Chapter 1: The Oath of the Fairy Disciple
Happy Valentine's Day, @yoursaltycherry !
The autumn wind whispered through the ancient pines of the Celestial Solitude Sect, rustling the golden leaves that danced down the mountain path. At the heart of the sect, within a secluded, decaying shrine, sat the sect’s most enigmatic figure—Grandmaster Da Di, the Ancient Immortal.
Once, his pavilion had been a place of reverence, its bamboo walls gleaming under the moonlight, its incense offerings perfuming the air with prayers of the devoted. Now, it was little more than a forgotten relic of the past. The roof sagged under centuries of neglect, moss crept along the stone pathways, and weeds sprouted between the cracked tiles. The shrine, once a beacon of wisdom and power, had become the subject of ridicule among modern cultivators.
To them, Da Di was no more than a lingering shadow, a mere janitor tending to an abandoned legacy. The real Ancient Immortal, they scoffed, had surely transcended this plane long ago. Only fools and sentimental disciples still paid tribute to a ghost. The figure that remained was nothing but an old man with a hunched back, dressed in robes worn thin by time, sweeping fallen leaves with a frail, weathered hand. His hair, a tangled mess of white strands, was unkempt, and his face bore the countless lines of age. His movements were slow, methodical, without any trace of divine power. He was, to their eyes, utterly mundane. And worst of all, he carried with him a distinct scent—earthy, aged wood, faintly tinged with the acridness of old incense. To the modern cultivators, it was the smell of a dirty old man who had lingered too long in the dust of forgotten history. But when Che Ri inhaled, she smelled boundless qi woven into the very air he carried, a scent that wrapped around her like an ancient embrace, a reminder of safety and the depths of power unseen by common eyes.
Few dared approach this sacred ground, not out of reverence, but out of disinterest. The shrine's eerie guardians, however, remained ever-watchful. One was Um’Bi the Void, a black, shadowy entity that seemed to devour light itself, its presence an eerie silence that could unnerve even the bravest cultivator. The other was Pe’Ni the Huntress, a gray spectral beast with piercing jade eyes that could see through deception and cowardice alike. Legends whispered that they were not merely protectors but extensions of the Ancient Immortal’s will, ancient beings that had watched over him for countless eons.
All had remained still, until this fateful day. A flower had grown in the shadow of this aged sect, until the eternal song of fate reached its next note.
Earlier that day, beneath the jade archway of the sect’s main hall, Che Ri had found herself facing an unwanted suitor.
She was like a celestial lotus blooming in the mortal world—her skin as smooth and unblemished as the finest white jade, radiating an ethereal glow even beneath the midday sun. Her long, flowing hair shimmered with strands of silver amidst its dark tresses, cascading down her back like a river of moonlight. Her eyes, luminous and unfathomably deep, reflected the vast cosmos itself, containing the wisdom of a hundred lifetimes despite her youthful appearance. Every movement she made was imbued with an otherworldly grace, as if she were not bound by the constraints of mere mortals but instead danced upon the threads of fate itself.
Che Ri’s heaven-defying talent was spoken of in hushed tones among the elders. Her comprehension of the Dao was monstrous, her insight piercing through illusions that others spent decades failing to grasp. Her extreme physique, one that harmonized with the heavens, allowed her to cultivate at an impossible pace, absorbing qi as naturally as breathing. She was a prodigy among prodigies, an existence that should have been revered—but instead, she had drawn the envy and lust of those who could not match her radiance. If only they knew her true thoughts, that she had long felt constricted by the pace of her growth. She knew that there was something important she was missing, some aspect of the heavens that escaped not only her, but every single cultivator in the sect.
“Young Master Liu, I have no interest in such matters,” she said coolly, stepping back from his outstretched hand. His silken robes shimmered in the sunlight, but there was a greedy glint in his eyes.
Liu Sheng, son of an influential elder, sneered. “A mere fairy disciple dares reject me? Che Ri, do you not realize your lowly position? Without my favor, you are nothing in this sect.”
She lifted her chin, her voice steady. “I would rather be nothing than accept something that is not meant for me.”
Liu Sheng’s expression darkened, his fists clenching. “I will remember this insult.”
As Che Ri turned away, Liu Sheng’s gaze lingered on her departing figure, his thoughts darkening. He had heard whispers of dual cultivation techniques that could forcibly bind a woman’s essence to his own, increasing his cultivation at an unnatural rate. The mere thought of possessing the fairy-like Che Ri sent a thrill of greed coursing through him. If she would not yield willingly, he would find a way to claim what he believed was rightfully his.
