I pushed my senses outwards from the grove, and found two cultivators heading towards this direction, their guards up.

“Senior, we need to run. The formation will deflect them for a while, but its strength will run out soon.” Liuxiang said, his voice clipped. He slipped his hand in his sleeves, as two more needles appeared in them and he threw them swiftly outwards, engraving them in the burst ground as they bolstered the formation.

“Sheldon, quick. Can you take us away?” I called out to Sheldon, pulling on our bond in a rush.

With a tidal wave forming around my feet, I was lifted up in the air and pulled to the side. Labby squeaked in surprise and I quickly pulled her into my dantian. I looked to the side, and saw Liuxiang similarly being washed up as a ball of water formed around us. Sheldon rose from the ground, still carrying Twilight on his back who looked on in confusion at what was happening.

I focused my thoughts, cutting off any sense of distress I may have been projecting through our bond as I reached out to Sheldon once more. “Can you cover the area in fog?”

“Chirp!” Sheldon replied, opening his mouth. The little turtle took a long breath in and then breathed out a fog that sprayed outwards in a tide.

“Senior. We can head to this one’s chambers. It’s already been warded and fairly close by.” Liuxiang spoke to my mind, and I mentally acknowledged his words. I quickly relayed the thoughts over to Sheldon and then with a sudden pull, the little turtle shot forward on his wave of water, carrying us along through the air as if we were rising like little clouds.

The world flew past in a blur as we flew past the area. I vaguely sensed some mystic arts being used by the cultivators, but Sheldon’s fog kept their senses clouded. Within a few seconds, we were flying over the sect, and beyond the grove. In a few moments, we crossed the sect walls, to enter the sect proper and Sheldon quickly dropped us down, as he put Twilight in my arms. The little plant spirit chittered before rushing into my sleeve to hide.

“Thanks Sheldon,” I said while grabbing him. Flaring my Qi, I quickly evaporated all the water from my body and clothes and saw Liuxiang doing the same.

With a nod from both of us, we began to head towards Liuxiang’s place, trying not to appear too agitated or unnerved but still making swift progress as the two of us walked up the hill, and towards the outer sect chambers.

I saw some people murmuring over the earthquake and talks of an attack. I tried not to grimace at the words, feeling foolish to not have anticipated this. In my defense, so far, none of the reactions from Qi and Gu had been this violent.

“This way,” Liuxiang said, taking a left and I followed. I noticed the little home, set with wards on its boundaries that made me want to avert my eyes despite my wishes to head towards it. I guess that’s one way to tell people you’re not accepting guests. An enviable ability, but I suspected if I could force my way through it, then so could most other people.

Liuxiang opened the door as I entered, and the boy quickly closed the doors shut, placing another talisman onto the door that rippled with Qi, as new wards sprung up from the ground.

The boy turned towards me, and I saw his eyes set in a much more serpentine look than I’d seen from him before. “This one believes the formations will be enough. No one should be headed towards this location either, the weapon had left nothing behind. Neither Qi nor Gu.”

“I sure hope so.” I replied, smiling, but the serious look on Liuxiang’s face made my smile slip.

“Please follow this one Senior,” Liuxiang said, turning around as he walked further in.

I stared at his back for a moment, before following him in. The path took me to a little chamber that looked quite similar to Old Man’s place if not for the many diagrams of animals, and human bodies, and thin and sharp needles. That and the many, many books on poison that I saw on the bookshelf.

I stepped around the many bowls and things set upon the floor in a mess that seemed extremely uncharacteristic of the Liuxiang I knew. If anything, I’d expected this place to be squeaky clean. The little notes spread around on the Gu-nade brought a smile to my face.

A sharp hiss reached my ears, carried by a slithering aura that froze my steps in place. I looked up to see Zhi Zhu standing on the table nearby with Liuxiang’s eyes wide in surprise, as if he couldn’t believe he’d just done that.

I awkwardly pretended not to have noticed, and gave him a moment to gather himself.

“Apologies for the unsightly display Senior. This one has been a bit unsettled by our creation,” Liuxiang said and I nodded.

“It was something, yeah. If I’d been a normal person, the shockwave would’ve likely blown apart my eardrums. Good to know that cultivation reinforces those too,” I said with a smile. Liuxiang continued to look at me blankly.

“Forgive this one for the bluntness Senior, but this one would prefer to have some answers. There have been many things about Senior that haven’t made sense. Your spirit’s names for one, this one does not know what this La Bi means. Neither does this one know about Xiao Dong, or the Gu weapon’s name. The way senior had helped craft it had shown that there had been other similar weapons that Senior knew of. Are there more of these things lying around?”

“No,” I replied firmly. “There’s none. Not in this world.”

“Then this one does not understand. How did Senior know of these weapons? Has Senior found some source of forbidden knowledge? Is that what allows Senior to cultivate both Qi and Gu?” Liuxiang asked, his eyes set upon me without blinking even once.

