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00:00...the bonding rite.
00:01Your power is...
00:02I took my sister's white fox during the bonding rite.
00:05Your power is exceptional.
00:07This fox barely registers on the scale.
00:10Give it to your sister.
00:12In my past life, I chose the powerful white tiger.
00:16When the demon lord came, he left me to die.
00:19I was badly wounded.
00:21I begged him for the last healing elixir.
00:24He gave it to my sister instead.
00:26So this time around, I choose to let them be together.
00:30I was reborn right before the bonding ceremony.
00:33I am the most powerful one in our clan and have the right to choose first.
00:37The creatures gathered from across the land were all exceptional.
00:41But the white tiger stood above the rest.
00:44He wore a collar, never bowing to me, even in chains.
00:49Then my sister Luna came bouncing in, cradling a limp white fox.
00:54Luna had barely started her training.
00:56She could have skipped this ceremony entirely.
00:58Luna hugged the white fox and cried.
01:02Because he was dissatisfied with the fox he'd been assigned.
01:06The white tiger's heart ached for her deeply.
01:09Saying he only wanted to form a pact with Luna, the elder cleared his throat.
01:13Luna, you've barely trained.
01:17Even if the tiger chose you, you wouldn't be able to handle him.
01:20That was when I stood up and said,
01:22Elder, I appreciate your consideration.
01:26I find I'm fonder of this white fox.
01:28The white tiger clearly favors Luna too.
01:31How about we swap instead?
01:33They pulled me aside.
01:35Clara, this tiger is far more powerful than the fox.
01:39My name is Clara Ashvale, one of the four great families of the eastern reaches.
01:45I was ten years old when the demon horde first came.
01:48My parents died holding the line.
01:50I watched it happen.
01:51If the clan elders hadn't arrived when they did, Luna and I would have died with them.
01:56After that, the elders raised us, taught us cultivation.
02:00For I possess stronger spiritual power, and them more beloved within the clan.
02:05But the tiger ignored me.
02:07I'd never been rejected before.
02:09Not once in my life.
02:10I threw everything I had at him.
02:13So I took mission.
02:14Hunted rogue demons.
02:16Came back injured almost every time.
02:19The tiger noticed nothing.
02:20He only appeared when I brought out elixirs.
02:23Took what he wanted, and walked away.
02:25I spent 20 years on him.
02:27And eventually, he took human form.
02:30Tall and striking.
02:32Yet he still refuses to speak much to me.
02:34Only coming when he needs something.
02:36I told myself it was normal.
02:38Strong creatures had pride.
02:40He'd come around eventually.
02:42Then one evening, I came home exhausted.
02:44And saw him watching my sister's profile with something like reverence.
02:49My-
02:49I was still reeling when an elder walked past and caught sight of them in the distance.
02:54Clara, when you go out on contracts, stop sending your sister to look after the tiger.
02:59He's clearly more attached to her now.
03:02You need to be careful.
03:05I never ask Luna to look after the tiger.
03:08She comes every time you leave.
03:09Says you asked her to.
03:11Doesn't she have her own bonded creature?
03:13That fox?
03:14It passed away in its second year.
03:16You didn't know?
03:16I hadn't known.
03:17I'd spent 20 years building someone else's happiness.
03:21I began targeting Luna.
03:23I hated her.
03:24That enraged the white tiger.
03:26He colluded with the demon.
03:28Opened our clan's protective wards from the inside.
03:31Left me to face the invasion alone.
03:34When I was badly wounded and begged him for the only healing elixir we had left, he gave
03:39it to Luna, who had a scratch.
03:41This time, I want to see how long it will take him to take human form without me.
03:46The elder was unwilling to grant the mighty white tiger to an inexperienced young woman.
03:52Yet the tiger would only bow before Luna.
03:55He sighed and ordered the ceremony begin.
03:59The ceremony startled the white fox.
04:01The white fox in my arms fainted the moment the ceremony ended.
04:05Luna completed her bond with the tiger.
