Earth – The Next Day
Tim sat at his desk in the faculty lounge during lunch break, trying to grade papers while nursing a lukewarm coffee. On the other side of the universe, Lia was sitting on her stone bed in her quarters.
The connection was a constant, unyielding pressure in the back of his skull. He couldn't turn it off. There was no "mute" button for the other dimension. Even when he focused entirely on Earth, the sensory input from the Cultivation World was always there—a second video feed playing in his peripheral vision.
Usually, he tried to ignore Lia's body, leaving her sitting perfectly still like a switched-off robot while he went about his day. But that wasn't sustainable.
"I can't just leave her parked in idle mode forever," Tim muttered, rubbing his temples. "I need to learn to drive two cars at once."
He decided to try an exercise. He would attempt to actively pilot both bodies simultaneously, rather than toggling his attention back and forth.
Okay, he thought, staring at a disastrous English essay in front of him. Earth: Grade this sentence. Cultivation World: Relax posture.
He pushed the command through the static.
In the stone room, Lia moved. But because Tim was splitting his processing power, the movement was clumsy. Without his full attention, Lia was just an empty shell—a biological puppet obeying a distracted puppeteer.
She didn't settle gracefully into a meditative pose. Instead, she slumped back against the cold stone wall, her limbs heavy and loose. Her legs slid out across the soft mattress, and the sudden, jerky motion caused the heavy red silk of her sect robes to slide all the way down to her hips.
Tim froze on Earth, his red pen hovering over the paper.
The visual feed from the other world was high-definition and unavoidable. He looked down—through Lia's eyes—and saw a pair of long, flawlessly sculpted legs stretching out before him. They were pale, luminous, and toned by years of martial arts, ending in delicate ankles and cute, painted toes that wiggled involuntarily as the nerves settled.
Damn, Tim thought, a jolt of purely male appreciation short-circuiting his brain. Those are incredible legs.
For a split second, the visual input overrode the logic. He forgot he was the one wearing them. He was just a guy getting an eyeful of a supermodel.
Okay. Focus. Fix the robe.
He tried to send the command to cover up. But deep in his lizard brain, a wire got crossed. The male instinct to "see more" fought against the logical command to "conceal."
Command A (Lia): Grab the silk.Command B (Tim): Circle the word 'went'.
He sent the impulses simultaneously.
On Earth, Tim's hand moved smoothly, circling the word "went."
In the cultivation world, Lia's hand moved. She grabbed the hem of the robe. But instead of pulling it down, his subconscious took the wheel. Lia's hand gave a sharp tug upward.
The red silk bunched up to her waist. Everything was exposed.
Tim stared. The visual feed was extremely detailed.
Oh.
Then the realization hit him like a bucket of ice water. That's me. I am looking at ME.
The dysmorphia slammed into him. It wasn't sexy; it was terrifyingly weird. It was like looking in a mirror and seeing a stranger, or having an out-of-body experience gone wrong.
"NOPE," Tim hissed aloud.
Panic overrode the lizard brain. He sent a frantic mental scramble code. Lia's hands flew down, yanking the robes back over her legs and tucking them tightly under her thighs like a chastity blanket.
Tim slumped back in his chair on Earth, exhaling a shaky breath. "Okay. Not ready for that. Definitely not ready for that."
He was still sweating, but he realized something. He hadn't lost his balance. He hadn't vomited. Despite the accidental flashing, he had successfully performed two distinct motor functions in two different galaxies at the exact same second.
"Progress?" he whispered uncertainly. "Let's call it progress."
Then, a soft chime echoed in Lia's mind, interrupting his existential crisis. She raised her hand—a movement Tim managed to sync with taking a sip of coffee on Earth—activating the holographic ring interface.
Notification:Friend Request: Varek_Official (Flaming Saber Sect)
Tim's smile widened, grateful for the distraction. Riku.
He mentally tapped [Accept] with Lia's mind.
Thirty seconds later, Lia's ring buzzed.
Then it buzzed again.
Then it started vibrating continuously, a stream of chimes blending into a single, high-pitched whine.
Notification:User_SwordSaint99 tagged you in a post.Notification:Trending Alert: #IceQueenMelted
Tim's concentration shattered. The sudden spike of mental noise was like a microphone feedback loop screaming in his head. On Earth, his hand spasmed.
The paper cup in his hand crushed instantly, exploding lukewarm coffee all over his freshly graded papers.
"Son of a—!"
He leaped up, frantically dabbing at the essays with napkins while Lia's vision was overtaken by scrolling blue text.
So much for progress.