Later that evening, cloaked in shadows, Liu Sheng followed Che Ri as she made her way toward the secluded shrine. He believed himself unseen, his cultivation allowing him to mask his presence from ordinary disciples. Concealed behind the trees, he smirked as he watched her kneel before the shrine’s entrance.
“She must be offering prayers for guidance,” he mused to himself. “How pitiful. A mere woman seeking the guidance of a dead legend. If she knew true power, she would turn to me instead.”
Yet, unbeknownst to him, he was not as invisible as he assumed. Within the shrine, Da Di remained seated, his sweeping halted mid-motion. His hazy, ancient eyes lifted slightly, gazing through the wooden walls as if distance and matter held no meaning to him. He saw Liu Sheng’s every move, heard the arrogant whispers slithering through his thoughts, and traced the dark desire festering within his heart.
The Ancient Immortal did not react, nor did he reveal his awareness. Instead, he let the predator lurk, watching silently as fate unraveled its threads. But in the darkness beyond the shrine’s boundary, Um’Bi the Void stirred. A chilling ripple passed through the air, and Pe’Ni the Huntress's jade eyes glowed with cold malice. The beasts had marked Liu Sheng as prey.
For now, they remained still, awaiting their master’s silent command. They had not intervened in a thousand years, and today would not be the day they revealed their true power without permission.
For a thousand years, Da Di had remained within the pavilion, his presence little more than a fading legend among the disciples. Some said he had long since ascended to the heavens. Others claimed he had fallen into eternal slumber, his soul drifting between realms. The newer generations, with their arrogance and disregard for the past, sneered at the very mention of his name. They saw only a tattered shrine and an old man sweeping its steps—a remnant of a bygone era.
As Che Ri approached the pavilion, she felt a shift in the air. From the darkness beneath the trees, two sets of eyes emerged. Um’Bi the Void slithered forward like a living shadow, its presence pulling at her very soul, while Pe’Ni the Huntress circled her, assessing her worth. A silent challenge hung in the air—one wrong move, one sign of weakness, and they would tear her apart before she could set foot upon the pavilion’s sacred ground.
But Che Ri did not falter. She knelt before the pavilion’s steps, her delicate hands trembling against the moss-covered stone. She had climbed the treacherous peaks, braved the sect’s ancestral trials, and offered incense to the mountain spirits. All to seek the one master who could grant her the strength to rise above the mortal dust.
“Disciple Che Ri greets the honored master,” she called out, her voice steady despite the fear curling in her chest. “I beg your guidance.”
Silence reigned. The wind stilled, as if the world itself held its breath.
Then, a single sigh echoed from within the pavilion. "Che Ri," said the old master, his voice creaking from disuse, like a stone statue that had suddenly decided to come alive. In his hiding place among the trees, young master Liu could not resist the sound of shock that escaped his lungs. The old janitor had never spoken before. This was known. "You have great talent for one your age," Da Di continued. "Why would you seek guidance from one such as I?"
Che Ri bowed her head lower, her silver-streaked hair cascading forward like a veil. "Master, I have reached the limits of conventional cultivation. My progress, though swift, feels... hollow. There is a truth that eludes me, a resonance with the heavens that I cannot grasp despite my talents."
The ancient immortal's weathered fingers continued their methodical sweeping, each motion stirring eddies of golden qi that only Che Ri could perceive. "And you believe an old janitor might hold the key to this truth?"
"I believe," she said carefully, "that true wisdom often hides behind the most humble facades. The sect elders chase power through force, through domination of heaven and earth. But their path feels... incomplete."
A dry chuckle escaped Da Di's lips, like autumn leaves rustling against stone. "Incomplete, you say? Tell me, child, what do you see when you look at this broken shrine?"
From his hiding place, Liu Sheng barely suppressed a snort of derision. The girl was wasting her time with riddles from a senile old man. Yet something about the scene before him made his skin crawl—the way the shadows seemed to deepen around Um'Bi, the predatory stillness of Pe'Ni's gaze.
Che Ri raised her eyes to study the dilapidated structure. The sagging roof, the crumbling walls, the pervasive scent of age and decay. But beneath it all, she sensed something else—a perfect stillness, an acceptance of time's passage that somehow transcended time itself.
"I see..." she began, then paused, letting her spiritual sense expand. "I see a vessel that has embraced its own nature so completely that it has become one with the Dao. The decay is not weakness, but a demonstration of the natural order. The moss grows where it should, the wood ages as it must, the tiles crack in perfect harmony with heaven's will."
Da Di's sweeping slowed, then stopped. "And what of this old man before you?"
"You are like this shrine, Master. You do not resist the flow of time, yet neither are you bound by it. Your appearance of age is as natural as a mountain's weathered face—it holds no power over your true essence."
