voice carrying the new weight of my Golden Core authority.
The door flew open. Lan rushed in. Her face was pale, her eyes wide with a terror I hadn't seen since the night I ordered her to saddle the horse.
"Young Miss!" she gasped, forgetting to bow. "Young Miss, you must come out! Something... something terrible has happened!"
I stood up, the motion fluid. "Calm down, Lan. What is it? Has Jin Hao been found?"
"No," Lan shook her head frantically. "It's... it's the Spirit Cauldron Sect."
"What about them?"
"They're destroyed, Young Miss," Lan whispered, her voice trembling.
My mind stalled. "Destroyed? What do you mean?"
"Massacred," Lan said, the word hanging heavy in the air. "Everyone. The Sect Master. The Elders. The disciples. Even the Ancestors in the hidden grotto. They are all dead."
I stared at her, my new Golden Core pulsing with a sudden spike of adrenaline.
"Impossible," I said.
This didn't happen. Not in my past life. The Spirit Cauldron Sect was a titan. They were one of the three great powers. They existed for centuries. In my previous timeline, they were a constant thorn in the Chen Family's side, a grinding enemy that eventually allied with Jin Hao.