Notification:
Friend Request: Varek_Official (Flaming Saber Sect)
Tim smiled to himself on Earth. Riku. It was smart—establishing a direct line of communication between their cultivation avatars would make coordination much easier. He didn't think twice. He simply mentally tapped [Accept].
He went back to grading a particularly disastrous essay on present perfect tense.
Thirty seconds later, Lia's ring buzzed.
Then it buzzed again.
Then it started vibrating continuously, a stream of chimes blending into a single, high-pitched whine.
Tim dropped his red pen. He closed his eyes, shifting his focus to Lia.
The holographic display was scrolling so fast it was a blur of blue light.
Notification:User_SwordSaint99 tagged you in a post.
Notification:User_SectWatcher mentioned you.
Notification:Trending Alert: #IceQueenMelted
Notification:Trending Alert: #SectRomeoJuliet
"What?" Tim whispered.
He stopped the scroll and opened the trending tab. The top story on SpiritNet was a breaking news banner:
FORBIDDEN ALLIANCE? Flowing Water Prodigy Connects with Flaming Saber Battle-Maniac!
Tim felt the blood drain from his face. He had treated it like accepting a Facebook friend request from a colleague. He hadn't realized he had just publicly announced that the "Ice Queen" of the Flowing Water Sect was intimately connected to a high-profile disciple from their rival sect.
It was like a Capulet friending a Montague on Instagram, if Romeo and Juliet had half a million followers each.
Lia's inbox was flooded.
User_FlowingWaterDisciple: Senior Sister! Say it isn't so! He's a northern barbarian!
User_GossipDao: Is this a political marriage alliance? Or true love?
And then, sitting at the top of the pile, was the first direct message from Varek.
Varek_Official:Hey Teach. I still can't picture you in a skirt. You must make the most uptight teenage girl ever. [Attachment: Image]
The image was a selfie. Varek was standing in a desert, shirtless, flexing biceps that looked like carved mahogany, grinning roguishly at the camera with the carcass of a massive sand-beast behind him.
Tim stared at the image through Lia's eyes.
His first thought was purely from his Earth brain—a guy appraising another guy. Damn, Tim thought, feeling a spike of jealousy. Riku is ripped. I need to ask her what Varek's workout routine is. That serratus definition is insane.
But before he could finish admiring the aesthetics, a second signal hit him. It didn't come from his logical mind. It came from the base of Lia's skull—her lizard brain.
It was a hot, heavy, biological ping.
It was the feeling of a nineteen-year-old girl looking at a prime physical specimen and her DNA screaming: Yes. That one. Mate.
Tim felt his own stomach flip—not with nausea, but with butterflies. A genuine, physiological wave of attraction washed over him, making his breath hitch and his skin prickle.
He froze. The realization hit him like a truck.
Wait. Did I just... swoon?
"NO!" Tim screamed internally, recoiling from the sensation as if he'd touched a hot stove. "Bad lizard brain! No! Down!"
It scared the shit out of him. He was a grown man feeling a teenage girl's crush on his own student who was piloting a magical beefcake. The layers of wrongness were geological.
Stop it, he scolded his own biology, his heart hammering against his ribs in sheer panic. That is Riku. That is your student. I do not care how good those abs are, we are NOT doing this.
He typed back furiously, his hands shaking slightly from the adrenaline of fighting off his own hormones.
Lia_Xian:Have you always been such a little terror? I always thought you were such a good student. And put a shirt on.
The reply came instantly. It wasn't text. It was another image.
Varek_Official sent a photo.
Lia opened it. It was a close-up selfie of Varek. He was winking, one eye shut in a playful grimace, and his hand was pressed to his lips, blowing a kiss at the camera.
The caption read: For my favorite teacher.
Tim groaned aloud in the faculty lounge, burying his face in his hands. The butterflies were still there, fluttering traitorously in his stomach, and he wanted to die.
"I am going to fail her," he mumbled into his palms. "I swear I'm going to fail her."
"Fail who?" asked Professor Nakamura, looking up from his bento with mild concern.
"Uh... nobody," Tim said quickly, his voice cracking. "Just... biology."
Cultivation World – Confinement
"That is it," Tim snapped internally. "No more abs. No more flirting. You are going into horny girl time out."
He mentally grabbed Lia by the scruff of her neck—metaphorically speaking—and marched her over to the meditation mat. He forcibly muted the notifications on her ring, shutting out the stream of comments and the temptation to look at Varek's biceps again.
She needed to focus. Or rather, he needed to focus, and he couldn't do that while his avatar's lizard brain was drooling over a student.
