Brother
In the middle of the night, with the moon hidden behind the clouds, Aerich tossed and turned in his bed, his body drenched in sweat.
"Brother... Brother... Brother..."
"Aaaaah!" Aerich bolted upright, his chest heaving and his heart pounding. His clothes stuck to him, soaked in sweat.
"What happened, Aerich?!" Starry Sky's voice echoed in his mind, laced with concern.
"J-Just a nightmare," Aerich replied shakily, struggling to catch his breath and calm his racing heart.
"Nightmare? Why? You seemed fine before sleeping," Starry Sky pressed.
As an ex-immortal cultivator, Starry Sky understood that for cultivators, nightmares were not always mere dreams. They were sometimes linked to the Dao, offering glimpses of destiny or forewarning future events. The Dao often mocked mortals, revealing futures they could not change.
"You're overreacting. It was just a nightmare," Aerich muttered, brushing it off. "It's probably because I was thinking about random things before I slept."
Aerich's explanation, rooted in his modern Earth knowledge, dismissed the idea of deeper meaning behind his nightmare.
"Can you tell me what you saw?" Starry Sky asked cautiously.
Aerich hesitated before replying. "Some crazy girl stabbed me to death. She... she licked the blood off her knife while whispering, 'Brother... brother...' over and over as she stabbed me."
He shuddered as the memory replayed in his mind, his body stiffening at the recollection.
"Did you see her face?"
"No… Aagh!" Aerich winced as a sharp pain surged through his head when he tried to recall her features.
Unable to sleep, Aerich climbed out of bed to distract himself. He reached for the Shadow Step manual on the shelf and decided to practice it. Lighting the lamp in his room, he pushed away the darkness and immersed himself in the manual's teachings.
The faint sound of flipping pages filled the room as Aerich practiced late into the night.
Yu Zhong sat cross-legged in his chamber, deep in cultivation. The room brimmed with concentrated spiritual energy, channeled through an intricate array as he attempted to break through the Core Condensation Realm's second layer—a barrier that had kept him stagnant for two decades.
Around him, spiritual stones dimmed one by one as their energy was drained. Yu Zhong's body glowed faintly, the array concealing this phenomenon from outside observers. If rivals learned of his breakthrough, they might attack during his vulnerable state.
As the last spiritual stone dimmed, a cracking sound resonated within him. The barrier shattered, and Yu Zhong ascended to the Core Condensation Realm's third layer.
Unable to sleep in the unfamiliar guest quarters, Tasia wandered aimlessly. A paper plane suddenly glided through the air and landed softly in her hand.
Unfolding it, she read the letter, her expression darkening. The message was from the elders of the Lowlance family, pressuring her to accept an arranged marriage with the sect master's son—a supposed genius said to be born under auspicious signs, with lightning dancing across the sky for thousands of miles on the day of his birth.
But to Tasia, this "genius" was nothing more than a tyrant. Stories of his cruelty abounded: he killed rivals without hesitation and treated servants like animals.
Tasia crumpled the letter in her fist. "A spoiled tyrant infatuated with me like I'm some toy? Let's see who ends up being toyed with," she muttered, her voice icy.
The next morning, Aerich trudged back to the Technique Hall, his steps unsteady. His face, shadowed with dark circles, drew whispers from onlookers.
"Pfft... Why does the young master look like a panda?"
"Poor thing. I hope he's not unwell!"
"Maybe he couldn't sleep because he was thinking about that guest girl from last night."
Ignoring the chatter, Aerich pushed forward, his fatigue weighing heavily on him. His head throbbed, and his body wobbled, but he was determined to return the manual before incurring the Technique Hall elder's wrath.
Despite his exhaustion, Aerich couldn't help but feel a small sense of achievement. He'd reached the beginner stage of Shadow Step, and with a whisper, he called:
"Status."
[Status]
Name: Aerich Yu
Species: Human
Age: 10 years
Physique: None
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment Ninth Layer
Talent: Earth Fate
Cultivation Skills: Phantom Presence Technique (Mastery), Shadow Step (Beginner)