A dark, endless expanse surrounded me as I opened my eyes. A dreading cold touched my spine, as the sensation of something wrong shook my spirit. The air felt thin, making my chest tighten. This place was wrong, extremely wrong, and I felt unsettled just standing here.

“Chirp!” Sheldon explained, although the sound came out like a heavy rumble. I looked down beneath me, noticing the massive turtle underneath with a beautiful green and brown shell covered in circles of gold.

The realisation that my plan had worked finally settled on me, but I let the happiness quickly go away. I had work to do.

“Labby, can you hear me?”

“Labby… can. Labby dislikes this space. She- she’ll stay inside,” Labby muttered, as her Qi fell quiet. That was a first. Yet, for once, I didn’t disagree. There was something hostile about this place.

Sheldon rumbled once more, as I slid off his back to float in the endless dark. I would’ve lost my sense of position if he hadn’t been around to orient me.

I patted Sheldon’s shell as I extended my Qi senses. The world rippled around me, as my Qi sense spread out. A shower of green Qi pulsed through the darkness, shuddering and shivering as it spread itself all over.

That must be Liuxiang’s Qi, I assumed, watching the odd smoky Qi do its work.

I reached out towards the lunar Qi in the distance. Pulsing and glowing, a small seed of light that anchored me in the darkness.

I walked ahead, keeping a hand on Sheldon’s shell as I tried to search for my seed. The darkness stretched infinitely as we walked. I tried to chat, yet the shivering darkness soon killed any attempts at a conversation as we walked silently.

My senses faltered, as I slowly began to lose my sense of direction. Was I truly making any progress? Or just randomly walking around in circles? Time lost meaning as the darkness encroached upon my mind.

My vision started to blur as cold whispers assailed my mind. A voiceless voice. A fleeting sensation around me. I turned to look at Sheldon and froze as a walking corpse greeted me, covered in purple vines with a blooming flower of miasma on top of it.

I stared as Sheldon roared, lifting his legs as he tried to stomp on me. My body reacted before my mind could as Qi rushed to my feet and I rolled.

“Sheldon! It’s me! Calm down!” I shouted, and found my voice echoing back at me, accompanied by harsh wind brushed against my mind.

I stared at Sheldon, as the turtle continued to rampage at unseen shadows. Shit, there was some kind of illusion here.

I pulsed my Qi, flooding it outwards as I let it gently reach Sheldon. The turtle paused as it sensed my presence. The vines on its back began to wither as his new and pristine form began to emerge once again. Sheldon walked closer as I kept my hand extended. His nostrils flared, taking in my scent, before Sheldon rubbed his head against my hand and I smiled, giving a light hug.

“I think I like you more when you’re tiny,” I said out loud as Sheldon nudged me and rumbled in what I could tell was just a low-pitched chirp.

“There’s something wrong here. More than just the broken core and world,” I said, having a look around.

“Labby… thinks Labby knows,” Labby spoke up, her Qi shifting as the little Rat manifested on my shoulders.

“Labby has felt this. When she’d been breaking through, as Lightning and Lunar Qi had pulsed against one another. Labby had seen a gap in her core, from where she'd seen the darkness beyond. She’d heard the voices then, for a moment. Asking her to give up," Labby said, and I frowned.

I looked around me, noticing the distant cracks in the dark shell from where the Qi seeped out. A sound, like a cry of pain and agony, permeated through the wind as I began to realise what this was.

“It's… his fear,” I muttered out loud, as the wind rushed against my body. Something told me I was right.

“His fears, his agony. It takes form here. In this broken core and world. It makes sense. If cultivators forge inner worlds from their cores, then their spirits have to be the strongest here, allowing them to take form,” I muttered out aloud as I turned towards Sheldon.