According to Elder Cho, she had one month to "stabilize her foundation." In reality, Tim had one month to learn how to not die.
He opened the basic manual: The Twelve Flows of Qi.
It was dense, esoteric, and filled with diagrams that looked like constellations. But as he read, Lia's memories continued to surface. It wasn't like learning from scratch; it was like remembering a song he used to know but hadn't played in years.
The Dantian is the vessel, the manual explained. It stores the energy of the heavens. But standing water becomes stagnant. You must cycle the Qi through the meridians to scour away the impurities of the mortal body.
Tim closed his eyes on Earth, letting the faculty lounge fade away, and focused entirely on Lia's body.
He turned his attention to her gut—the Dantian.
This was where the dual-existence actually helped. On Earth, Tim's stomach contained nothing but lukewarm coffee and anxiety. He didn't have a Dantian; he had a void. That spiritual silence on the Earth side was a blessing. Because he didn't have his own internal energy roaring in his ears, he could act as a grounded observer, peering into Lia's body without any static interference.
It was like being a pilot sitting in a silent, soundproof booth while flying a jet engine in a hurricane.
He reached out with his mind and found Lia's reservoir. It was vast, turbulent, and packed to the brim with power.
He tried to nudge a small amount out of storage and into the first meridian channel.
It didn't flow; it surged like a tidal wave.
"Ah!" she gasped, her eyes flying open as a pulse of uncontrolled energy cracked the stone floor beneath her.
Tim recoiled mentally. He realized the problem immediately. Too much power. I must start small he thought.
She spent the next four hours just trying to pull a single thread of qi from the massive storage of her Dantian and cycle it through her fingertip without blowing anything up. It was exhausting, frustrating work.
By late afternoon, she managed it. A tiny, controlled blue flame flickered at the tip of Lia's index finger.
"Progress," she whispered.
Earth – The Classroom (Again)
Tim walked into his afternoon class—Riku's class—feeling like he was walking into a lion's den.
Riku was already there, sitting in the front row this time. She was wearing her oversized hoodie again, sleeves pulled down over her hands. When she saw him, she offered a small, conspiratorial wave.
Throughout the lecture, Tim could feel her staring. Not at him, but through him. She was clearly splitting her focus, making Varek slice through monsters in the desert while Tim explained English prepositions.
At one point, she giggled. Loudly.
Tim stopped writing on the board. "Is something funny, Miss Tanaka?".
Riku clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide. "Sorry! Sorry. Just... a funny thought".
Lia's ring phone buzzed. Tim checked it mentally while maintaining his composure on Earth.
Varek_Official sent a video.
It was a clip of Varek fighting a wolf-beast. He dodged a claw swipe, spun in mid-air, and delivered a roundhouse kick that sent the monster flying into a dune.
The caption read: Murder is fun! Also, check out these glutes.
Tim watched the video through Lia's eyes. It was impressive, but then he felt it—a sudden, traitorous heat pooling in Lia's lower gut.
It wasn't Tim feeling it. It was Lia. Her nineteen-year-old biological instincts saw the display of raw power and masculine aggression and responded with a sharp pang of desire.
Tim felt his own face flush on Earth. Oh, you have got to be kidding me, he thought, horrified. She's weaponizing his testosterone against my hormones.
He looked up. Riku stuck her tongue out at him.
Tim took a deep breath. Okay. You want to play biological warfare? Two can play at this game.
He decided to go on the offensive.
He switched his focus to the confinement room. Lia opened her ring menu and found the video recording function.
She looked into the camera. Tim channeled a tiny bit of qi to make her purple eyes glow with ethereal light. He commanded Lia to tilt her head and let a small, playful smile touch her lips—a stark contrast to her usual "Ice Queen" scowl.
Then, slowly and deliberately, she brought her delicate hand to her mouth.
She winked, and blew a kiss at the camera.
She hit send.
In the classroom, Riku's face went blank as Varek checked his message from Lia.
Then, the reaction hit. Her face went bright red. The image of her strict teacher (wearing the skin of a breathtakingly beautiful cultivator) blowing a kiss short-circuited Varek's male brain.
She choked on her own spit, coughing violently.
"Are you alright, Miss Tanaka?" Tim asked, his voice dripping with false concern.
Riku glared at him, water in her eyes, clutching her chest. "Fine," she wheezed. "Just... swallowed wrong".
Tim smirked and turned back to the board.
Teacher: 1. Student: 0, he thought with satisfaction. Having a male body means having male weaknesses, Riku.