Alexei's brain was still trying to process what Qingxue had just said.
Would you like family? I could be your older sister.
She'd said it so earnestly. Like offering to become someone's family was just a normal thing to do. Like they'd known each other for years instead of minutes.
Qingxue's fox ears twitched. Her head tilted slightly. "What... the fuck?"
She repeated the phrase slowly. Her pronunciation was nearly perfect, but something about the way she said it, made it clear she was treating it like a technical term she'd never heard in this combination before.
"The word 'fuck' refers to reproduction," she continued, frowning slightly. "But pairing it with 'what' makes no sense. Is this a regional saying? Or are you requesting clarification on the mechanics? I understood mortals learned this from—"
"NO." Alexei's face burned. "No, that's not, it's an expression. It's like saying 'what?' but with more emphasis."
"Emphasis on the reproductive act?"
"No! There's no reproduction involved! It means I'm surprised and confused. It's not literal."
Qingxue considered this. "So when you said 'what the fuck,' you meant 'I am very surprised by your offer of familial bonds?'"
"Yes. Exactly that."
"Your way of speaking has strange conventions."
"You're telling me."
A pause stretched between them. Qingxue's tail swished once.
"Did I..." She hesitated. "Did I overstep? I thought... in my sect, when the master found me, he offered me a home. I thought that was how—"
"I'm not becoming your sibling. We barely know each other," Alexei said quickly.
He watched her ears droop slightly and felt like an asshole. But also, he wasn't wrong. You didn't just adopt random teenagers because you felt grateful. That was weird.
"I get that you're trying to repay me for helping. But I didn't help you expecting some kind of family contract. I helped because... it was the right thing to do. You were dying. I wasn't going to just leave you there."
Qingxue stared at him, then asked, "Can I stay until I'm healed?"
"Yeah. I'm not going to kick out someone who can barely walk."
---
Living with Qingxue turned out to be surprisingly undramatic.
Which was good, because Alexei had been half-expecting some kind of cultivation world nonsense to start immediately. Instead, she just meditated quietly in his treehouse, or occasionally asked questions about his fishing. She never once demanded explanations for the obviously weird shit happening around her.
The Minecraft items especially. She'd watch him pull a cubic meter of water from a bucket the size of his head, observe him mining blocks with his bare hands, and her reaction was always just a slight nod, like this was completely normal.
Alexei had been stressing about how to explain Minecraft mechanics for days. Turns out he didn't need to.
From his perspective, it was baffling. From Qingxue's perspective, as he'd learn later, it made perfect sense. The cultivation world had millions of magical treasures, spiritual artifacts, and divine abilities. Each one weirder than the last. You couldn't stop and demand a full technical breakdown of every strange thing you encountered, or you'd never get anything done.
Cultivation philosophy emphasized clearing the mind and reducing desires. Being a "curiosity busybody," as she'd eventually explain it, was antithetical to the entire practice.
So she just accepted it. Weird treehouse? Fine. Impossible fishing yields? Sure. Cow with mushrooms growing on it? Why not.
It was actually kind of refreshing.
---
Plop.
[Raw Cod ×1]
Plop.
[Raw Cod ×1]
Plop.
[Raw Salmon ×1]
Alexei's fishing haul had been aggressively mediocre all morning. Just fish. Endless, boring fish. Not a single enchanted book, not even a piece of leather.
His eyes kept drifting toward Qingxue, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed in some kind of meditation pose. Her white fox tail was visible, swaying slightly with her breathing, and her fox ears would twitch occasionally when the mooshroom mooed.
The ears and tail were objectively interesting from an anthropological standpoint. He'd never seen anyone with animal features before. Part of him wanted to ask about it, was it a cultivation thing? A species thing? Some kind of curse?
But asking felt invasive. She'd saved him from explaining Minecraft mechanics. The least he could do was not interrogate her about her biology.
Still. The ears were very expressive. He could tell her mood just by watching them. Right now they were relaxed, which meant meditation was going well.
Focus, Alexei. Fishing. You're here to fish, not stare at people.
He cast his line again.
The truth was, his fishing luck had been terrible lately, and he was pretty sure it was because he was distracted. Back when it was just him and Bessie, he could zone out completely, enter a meditative fishing state where time just flowed.
Meditative state… Wasn't that what cultivators did? Could he become a fishing cultivator? Would his luck increase? Gain more enchanted books?
Now his brain kept interrupting itself.
Should I ask about cultivation? Would that be weird? She's recovering from nearly dying. Maybe wait another day. But what if she leaves before I ask? Do cultivators just leave? How does any of this work?
"You seem troubled."
Alexei nearly dropped his fishing rod.
Qingxue had opened her eyes and was watching him with an unsettling intensity that made him feel like she could see through his skull.
"I'm fine," he said automatically. "Just fishing."
"You've been staring at the water without moving for ten minutes."
Had it been ten minutes? Time was weird when you were overthinking.
"I was thinking," he admitted.
"About?"
He hesitated. Then figured, fuck it, she probably already knew. "Cultivation stuff. I was wondering if you could explain how it works."
