Xuan Mei was not gentle.
Orion decided this approximately six seconds after training began.
“Again.”
He lay on his back.
A wooden sword rested three meters away.
Orion stared at the sky.
“You said you would be gentle.”
“I am.”
“Concerning.”
Xuan Mei stood above him holding two wooden practice swords.
She looked entirely unbothered.
Orion pushed himself upright.
They were training on a secluded platform overlooking Dawnflower Lake.
Nearly two weeks had passed since Xuan Mei’s arrival.
Orion’s days had settled into something resembling a routine.
Morning cultivation.
Breakfast.
Helping around the sect.
More cultivation.
And, increasingly often—
Xuan Mei.
Sometimes they trained.
Sometimes they walked.
Sometimes she simply appeared while Orion was working and somehow remained until sunset.
Orion had stopped questioning it.
He retrieved his sword.
“Again.”
Xuan Mei moved.
Orion barely saw her.
He raised his weapon.
Clack!
Their wooden swords collided.
Orion’s arms jolted.
Xuan Mei rotated her wrist.
Her second sword struck his ribs.
“Dead.”
“Again.”
A strike toward his shoulder.
Orion twisted.
Blocked.
The second blade stopped against his throat.
“Dead.”
“Again.”
Sweep.
Block.
Thrust.
Orion stepped sideways.
For the first time—
Both swords missed.
Xuan Mei’s silver eyes widened.
Orion smiled.
Then she kicked his ankle.
The world rotated.
He hit the ground.
“Dead.”
Orion stared upward.
“That was petty.”
“You looked proud.”
“I was proud.”
“That was the problem.”
She offered him her hand.
Orion accepted it.
Xuan Mei pulled.
Orion had forgotten that cultivators possessed considerably more strength than ordinary people.
He came up faster than expected.
Xuan Mei had apparently not anticipated it either.
They collided.
Her free hand pressed against his chest.
Orion’s hand caught her waist instinctively.
Both froze.
They were close.
Very close.
A strand of silver hair rested against Orion’s shoulder.
Xuan Mei looked upward.
And for the first time—
She truly noticed his eyes.
Blue.
Not simply blue.
Piercing blue, clear enough to resemble a cloudless winter sky.
But deep within his irises were tiny flecks of light.
Like stars.
They seemed to twinkle whenever sunlight struck them.
Xuan Mei stared.
Orion swallowed.
“Xuan Mei?”
She didn’t answer immediately.
Her silver gaze remained fixed on his.
“Your eyes.”
“My eyes?”
“They’re strange.”
Orion blinked.
“That is becoming a recurring description of me.”
She smiled faintly.
“No.”
Her voice softened.
“Beautiful.”
Orion forgot every intelligent thought he had ever possessed.
The system chimed.
[Affection: 23%]
He ignored it.
That surprised him.
Two weeks earlier he would have stared at the number.
Now—
The warmth in his chest mattered considerably more.
Xuan Mei seemed to realize what she had said.
She stepped backward.
Quickly.
“Again.”
Orion stared.
“You’re running away.”
“I am preparing.”
“That was absolutely retreating.”
“Pick up your sword.”
“Your ears are red.”
The wooden sword struck him in the stomach.
Orion folded over.
“Uncalled for.”
Xuan Mei turned away.
“Again.”
He heard the smile in her voice.
⸻
They stopped near midday.
Orion sat beneath a tree eating steamed buns from a small basket.
“You are improving quickly.”
“Because you’re hitting me whenever I don’t.”
“Motivation is important.”
“I’ve learned that.”
She took a bun.
Orion glanced at her.
“When do you need to return?”
The question changed the atmosphere.
Xuan Mei looked toward the lake.
“Soon.”
Orion nodded.
He had known.
That didn’t mean he liked hearing it.
“My sect cannot leave me here indefinitely.”
“No.”
“And negotiations have stalled.”
“Also something I expected.”
She was quiet.
Orion took another bite.
Then Xuan Mei asked,
“Are you afraid?”
He looked at her.
“Of your sect?”
“Of what comes next.”
Orion thought about it.
“Yes.”
She seemed surprised.
“You admit that easily.”
“Should I pretend?”
“Most men would.”
“I’m six-foot-four and currently being beaten with wooden swords by my fiancée.
My pride has suffered enough.”
Xuan Mei laughed.
Orion smiled.
Then he became serious.
“I spent eighteen years unable to cultivate.”
He looked at his hands.
“There were things I knew I’d eventually have to accept.”
Growing old.
Watching his family remain young.
Watching friends disappear into realms he could never reach.
“Now I have a path.”
Orion closed his hand.
“But having a path doesn’t mean I know where it ends.”
Xuan Mei listened quietly.
“So yes.”
He looked at her.
“I’m afraid.”
“Then why do you seem so calm?”
Orion shrugged.
“Being afraid doesn’t mean you stop walking.”
The breeze passed between them.
Xuan Mei’s expression softened.
[Affection: 24%]
Orion saw the number.
His heart skipped.
One more.
He could feel something waiting behind that threshold.
A reward.
Something important.
But he forced the thought away.
He didn’t want to chase it.
Not like that.
If twenty-five came tomorrow, good.
If it came next month, also good.
Because Xuan Mei wasn’t a progress bar.
She was sitting beside him stealing the last steamed bun.
Orion looked into the basket.
Then at her.
“You took the last one.”
