The sun had just dipped behind the western cliffs, casting long shadows across the lower peaks of the Ninefold Sect. The sky rippled in fading shades of amber and purple, but Xian Lei sat unmoving beneath the old wind-chime tree, the noise of outer disciples long since faded to silence.
His eyes were closed. His breathing even.
But within his dantian, a storm was brewing.
Emotion Surge DetectedSource: Bound Entity – Yue QianlanEmotion: Contained ExasperationQi Gained: +342
⚠️ System Note: The Host has now absorbed emotional qi from 10 distinct pulses. New feature unlocked.
Feature Unlocked: Emotion Resonance GridAllows host to visualize and track the frequency, type, and strength of emotional pulses received from the bound entity. Data may be used to refine cultivation timing and personal influence.
A holographic diagram burst open within his consciousness—a luminous net of colored nodes, each flickering with tiny pulses. Red for anger. Blue for sorrow. Silver for awe. Gold for desire.
Most were dim.
But one thread—gray-blue, threaded from the core outward—pulsed again.
Emotion Recorded: Mental Fatigue (Post-Duel)Cultivation Efficiency Boosted: +27%
Xian Lei exhaled, slowly standing.
So it's not just intensity, he realized. Timing matters. The emotional state I catch her in… determines how much I gain.
More than that—
He had begun to understand her.
Not just as a distant force.
Not just as the future tyrant.
But as a person.
Each spike of frustration, every flicker of suppressed sadness or confusion—it all came through the tether. Not as words, but as sensations. A subtle tremor of her heartbeat. A tightening of the spirit. A whisper of thought in a silent room.
He was beginning to map the rhythm of her mind.
And through it… control his own power.
Earlier that day, he had followed his daily duties without resistance. Training drills. A delivery run. A session in the beast pens.
Nothing unusual.
At least to the untrained eye.
But in truth, every movement was deliberate.
Every encounter calculated.
In the herbal compound, he had "accidentally" delayed a delivery to the Ice Alchemy Pavilion. Yue Qianlan's scheduled refining session had been delayed as a result. She was forced to reschedule—an inconvenience minor enough to seem trivial, yet sharp enough to create the exact emotion he needed.
Emotion: Controlled Irritation+417 Qi
Later, when sparring resumed in the courtyard, he let word slip—just loud enough to spread—that Yue Qianlan had shown "an unusual interest in outer disciples recently."
He didn't say more.
Didn't need to.
The whispers would reach her.
And they did.
Emotion: Subtle Annoyance.+318 QiSystem Note: Target discomfort with loss of control over reputation detected.
Now, back beneath the tree, Xian Lei opened his eyes with a faint smile.
The strategy was working.
This is more than a cheat code, he thought. It's a relationship. A dynamic.
He couldn't force her to feel.
But he could nudge.
Set scenes in motion. Whisper into the cracks of her life and watch as the ripples turned into waves.
This wasn't just cultivation anymore.
It was intimate.
Dangerous.
Personal.
Later that night, during a sanctioned meditation window, he slipped into the sect's southern terrace gardens—a tiered courtyard rarely visited at night. He took his place beneath a willow tree, where moonlight shimmered across the koi pond.
And across the clearing, exactly as predicted, she arrived.
Yue Qianlan.
Hair tied in a single high twist, her icy robes gleaming under the starlight, her steps as silent as snowfall.
She didn't look at him.
Didn't need to.
But he felt it the moment she saw him.
Emotion: Controlled AlertnessQi Gained: +221
He didn't move.
Didn't break the illusion of coincidence.
They meditated in silence for an hour.
Or rather, she meditated. He listened.
To the rhythm of her qi. The gentle shift of her posture. The slight tremor of irritation when a moth flew too close to her aura.
Emotion: Distraction. Flicker of Amusement.+203 Qi
He was learning.
Every night like this was another brushstroke on the canvas of her heart.
By the third week of his new strategy, his cultivation had surged.
Qi Condensation – Stage 8 → Peak Stage 8Qi Points Gained (Monthly): 7,421Synchronization: 17.1%
More than triple the average progress of any outer disciple.
And no one understood how.
Not the instructors.
Not the gossipers.
Not even Yue Qianlan herself.
But she was beginning to suspect.
That much was clear.
It happened after a private duel between inner sect elites.
She had watched from the pavilion, high above the sparring arena. Her face had been unreadable as usual.
But Xian Lei, standing amidst the crowd, had felt it.
Emotion: Sudden Fury (Flashback Triggered)+801 Qi
Something the dueling disciple had said—something petty or arrogant—had touched on an old memory. A scar.
A pain she had buried too deep.
He caught that flicker.
That spark of old anger.
And in that moment—he broke through.
Qi Condensation – Peak → Stage 9
His aura flared. Not enough to be obvious. But she noticed.
She turned her head, eyes narrowing.
Then she disappeared from the pavilion without a word.
That night, the tether pulsed violently.
Emotion: Disbelief. Unease.+412 Qi
Yue Qianlan had felt it now.
Not a vague pull.
Not a whisper.
A jolt.
She felt me grow stronger the moment she lost control of herself.
And she would start questioning it.
As he returned to his quarters that night, Xian Lei felt the gravity of what he was doing settle on him for the first time.
This wasn't a passive connection anymore.
This was becoming…
Invasive.
He wasn't merely harvesting emotions.
He was dancing on the edge of her soul.
And she didn't even know it.
Still, he couldn't stop.
Not now.
Not when the stakes were this high.
You destroyed the world once, he thought as he stared at the moon, but you weren't born that way. You were broken into it.
If I can reshape you before that… I can reshape everything.
But a whisper of guilt crept into his chest.
And for the first time, the System did something unexpected.
Emotion Registered: Internal Conflict (Host)Cultivation efficiency decreased by 5% for 24 hours.
System Tip:Maintaining emotional clarity ensures smoother tether harmonics. Persistent dissonance may interfere with synchronization.
Xian Lei froze.
So even my own emotions can interfere…
It wasn't just her anymore.
This was his path, too.
One that demanded clarity, control… and sacrifice.
He looked again to the stars.
In another life, she had let her emotions die.
This time, it was his emotions that might burn first.
But he would not stop.
Not until he stood at the top of the Ninefold Sect.
Not until she stood beside him.
Not as a queen of blood…
But as someone still capable of feeling.