It was similar to Sheldon’s lake, and inner world. The culmination of everything the turtle had cherished. But things were far different here. There was no boundless Qi around here, no Qi at all in fact. The Qi I’d spent to calm Sheldon had already dissipated, and the more Qi I spent here, the weaker I would be. I may not be able to return if I exhausted all my Qi and each moment I spent felt like I was breathing without air, draining my Qi more and more.

Is this… what it was like for him? Every living moment spent as if dying, as if you couldn’t breathe. Like your body and spirit kept screaming to have life given to it, yet there just wasn’t enough. And so you suffocated perpetually.

Anger filled my heart at the thought. If I was already struggling, I couldn’t imagine what life would be like for Zhang. To live like this perpetually was far too cruel and inhumane, and I found myself fuming in anger on his behalf.

If this was the justice of this world. Then I had no need for it.

“Master. Something is coming,” Labby informed me, and I let out a breath. Sheldon rumbled, his Qi flaring and I narrowed my eyes as a wispy figure walked towards me.

A young man, wearing the familiar robes of the Cloudy peak sect made his way towards us. I frowned, feeling as if I knew the boy from somewhere when I realised who he was.

I stared at Zhang, as he once was. It was difficult to say it was the same person. His skin was smooth and his eyes held a fire within them, with his hair tied in a knot behind his head. This wasn’t the sickly boy I knew, but a powerful and confident cultivator.

The shadow stood at a distance, its form flickering and shifting. I noticed the blood on his clothes. I waited for it to do something, to say something. I was out of my expertise here. Normally I would’ve felt a lot of interest in how everything worked, but right now, my senses told me to stay sharp.

“Why…?” the boy said, his voice hollow and broken, as if suppressing a keening cry.

“Too late… Far too late,” the boy muttered and I felt a chill go down my spine as he looked at me, his skin shriveling in front of my eyes as his hair fell out. I paused, noticing black smoke rising from his skin as dark black gooey blood dripped down from his eyes.

That was… Miasma.

I felt a powerful pulse of Qi from up ahead, and my vision cleared as I sensed the lotus further ahead.

“Sheldon run!” I screamed, dashing ahead. A wailing howl tore at me, as cold blades of wind rushed at me. Wraith like creatures leapt from the shadows as the world began to twist and I cursed.

Shit, this was bad. This was really bad.

My hands went to my belt, reaching for my explosive pills when I realised that I wasn’t in my body. There were no pills with me here. Goddamn it.

I turned, as Qi flared in my dantian. A shadowy wraith leapt at me with its claws. Qi flared from my arm, as I turned my Qi into spirit essence and ignited it. Fire spread from my hands, in a plume as it ate through the wraith’s shadow.

I rushed ahead, ignoring the other wraiths. I may not be interested in fighting, but I hadn’t been sitting around doing nothing to improve my chances in a fight. Old Man’s advice on mastering the flame had stuck with me, and while I couldn’t produce fire Qi. I could ignite things.

Energy was energy, and I had enough Qi for a fireshow.

Flooding my feet with Qi, I stomped on the abyss of darkness as I rushed towards the glowing ball of lunar Qi being swarmed by wraiths. A roar made me stumble as I turned to see Sheldon spraying a massive wave of water all around. My little guy was not so little after all.

“Master, wraith!” Labby shouted, manifesting on my shoulder. Purple lightning arcs around Labby as she leapt. Her claws increased in length, glowing a bright white as she tore through the shadow.

Wow, Labby knew metal claw now.

I shook my head, shelving the jokes as I refocused on the pill. Qi swirled around my palm as I shot it towards the wraiths, igniting it in the next moment. Like an exploding storm, fire spread through the shadowy wraiths covering the pill.

A screeching howl came from behind me as I turned around, and saw the shadow of Zhang, now deformed and like a floating corpse, rush towards me with bloodshot eyes. Sheldon gave chase, water flooding all around, yet Zhang was faster, flying quickly as he rushed towards me.