04:07You and that little fox really do suit each other, Clara.
04:11Luna, if your sister hadn't yielded to you, how could you have gotten this white tiger?
04:16You should be on your knees thanking her.
04:17Oh, she's crying again.
04:20Always with the tears.
04:21Like she's the one who suffered.
04:22The white tiger wanted to stand up for Luna, yet he possessed no power right after bonding
04:27with her.
04:29The elders had built my residence himself, ringed with good cultivation energy.
04:34Luna had once tried to move in.
04:36He'd turned her away, citing my training as the reason.
04:40As soon as we entered the room, I began to observe the white fox.
04:44He looked different from any I had seen before, with a wisp of red fur on his head and an
04:50unusually
04:50large tail.
04:52My courtyard had a natural spring, warm with cultivation energy.
04:56I set him in it and watched him wake up instantly, floating on his back, drinking in the warmth.
05:02I laughed.
05:04Aren't you afraid I'll hurt you?
05:06The fox stared at me, then gave his small head a solemn shake.
05:10All right.
05:11Rest here and recover.
05:14You're not going anywhere.
05:16I can handle you.
05:17The next morning, something woke me wrong.
05:21I opened my eyes and saw a handsome face.
05:24Pale skin, dark lashes.
05:27He was also asleep, arms around me.
05:30He had gotten in without waking me, which meant his power was well above mine.
05:35Who are you?
05:35How did you get in here?
05:36I scrambled to the edge of the bed.
05:38He sat up slowly, noticed the clothes he was wearing, and looked faintly amused.
05:43Before I could react, he pulled me into his arms.
05:47He said,
05:48I have a name.
05:49His eyes drifting down to meet mine.
05:52It's Ash.
05:53Like he was about to kiss me any second.
05:57It turned out Ash met the Elder when he was severely injured and was taken back by him.
06:02I stared at him.
06:04Please tell me whoever hurt you isn't coming here looking for revenge.
06:07We're bonded now, Master.
06:08I suggest you train hard and do your best to keep up.
06:12Ash laughed.
06:13He was genuinely useful, as it turned out.
06:16I had a fire affinity.
06:18He complimented it perfectly.
06:21He produced a cultivation manual from somewhere.
06:24Fire techniques.
06:25And good ones.
06:26Two days of work and I could already feel the difference.
06:30Every time Ash practiced cultivation with me, he took off his top.
06:34His fair skin always made me lose focus.
06:37One afternoon, Luna called my name from outside the gate.
06:41I dragged my attention away from Ash and went out.
06:45Luna stepped into the courtyard without waiting and stopped dead when she saw him.
06:50She stared him.
06:51Ash stood, dressed properly in seconds, and settled a robe around my shoulders without being asked.
06:57Who is this?
06:58Luna's gaze didn't move.
07:00You don't recognize him?
07:01The fox.
07:02From the bonding ceremony.
07:04You said yourself we were suited for each other.
07:07I think you were right.
07:08I smiled pleasantly.
07:10What do you want?
07:11We're in the middle of training.
07:16I was hoping we could raise the tiger together.
07:18I can't afford to keep up with his needs on my own.
07:20If we shared the work, what exactly makes this my problem?
07:24You're the one who gave him to me.
07:25You could have kept him.
07:26You chose not to.
07:27That means you owe me.
07:29I owe you nothing.
07:31Yeah.
07:32Half a year and every LXMR I had is gone.
07:34There's nothing left for my own training.
07:36I'm at the bottom ranks.
07:43No!
07:43You can't!
07:44Little sister.
07:46Don't mistake me for a fool.
07:47I'm not funding your creature for you.
07:50If you can't afford him, bring it to the elder.
07:52Let someone else take the tiger.
07:54I'm sure he'd prefer a partner who could actually keep pace.
07:56She'd never do that.
07:59Where were we?
08:01Weeks passed.
08:02I broke through to a new cultivation stage.
