ARK SPIRIT

The stream beneath the mountain gorge suddenly erupted in a spray of white foam.

Hao Nhien shot out of the water, his feet barely leaving the surface before momentum carried him into a turn in midair. Water had not even finished falling from his hair and shoulders when his awareness of the air currents around him became clearer than before.

One current rose along the cliff face from below, another swept sideways through the mouth of the gorge, while farther away, two streams of air collided and separated into small vortices.

Hao Nhien could not truly see them, but after spending several days studying the beast core and then immersing himself in flowing water, the subtle changes in the air as it passed across his skin had become far easier to perceive. His shoulder tilted with the rising current, his waist turned slightly, and his arms opened almost instinctively.

For the first time, he felt that the air around him was no longer merely something that resisted his movement.

If he caught the right rhythm, he could borrow it.

The thought made Hao Nhien increasingly excited. Unable to contain himself, he laughed and shouted into the gorge.

“Ha ha! Come on! Come to me!”

Almost at the same moment, a woman’s voice rang out from the stream bank.

“What did you just say?!”

Hao Nhien froze in midair, his smile still on his face and both arms spread wide.

He turned his head.

Quan Nha stood beside the stream with one hand still near the water. It looked as though she had just bent down to wash her face, and her long black hair was still damp. Her phoenix eyes were wide, staring at him with a mixture of confusion and wariness.

Hao Nhien blinked before finally realizing his current situation.

He was wearing nothing but a thin pair of soaked trousers. Worse, his arms were spread wide as though he were genuinely inviting someone to throw herself into his embrace.

For a brief instant, Hao Nhien felt his mind go emptier than it had when facing the Gray Shadow Wolf King.

His smile stiffened when he saw Quan Nha’s face turn so red that she looked ready to burst into flames. Every trace of the air currents he had just been sensing vanished from his mind.

Then he dropped straight into the stream.

Splash!

“Hao Nhien!”

Her shout echoed through the gorge.

A moment later, he surfaced in a fit of coughing, leaving only half his head above the water.

“Sister Quan Nha, let me explain.”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“I was cultivating.”

“You need to look like that to cultivate?”

Hao Nhien opened his mouth, then closed it again.

That was not an easy question to answer.

He hurriedly pulled a spare set of clothes from his storage ring. The fast current twisted the sleeves around his arms several times, and his sash nearly floated away. By the time he finally crawled onto the bank, his robe was slightly crooked, water still dripped from his hair onto his shoulders, and every trace of the carefree bearing he had just comprehended had been washed away by the stream.

Hao Nhien clasped his hands and said sincerely, “I really was only testing how to borrow the flow. My outer clothes got in the way, so I took them off. There was nothing else behind it.”

Quan Nha still had her face turned away.

“You’re still explaining?”

Hao Nhien considered mentioning resistance, then wisely decided against it. Recent experience told him that this was definitely not the right time to discuss fluid mechanics.

“All right. I was wrong.”

Quan Nha took several deep breaths before finally turning back. The redness on her face had not completely faded, but at least the sword at her waist was still in its sheath.

Seeing that she had calmed down somewhat, Hao Nhien’s mind began working again.

Unfortunately, only about half of it seemed to be functioning.

He hesitated, then said, “Actually... if we’re being fair, last time I accidentally saw you, and this time you accidentally saw me. Can we call it even?”

The stream bank fell into a terrifying silence.

Quan Nha stared at him.

Hao Nhien stared back.

One breath later, he knew he had made a mistake.

Clang!

Her sword left its sheath.

“Hao Nhien!”

“I take it back!”

“You still dare bring that up?”

“I won’t mention it again!”

Sword light flashed.

The strike was clearly not meant to kill him, but it was still far faster than an ordinary warning. Hao Nhien almost instinctively tilted his shoulder, shifted his weight onto his left foot, and turned his body along the direction of the sword’s movement.

The blade passed across his chest with only a narrow gap to spare.

Hao Nhien paused.

He had dodged it.

Not by exploding with speed, nor because he had predicted the sword path in advance. His body had simply chosen an angle that moved him away from the strongest line of force, exactly like what he had spent the last several days practicing.

Before he could even catch his breath, Quan Nha turned her wrist. The sword that had just passed him immediately curved back, dragging a cold line of light across his waist.

Hao Nhien did not want to truly fight her, much less draw his own sword. He merely stepped back half a pace, turned his shoulder, and shifted aside in the same direction as the sword’s momentum.

The blade skimmed past again, close enough for him to feel its chill through his robe.

“Sister Quan Nha, I already said I take it back.”

“Shut up!”

The third strike came even faster.

This time, Quan Nha no longer attacked as simply as before. The sword tip trembled midway through the thrust, splitting from one direction into two nearly indistinguishable sword shadows that sealed the openings on both sides.

