Su Lin took in a deep breath, grunting as he pulled the heavy cart, reinforcing his arms and feet with Qi. Cao Chen stood next to him, pulling alongside him, as the wooden cart bumped around, getting over the rock blocking it’s path.

“Be careful you fool! You’ll throw this old woman off,” the Granny shouted back from the cart she now rested on, going through the packed sack of herbs and her items she’d packed. Zhang rested next to the granny, looking healthier by the day. Life had returned to his body, his limbs gaining mass day by day, as his appetite began to return.

Su Lin sometimes struggled to believe any of this was true. That the brother who’d suffered for so long had well and truly returned to them. He turned to his right, as Cao Chen patted his shoulders, and the two returned to their efforts at pulling the cart.

After a moment, Su Lin felt a jerk as the cart seemed to lighten itself. The two paused for a bit, as Zhang walked over to Cao Chen, patting his shoulder.

“Let me pull Chen, you should rest.”

“But brother-”

“No buts. You’re tired, and I wish to test my limits once more. I’ve been stuck far too long, unable to move around, and my heart aches for some work. Won’t you let me have this brother?”

Su Lin watched as Chen deflated in front of Zhang’s smile, and a matching smile rose upon Su Lin’s face upon seeing his brother standing and talking as such.

“Just go rest Chen. Ya know how brother Zhang is when he decides on something,” Su Lin said, grinning at Chen who sighed, and climbed above the cart, taking a seat next to granny, among all the items.

Zhang grabbed the handle, and Su Lin noted the Qi flowing through him, as he pulled. The Cart rushed ahead with increased speeds as Su Lin had to nearly jog to keep up. Even while recovering, his brother was still in the 3rd realm. An entire realm above him. Perhaps it was time to begin cultivating once more, even if just to catch up to his brother.

“Brother Zhang, I know ya want to run around after being stuck for so long. But are ya sure about going this fast? Your pathways may get injured,” Su Lin said, rushing faster, as he pulled the cart.

“My pathways are recovering. No, they aren’t recovering, they are being built anew. I do not know what that boy had done, nothing short of a miracle that is for sure, but I don’t feel any strain from doing this,” Zhang said, turning to look at Su Lin.

His expression was blank, as if he himself still struggled to believe what he was experiencing. Su Lin eyed his brother, feeling his chest tighten for a second. He let the emotion fade, grinning happily.

“Ya. I used to hate saying this but, the heavens truly blessed us on the day I met Lu Jie. I’d almost stolen his pill that day, and ran off, thinking him a foolish and naive disciple. It had been a whim that I’d gone along with his words, thinking it’d be some easy money made for me, and I’d just buy more spirit herbs from that money for granny to make any pills for ya,” Su Lin said, watching his brother Zhan.

“You know Su Lin. I have vague memories, from when he’d set the blossom within my core, returning life to me. I’d lost myself to grief and despair. It hadn’t been living each day in such agony that I wished to die, that did it. It was the moment I regained hope, the moment my heart started to believe I could recover. It had broken me, left me a husk, and I’d lost my mind within the haze,” Zhan said, turning towards Su Lin.

“I still sometimes find the fear returning, that all of this is nothing but a dream. I inadvertently started to cultivate yesterday, when channelling my Qi. Pain had shot through my core, as the realisation dawned upon me, that I was still broken. What a greedy brother you have Su Lin. Who’d just regained his life a few days ago, and now wishes to chase the Heavens again.”

“What nonsense. Greed is the nature of man, if a runt like you wouldn’t be greedy then would it be an old lady like me?” Old Granny said, a burning pipe in her hand, as she let out a plume of smoke. “You’ve gained your life anew boy. It will be some time before the scars from all that happened heal. Take your time, and live your life happily, and if you wish, then continue to dream. That boy is abnormal, and I can’t tell how much the old greedy fool has planned for it. I’d thought him over his foolish notion of saving his grandson, but perhaps I was the fool here.”

“Grandson?” Su Lin asked, looking at Granny Lang with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah. Grandson. The old fool used to have one, the pride of his heart. I’d thought he’d directed such feelings towards the boy, picking a new disciple all these years later of all things. But after witnessing the boy’s capabilities, perhaps he has different plans entirely.”

Su Lin stared at the Granny, who took another puff from her pipe, before resting against the items and closing her eyes.

“Oh, I see Taizhou,” Cao Chen spoke up from the back of the cart, standing up to get a better view.

Su Lin turned, as the little village began to appear in the distance. He watched the town with mixed emotions, as he wondered what awaited them in their new homes.

His gaze turned towards Zhang next to him, and Su Lin closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Reopening them, he pulled ahead with renewed vigour.

A new home awaited.