I sighed, feeling my heart start to race a bit. I knew I couldn’t just run around pulling all these stunts and not have someone eventually start to question me, but this was still happening a lot faster than I had anticipated.

“Let’s take a seat for a moment shall we?” I said, and Liuxiang nodded. I took the time to gather my thoughts a bit, but failed to properly gather any of it together. We both took a seat, and I looked silently at Liuxiang for a while, the Qi in my core rustling.

“Can… Labby know too?” Labby asked, and I let Labby out onto my shoulder where she manifested in a crackle of purple lightning.

“You can listen too. It’s about time I told someone,” I said. A flower peeked from my sleeve and I grabbed Twilight, laughing. “Alright, you too then.”

The little flower girl cheered, as I set her onto my thigh, before looking towards Liuxiang. Thoughts churned in my mind, about how to approach the topic, and explain it in a way that didn’t sound completely crazy. How much should I even tell Liuxiang? I’d known him for a couple of months now, slowly but surely growing friendlier with the otherwise stoic boy. Not to mention, I knew a lot more about him than he did. Perhaps it was time I reciprocated that.

I looked up, meeting Liuxiang’s eyes and started from the very beginning. “I’m not from this world.”

Liuxiang continued to stare at me with his blank expression, as if unsure of what I meant, but he sat silently to allow me to continue.

“I… it’s very complicated but to put it very simply, my soul has two halves. One that lived its life in this world as Lu Jie for almost twenty years, unaware of his past life almost completely. And the other that slept through it all, only knowing the past life it’d lived and nothing else,” I looked down, petting Twilight’s head gently as she chimed, not understanding a word I meant but still happy to be listening. Feeling a bit more calm, I looked up to meet Liuxiang’s eyes.

“I was that half. I woke up from a head injury a couple months ago in a spar and found myself here, lost and confused with memories I did not recognise or understand. And so I tried to put myself away from danger at first, thinking I would run from the sect and be free. It didn’t take more than a couple of minutes to realize that it wouldn’t be so easy to wander around with nothing to my name. And so I decided to earn some money to try and start an alchemy shop of my own somewhere. Live by myself, study and buy books and spend my days comfortably. It was easier said than done, but I think back then, all I wanted was to have a goal to push myself towards.”

Liuxiang took a breath in, his gaze remaining focused on me. I took in another breath. I knew that if I stopped here now, I’d never have the courage to go on.

“I was scared. Unknown place, unfamiliar, and I felt lost. So I threw myself into the one thing I knew I would enjoy, and love, and kept pouring myself into Alchemy. It was better than thinking over what may come of my future and about my past. I kept on going and going blindly. That is, until I found Labby,” I said, turning to look at the little rat on my shoulder as I remembered the days when I still thought of her as a boy without ever bothering to check or confirm. A chuckle escaped my mouth as Labby crackled lightly at having her name mentioned.

“Labby was… well, at first she’d been an interesting and fun companion. A fun distraction from my usual work. But slowly but surely, especially when she could finally talk to me, I started to grow a lot more attached to my little junior sister here. It… gave me a reason to stay? I don’t know, but so often, I’d think of just walking away and never being seen again. Just fade to some unknown location and just be away from all of it. But then I’d think about how I needed to take care of Labby, and how she’d like to be in a place where she could get more spirit herbs. And that maybe it wasn’t so bad, staying in the sect and doing Alchemy,” I said, raising my hand up to pet Labby’s head.

“If it wasn’t for her, I probably would’ve left the sect a lot earlier. She made it easier for me to live here, and feel at home. And then I met Su Lin, and Yan Yun, and Granny Lang, and you, Sheldon, Nyan, and now, Twilight,” I said, lifting the plant spirit up.

“Chii~” Twilight chimed, happy to have heard her name, and still not understanding a word of what I said.

I turned to look back up and meet Liuxiang’s eyes. “That’s… the honest truth of it. I have memories of a world vastly different from this one, with no cultivation or Qi, but with a lot more science and technology. And I’m merely trying to bring in that understanding and method of reasoning to this world. Although the heavens don’t seem to like that,” I said with a smirk, looking up briefly at the sky.

“This one… Lu Jie, I don’t know what to say,” Liuxiang said, and it was my turn to widen my eyes. That was the most informal I’d ever seen Liuxiang be.

“Forgive me,” Liuxiang quickly added and I shook my head.

“No, if anything, I prefer that. I- well. This is awkward but it feels like I finally got to become your friend,” I said scratching my cheek. Liuxiang smiled back at me, his eyes wrinkling softly and I stared at the expression blankly for a moment. There was a subtle difference, the serpentine features and the structure of his face were not a regular human’s adding to the effect, yet the expression he wore… it had to be the most human expression I’d seen on him yet.

“I had expected you to be the lost scion of some clan, or to have gained the blessing of a hidden elder. Perhaps the disciple of an elder like that. But, to hear of another world, and the memories of a past life? Truly, you never cease to surprise me Lu Jie,” Liuxiang said with a smile.