08:05The great elder dispatched me on an assignment alongside elder Margaret to handle a demon
08:11outbreak in the lowlands.
08:12I handled them all before Margaret to intervene.
08:16On the way back, she suddenly laughed.
08:18Clara, you should hurry home.
08:21Your little fox is waiting for you.
08:24She vanished.
08:25I hadn't finished processing what she'd said before Ash appeared in front of me.
08:30I reached out and touched his cheek.
08:33What's wrong?
08:36Clara Ashvale, why are you trying to get rid of me?
08:40Is it something I did?
08:42Or have you found someone new?
08:45What are you talking about?
08:46Your sister came by yesterday.
08:48Said you sent her to look after me.
08:51He started to show teeth.
08:53I flicked his forehead.
08:55He recoiled, then immediately looked betrayed.
08:58You betray me first and then hit me?
09:01I'm going to say this once.
09:03I am not reconsidering anything.
09:05And I have no idea why Luna told you that.
09:08What I do know is that I never asked her to come near you.
09:13Understood?
09:17We ran into a group of younger clan members on the way.
09:21I asked why they'd turn back.
09:23Luna cleared everyone out.
09:27Let's go.
09:30You're going to lecture me about picking fights and then drag me directly into one?
09:34We found them mid-argument.
09:36Or rather, Luna was arguing.
09:38The tiger couldn't speak.
09:40He'd never broken through to human form.
09:42So he was expressing himself through sheer body language.
09:46And none of it was agreeable.
09:48What is wrong with you?
09:50I didn't force you to come here.
09:52You said this place would help you advance.
09:54I've given you every elixir I have and you still can't even talk to me.
09:59You want me to go hunting rogue demons?
10:01I just started training.
10:02You'd be sending me to die.
10:04Clara's fox has been in human form for months and you can't even answer a question.
10:09What exactly are you doing with yourself?
10:12I heard the tiger's version of a response.
10:15A low rumble.
10:17In my past life, he'd never once spoken to me with anything resembling patience.
10:22Watching him endure Luna's outburst without walking away was a strange thing.
10:30Luna, there you are.
10:33Lyra, what brings you out here?
10:35I patted Ash's arm.
10:37He gave a small, resigned sigh and crouched.
10:40He held me in his arms.
10:42Luna's gaze locked onto him and didn't move.
10:44Nothing specific.
10:46I just wanted to know why you visited my companion without my permission.
10:50Luna hadn't expected me to know so quickly.
10:53She started backpedaling.
10:54No, you misunderstood.
10:55I was looking for you.
10:59She told me I was supposed to be hers.
11:01That you'd stolen me away.
11:03She was very convincing.
11:05And what did you do?
11:07I removed her from the property.
11:09She's not strong enough to argue back, so she left fairly quickly.
11:12I stood and faced Luna directly.
11:14If I remember correctly, you didn't want the fox.
11:17He was badly hurt.
11:18If you'd taken him, he wouldn't have survived.
11:20That's not true.
11:21I would have cared for him.
11:23The tiger's crest stood fully upright.
11:26You're doing this deliberately.
11:28You're trying to cause trouble between me and the tiger.
11:31If you try this again, there will be consequences.
11:36On the way back, my mood was good.
11:38Ash was quiet, though.
11:40He wouldn't shift and carry me, even when I asked.
11:43When we reached home, he caught my arm.
11:45You and the tiger.
11:46There's something there.
11:48I didn't hide it.
11:50We have a history.
11:51It ended badly.
11:54Do you want to know?
11:55He turned, shifted into fox form, and wrapped his enormous tail around me.
12:01No.
12:02I'm better than that by every measure.
12:04And you promised me you wouldn't seek out another bonded creature.
12:08I ran my fingers through the fur at the back of his ears.
12:12I won't.
12:13I promise.
12:14Sometime later, Ash decided I wasn't advancing fast enough.
12:19Get up.
12:20I refuse to share energy with someone who progresses this slowly.
12:23The Great Elder said I'm the most talented concultator of my generation.