I turned around, as I hurriedly grabbed the lotus pill, letting its energy soak into me. “I’m trying to help you!” I screamed, as a beam of water splashed Zhang to the side. The wraith didn’t listen, continuing to thrash as dark putrid tendrils erupted from behind him, removing any trace of humanity from the boy.

I stopped, staring at the screeching and howling monster as I realised something. This wasn’t Zhang. No. This was, whatever twisted amalgamation had been formed out of all his fears and regrets. We were in the realm of spirits, and that creature was exactly what I needed to purge.

I sat down, crossing my legs with the pill in my hand as I turned towards Labby.

“I hate to ask you to do this… but can you protect me Labby?”

My little rat turned to look at me, and squeaked once, patting her chest. “Labby will protect Great Master with her life.”

“Please don’t,” I said with a wry smile. “If things get bad, we’ll be leaving together. All of us,” I said, and nodded as Labby jumped, purple lightning crackling all around her.

“I sure hope this works,” I said, and closed my eyes. Holding the lunar pill within my arms, I let it float above, and then began to guide its Qi.

Two circles, a cycle of infinity. Like Yin and Yang, the two circles followed one another, in an eternal chase for completion. I cultivated, and my Qi began to swirl. Lunar Qi spread all around me, moving in wispy motes of light as I guided it through the world.

Little tendrils began to sprout from the pill, taking root as light began to spread. I felt something slash my back, drawing blood. I didn’t open my eyes. A crackle of lightning followed, as I heard a howl nearby. I continued to cultivate.

The Qi began to increase in its intensity, as more and more roots began to take hold. Light spread through the barren and dark world, as I sensed the seed with my core reacting. Something shifted in my core, as the Qi began to swirl in a frenzy.

I guided the chaos, tying it all together under my cultivation. Under the cycle of the Qi.

One cycle. Two cycles. A seed was planted.

Nine cycles. Ten cycles. The seed blossomed.

Thirty cycles, forty cycles. Roots began to spread.

A tendril pierced my shoulder, and my eyes clamped in pain. Fire licked my body as my spirit trembled, and the Qi lost its shape. I refocused and continued. I wasn’t here. My body was outside. The pain was a hallucination, a trick of my mind.

The pain ebbed as I heard Sheldon roar and tear the creatures away from me. I continued.

Ninety cycles, hundred cycles.

My presence spread through the world, covering all within it. I was a part of this world, and my spirit was its own. I felt memories trying to rush in, and I felt the wraiths tugging at my mind, trying to wreak havoc in my own core.

I flinched, about to cut myself off when the seed within my core pulsed. These wraiths… ultimately, they, too, were energy. And something within my spirit longed for them. They had something. Something I lacked. Something I needed.

I opened my eyes as Qi burned through my spirit. Light shone from my core as I bared my spirit in front of the wraiths and began to pull.

Miasma swirled around me and the wraiths paused as if confused at the sudden pull. Where once they had rushed to enter my spirit, paused, now they struggled to escape its pull. Miasma swirled within the world, as I heard the howling call of Zhang’s spirit, all sense of reason and humanity lost.

They tried to escape, yet my will was stronger. The Miasma flooded my core, greedily absorbed by the seed within me. My cultivation shifted, my dantian aching to grow as the cycle within it changed.

The seed shivered at my core, as it finished absorbing the Miasma within itself. It ate greedily on the wraiths, until filled to the brim. The second circle of my dantian began to take shape.

I focused on feeling the turmoil in my spirit as the Miasma raged. Realisation dawned on me, as I watched the cycle of Qi and Miasma.

I couldn’t see it in the outside world. Yet here, within this spirit world, I could see the cycle for what it was. Two halves of a greater whole. Fire Qi, Water Qi, Lunar Qi. Miasma, Death, blood. All of it, a spectrum of the same source. Different forms of the same energy.

The first circle was Qi, representing life. The second was Gu, representing death. With both together, the cycle was complete.

I began to break through.