I laughed, caught off guard by his words. “What can I say, I seem to have that effect on people,” I replied with a smirk on my face as Liuxiang laughed as well. I noticed the two fangs peeking from within his mouth at the laugh, and Luxiang noticed, quickly hiding them.

“I truly seem to have lost all sense of shame today. I think I blame you Lu Jie,” Liuxiang replied and I chuckled. Suddenly, I heard Liuxiang sigh, as Zhi Zhu shifted on his back, waving her legs as if arguing with him. Liuxiang’s eyes turned towards me and I straightened my back.

“I have something I believe I must share too,” Liuxiang said, his eyes fixated on me. I noticed his fists tense and clenched under his sleeve as he stared at me. “My true name is not Yi Liuxiang, but Shie Liuxiang, the child of Shie Youmei, a member of the Shie ducal clan. Yi was my mother’s last name.”

I sat in silence, unsure of the implication, but from what I knew, the ducal clans were a big deal. So even just being a member of one must be a big deal. I frowned. “If you’re from such a prestigious clan then… what’re you doing on the seventh peak?”

“This one does not belong to the Shie clan. This one- my father had abandoned me. My mother had not been of the ducal clan, and had not possessed the poison bloodline of the family. There had been little chances of the bloodline being inherited by a child birthed by a woman not of the clan… but I did. And I killed my mother, poisoning her from the womb. Despite my father’s wishes to be rid of me, my mother had refused, insistent on giving birth to me, and despite all my father’s effort, he had failed to save her,” Liuxiang said, his fists clenched tight.

I found my voice stuck, as I sat unsure of what to say. Moments passed in silence, when I finally spoke up. “It is not my place to say anything, but, if there’s one thing I know, it is that it was not your fault Liuxiang. And that your mother had loved you very dearly.”

Liuxiang looked up at me, before lowering his head, as he gave a light nod. “I know. Her last words… were my name.”

I moved closer, unsure of what to do, and so I simply sat in silence for a while longer, trying to provide any company that I could.

“Thank you, Lu Jie,” Liuxiang said, looking at me and I nodded.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” I said, trying to change the topic. “Then do you live by yourself? In the sect?”

“My father has abandoned me, but I still possess the bloodline of the Shie. The clan has forced my father to accept me, if I can prove myself within the sect with my own means. The only thing provided to me has been the cultivation arts, to prevent the poison from slowly but surely killing me as well. The result of that cultivation slows my growth down, but provides potent poison with no match. But the poison still wears on my body, resulting in the yang Qi that Lu Jie can sense,” Liuxiang said, with a light smile.

That sounded like a not so great way to cultivate something. Imagine dying from a poison that you were born with, and that which killed your mother as well. I couldn’t imagine what living like that must be like.

“Now, it seems we both know each other’s secrets,” Liuxiang said with a quiet smile. I stared at the boy, before standing up. Liuxiang frowned for a moment, before standing up as well, and I looked at the boy.

“I have something I want to ask of you, Liuxiang,” I said, keeping my back straight. Liuxiang nodded silently.

“I wish to establish a new Path. One of understanding and knowledge. But it seems, the heavens are not too willing to allow me to progress upon my Path. But, we’ve both seen the Gu-nade and that is merely the beginning. I plan to bring cultivation to the mortals, to break the established order of cultivators and bring knowledge so that the world could finally come to know and understand what lies beyond Heaven and Earth, to finally know the world around them. I wish to start an empire of knowledge, of understanding,” I grinned. “I want to start an empire formed on drugs.”

My Qi rustled in my core, as I felt Lu Jie’s spirit shifting in my mind. In this, he agreed with me. We would build our empire together.

I looked towards Liuxiang. “I can help you, Liuxiang. With what I know and what I’ll learn, in exploring the mysteries of this world and unraveling its secrets. And in return, will you help me?”

Liuxiang sighed, clenching his hands, before looking up at me with a smile. “You truly never cease to surprise me,” he replied with a smile. “I will, Lu Jie.”

I laughed, moving in as I swept Liuxiang up in a hug.

“Fiend! Let Liuxiang go! This is inappropriate!” Zhi Zhu crackled, and I heard Liuxiang burst out laughing so mirthfully that I couldn't resist laughing as well.

“Labby too! Labby will help too!” Labby exclaimed. “Chii~” Twilight chimed in agreement from atop Sheldon’s back as the little turtle splashed her with some water.

“Oh and… Labby has a secret too,” Labby said in a tiny whisper, hesitant. I paused, letting go of Liuxiang as I turned to look at Labby.

“What is it Labby?” I asked, curious.

The little rat sniffled, her ears flicking before she squeaked and shouted. “Labby has been learning how to fight from Leiyu without telling Master. Please forgive Labby!”

I saw Labby, trying to mimic a kowtow as she crackled with purple lightning. My eyes rose to meet Liuxiang’s at the display and for some reason, I couldn’t hold back my laughter.

“I think that’s the best secret I’ve learned today,” I replied, feeling strangely content. I’d gained another ally on my Path. Now all that remained was the spirit herb hunt.