The faint glow of the oil lamp cast long, wavering shadows across the cracked walls of their small home.
The air was thick with the scent of dust and faint medicinal herbs Anna had burned earlier to ease their wounds.
David sat cross-legged on the cold concrete floor, the cracked Snake Tree core cradled in his open palms. Its green light had dimmed considerably after fueling his initial breakthrough to the First Stage of Qi Refining, but a deeper, more persistent reservoir of energy still thrummed within—ancient, verdant, and oddly alive
Anna knelt behind him, her hands pressed gently but firmly against his back. She channeled thin threads of her own cultivation energy into his meridians, guiding and steadying the chaotic flow from the core.
"Breathe slowly," she murmured, her voice a calm anchor. "Don't force it. Let my energy lead yours. We're in no rush."
David nodded faintly, eyes closed, focusing on the rhythm of his breath.
He inhaled deeply.
Under Anna's careful guidance, the remaining energy in the core stirred—not surging downward to his dantian as before, but rising upward. It flowed through his chest, along his spine, threading delicately through the meridians in his neck until it reached the glabella—the sensitive point between his eyebrows.
There, something unexpected unfolded.
The energy did not disperse or settle as it should.
It condensed.
A tiny vortex formed at his glabella, spinning slowly at first, then gaining speed. Like a wormhole tearing open in the fabric of his soul, it pulled with irresistible force. The core's remaining power rushed toward it in a sudden, brilliant surge—green light flaring brightly before streaming upward in a ribbon of energy visible only to their cultivator senses.
David's breath caught sharply.
"Mom… it's pulling," he whispered, voice strained with effort.
"I feel it too," Anna replied, keeping her tone steady despite the surprise in her eyes. "Don't fight it. This isn't ordinary absorption… but it's not hurting you. Let it flow where it needs to go."
The vortex accelerated.
Energy poured in faster.
The core in David's hands began to crumble—edges flaking away like ancient bark, fine cracks spreading rapidly as its glow intensified one final time. Fragments dissolved into motes of shimmering green light, vanishing into the whirlpool at his forehead.
In moments, nothing remained but faint ash scattering across his lap.
Warmth spread through his skull—gentle at first, soothing, then deeper and more profound. His mind sharpened. Thoughts cleared. The chronic fatigue that had weighed him down for years began to lift, like clouds parting after a long storm.
For a brief, wondrous moment, everything felt perfectly aligned.
David exhaled slowly, a small smile tugging at his lips.
"I think… it's done," he said, wonder lacing his voice.
Anna's hands stayed steady on his back, her own senses probing carefully.
"Yes," she said softly, a note of awe creeping in. "Your spiritual sea… it's awakening far earlier than it should. This core carried traces of something ancient—an old lineage, far beyond a simple Tier Two beast."
David opened his eyes, turning slightly to meet her gaze.
"It feels… good. Clearer. Like I can think—"
Then it struck.
A sharp, metallic snap reverberated deep inside his skull—not a sound his ears heard, but a sensation that echoed straight into his soul.
Like an ancient chain, forged in primordial times, suddenly shattering under unbearable strain.
Pain exploded.
It was not the dull ache of wounds or the burn of overtaxed meridians.
This was raw, soul-rending agony.
A white-hot lance speared through his glabella, radiating outward in violent waves that clawed through every layer of his consciousness.
Then darkness.
Overwhelming, suffocating darkness.
His body convulsed violently.
"David!"
Anna's voice reached him as if from underwater—distant, frantic.
He tried to respond, tried to reassure her, but his throat locked. His hands clawed at the floor, nails scraping harshly against concrete. The vortex at his glabella flared one last, blinding time—devouring the final traces of foreign energy—before collapsing inward with a force that felt like his soul was being torn apart.
His vision blackened at the edges.
Consciousness slipped away, dragging him into an abyss.
"David! No—David, stay with me!"
Anna's composure shattered.
She lunged forward, catching him as he slumped sideways, pulling his limp body into her arms before he could hit the floor. Panic—raw, maternal terror—flooded her face. Her hands flew to his neck, checking his pulse: faint but steady. His breathing was shallow, ragged, his skin pale and slick with cold sweat.
"David! Can you hear me? Open your eyes—please!"
She shook him gently at first, then harder, desperation creeping into her voice.
"No, no, no—this can't be happening. Not now, not after everything!"
Tears welled in her eyes as she pressed a trembling palm to his glabella.
The vortex was gone.
But faint lines—like delicate, living roots—pulsed once beneath his skin before fading from sight.
Anna froze.
Her breath caught in her throat.
She had seen marks like those only once before—in a forbidden record smuggled from the upper levels years ago, hidden away and studied in secret.
A spirit inheritance.
An ancient bloodline awakening.
Something long thought extinct in this age of thinning energy.
It had chosen her son.
But at what terrible cost?
David lay motionless in her arms, chest rising and falling in the barest rhythm.
Anna clutched him tighter, rocking slightly, tears streaming freely now.
"Stay with me," she whispered fiercely, voice breaking. "You promised we'd face this together. Don't you dare leave me now."
Fear and determination warred in her eyes.
Whatever this awakening demanded—whatever price it exacted—she would pay it.
She would guard him through the night.
She would not lose him.
Not tonight.
Not ever.
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