Hao Nhien immediately knew that if he continued retreating in a straight line, he would force himself toward the stream’s edge.

So he stopped retreating.

His left foot stepped diagonally at a slight angle. His center of gravity dropped, and his body slipped through the narrow gap between the two sword shadows. A cold current brushed close to his neck, but by the time Quan Nha turned to continue her attack, Hao Nhien had already moved outside the strongest range of her sword momentum.

Even he was slightly surprised.

A few days ago, a change of direction like that would have required an extra pulse of true qi just to forcibly halt his momentum. Now he had almost simply followed the force already carrying him, allowing inertia to move him into a new position before exerting strength again.

A trace of delight flashed in his eyes.

Quan Nha’s expression immediately became even worse.

“You’re still smiling?”

“I’m not laughing at you. I just...”

Sword light came again.

Hao Nhien swallowed the rest of the sentence.

Quan Nha began to increase the pace.

One thrust came straight at him, followed by a horizontal sweep, then the sword suddenly shifted into a diagonal cut from shoulder to waist. She did not use any killing moves and was clearly still holding back much of her true qi, but the attacks came one after another without pause. She was no longer willing to let him evade as easily as before.

Hao Nhien gradually lost any chance to speak.

He retreated, tilted, turned, and shifted angles between the sword strikes. Sometimes he moved only half a step. Other times he used a stone near the stream to shift his balance. What he had learned from wind and water began to emerge more naturally in every movement.

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He was not absolutely faster than Quan Nha, but whenever she seemed to have sealed his escape, he found a tiny opening and slipped through it.

The more he escaped, the faster her sword became.

Hao Nhien gradually realized that this no longer felt entirely like a fight born from embarrassment.

Each time he avoided an attack, something in Quan Nha’s gaze changed. The anger was still there, but another emotion had appeared beneath it, one he could not read. All he knew was that every following strike became more determined.

“Sister Quan Nha.”

Hao Nhien avoided another sword and said, “That’s enough.”

She did not answer.

The sword tip suddenly changed direction halfway through its path and stabbed directly toward his shoulder. This time, the distance was too short.

Hao Nhien could no longer rely on evasion alone.

The Tieu Dao Sword left its sheath.

There was no violent collision.

The tip of the Tieu Dao Sword merely touched the side of Quan Nha’s blade at a shallow angle. Hao Nhien turned his wrist as his body shifted to the side, redirecting the force that had been driving straight forward.

The two blades slid closely past each other with a long metallic ring.

Following the force of the exchange, Hao Nhien stepped forward half a pace, turned his shoulder, and lightly tapped the wrist holding Quan Nha’s sword with the hilt of his own.

It was not a powerful strike.

But it was enough.

Quan Nha’s arm was knocked aside, and the entire sword form collapsed. She lost her balance for an instant and had to step back half a pace before steadying herself.

Both of them stopped.

Hao Nhien kept the Tieu Dao Sword lowered at his side. He did not pursue, nor did he take advantage of the opening to close the distance.

He was still staring at the hand holding his sword, somewhat stunned himself.

He had not overwhelmed her with strength.

He had merely avoided the strongest part of her force, borrowed the rest, and redirected it elsewhere.

It was exactly what he had seen from the Gray Shadow Wolf King.

Exactly what he had been testing in the water.

But when Hao Nhien looked up, the faint delight in his heart immediately faded.

Quan Nha stood several steps away. Her sword was still in her hand, but its tip had lowered. Her gaze remained on Hao Nhien for a long moment before shifting to the Tieu Dao Sword, then to the distance he had forced her away from her original position.

The redness from embarrassment gradually faded from her face.

Hao Nhien had no idea what she was thinking, but from her expression and the way her hand tightened around the sword hilt, he could tell that the anger from before had been replaced by something else.

“Sister Quan Nha?”

She did not answer.

After a while, her fingers slowly loosened around the hilt. Quan Nha sheathed her sword, walked a few steps away, and sat beside the stream.

Hao Nhien did not immediately follow.

Since meeting her again, this was the first time her back had looked so tired.

He stood there for a moment before calling softly, “Quan Nha.”

There was no teasing in his voice now.

She did not turn around.

Hao Nhien remained where he was. The atmosphere that had been almost ridiculous moments ago suddenly felt much heavier.

He did not approach. Standing several zhang away, he watched her for a while before saying slowly, “I don’t know what you’ve been through. But looking at you now... I don’t think what happened today is the only reason.”

Quan Nha’s shoulders moved slightly.

Hao Nhien did not press her.

