Three hours after their oath was made, Jalen stood beside a shallow pond he had carved from white stone behind the temple. It was nestled near the river that wrapped around the obsidian isle—its waters drawn directly from that sacred flow. Into it, Jalen had steeped crushed spirit herbs: silver-flame clover, lightroot, and qi-filtering moss. Their scent was sharp and floral, touched with earthy decay.
The pond glowed faintly, mirroring the temple's glyphwork and pulsing with ambient light qi.
Lloyd hovered nearby, eyeing it like it might bite him.
"Get in," Jalen said without turning.
Lloyd hesitated, then scoffed. "You're seriously giving me a bath? I thought you were going to make me stronger."
"It's not for hygiene. It's for resonance. Light qi won't be able to flow properly with a physique that is still clogged by lingering earth essence. These herbs strip, align, and stabilize what the Light Spirit Seed awakened."
Lloyd muttered something under his breath, then he stripped down and stepped into the pond.
The effect was instant.
Heat surged into his bones, not burning, but unsettling—like his marrow was being rearranged. He gritted his teeth and sank deeper until the water reached his collarbone.
Jalen watched quietly.
For a full day, Lloyd soaked, meditated, and endured. By the end, his body pulsed with faint illumination, his muscles tighter, his skin faintly glowing.
Then came the next step.
Jalen didn't waste time with vague theory.
He stood in front of Lloyd, lifted his hand, and let threads of light qi swirl.
"This is the first form," he said. "Radiant Pulse Weave. A stance that stabilizes light qi during movement and strengthens combat rhythm. It allows instant reaction adjustments mid-strike without rupturing internal flow."
Lloyd blinked. "That sounds overly complicated."
"It is."
Jalen turned, light spiraling around his fingers in a precise arc. The technique glowed faintly, fluid and balanced.
"But I didn't figure it out like this," Jalen added. "I struggled. A lot."
Lloyd tilted his head. "You mean—someone like you had trouble?"
"Yes." If the Origin Shard that his now fused with his spirit sea hadn't broken the structure down, and reorganized it in a way he could grasp it quickly then he would still be going at it. "It took me about two days to grasp it."
Lloyd raised an eyebrow. "Wait. Two days?"
Yeah, this shocked Jalen too.
When he was learning the shadow technique—equal in complexity—it had taken him hundreds of years. Even with the origin shard's help.
But now, something felt different.
Not because the Origin Shard had suddenly awakened. It always had been synchronized with him—quiet, calculating, never rushed.
Only now, with each step forward, did it seem faster. Sharper.
Maybe it had grown stronger after taking in the shard of the light spirit seed and make it apart of itself and his primary core.
Or maybe his own evolution had unlocked deeper layers within it.
It didn't offer reasons.
It didn't need to.
And Jalen didn't ask.
He just let the knowledge unfold—and passed it along.
"I didn't say mastered. I said, Grasp."
Jalen snapped his fingers. The light condensed. "Now that I understand it, I can relay it to you in simpler terms."
The explanation that followed was... strange.
Jalen used finger gestures, ambient pulses, and verbal cues—translating complex energy dynamics into metaphor. He even compared the qi's behavior to wind passing through hollow bones and cloth folding underwater.
Lloyd didn't get it.
But he tried.
Each time he failed, Jalen gave sharper feedback.
And Lloyd, despite his clumsy attempts, showed enthusiasm that bordered on obsession.
Being taught by a Spirit Fusion Realm expert—even one younger than him—was unheard of. Most cultivators would kill for this opportunity. And here he was… soaking up lessons, enduring scolds, chasing power.
Still, he couldn't get over Jalen's strength.
"You're sixteen?" Lloyd asked again, for the seventh time.
Jalen gave him a look.
"You're not some ancient beast pretending to be a child?"
"No."
"Not a celestial wearing human skin?"
"No."
Lloyd stared harder.
"I think you're lying."
Jalen exhaled through his nose. "Do you want to sense my life energy?"
"Can I?"
Jalen opened his spirit sense and lowered his guard.
Lloyd reached out—and froze.
The signature pulsing from Jalen's body was sharp, clean, and young. No distortion. No layering. No extended cycles.
He was sixteen.
Truly.
Which made him... terrifying.
Lloyd stumbled back and muttered, "You're not mortal. You're an anomaly. A problem the heavens can't solve."
"Good. Let's keep it that way."
They trained hard after that.
For the next week, Lloyd woke before sunrise and immersed himself in breathing cycles, light qi alignment, and subtle posture control. Jalen watched, occasionally guiding, sometimes scolding, always observing.
Progress was slow.
Lloyd struggled to activate even a partial weave. His qi responded too bluntly, flaring instead of folding. Still, something began to shift. By the fifth day, he could feel the threads. By the seventh, he could summon them to his palm.
Not shape them. Not move them.
But call them.
It was a start.
Meanwhile, Jalen had already moved on.
The second technique revealed itself in quiet pulses inside his mind—anchored by the Origin Shard. Its structure was elegant, complex, something that should've taken decades to comprehend.
And yet...
He understood it in two days. Unfortunately, Lloyd is still stuck on the first technique. But Jalen can sense that Lloyd will get it soon, as long as he continues to try as hard as he's been doing.