12:28Unlike my past life, all the elixirs I earned this time went into me.
12:32Five years.
12:34I moved from the early stages into the middle tier of my cultivation rank.
12:38When I returned to the clan, the Great Elder was close to a breakthrough of his own.
12:43The younger members had grown considerably.
12:46Only one thing hadn't changed.
12:48The tiger still hadn't taken human form.
12:52We expected the tiger to elevate the entire clan.
12:55Ten years in, and he's no closer to breaking through.
12:58We sent an elder to assess him quietly.
13:01The gap is too large.
13:03Even with assistance, he can't make the crossing.
13:06Luna had barely enough power to sustain herself, let alone a creature of the tiger's requirements.
13:12But honestly, his not breaking through was the best outcome.
13:17I wasn't strong enough to kill him.
13:19So control was the only option.
13:22I threw myself into building up the clan.
13:25I trained with the younger members daily.
13:27If something went wrong, I wanted them to be able to protect themselves.
13:32Ash gave me space for it.
13:33He knew what I was doing.
13:35One evening, I came home exhausted, and he was waiting for me.
13:39He picked me up, threw me over his shoulder, and started walking.
13:44You look terrible.
13:46I'm taking you to see something entertaining.
13:48His idea of entertainment was crouching at the edge of the back valley and listening to Luna and the tiger
13:54fight.
13:55The tiger couldn't speak, so the entire argument was one-sided.
14:00Don't look at me like that.
14:01I didn't force you to bond with me.
14:03You came to me.
14:05You told me to wait.
14:07You told me once you took human form, we'd leave together.
14:11You're the one who picked the fight with Clara at the ceremony.
14:17And now what?
14:18You're stuck, I'm stuck.
14:21And it's all your fault, you useless.
14:23So they'd known each other before.
14:25The tiger had come to Luna deliberately.
14:28He'd made her promises.
14:30But that still didn't explain why they'd opened the wards.
14:33Why involved the demon horde at all?
14:36Unless they'd already been working with the demons.
14:39The one that killed my parents.
14:41My parents, who were also Luna's parents.
14:44How could she?
14:46I needed to find out.
14:48And when I did, there would be a reckoning.
14:51Back at the residence, I was working through what I needed to investigate
14:55when a visitor appeared at the gate.
14:57The tiger.
14:58He was staring at Ash, who was soaking in the spring and determinedly ignoring him.
15:04What do you want?
15:05Shouldn't you be with Luna?
15:06Ash emerged from the water and immediately positioned himself between us.
15:11Master, you promised.
15:13No, no other bonded creatures.
15:15Don't even talk to him.
15:17I just want to know why he's here.
15:19That's all.
15:20He's regretting his choices, obviously.
15:23He chose a dead end, and he knows it.
15:26I started to look at the tiger.
15:28The gate was empty.
15:30This life, I'd kept my distance.
15:33I hadn't interfered with him.
15:35If the tiger genuinely wanted a different bond,
15:38the elders would have been glad to help.
15:39There was no reason to come to me specifically.
15:43Unless the tiger had also been reborn.
15:46I didn't say anything to Ash.
15:48I went straight to the clan's protective wards.
15:51Intact.
15:52I breathed.
15:54Then I looked at the ground near the barrier edge.
15:57White tiger fur.
15:58A handful of strands.
16:00He'd been here.
16:01He hadn't broken through.
16:03His power wasn't there yet.
16:05But he knew what was sealed here.
16:08He knew my parents had died here.
16:10I'd told him that myself, in my last life.
16:13I had to watch him.
16:15Carefully.
16:16All the time.
16:18The gossip started circulating through the clan not long after.
16:21Luna and the tiger were fighting constantly.
16:24He refused her commands.
16:26Ignored her in training sessions.
16:31Made her look incompetent in front of the whole yard.
16:34And every time I appeared, he drifted toward me.
16:38Elder Margaret found the entire situation delightful.