Sometimes asking too much only made it harder for someone to speak. He was seventeen in this life, but the memories and experiences of his previous one gave him far more perspective than his appearance suggested. Some people became so accustomed to appearing strong that they no longer knew what to do when that shell cracked in front of someone else.

So he simply stood there.

A long time passed before Quan Nha finally spoke.

“You really are annoying.”

Hao Nhien nodded honestly.

“Mm. I know.”

“Nothing good ever happens when I meet you.”

“That... also seems true.”

Quan Nha slowly exhaled. After a while, she continued, “But that isn’t what bothers me most.”

Hao Nhien looked at her.

She kept her eyes on the flowing water.

“When we first met, you were only at the fifth layer of Qi Condensation. Back then, I thought... at the very least, I could still remind you of a few things. If something happened, maybe I could help a little.”

Hao Nhien remained silent.

Quan Nha gave a faint smile.

“I knew you had troubles involving your parents as well.”

Her hand tightened slightly on her knee.

“You didn’t say much, but I could tell. No one pushes themselves that hard without a reason.”

Hao Nhien lowered his eyes slightly.

She was not wrong.

After a pause, she finally turned toward him.

“But now... perhaps you’ve already surpassed me.”

Her voice was very soft.

Precisely because it was so soft, Hao Nhien found it even harder to respond.

Quan Nha lowered her gaze again.

“I know I shouldn’t compare myself like this. I know everyone has their own opportunities. But seeing you go from the fifth layer of Qi Condensation to where you are now in such a short time... I still feel as though I’m too slow.”

She smiled faintly, but there was no happiness in it.

“I thought I had been working very hard.”

“But apparently, it still wasn’t enough.”

Hao Nhien watched her for a long time.

Only now did he begin to understand many things from the past differently.

The words that had always sounded harsh.

The way she was constantly strict with him, as though the slightest careless act would immediately earn her criticism.

Before, Hao Nhien had mostly assumed that was simply her personality.

Thinking back now, he realized that her harshness had not been only that. There had also been reminders and concern hidden beneath it, something he had never understood before.

Hao Nhien let out a quiet breath.

“Sister Quan Nha.”

She looked toward him.

He was no longer joking.

“I used to think you genuinely found me troublesome.”

Quan Nha immediately frowned.

“You are troublesome.”

Hao Nhien laughed.

This time, he did not argue.

“All right. I admit it.”

The smile gradually faded from his face.

“But what you just told me... I’ll remember it.”

Quan Nha paused slightly.

Hao Nhien looked at the stream before continuing.

“I understand what it feels like to want to become stronger for someone.”

“Sometimes it isn’t because you want to defeat anyone. You’re simply afraid that when someone truly needs you, you won’t be strong enough.”

Quan Nha did not answer immediately.

After a long while, she finally said, “My mother was taken away.”

Her voice was very low.

“My father brought me back to the Quan Family, then went back to find her.”

She fell silent for a long time.

“Neither of them ever returned.”

Hao Nhien did not interrupt.

Quan Nha watched the moonlight break into silver fragments across the water.

“I’ve always thought that if I became stronger, and then stronger still, one day I would finally be qualified to search for them.”

“But after all these years, I’m still at the ninth layer of Qi Condensation.”

Looking at the redness in her eyes, Hao Nhien finally understood why that brief exchange of swords had affected her so deeply.

It was not simply because he had avoided her attacks.

It was because that moment had forced her to see with her own eyes that the person she once believed needed her reminders and help had already progressed to the point where she was no longer certain she could defeat him.

Hao Nhien did not know what he could say to erase that feeling.

Nor did he want to offer something hollow like, “You’re not slow.”

After a while, he simply said, “Just because I’ve moved quickly doesn’t mean you’ve moved slowly.”

Quan Nha frowned slightly.

Hao Nhien continued, “There were stretches where I happened to encounter the right opportunities, so I advanced faster. There may be stretches where you advance faster than I do. If all we do is watch the person beside us, eventually neither of us will be able to see our own path.”

He paused before adding, “But there is one thing I know for certain.”

“You have never stood still.”

Hao Nhien fell silent for a while, then his expression changed slightly.

He remembered something inside his storage ring.

At first, he had intended to keep it and investigate it later. But after hearing what Quan Nha had just said, that thought began to change.

Not out of pity.

Not merely as an apology.

He remembered the strange sensation he had felt while holding the Python King’s beast core, and the faint fluctuation that had reminded him of Quan Nha’s charm affinity.

If his judgment was correct, perhaps this object truly belonged in her hands more than his.

Hao Nhien watched her for a moment, then stepped a little closer while still keeping enough distance not to make her uncomfortable.

He opened his palm.

A dark purple beast core appeared.

Inside it, a layer of mist slowly revolved. Dim blue streaks moved through the purple glow, while a cold and heavy presence seeped outward.

