Cultivation starts with picking up attributes
Chapter 96: Ch-96: Still Stillness

Chapter 96: Ch-96: Still Stillness

Night.

They didn’t leave the ruins immediately.

Instead, Elder Su constructed a temporary hut and lit a protective incense circle around the pavilion’s fragments still intact.

"I need time to analyze the talisman’s decay pattern," she said. "And you need to meditate."

"Why?"

"In case the delayed effects start unraveling your soul like noodles."

"Not So Lovely."

Tian Shen sat cross-legged under the remains of a lotus pavilion.

He tried to focus, but was unable to. He opened his eyes. The night sky above Lotus Pavilion was filled with streaking silver clouds and faint stars.

He whispered, almost to himself:

"...What did it leave inside me?"

...

Later that night, Elder Su opened her private jade slip and recorded a message to herself.

"Anomaly #116: After entering the Lotus Pavilion Ruins, spatial phenomena of extreme magnitude were triggered.

Suspected artifact awakening. Tian Shen was selected—perhaps targeted—by the remnants of the Lotus Pavilion Hidden Mechanism Formation.

On his return, no visible Qi change detected on him. No bloodline awakening. No soul fracture.

Yet I suspect... implantation.

Something rode him back.

And I don’t know whether to kill it...

...or help it bloom."

...

Morning.

The morning air still held the stale weight of broken dreams and scorched harmony as Tian Shen rose from his seated meditation.

He hadn’t slept. Not really. Just hovered between wakefulness and drifting thoughts, his consciousness brushing against the edges of something inside him that refused to speak.

No answers came.

Still stillness.

He rubbed his temples, then turned toward the low-glowing protective incense ring Elder Su had set up.

She was already awake, standing near one of the cracked marble arches that framed the broken lake basin.

Her robes fluttered in the breeze like the last remnant of an era long past.

"Any change?"

She asked without turning.

"No dreams. No visions. No mysterious voices whispering secrets into my soul. Unless a faint craving for peach buns counts."

Elder Su didn’t smile. She hadn’t since yesterday. Not like she does anyways.

Her face was set in that delicate expression of calm scrutiny, eyes sharp like a surgeon deciding whether to dissect or simply observe.

"We’ll begin another round of inspection," she said briskly. "There may be lingering traces we missed last night."

Tian Shen grunted.

"Should I touch more strange crystals while I’m at it?"

Elder Su shot him a side glance.

"Try it and I’ll lobotomize you myself."

He chuckled while inwardly muttering.

’Aww, you do care.’

She ignored the quipter and stepped toward the crater again. The talisman she carried was already flickering dimly, its runes trying to rekindle.

Tian Shen followed, scanning the surroundings with sharpened senses.

Despite the wind and gentle stir of air, there was a deadness that refused to lift. As if the land had decided it had already screamed enough.

"I’ve been thinking," he murmured. "What if that thing... wasn’t a trap or a trial? What if it was a piece?"

Elder Su paused.

"A piece? Of what?"

"I don’t know. Maybe Not something meant to change me. Just... something to fix me?"

She narrowed her eyes.

"And fix what?"

He shrugged.

"That’s the spooky part, isn’t it?"

Elder Su knelt and pressed the talisman against the smoldered edge of the crater. Faint sparks crackled, reacting to leftover essence.

"It’s degraded too far," she muttered. "Most of the trace signatures have dispersed."

Tian Shen crossed his arms.

"So we’re back to zero."

"No. We know you were chosen," she said quietly. "Which means something about you drew the formation’s focus."

"Lucky me," he muttered. "I’m magnetic for ancient relics with trust issues."

She didn’t laugh. Again.

Instead, she stood and dusted off her sleeves.

"Let’s sweep the central ring. The formation might have left anchor points."

...

Hours passed.

They scoured the inner sanctum of the Lotus Pavilion ruins.

From toppled statues of elegant swordmaidens to shriveled prayer gardens once brimming with enlightenment-seeking flora, they searched every nook and cranny.

But the answer remained the same.

Nothing.

No lingering formation. No mysterious artifacts hidden in the moss. No ancient whispers encoded into the wind.

Only silence.

Only ruin.

By the time the sun passed its peak, even Elder Su seemed reluctant to continue. She stood at the edge of a shattered bridge that once led into the old meditation grounds, arms crossed.

"This place has been purged."

She said.

Tian Shen raised an eyebrow.

"Purged?"