16:42Her owl sat on her shoulder.
16:43You know what this reminds me of?
16:45Every story where someone realizes too late what they had.
16:48Freezes the other person out.
16:49Spends the rest of it chasing after her.
16:51She said it directly in front of Ash.
16:53He moved.
16:54I caught him before he could do anything irreversible.
16:56Margaret clutched her owl and said,
16:58Oh my!
16:59I could have a conversation with Luna.
17:00Offer her a different creature.
17:01Something she can actually sustain.
17:03Transfer the tiger formally.
17:04Quietly.
17:05Please.
17:06No more.
17:06No.
17:07I'm not touching the clan council over this.
17:08Besides, I have Ash.
17:10That's enough.
17:10Margaret looked genuinely mournful.
17:12A bonded creature in open conflict with its partner is a problem for all of us.
17:15And Luna hasn't advanced in ten years.
17:17The elders have been discussing a field assignment.
17:20Practical training away from the clan for a year or two.
17:23I understood what she wasn't saying.
17:25They'd given up on the tiger as a resource.
17:27Ash's presence had changed the calculation.
17:29What we accomplished together had raised the bar considerably.
17:33If Luna left with the tiger, I had time.
17:37Time to reinforce the wars.
17:42The guy in the clan hall, Luna cried.
17:45She accused me.
17:46You killed him.
17:47Then, in front of every elder, she made her counteroffer.
17:50Clara wants the tiger so badly she can have him.
17:52I won't fight her.
17:53But if she takes him, she gives me Ash.
17:56A mixed lindage fox for a pure-blood tiger.
17:58Honestly, Clara comes out ahead.
18:00The great elder shut it down before anyone else could speak.
18:03Who?
18:04Luna.
18:05Focus on your own creature and stop coming up with ideas like that.
18:08I heard this from Ash, who had apparently been listening from outside the hall.
18:12While the elders dealt with Luna, I was in the creature registry with the keeper, looking into a disappearance.
18:17Three creatures had vanished overnight.
18:19Two small rabbits, a young deer.
18:21The keeper was beside himself.
18:23I checked the seals myself before I left.
18:25Any disturbance at all, and I'd have felt it.
18:28There was nothing.
18:29Not a demon.
18:30No trace of that kind of energy.
18:31I looked around.
18:33The registry was carved into the cliffside, warded stone on all sides.
18:37The only way in or out used the clan seal.
18:40To remove three creatures cleanly, whoever did it knew this place intimately, or had always been inside.
18:47You don't need you.
18:48Big Brother Fox is perfectly safe.
18:49Keeper, can creatures turn on each other?
18:50They have consciousness.
18:51They would never do something so barbaric.
18:53Don't listen to her.
18:54She was just being strange.
18:55People do terrible things when they want to advance.
18:58Creatures aren't different.
19:01There's a method, old and dark, not talked about, where one creature absorbs the power of another.
19:08Want to know how it works?
19:10The fastest shortcut was this.
19:12Take the core of another creature.
19:14Consume it.
19:15The higher the cultivation of the creature you took from, the greater the gain.
19:18Ash had nearly been killed by exactly this method, years ago, before we met.
19:23Once it works,
19:26It will come back for more.
19:28We staked out the registry that night.
19:30Nothing.
19:31Quiet all the way to dawn.
19:32I reassured the keeper.
19:34Don't worry.
19:36And headed out.
19:38And immediately ran into a young clan member sprinting toward me.
19:41Guardian!
19:42Something happened at the residences!
19:43What's wrong?
19:45Ash!
19:47Ash shifted form and moved.
19:50When we landed, I knew from the sound.
19:53One of the younger students, a girl who'd bonded at her first ceremony,
19:57was sitting on the ground in her courtyard, holding what remained of her rabbit.
20:02Elder Margaret was already there.
20:04She caught my eye and gave a small, grim nod.
20:08Your guess was right.
20:09The core was taken.
20:11Clean, precise, one strike.
