---
They say when a cultivator reaches enlightenment, the heavens open.
When I did, the earth split.
It wasn't thunder that woke me.
It was breath.
My breath.
Sharp, sour, feral. Like something that had been clawing through nightmares just to return to its own body.
My lungs worked again.
My fingers twitched.
Bones reset with the sound of petals tearing.
The roots that had held me down now lifted me.
> [LOTUS SYSTEM STAGE ONE COMPLETE.]
[Rebirth Initiated: Qi Type — Emotionally Reactive.]
[Cultivation Path: Lotus Heart Sutra]
[Warning: You are unstable.]
[Warning: You are no longer human.]
---
The system is wrong.
I was never human to them in the first place.
---
I opened my eyes to darkness — not the natural kind, but the inside of a sealed tomb. And yet… faint light glimmered from the petals still blooming in my ribcage.
One by one, the memories floated up like embers in my chest.
Wen Shixian's hands
The Sect Master's last look — relief.
My own father, turning his back.
Qiuyue's laughter before her death — silver, angry, secretive.
I remembered everything.
I was going to take it back.
---
> "You're awake, finally."
A voice — female. Sharp. Tired.
Sitting on the edge of amusement.
> "Do you know how boring it's been, waiting for you to die properly? No offense."
---
I turned.
There was no body — only a shimmer, and then a face, half-formed. White eyes. Long black hair swirling like ink in water. She hovered above the lotus field blooming from my chest.
> [SPIRIT ENTITY RECOGNIZED.]
[Name: Bai Qiuyue (Deceased)]
[Status: Soul-Bound System Assistant / Former Heavenly Disciple / Wanted Fugitive]
---
> "They used my soul to build your system,"
Qiuyue said, floating upside down now like a ghost koi.
"Cute, right?"
---
She had been the only openly queer cultivator in our sect before they "cleansed" her. They called her a corruptor. She called herself unapologetic.
> "You're not going to make it unless you learn fast," she added.
"You're unstable, emotionally overloaded, and underpowered. But I like a fixer-upper."
I tried to speak, but my throat cracked.
She tilted her head.
> "We'll work on that too."
---
Above us, someone stepped into the peach field.
I felt it through the roots like nerves.
---
A boy. No — a man now.
Tall. Black robes. Sword scar at the throat.
Eyes like winter morning.
Shen Liansheng.
He didn't know I was beneath his feet.
He knelt among the lotus blossoms, frowning.
> "It bloomed again," he muttered. "Red this time."
He touched one.
It wilted, softly.
> [DANGER: Qi Interference Detected.]
[Player "Shen Liansheng" has unusually high affinity.]
[Do Not Reveal Yourself.]
Or do.
It'll be fun.
---
I reached upward, just enough to let the petals part the soil.
And when Shen Liansheng turned — sensing something, perhaps —
he caught a glimpse of my eye.
Just one.
He stilled.
Then he said,
> "...No. That's impossible."
---
And ran.
---
Qiuyue laughed.
> "Oh, this is going to be fun."