Xuan Mei delicately took a bite.
“I did.”
“Cold.”
“You hesitated.”
“That was my lunch.”
“You should cultivate decisiveness.”
Orion stared at her.
She stared back.
Then very slowly—
Xuan Mei broke the bun in half.
She extended one piece.
Orion looked at it.
Then her.
“Is this pity?”
“Take it before I reconsider.”
He accepted it.
Their fingers brushed.
Neither commented.
⸻
The message arrived that evening.
Orion was summoned to the Hall of Rising Dawn.
Xuan Mei was already there.
So were Cassian, Rowan, Sect Master Jian, and the Wind Resonant delegation.
The atmosphere was not pleasant.
A jade letter rested on the table.
Orion looked around.
“So I’m guessing nobody invited me for tea.”
His grandfather’s jaw tightened.
Xuan Mei looked furious.
That worried him more.
Sect Master Jian gestured toward the letter.
“The Wind Resonant Sect has proposed a condition.”
Orion sat.
“Which is?”
Cassian answered.
“The Hundred Sect Concord Tournament.”
Orion had heard of it.
Everyone had.
It was one of the largest gatherings of younger cultivators on the continent.
“What about it?”
Elder Shen looked uncomfortable.
“They require you to participate.”
Orion waited.
Nobody continued.
“And?”
Sect Master Jian sighed.
“And place within the top ten.”
Orion stared.
Silence.
Then—
“That’s hilarious.”
Nobody laughed.
Orion’s smile slowly disappeared.
“Oh.”
Xuan Mei stood. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
“I already told them no.”
Elder Shen sighed.
“Xuan Mei—”
“No.”
Her voice was cold.
“The condition is deliberately unreasonable.”
Nobody challenged that.
“He began cultivating weeks ago.”
Her silver eyes flashed.
“Some participants have cultivated since they could walk.”
Orion leaned back.
“When is the tournament?”
“Sixty-three days.”
He winced.
“Very generous.”
Xuan Mei turned to him.
“You are not doing it.”
Everyone looked at her.
She didn’t care.
“The engagement concerns us.”
She pointed toward the jade letter.
“Not them.”
Orion looked at her.
Angry.
Protective.
Standing in front of him even though she had absolutely no reason to.
Something in his chest warmed.
He stood.
“Xuan Mei.”
“No.”
“You don’t know what I’m going to say.”
“Yes, I do.”
“That’s mildly offensive.”
“Orion.”
He smiled.
Then his expression softened.
“I know I don’t need a tournament to prove I’m worthy of you.”
She froze.
The elders became very interested in remaining silent.
Orion continued.
“And I’m not going to spend my life performing tricks every time someone decides I need to justify standing beside you.”
Xuan Mei’s anger eased slightly.
“But this isn’t only about me.”
He glanced toward Elder Shen.
“If I refuse?”
The elder hesitated.
“The opposition within our sect will strengthen.”
“And you?”
Everyone looked at Xuan Mei.
“Will be pressured constantly.”
Silence answered him.
Orion nodded.
He understood.
“If I accept, they leave you alone until the tournament.”
“Probably.”
“Two months.”
Orion looked toward Xuan Mei.
“Two months where nobody can demand that you annul anything.”
She realized where he was going.
“Orion.”
“If they’re putting a wall in front of you—”
His piercing blue eyes met her silver ones.
“—I’ll climb it.”
Her breath caught.
Orion smiled gently.
“That doesn’t mean I’ll make it.”
“Then why?”
“Because I’d rather fail after trying than watch you fight your entire sect alone.”
Silence filled the hall.
Xuan Mei stared at him.
The system appeared.
[Affection: 24%]
The number flickered.
Orion’s heart stopped.
Then—
It remained unchanged.
He almost laughed.
Apparently grand speeches weren’t cheat codes.
Good.
Somewhere inside him, Orion found that strangely reassuring.
Xuan Mei stepped closer.
“You could be seriously injured.”
“I know.”
“You have sixty-three days.”
“I know.”
“Your cultivation is barely established.”
“Painfully aware.”
She stared at him.
Then sighed.
“You are unbelievably stubborn.”
Orion smiled.
“So I’ve been informed.”
Her expression softened.
“But if you do this…”
She looked directly into those strange, star-filled blue eyes.
“You aren’t doing it alone.”
⸻
That same night, two messages left the Wind Resonant Sect.
The first traveled openly.
Stamped with the sect master’s seal.
It carried the official terms regarding Orion Atlas and the Hundred Sect Concord Tournament.
The second departed through a hidden formation beneath High Elder Mo Xuesha’s residence.
It carried no sect seal.
No signature.
Only a name.
Orion Atlas.
And beneath it—
Ensure he enters the tournament.
Ensure he does not leave it.
Mo Chensha watched the black messenger talisman disappear into the night.
“Sixty-three days.”
His father stood behind him.
“Enough time for him to become confident.”
Chensha smiled.
“And not enough time to become strong.”
Mo Xuesha’s eyes glowed faintly red.
“Exactly.”
Far away, beneath the same night sky, Orion sat beneath the stars and began another cycle of the Solar Absorption Cultivation Art.
He knew the road ahead would be difficult.
He knew he was behind.
He knew sixty-three days would not magically erase eighteen years without cultivation.
But above him—
The moon shone.
And somewhere beyond the horizon, the sun waited to rise again.