Qingxue's fox ears perked up slightly. "You want to learn cultivation?"
"I want to understand it," he corrected. "Learning is... I don't know if that's possible for me. But understanding seems useful."
She considered this for a moment. "Most mortals here don't ask. They either worship cultivators or fear them."
"I'm not from around here."
That was probably the understatement of the century, but it seemed to satisfy her.
"I can explain," Qingxue said. "Though full understanding would require experiencing cultivation directly."
"I'll take what I can get."
She shifted slightly, wincing as her still-damaged body protested the movement. "The foundation of cultivation is spiritual energy, qi. It exists everywhere in the world, flowing through all living things."
Alexei nodded. This matched what he'd read in webnovels, but hearing it from a cultivator made it feel more real.
"Cultivators learn to sense this energy. Then gather it, refine it, and use it to strengthen their bodies and souls. The process has stages: Body Tempering, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, Manifestation. Each stage transforms the cultivator fundamentally. If you want to cultivate, you'd need to have your spiritual roots tested. Without suitable roots, gathering qi is impossible."
"And spiritual roots are...?"
"An innate quality. Some people are born with strong roots, some with weak roots, some with none at all." She hesitated. "It's not fair. But it's how the world works."
Alexei filed that away under 'cultivation bullshit to complain about later.' But before he could respond, Qingxue suddenly tensed, her hand going to her side.
"Are you okay?"
"It's nothing. Just an old injury acting up." Her voice was strained despite her attempt to sound casual.
She'd been sitting upright for too long. Her spiritual veins were still damaged, and maintaining even basic circulation was taxing. A sharp pain shot through her meridians, making her breath catch.
Alexei frowned. He'd seen that look before, people trying to tough through pain they couldn't hide. His mom used to do the same thing when her back hurt but she didn't want to worry him.
"Hold on." He turned to his inventory, mind racing through his Minecraft items. What did he have that could help with injuries?
Then it hit him. The milk bucket.
He pulled out the head-sized iron bucket from his inventory, filled to the brim with thick white liquid that sloshed gently. "This might help."
Qingxue looked at the bucket with confusion. "What is it?"
"Mooshroom milk. It's not ordinary milk, it can remove status effects."
He was not sure if cultivation injuries counted as 'status effects' in game terms, but it was worth trying, right?
She stared at the liquid, which gave off a rich milky fragrance mixed with a faint mushroom scent. Her divine sense detected no spiritual energy from it. Just normal, mundane milk.
"You want me to drink regular milk? To heal spiritual injuries?"
"I know it sounds weird, but it might help you. And what could go wrong if it's just normal milk? You'd get some calcium. I hope you're not lactose intolerant, otherwise, things could go wrong…"
Even though she didn't fully understand most of what he was saying about calcium or lactose, she couldn't ignore the earnest concern on his face. Knowing her injured body shouldn't consume mundane food, she nonetheless reached out to take the bucket. "Thank you. I'll try it."
The moment her fingers closed around the iron handle, overwhelming force yanked her arm violently downward.
She barely caught herself, spiritual energy flaring instinctively to support her arm. At least three tons. The small bucket weighed several times more than her natal treasure.
What in the heavens?
For a spiritual cultivator at her peak, this would be nothing. But gravely injured, without access to her full power, lifting three tons was genuinely difficult. Her arm trembled from the strain, and she felt her barely-stabilized injuries threatening to flare up again.
Alexei's eyes went wide. "Oh shit, I forgot..."
He grabbed the bucket back immediately, taking the weight before she could drop it.
"Sorry! I forgot how heavy that thing is. Are you okay?"
Qingxue let out a careful breath, flexing her fingers. "I'm fine."
She'd suspected this boy had a special constitution when she'd first seen his white hair and blue eyes, possibly a pure ice-attribute spiritual body. But ice spiritual bodies didn't grant monstrous physical strength. And she couldn't sense any spiritual energy from him at all, meaning he hadn't started cultivating. The only explanation that made sense was impossible: dual constitution. Both spiritual cultivation talent and body cultivation potential in the same person.
The last person recorded with such a thing was the Divine Cloud Empress, who'd ruled the Divine Cloud Dynasty for over thirteen hundred years.
Could this boy really...?
She needed to check properly.
"Alexei," she said. "Do you want to test your spiritual constitution?"
"How does that work?"
"Normally it requires a Spirit Testing Monument. But I can perform a manual examination. It requires channeling spiritual energy through your body to sense how your meridians respond. It's not painful, but it does require physical contact. I'd need to place my hand on your back and chest to map your meridian channels. If you're uncomfortable with that, I understand."
Alexei considered for a moment. "Will it tell you if I can cultivate?"
"It will tell me what kind of spiritual roots you have, if any. And whether your constitution is compatible with standard cultivation methods."
"Then yeah, let's do it."
She nodded, grateful he was being so practical about it. "Sit with your back to me. I'll need to access the point between your shoulder blades first."
He turned around, and she placed her hand on his back. She pushed a thread of spiritual energy through...