20:12She didn't feel it happen.
20:14The bond broke and that's when she knew.
20:18Without thinking, I turned and looked for the tiger.
20:21He was standing near the edge of the crowd, perfectly still.
20:25Don't stare.
20:26It's him.
20:27You're sure?
20:28I've seen this method used before.
20:30His signature reads the same.
20:32I went to the great elder and told him everything.
20:34Don't move yet.
20:35You need proof.
20:35Catch him in the act.
20:37Behind him, his courtyard had descended into complete chaos.
20:41All of them trying to interrogate Ash about his parents' bloodlines.
20:45I keep them close.
20:47Your firehound just destroyed the garden path.
20:50You could clean it up for your elder.
20:52No.
20:53Still, with subtle pressure, I got the senior elders watching the tiger more carefully.
21:00Weeks passed.
21:01No more disappearances.
21:03But two weeks later, the girl who had lost her rabbit still hadn't recovered.
21:07She stopped coming to training.
21:10Ate less.
21:11Barely spoke.
21:12The other students let it drift into rumor and then into story.
21:17Ashes sat with me every day.
21:19Then, one night, something moved past my window.
21:22Floating on the water's surface was a single white tiger feather.
21:26I reached through the bond and found him.
21:29I arrived at the ward boundary and walked straight into a shockwave.
21:34Ash and the tiger were already fighting.
21:37No preamble.
21:38Fully committed.
21:39He moved through the trees in pale clothing.
21:42Fast and fluid.
21:43Redirecting Ash's attacks with the ease of someone who'd been preparing for exactly this fight.
21:49Near the ward boundary, Luna sat perfectly still.
21:52When I got close enough to see her clearly, my stomach dropped.
21:56Luna was dead.
21:57I hadn't even processed it before the sky began to darken.
22:01The ward clumps.
22:02Harm your bonded partner, and the consequence falls from the sky.
22:07You ran this exact plan in another life.
22:10You used everyone here as scaffolding and then kicked it out.
22:13And now this life you had the chance to choose differently and instead you took her core.
22:16The sky is watching.
22:19It ends today.
22:21Almost.
22:22One more step.
22:24He was breaking the ward seal behind his back.
22:27The creatures sealed in the valley felt the loosening.
22:30Thunder gathered directly above him.
22:32The great elder arrived in a flash of light from the peak.
22:36Clara!
22:36Hold the creatures back.
22:38I'll reseal from outside.
22:39Clara!
22:40You can't stop this.
22:42Come die with me!
22:43I'll do better by you this time!
22:46In my past life, I had died in this exact valley.
22:49Alone.
22:50Then a hand closed on my shoulder.
22:53It is Ash.
22:54You want to take her down with you?
22:57You'd have to go through me first.
22:59You're nobody!
23:00This time, I wasn't alone.
23:02I arrived at the ward bound.
23:04Never asked me what.
23:05There was a straight 100 exchange.
23:07And the tiger and the tiger were already fighting.
23:09He couldn't find a way past Ash.
23:11He couldn't land a hit on me.
23:12He broke.
23:13This isn't right.
23:14You're supposed to die.
23:18We're supposed to go back together.
23:21Goodbye.
23:23I raised one hand and pointed at the sky.
23:31The lightning came down like a cock dropped from the sky.
23:38He would not be able to die by himself.
23:42He would not be coming back.
23:44The tiger was gone.
23:46He would not be coming back.
23:53The tiger was dealt with.
23:55The harder problem remained.
23:57The creatures sealed in the valley were old and powerful.
24:01They couldn't be killed cleanly.
24:03Only re-contained.
24:05And the oldest among them,
24:07the one they called the Abyss Serpent,
24:10had been dormant for a century.
24:12Sealed originally by the previous great elder,
24:15who had given his life to do it.
24:17Ash had been leaning against a tree.
24:19Expression of someone waiting for his reward.
24:22When he went still,
24:24he stared into the dark between the trees.
24:27What's in there?