***

The moon spirit, Xian Yue glided across the cavern floors. Arcs of lunar Qi cut through any dead creatures taken over by the parasitic plants, their roots burned from the inside.

“Do you sense any demonic cultivators Xian Yue?” Elder Tian Feng asked, a scroll open in his hands, his brush gliding across the pages with letters written in ink that lit up with Qi. Tearing out the page, he threw it outwards, as an explosion ripped apart the wolf corpses being moved about by the spirit spores.

“Outside of the plants. None. The Qi vein has been eating through any Miasma that rises through.”

Tian Feng grunted, walked further ahead as he walked in on a lake. Cracks ran through the ground and walls, with marks of fire running nearby, and a mass of thick dead vines at the centre.

Tian Feng pulsed his Qi, calling his other clones back. The shadows beneath his feet rustled as his other halves glided closer, turning into little dolls of paper that Tian Feng grabbed, and stored away with a pulse of Qi.

“The miasma roots have been purified. No, eradicated. There is little sign of purification by Qi.” Xian Yue spoke, moving closer to the roots.

Little seeds sat upon them, with tiny little clumps of miasma present, waiting for the opportune moments to take root and spring a new infestation. A lunar crescent slashed through them all, destroying the seeds with a sizzling hiss.

Tian Feng bent down, touching the dirt near the lake. Something massive had been dragged out beyond this lake. The Elder closed his eyes, a stroke of his brush leaving characters imprinted onto the air itself. With a ripple that shook reality, fog arose around him, as a misty vision played itself.

Tian Feng watched the sequence of events, alongside his spirit.

“The boy purified the Miasma?” Xian Yue asked, her robes shifting in an unseen wind as her face unveiled itself for just the barest of moments.

“No, something else entirely. But he managed to rid the spirit of Miasma, and the rest was taken care of by its breakthrough,” Tian Feng said, eyes gliding across the vision as he watched the events unfold.

“Does Tian Feng plan to divine the boy’s future? I had found him interesting merely for his split soul and interesting spirit. But being able to cure a dying spirit of miasma, the other Elders would wish to know of this.”

“You’ve not heard of the news?” Tian Feng asked, turning towards Xian Yue in surprise.

“You know better than to keep mysteries from me Tian Feng,” Xian Yue said, a cold wind howling through the caverns as she moved in closer to the Elder.

Tian Feng looked back calmly at this spirit, who took a step back, staring at him silently. “Truly? Is it such a grave matter?”

“There has been a tribulation,” Tian Feng replied.

“A new elder?”

“No. The sect isn’t aware of who it is. They have failed to find the Elder and have decided to respect the new Elder’s wish for privacy. It is believed the name would soon be announced, no sect would keep a new Elder amongst hidden away,” Tian Feng said, turning around as he began to walk back outside the Qi vein.

“How does this concern the boy?”

The Elder turned to look at Xian Yue silently. The moon spirit gazed upon his face, as a chilling howl cut through the caverns, the light of the moon glistening within the sky.

“That can’t be. He’s merely in the third realm… Sisters, how has the sect not found him yet?”

“I’ve blurred his fate, covering his presence up. All the sect knows as of now is that an Elder appeared within the city. And that tribulations have been frequently appearing within the skies. They believe it is a sign of turbulent times ahead.”

“Tian Feng you… this is treason. To hide the presence of this boy like so, has he truly decreed you do such?” Xian Yue asked, her voice quivering, accompanied by the rustle of Qi.

Tian Feng nodded. “He is to be observed for now. His fate has not yet been decided upon, but the sect must not have the boy.”

Light shimmered in from the outside, as The Elder walked outside, his spirit following behind him, soon fading away to Qi as she returned to his dantian.

With a few precise strokes of his brush, Elder Tian Feng carved four characters upon the entrance as a shimmering ward appeared on top of it. A wave of Qi had the entrance crumbling shut once more, to prevent any curious mortals from trying to wander in.

Turning around, the Elder walked towards the village. Qi pulsed through his feet, as the world blurred around him, and within a few moments he found himself standing outside the house of the Village Head.

The Elder paused for a moment, sensing unfamiliar presences of cultivators within, noting the old woman alongside them. She’d come here too?

Xian Yue rustled within his core, manifesting outwards as she walked within the chambers in a rush. Tian Feng followed in, and walked inside, watching as the village head froze, before rushing towards him in a bow.

Tian Feng ignored the elder, his eyes shifting to Xian Yue who stood staring at a young boy in surprise, with a blooming lotus stitching together his shattered core.

A moment later, his spirit spoke, her words shaking the Qi as all within the chamber besides him and the old woman fell to their knees.

“What is the Lunar Blossom doing in your core?”