For the first time, the Ancient Immortal lifted his gaze to meet hers directly. His eyes, which had seemed clouded with age, suddenly blazed with the light of distant stars. The air grew heavy with pressure, and Liu Sheng, still hidden in the shadows, found himself struggling to breathe.
"You see clearly, young one," Da Di said softly. "But seeing is not understanding. Are you prepared to learn what it truly means to walk the path of cultivation? To set aside the pursuit of power and instead seek harmony with the eternal?"
Before Che Ri could respond, a cold laugh cut through the evening air. Liu Sheng stepped from his hiding place, his face twisted with contempt. "Enough of this farce! Che Ri, you would waste your talents listening to the ramblings of this decrepit fool? Your place is by my side, where true power awaits!"
The young master's hand flashed with dark energy as he reached for a talisman hidden in his robes—one that reeked of forbidden techniques and corrupted qi. But before he could activate it, something changed in the air around them. The shadows cast by the setting sun began to move against their nature, coalescing into Um'Bi's true form. Pe'Ni's eyes blazed like twin suns, her spectral form growing more solid with each passing moment.
Da Di had not moved from his seated position, yet suddenly he seemed to fill the entire shrine with his presence. When he spoke again, his voice carried the weight of mountains. "Young master Liu, you believe yourself hidden, your thoughts private, your schemes unknown. Tell me, how many autumn leaves have I swept from these steps?"
The question seemed so absurd that Liu Sheng faltered. "What nonsense are you—"
"In a thousand years," Da Di continued, as if the interruption had never occurred, "I have swept exactly one billion, seven hundred and thirty-two million, five hundred and forty-eight thousand, nine hundred and twenty-three leaves from these steps. Each one counted, each one remembered, each one a lesson in the true nature of power." His eyes locked onto Liu Sheng's. "Did you think your petty ambitions could escape my notice, when even a falling leaf cannot?"
"Your sect," Da Di said, his voice carrying the weight of ages, "is but a fallen leaf in the eternal wind of time. I watched its founding, just as I watched the founding of a thousand sects before it. Your sect master?" He gave a slight, almost imperceptible shake of his head. "A child playing at immortality. When he was born, I had already swept these steps for ten thousand years."
Liu Sheng's face contorted with rage, even as it began to change to confusion and fear, but Da Di continued as if speaking to himself, his eyes distant with memory. "I was here when the first mountain raised its peak to greet the dawn. I watched the first cultivator stumble upon the truth of qi. All their squabbles, their petty pursuits of power..." He gestured at the falling leaves with his rake. "Meaningless. They seek strength in domination, in conquest, in the subjugation of others. But true power?"
His eyes suddenly focused, and both Che Ri and Liu Sheng felt the weight of eons pressing down upon them. "True power lies in the meeting of perfect mirrors. When two souls resonate in complete harmony, their energy flows and reflects between them, magnifying to infinity. Each swallows and reflects the other's essence, creating a cycle of power that transcends mere cultivation. It is a mutual obsession, a perfect unity that the universe itself cannot deny."
He turned his gaze to the dilapidated shrine. "I remain here because I have seen the threads of fate. In this very spot, my true mirror will appear. And so I sweep these steps, counting leaves, waiting for the moment when two becomes one."
Liu Sheng had heard enough. "Delusional old fool!" he spat, drawing a formation talisman from his robes. "Your mystic babbling ends now!"
The talisman blazed with dark energy as Liu Sheng activated a forbidden technique. The air crackled with malevolent power as he launched his attack directly at Da Di's heart.
The energy simply... disappeared, as if it had never existed. Da Di continued speaking as if he hadn't noticed the attack at all.
Frustrated and humiliated, Liu Sheng turned his fury toward Che Ri. "If I cannot harm you, old man, then I'll take what's mine!"
He lunged toward Che Ri, hands crackling with corrupt qi. But before he could reach her, Da Di sighed—a sound of infinite weariness. With a casual flick of his rake, he reached into Liu Sheng's chest and extracted his still-beating heart. The motion was so smooth, so precise, that for a moment, Liu Sheng didn't realize what had happened.
"Your heart burns with impurity," Da Di observed quietly. With a snap of his fingers, he summoned a flame that burned with the intensity of a newborn star. The heart crumbled to ash in his palm, which he carefully gathered and tucked into his sleeve.
Liu Sheng's body stood for a moment, swaying, mouth open in shock. Then Um'Bi moved. The void beast's form expanded, becoming a darkness deeper than night itself. It engulfed Liu Sheng's body in a single, fluid motion, leaving nothing behind—not even a shadow to mark his passing.