24:30The Abyss Serpent.
24:31The Abyss Serpent.
24:32Wait here.
24:33I need to go in.
24:35Something shifted in his expression.
24:37Something I hadn't seen from him before.
24:39He started moving.
24:41I caught his hand.
24:42It's not safe.
24:44I know.
24:46Clara!
24:46He tried carefully to explain the situation to me.
24:50This life.
24:50I died in this valley.
24:53I watched the tiger take Luna and leave.
24:55I was alone when it happened.
24:57I'm not leaving you behind.
24:59We went in together.
25:01Behind us...
25:02Who just walked into the sealed valley?
25:04Elder, that's your student.
25:06My student is extraordinary.
25:08The valley was wrong the moment we crossed the boundary.
25:12Eyes in the dark.
25:13Dozens of them.
25:15They didn't move.
25:16Some instinct in them recognized Ash.
25:18He'd shifted to his true form.
25:20Large enough now that I rode at the back of his neck.
25:23I asked him before.
25:24What are you looking for?
25:26The Abyss Serpent.
25:27Tell me why.
25:28My mother is in there.
25:30I had always assumed Ash was the product of some unusual crossing of bloodlines.
25:34He'd never corrected me.
25:36Now I found out.
25:37He did have fox blood.
25:39But his mother was the Abyss Serpent.
25:41One of the creatures from the oldest records.
25:44Vast in form.
25:45Ancient in power.
25:47Her cultivation predating the current era by centuries.
25:50She hadn't always been this.
25:52200 years ago, someone had used the dark method on the creatures she'd loved.
25:57Consumed his core.
25:58She hadn't recovered.
26:00I reached up and put my hand against the side of Ash's head.
26:03I had nothing to say.
26:04The creatures around us began to shift.
26:07They wanted us gone.
26:09They wanted the energy this moment was generating.
26:12Ash sat me down and stood at my back, facing outward in human form.
26:17If we can't hold them, I'm putting you through the exit.
26:20When that happens, run.
26:22Don't look back.
26:24If what the tiger claimed was true, that dying here just leads to another life, that's not the worst outcome.
26:33You told me you'd make me happy.
26:35I held you to that.
26:37So if you don't want to watch these things reach me, keep them away.
26:43All the way through.
26:44The creatures came.
26:45We fought.
26:47I covered him and he moved forward.
26:49One after another.
26:51The valley full of the sounds of it.
26:53My power was trying to surge on the edge of a breakthrough.
26:57Each breakthrough brought a heavenly trial.
27:00A surge of lightning.
27:01The test between one level and the next.
27:04Ash felt it through the bond.
27:06He threw aside an attack from something in the dark and said, through clenched teeth.
27:11My fault.
27:13I came too fast.
27:14Everything stopped.
27:16The creatures pressing in from all sides simply vanished.
27:20One moment, then nothing.
27:22I pointed at the pair of enormous red eyes in the fog ahead of us.
27:26Is that her?
27:28The old clan records described the Abyss Serpent as having a human face and the body of something ancient.
27:35Her face still held human proportions.
27:37I couldn't move.
27:39I had cultivated my entire life.
27:42I had survived two lifetimes and an impossible valley.
27:45She didn't close her jaws.
27:48Ash stepped between us.
27:49The massive jaws stopped in the air.
27:52Mother.
27:54Don't hurt her.
27:56She pulled back.
27:58The ground shook with it.
27:59She was breathing fast, clearly in pain.
28:02Her focus fractured.
28:04Ash moved closer.
28:05He barely came to her chin.
28:07And she flinched like he was the dangerous one.
28:10It's me.
28:12It's me.
28:12Little Ash.
28:14Her voice was human and enormous at the same time.
28:18Little Ash.
28:20The red in her eyes began to clear.
28:22Gold underneath.
28:24It didn't hold.
28:25The red came surging back.
28:27Little Ash!
28:29Kill me!
28:30She pushed her core outside her own body.
28:33Held it toward him.