Quan Nha immediately looked over.

Her expression changed almost the instant she saw it.

“A beast core... from a Beast King?”

Hao Nhien nodded.

“The Python King.”

She looked at the core, then at him.

“Where did you get this?”

Hao Nhien coughed softly.

“I picked it up.”

Quan Nha stared at him with an expression that made it very clear she did not believe him.

“I really did pick it up.”

Hao Nhien did not intend to explain further. He simply held the core toward her.

“I want to give it to you.”

Quan Nha froze.

“Why?”

Hao Nhien looked at the beast core in his hand.

“Besides its venomous nature, there’s another very strange fluctuation inside it. I’ve felt something faintly similar from you before.”

Quan Nha studied the core for a long time.

“I once read in the family records that some Beast King cores can preserve extremely deep traces of their innate talents. If the person making contact is sufficiently compatible, they may be able to comprehend a portion of them.”

She looked at him.

“Do you know how valuable this is?”

“I do.”

“And you’re still giving it to me?”

Hao Nhien shrugged.

“I may not be able to use it even if I keep it. You seem more suited to it.”

After a short pause, he added, “Besides, you’ve had an opportunity involving the Divine Soul before. If you truly intend to comprehend something from this kind of beast core, your chances should be better than those of an ordinary cultivator.”

Quan Nha looked deeply at him.

Hao Nhien smiled faintly.

“Consider it part of my apology.”

Her eyes immediately sharpened.

He quickly raised a hand.

“A real apology. Not the ‘call it even’ thing from earlier.”

Quan Nha stared at his irritatingly sincere expression for a long moment.

In the end, she reached out and accepted the beast core.

The instant her fingertips touched the dark purple surface, her body trembled slightly.

Hao Nhien noticed immediately.

“Something wrong?”

Quan Nha did not answer at once.

She closed her eyes for a breath, then opened them again, her gaze still fixed on the core.

“I don’t know.”

She frowned slightly.

“It just feels... strange.”

Hao Nhien did not question her further.

He knew Quan Nha had experienced an opportunity connected to the Divine Soul before, so her sensitivity could not be judged by the standards of an ordinary Qi Condensation cultivator.

Her reaction only made him feel that perhaps his choice had been correct.

Quan Nha stared at the beast core for a long time before finally saying softly, “Thank you.”

Hao Nhien smiled.

“It isn’t easy to hear those words from you.”

Quan Nha shot him a look.

His smile immediately disappeared.

“All right. Something important.”

Hao Nhien became serious.

He explained how he had used his spiritual awareness to make contact with the Gray Shadow Wolf King’s beast core. He told her that the core contained not only spiritual qi and traces of innate talent, but also chaotic remnants of the Divine Soul. Ferocity, killing intent, and incomplete fragments of sensation could all travel back through the connection and affect the person examining it.

“I didn’t see complete memories,” Hao Nhien said. “Only scattered imprints. But if your spiritual awareness sinks too deeply, they can affect your Divine Soul in return. At best, your mind could become confused. At worst, the Divine Soul itself could be injured.”

Quan Nha listened carefully.

“I was able to remain relatively clear headed because I cultivate the Soul Art. But I don’t know how similar your condition is to mine, so don’t be careless.”

Quan Nha looked down at the beast core in her hand.

“If I try...”

“I’ll protect you.”

Hao Nhien answered immediately.

“But not here. First, we find somewhere hidden. Once you’re stable, if we still have time, we can come back and inspect both territories. The two Beast Kings are dead, but their lingering presence is still strong enough that most nearby demonic beasts won’t dare enter recklessly. That won’t last forever.”

Quan Nha nodded slightly.

“I want to try.”

Hao Nhien looked at her.

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.”

There was no hesitation left in her voice.

Hao Nhien exhaled and turned away, beginning to search for a direction with fewer signs of demonic beasts.

Quan Nha carefully stored the beast core and followed behind him.

They had only walked a few steps when Hao Nhien suddenly stopped.

“Sister Quan Nha.”

A wary voice came from behind him.

“What?”

He hesitated.

“About what happened earlier...”

Her voice instantly turned cold.

“Hao Nhien.”

Before he could finish, her hand was already resting on her sword hilt.

“I was only going to say that next time I go into the water, I’ll look around first.”

Quan Nha paused.

Seeing her expression, Hao Nhien could not stop the corner of his mouth from rising.

“You thought I was going to say ‘can we call it even,’ didn’t you?”

Clang!

Hao Nhien immediately turned and ran.

“Stop right there!”

The stream continued flowing through the mountain gorge while Hao Nhien ran ahead, thinking that perhaps there was one more thing he needed to learn besides wind affinity.

When to keep his mouth shut.