Pe'Ni's golden eyes gleamed with satisfaction as she circled the spot where Liu Sheng had stood, ensuring no trace remained.
Da Di turned back to Che Ri, his rake once again sweeping fallen leaves. "Now then, young one. Shall we discuss the true path of cultivation?"
Da Di's ancient eyes softened as he gazed at Che Ri. "A thousand years of sweeping leaves," he murmured, "and at last, my mirror appears before me."
Che Ri's heart thundered in her chest. All her life, she had felt incomplete, as if she were only half of something greater. Now, standing before this ancient being, she understood why. Every achievement, every breakthrough in her cultivation had been leading her here, to this moment, to him.
From his sleeve, he produced a cup of jade so pure it seemed to glow from within. Setting it upon the worn steps, he closed his eyes and began to concentrate. The air grew heavy with power as he compressed his eternal qi, distilling the essence of his immortal soul into liquid form. As the qi flowed into the cup, his appearance aged visibly—his skin growing more translucent, his hair whitening further until it resembled spun moonlight, his form becoming so frail it seemed a strong wind might scatter him like dust.
Watching him age, Che Ri felt an unfamiliar ache in her chest. She wanted to reach out, to stop him from sacrificing his essence, yet she knew this was necessary. This was fate itself unfolding before her.
The liquid that filled the cup was unlike any tea she had ever seen. It shimmered with countless colors, yet remained clear as mountain spring water. Steam rose from its surface in patterns that seemed to form and reform ancient cultivation scriptures.
Da Di reached into his sleeve once more and withdrew the ashes of Liu Sheng's heart. With practiced grace, he scattered them beneath the jade cup. "Young masters," he said with a hint of amusement in his ancient voice, "are only good as firewood." With a gesture, he ignited the ashes, which burned with an unnatural intensity, heating the soul-tea from below.
The bitter scent of the tea filled the air, carrying with it the weight of countless millennia. When Che Ri breathed it in, she could taste salt on her tongue—the salt of ancient seas, of immortal tears, of endless patience. Despite the bitterness, she found herself drawn to it, as if her very soul recognized something essential in its depths. This was right, she thought. This was what her soul had been seeking all along, though she hadn't known it.
"Drink," Da Di commanded softly, "and bind yourself to me for all eternity."
Che Ri lifted the cup with trembling hands. The jade was warm against her skin, pulsing with living energy. Her mind flashed to all the paths she was about to abandon—the sect's ordinary progression, the admiration of her peers, the conventional pursuit of power. They seemed like children's games now, pale imitations of true cultivation. As she raised the cup to her lips, she spoke the words that would reshape her destiny:
"I, Che Ri, swear myself to the Ancient Immortal, Da Di. I am his disciple, surrendering my cultivation to his guidance. I am his property, offering my essence to mirror his own. I am his mate, pledging my soul to dance with His until the last star burns cold and the universe itself crumbles to dust. Beyond death, beyond rebirth, beyond the end of all things, I will remain his reflection, his complement, his perfect mirror."
The soul-tea burned like liquid starlight as it flowed through her. Her cultivation base shattered and reformed, expanding beyond anything she had thought possible. She could feel Da Di's eternal qi merging with her own, creating circuits of power that flowed between them in endless loops, each cycle multiplying their combined strength. Her consciousness expanded until she could sense every leaf in the ancient shrine, every mote of dust in the evening air, every thread of fate that had led to this moment.
The sensation was overwhelming, yet perfect. Where once she had felt the limitations of her mortal form, now she sensed infinite potential. Each breath drew in not just air, but the essence of creation itself. She could feel Da Di's presence within her, a vast ocean of power and knowledge that somehow fit perfectly into the spaces of her being she hadn't known were empty.
Da Di reached out and touched her forehead with one weathered finger. Where their skin met, golden light bloomed. "Rise," he said, "my mirror, my disciple, my mate. Rise, and let us show this young world what true cultivation means."
Um'Bi and Pe'Ni circled them, their forms shifting with newfound power as they recognized their master's chosen one. The autumn wind sang through the shrine's ancient beams, carrying with it the whispers of a new legend being born.
Che Ri's eyes met Da Di's, and in that moment, she understood. This wasn't just about power or cultivation or even destiny. This was about completion. Two halves of the same whole, finally united after eons apart. Every step she had taken, every choice she had made, had been leading her here, to become the mirror of an immortal who had waited since the dawn of time for her arrival.
And so, in a forgotten shrine on a mountain of fading glory, the Ancient Immortal found his perfect mirror, the jade-like young sapling Che Ri, and the true path of cultivation began anew.