28:35Ash caught it.
28:36His hands couldn't crush it.
28:38I can't.
28:40The core drifted from his hands and came to rest in front of me.
28:44She looked at me.
28:46Good child.
28:47You do it.
28:49I held it and didn't know what to do.
28:51Ash's hand came over mine.
28:53And my power broke loose.
28:56Breakthrough.
28:56Now!
28:57I looked at Ash through the chaos of it.
29:00Tears.
29:01I had never seen that from him before.
29:05He looked at the abyss serpent.
29:15Goodbye, mother.
29:17The core broke in my hands.
29:19She let out a long, released sound.
29:23Now I can sleep.
29:26Thunder gathered above us.
29:27Wide.
29:28Far wider than a single person's trial should produce.
29:31It blanketed the entire valley.
29:33I was still reeling.
29:34Is this normal for a breakthrough?
29:35This seems excessive.
29:37It looks like it wants to kill you specifically.
29:43I think I'm in serious trouble.
29:45He took my hand and stepped in front of me.
29:47I brought you in here.
29:48Whatever happens, I'm getting you out.
29:51The thunder dropped.
29:52I reached for my power and pushed against it.
29:55And then I understood.
29:56The trial wasn't aimed at me.
30:01When the abyss serpent's core shattered, her energy hadn't simply vanished.
30:05A reservoir of ancient power, centuries in the making, now hung in the air like a second sky.
30:11My breakthrough trial, which should have been overwhelming, was nothing against it.
30:16The creatures lurking at the edges came forward, drawn to the loose energy, waiting for me to fail so they
30:22could claim it.
30:23Instead, the trial landed on them.
30:25The clouds cleared.
30:27The valley went quiet.
30:28Dawnlight found its way through the canopy.
30:33We walked out.
30:35The chaos inside had given the great elder and the others the time they needed.
30:39Within the month, the seals were fully restored.
30:43Stronger than they'd ever been.
30:44She told the story to every cultivation family within traveling distance.
30:49Listen to this.
30:50Goes into the sealed valley alone with her bonded creature.
30:54Comes out having broken through two stages.
30:57Clara, watching you become who you are, your elder can rest easy.
31:01My own trial is coming.
31:03The elders and I have agreed.
31:04You are the right person to lead this clan after I am gone.
31:07Once I have passed through, the role is yours.
31:10You've been looking for a reason to step back for years.
31:12He pretended not to hear.
31:14He reached for Ash's hand.
31:16And you.
31:16I am formally naming you Keeper of the Clan Wards.
31:20The protection of this clan is in your hands.
31:23We were cultivators from across the region sent offerings to the clan in the months that followed.
31:28One came with a mirror.
31:30A memory viewer.
31:32One that could show the user a moment from a previous life.
31:36I looked.
31:37It showed me what happened after I died.
31:40In the life before this one.
31:42When I had been killed in the valley, the abyss serpent woke.
31:46She tore through the seals.
31:48She came out.
31:49And something in her pulled her straight to the creature burial ground at the edge of the clan grounds.
31:55She dug.
31:57One massive claw.
31:59Careful despite everything.
32:01She pulled out a small set of fox bones.
32:04After that, she stopped holding back.
32:06She went through the clan grounds like fire through plywood for three days.
32:11This time, there was nothing left.
32:15The great elders.
32:16The elders.
32:17Every member of the clan.
32:19None of them survived.
32:21The tiger and Luna had been running.
32:24A blast caught them.
32:25The tiger threw Luna toward the abyss serpent.
32:28It wasn't enough for him.
32:30She tracked him anyway.
32:32The mirror settled from my hands.
32:34Ash.
32:35Somewhere behind me.
32:36I've warmed this three times.
32:38What are you doing over there?
32:40The warm smell of mulled wine.
32:42I smiled at him.
32:43And pulled him into a hug.
32:46Cultivators from across.
32:47What are you doing over there?
32:47What are you doing over there?
32:47What are you doing over there?
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