Longwei couldn't sleep.
Which wasn't unusual, really. His ribs still ached when he breathed too deep and the cave floor was quite unforgiving despite the robes they'd piled up as bedding, besides Mei had stolen most of the blanket in her sleep curled around it like a child. Her face was peaceful, she snored a little... It was actually cute.
But mostly, he couldn't stop thinking about how weak he still was.
Foundation Establishment Stage One, barely stronger than a talented outer disciple. Zhou Chen was Core Formation Stage Three and the gap between them might as well be a chasm.
The partnership method worked. He'd rebuilt his core, and that should have felt like enough.
But It didn't.
Longwei carefully moved himself from beside Mei, she muttered something and tightened her grip on the blanket, but it didn't wake her. He stood and wrapped his outer robe around himself and walked to the cave entrance on bare feet.
The valley stretched out in moonlight, and It was really peaceful, the kind of place cultivators in stories found enlightenment or whatever bullshit they were on.
But he felt restless, anxious. Like something was crawling under his skin.
He knew they couldn't stay here forever. Eventually someone will find them and when they do, he needed to be strong enough to fight.
The scripture called to him.
He'd been avoiding the middle sections of the scripture for a while now, the partnership techniques at the beginning worked fine and there was plenty to master there. No need to dig deeper. Just focus on what worked and advance steadily, don't get greedy..
Never get too greedy, Longwei. Greed makes cultivators careless.
His mother used to say that, but then again, she'd also burned away her cultivation for him and died for it and he never knew until Zhou Chen told him.
Longwei pulled out the black book and flipped past the familiar sections into pages he'd only glanced at before.
BLANK.
He frowned, and ran his finger along the surface, the page felt normal but there was still that same faint pulse of power. These pages weren't empty but they were probably hidden.
A formation. Subtle, keyed to... something, but what? The right cultivation level? The right intent?
Or maybe the right desperation.
Longwei hesitated because deep down he knew once he looked he couldn't unlook, once he knew what was in here he'd have to decide whether to use it.
Or he could just close the book and stick with his tested partnership method. Stay slow, stay safe and stay weak.
His hands tightened on the pages.
Zhou Chen is out there and So is Yating and so are the hunters, and I'm Foundation Establishment Stage One with a cultivation partner who's advancing faster than me.
I need every advantage I can get.
Just to survive. That's all, just to survive.
He channeled a thread of Qi into the page.
The formation dissolved.
Words appeared and Longwei's stomach sank even as he started reading.
You've learned to receive. Now learn to TAKE.
But the next line wasn't what he expected:
Not from your partners, never from those who trust you. From your ENEMIES, from those who would harm you. From the dead.
Longwei's hands trembled as he turned the page.
Partnership cultivation is noble... Slow, but noble. If you have time, use it but when facing death, when being hunted, when desperate... there is another path.
BLOOD CULTIVATION.
When a cultivator dies violently, their core shatters. Decades of accumulated energy floods out, dissipating into the world. Lost and Wasted.
Unless someone is there to catch it.
In this Case "YOU"
The next pages detailed the technique. How to position yourself in the moment of death, how to open your core to receive a dying energy and how to process it without being corrupted by the victim's resentment.
The scripture margin notes crowded the text: A DIARY?
Year 23: First blood cultivation. Killed a bandit who attacked me and felt his energy rush into me as he died. Advanced a full stage in seconds, but felt sick about it for days.
Year 47: Killed in self-defense again. Took the power and felt less sick. Realized: they were trying to kill ME, Their cultivation was forfeit the moment they attacked.
Year 89: Attacked by sect assassins, and Killed all five. Jumped from Core Formation 2 to Core Formation 3 in one night, now felt nothing. They chose violence, I chose survival.
More notes, written across centuries:
The guilt fades, not because you're becoming evil but because you realize: this is justice. They attacked and they lost. Their power pays for their mistake.
Blood cultivation isn't murder, It's consequence. The strong take from the weak, that's just the world at least be honest about it.
I killed 3,000 people over my life. Every single one attacked me first and I have no regrets.
Longwei read it all again.
This wasn't the parasitic extraction he'd feared. This was... combat cultivation, taking power from enemies who would have killed him anyway.
Is that really so evil?
He thought about Zhou Chen, who'd destroyed his core while smiling, or the hunters chasing them and every person who'd decided Longwei's life was worth less than their mission.
If they attack us, if they try to kill us and I can take their cultivation when they fall, is that really worse than just killing them and wasting the energy?
He didn't have an answer.
But he kept reading.
The technique itself was complex but elegant.
You had to be the one to strike the killing blow, proximity mattered. The victim's core had to shatter completely, violently and a clean execution wouldn't work; there had to be trauma, rupture or explosive release.
The more brutal the death, the more complete the harvest, the script had noted. But don't mistake this for sadism, because efficiency in killing is mercy. Quick deaths are actually harder to harvest from.
There were warnings too:
Blood cultivation is addictive, not physically but psychologically, the rush of stolen power makes you WANT to kill. Makes you see enemies everywhere, makes you hunt when you should hide.
