The morning sun painted golden stripes across the wooden floor as Shen Tianxu descended the stairs.
Each step felt strang as his enhanced muscles responded with power he hadn't fully calibrated yet, making even simple movements require conscious adjustment.
He'd spent eight hours reconstructing his body at the cellular level. Now he was learning to inhabit it properly.
The sounds of his family drifted up from below. His mother's gentle humming. Shen Chen's excited chatter.
The clink of dishes being arranged. Normal morning sounds that somehow felt precious after everything that had happened.
He paused at the bottom of the stairs, taking in the scene.
The breakfast table had been extended to accommodate everyone.
His entire family gathered around it like they hadn't in months. His father sat at the head, silver hair catching the light filtering through the windows.
His mother moved between the kitchen and table with practiced efficiency, placing dishes with the same precise care she brought to everything.
His younger siblings bounced in their seats with barely contained energy.
And the twins.
Shen Yue and Shen Xian sat beside his mother, looking small and uncertain despite their attempts at composure.
Both wore borrowed clothe which looked simple but clean, clearly selected by his mother from her own collection and hastily altered to fit.
Their silver hair had been washed and braided, the styling distinctly his mother's work.
Shen Yue noticed him first. Her head turned sharply, and something flickered across her face.
Relief?
Warmth?
Her expression shifted too quickly to name it precisely.
"Tianxu!" His mother's voice carried that particular tone mothers reserved for children who'd worried them. "Finally. I was about to send your siblings to drag you down here."
"I was changing clothes, Mother."
"For twenty minutes?" Feng Qingge appeared from the kitchen carrying a tray of steamed buns.
She usually stays with his family most times as she is orphaned.
His childhood friend smirked at him knowingly. "Or were you checking out your new muscles in the mirror? You look like you've been sculpted from marble overnight."
"I was not—"
"Brother's eyes are glowing!" Shen Chen interrupted, bouncing so hard his chair scraped against the floor. "Look! Look! They're actually glowing!"
Every head turned toward him. Shen Tianxu resisted the urge to retreat back up the stairs.
"Sit," his father commanded gently, gesturing to an empty seat. "And stop terrorizing your brother, Chen. His eyes are not glowing."
"They totally are—"
"They're luminescent," Shen Ling corrected primly. She was the more bookish of the twins, forever correcting her brother's vocabulary.
"There's a difference. Glowing implies active light emission. Luminescent means they're reflecting light in an unusual way due to increased cultivation density behind the—"
"Nobody cares about the science, Ling!"
"I care about the science!"
"That's because you're boring!"
"You're boring!"
Their mother's hand came down on the table with a sharp *crack* that silenced both children instantly.
"Enough. Both of you. Your brother just survived being captured by slavers and you're arguing about semantics."
"Sorry, Mother," they chorused together, looking appropriately chastised for approximately three seconds before Shen Chen's eyes strayed back to Shen Tianxu with barely suppressed excitement.
Meanwhile, Shen Tianxu paid attention to his sister's words and recalled a certain information.
The ancient elves had been pioneers of research and are actually the ones who had a concept of science as a way to interpret reality in the cultivation world different from the rest.
They guarded it like secrets and eventually since their decline everything was lost.
Well, almost.
A few books here are there was left. His sister was a big fan of it.
'Interesting, these elves my have been a uniquely highly advanced race and might have combine science technology with cultivation principles in ways no one else had thought of.' Shen Tianxu thought about it for a moment.
'If that's the case they must have been terrifyingly powerful how have they been reduced to such a state?' This was a mystery for now.
Shen Tianxu took his seat carefully, hyperaware of how differently his body moved.
Shen Ling watched him with those quiet, observant eyes. "Did it hurt?" she asked softly. "The cultivation you did last night?"
The table went silent. Even Shen Chen stopped fidgeting.
"Yes," Shen Tianxu answered his sister honestly. "Considerably."
"But you did it anyway, big brother" It wasn't a question. Shen Lian's voice held something that might have been admiration.
Or recognition.
"For eight hours straight."
"How do you know it was eight hours?"
"Mother told us." She replied.
"She checked on you three times. Said you were in some kind of trance. Wouldn't respond to your name."
His mother set down a bowl of congee with perhaps more force than necessary. "I was worried. Blame me for being a concerned parent, more concerned that someone I know."
Shen Tianxu's father acted like he didn't receive a stray bullet.
"I wasn't going to blame you, Mother."
"Good, because you'd lose." She reached over and touched his forehead anyway, checking for fever like he was five years old again. "You're warm. Too warm. Are you feeling alright?"
"I'm fine. It's just increased metabolic activity from the—"
"Eat." She pushed the congee toward him. "No more cultivation talk until you've got food in your stomach. You look half-dead."
"I feel great, actually."
"You look like death warmed over." Feng Qingge dropped into the seat beside him and immediately stole one of his steamed buns. "All pale and glowy and weird. Very aesthetic. Very 'tragic hero who pushed himself too hard.' The twins are eating it up."
"I am not—"
"We are not—" Shen Yue started at the same time, then stopped, her cheeks flushing pink.
Feng Qingge's grin widened. "Uh huh. Sure. That's why you keep staring at him like he's a particularly interesting scroll you're trying to decipher."
"I'm not staring!"
"You kind of are," Shen Xian murmured to her sister.
"Traitor!"
Shen Tianxu picked up his chopsticks and focused very intently on his congee.
'Tch, Phoenix Fate...I can't say I hate it .'
He could feel it working on the twins even now—amplifying natural attraction, encouraging emotional connection, smoothing social interactions.
A sharp, melodic chirp cut through the morning chatter.
Every head turned toward the window where Feng Yan had perched on the courtyard wall.
The massive phoenix's crimson and gold plumage caught the morning light like a living flame, each feather seeming to burn with inner fire.
Her golden eyes surveyed the gathering through the glass with that uncanny intelligence that marked Fourth Order beasts.
"Brother! Brother!" Shen Chen exploded from his chair before their mother could stop him.
He pressed his face against the window, nose squishing comically against the glass.
"Can we ride her today? You promised! You definitely promised!"
Shen Ling was right behind him, equally enthusiastic if more articulate. "You specifically said, and I quote, 'If you behave while I'm gone, Feng Yan will give you both a short flight.' Those were your exact words. We have witnesses."
"I'm a witness!" Shen Chen declared.
"You can't be a witness to your own claim, that's circular logic—"
"I don't care about your stupid logic!"
"It's not stupid, it's basic evidentiary standards—"