"Deliberately cleansed. Not by nature. By... whatever, I Don’t know."

Tian Shen was speechless.

"Woman," he Quiped.

Elder Su turned towards him.

"Say that again?!"

He turned against, trying to change the topic.

"It wasn’t just a hallucination. Its presence was too vivid. Too aware."

Elder Su grumblingly nodded.

"The woman you met there may have been an avatar or a residual soul. Perhaps a warden of the realm."

"Or something far older."

"Older than the sect that created this place?"

Tian Shen looked up at the cloudy sky.

"Maybe older than all of us."

...

By late afternoon, they stood once more at the cracked altar stone where Elder Su had first examined the faded statues.

"We should leave," she said, eyes scanning the sky again. "The natural balance here is fractured. Lingering too long may alert... things."

Tian Shen raised a brow.

"Things?"

"The sort that move between cracks."

"Oh good," he said dryly. "Can’t wait to meet those."

Elder Su began forming a temporary flight array, weaving lines of golden light into a floating platform.

"You sure you don’t want to do one final touch-and-see?"

He teased as he stepped aboard.

She gave him a pointed look.

"You’re not allowed to touch anything until I say so."

"...Ok. you always go being ’strict teacher’ on me."

This won her sigh that could’ve split mountains.

...

On the flight back.

The wind whispered across the glowing array beneath their feet, clouds parting ahead as Elder Su guided them eastward—back toward Feilun Sect.

Tian Shen sat at the edge, legs hanging over, eyes lost in thought.

"I’ve been feeling... off," he admitted suddenly.

Elder Su, who’d been silent for the last ten minutes, turned slightly.

"Explain."

"Not weak. Not injured. Just..." he tapped his chest.

"Like something’s rearranged in here. But I can’t tell what."

She observed him for a moment.

"We’ll run a full diagnostic when we return."

"What if there’s nothing to find?"

"Then we wait."

He frowned.

"Wait for what?"

"For it to reveal itself," she said calmly. "Anything powerful enough to mask its presence from me is either patient... or predatory."

He chuckled dryly.

"I’m either pregnant with a magical parasite or dating a dormant god."

"You joke," she said, "but this is serious."

He nodded, eyes narrowing.

"I know."

A long silence passed.

Then, Elder Su broke it.

"Are you afraid?"

Tian Shen looked down at the clouds racing beneath them.

"...No."

"Why?"

He smiled faintly.

"Because if something did hitch a ride inside me... and not like its the first episode of my ’dumb ways to cry’."

He looked up at the sun breaking through the veil above.

"Weirdo."

She intoned.

...

Feilun Sect.

Evening.

The golden light of the array dimmed as they descended into the southern courtyard of the inner sect.

Familiar stone tiles and trimmed hedges greeted them like a breath of normalcy.

Tian Shen stretched his limbs.

"Feels good to be somewhere that doesn’t smell like doom."

Elder Su dismounted gracefully and handed him a glowing jade slip.

"It’s a protection seal. Keeps any foreign soul signature suppressed. Wear it until I say otherwise."

He took it, whistling.

"You’re really not taking chances."

"You’re reckless," she replied. "And prone to flirt with danger—literally and metaphorically."

"I know I am handsome.’

She walked off without acknowledging that one.

...

Tian Shen watched her retreating figure, then glanced at the jade slip still warm in his palm. A soft hum pulsed from within it, resonating faintly with his heartbeat.

He rolled the jade slip between his fingers, watching the delicate runes shimmer like starlight trapped in crystal.

He clipped it to the inside of his sleeve, feeling the faint pulse of the seal against his wrist.

A cooling tingle crawled along his skin. He didn’t know whether it was the seal or the thing inside him reacting. Maybe both.

"Guess it’s just you and me now."

He muttered to the seal, sliding it into place beneath his robe where it latched onto his dantian like a whisper of silk turning into steel.

As he strolled through the courtyard, disciples bustled around, their eyes widening as they recognized him.

Some offered respectful nods. Others kept their distance. Whispers trailed in his wake.

He wasn’t in the mood to entertain curiosity tonight.

Instead, he slipped into the quieter northern pathway, weaving through moonlit gardens toward the secluded training platform. No one would bother him there.

He sat down, letting his senses sink deep.

Nothing.

No whisper. No pulse. No strange voice saying

"Hey, howcome there’s someone here."

But his fingers curled unconsciously.

Something had changed.

And whatever it was...

It wasn’t done yet.