Resist this. Kill only in self defense, only when attacked. The moment you start hunting for cultivation fodder, you stop being a cultivator and become a demon.
I failed this test, don't be like me.
The Later Notes Contradicted This:
Year 487: Realized the "only self-defense" rule is flexible, If someone PLANS to attack you, if they're hunting you or if they'll strike eventually, isn't attacking first just... preemptive self defense?
The line gets blurry but be careful where you draw it.
Longwei closed his eyes.
This was dangerous and not just physically but morally also. The technique gave you a path to power, but it also gave you justification to kill, and once you started justifying...
Where does it stop?
He thought about his mother's advice again: Don't get greedy, Longwei. Greed makes cultivators careless.
Maybe she was wrong, or maybe caution was overrated.
"Longwei?"
He nearly dropped the book.
Mei stood in the cave entrance, wrapped in the blanket squinting at him in moonlight. "What are you up too?"
"Couldn't sleep." True enough. "Studying."
"The scripture?" She dragged nearer. "Finding anything useful?"
He hesitated, should he tell hide this?
Or I could be honest. Like I wish everyone had been honest with me.
"Yes," he said slowly. "I found... Some form of combat techniques, but seems dangerous tho."
"Dangerous how?"
Longwei took a breath.
"If you kill someone... an enemy, someone attacking you, then you can absorb their cultivation as they die. Take everything they've accumulated and Use it to grow stronger."
Mei went very still.
"That's blood cultivation," she said quietly. "Demonic path."
"I know."
"The orthodox sects execute people for that."
"They execute people for regular dual cultivation too. To them 'Forbidden' just means 'threatens our power structure.'"
She grew quieter but through their bond, he felt her processing... in shock and fear and something else he couldn't quite identify.
"Show me," she said finally.
"What?"
"The technique? Show me what it says."
Longwei handed her the book.
She read in silence, finger tracing over the diary's notes. Her expression shifted between horror, then maybe understanding then to something unreadable.
"He only killed in self defense," she said. "At first."
"At first."
"Then he started... expanding the definition."
"Yes."
She looked up at him. "Are you going to use this?"
He should probably Lie and tell her no. Keep her comfortable.
"If we're attacked," Longwei said instead, "if hunters find us, if we're fighting for our lives, so maybe... Yes.."
"So, Yes. If it comes to that."
"Wei, that's a slippery slope."
"I know."
"What if you start to enjoy it, start to want it and start seeing enemies everywhere."
"I don't know."
Mei went quiet again, her pale blue eyes searching his face.
"Why are you telling me this?" she asked. "I didn't need to know, you know right?"
"Because I'm tired of lies." The words came out louder than he intended. "Everyone's been lying to me my whole life. My mother, my sect, even my betrothed, so I'm done with lies."
He met her eyes.
"If I'm going to go down this dark path, you deserve to know, and you deserve to choose whether you want to stay."
She looked surprised.
"You're asking me to accept a partner who kills for power."
"I'm asking you to accept a partner who might kill ENEMIES for power. People who attack us or hunt us." He paused.
"I won't attack innocents or start conflicts just for cultivation, but if someone comes for you? I won't hold back. And I'll take everything they have."
"And you'll enjoy it."
"Probably." He forced himself to be honest. "The technique talks about a rush, some sort of high from stolen power. I don't know if I'll enjoy the killing or just the power, but... I'm not going to promise I'll hate it."
Mei stared at him for what felt like an eternity.
Then she handed back the scripture.
"Okay," she said.
"Okay?"
"I mean, you're right. If someone attacks us, then you do whatever. After all, that's... that's just how the world works." She pulled the blanket tighter. "I don't like it and I'm scared of what it might turn you into but I understand it."
He was relieved
"Thank you," he said quietly. "For understanding..."
"And am not staying because I approve." Her voice was soft. "I'm staying because I understand desperation and also because..." She trailed forward.
"Because?"
"Because you told me the truth." She managed a small smile. "That's worth something, maybe everything."
She moved closer and took his hand.
"Just promise me something," she said. "Promise you'll try not to lose yourself, that you'll remember who you are even if you have to do dark things."
"I promise I'll try."
"That's all I can ask."
They stood together in the moonlight with the scripture between them, the truth laid bare.
This is what partnership should be? Longwei thought. Honesty, even when it's uncomfortable. Trust, even when it's hard.
Not lies or manipulation. Not taking what isn't given.
"Come on," Mei said, tugging his hand. "Let's go to bed, we can study more tomorrow."
"We?" Longwei gave her a side look.
"Someone needs to keep you from going full demonic cultivator." But she was almost smiling. "Might as well be me."
"HAHAH... okay, yin.."
"Don't call that."
"Also, I think we should have a stop signal," Mei suggested. "Like If you're going too far orSomething like that."
"Signal? What signal?"
"I don't know? Maybe I say your name three times"
"Like... LONGWEI, LONGWEI, LONGWEI." She demonstrated. "And you stop, no matter what."
"Even mid fight?"
"Especially mid fight, I mean that's when you'll need it most, no?"
"Hmmm..."