Xue Ren looked up, a faint crease forming between her brows as she processed the request. For a brief moment, silence stretched between them, thick with curiosity.
"Alchemy?" she repeated, as though testing the weight of the word.
Tianlei nodded, his expression steady.
"Alchemists possess strong willpower, mental force, and soul power," he said calmly. "That is how they create heaven-defying pills, embedding them with their own laws."
He rose from the bed and began walking toward her. Each step was unhurried, deliberate. Xue Ren's gaze never left him, as if she were trying to see through more than just his body.
"I want to create my own laws," Tianlei continued, stopping before her. "I don't want to be defined by wicked systems that exist only to test my resolve."
A smile curved across Xue Ren's lips, subtle yet unmistakable.
"And what makes you think I am an alchemist?" she asked.
"You have strong mental strength, powerful soul energy, and most importantly, a spirit flame."
"That alone doesn't make me an alchemist," she replied evenly. "That is an entirely different cultivation path."
"In the cultivation world, there are countless paths," Tianlei said. "Alchemy, magic manipulation, physical body cultivation, soul and spirit cultivation, beast taming. A cultivator can walk more than one path at the same time, but only if their mental strength allows it."
He met her eyes without hesitation.
"That is why you are a warrior, a soul and spirit cultivator, and an alchemist."
"Anyone—especially a beast master—can become an alchemist," he went on. "Alchemy requires mental strength and soul power, the same qualifications needed for beast taming."
She listened without interrupting.
"Right now, you can't be considered a beast master, only a warrior. But just like alchemy, beast taming is open to anyone who meets the requirements." His voice lowered slightly. "Let me show you."
Xue Ren tapped the holographic screen beside her. The two other figures vanished instantly, leaving the space feeling larger, emptier. She stepped forward until she stood beside Tianlei, their shoulders nearly aligned.
"Use your mental attack technique against me," she ordered.
Tianlei hesitated for a moment but instinctively obeyed.
"Drowning Cursed Mind."
The technique activated instantly. A sharp light burst from Tianlei's eyes and struck Xue Ren's forehead. She did not resist. Instead, she staggered backward, as though allowing the force to pass through her.
Tianlei's breath caught.
His Drowning Cursed Mind was powerful, yet it hadn't been able to harm Shi Guyin in the slightest. There was no logical reason it should affect her.
Xue Ren lifted her head. Their eyes met.
In that instant, the world tilted.
Tianlei felt a violent pull, as though invisible hands had seized his thoughts and dragged them forward. The sensation was dizzying, disorienting, and then—
His eyes snapped open.
He stood in a space devoid of natural light, yet it was impossibly beautiful. An endless shallow lake stretched in every direction, its surface smooth as glass, reflecting a dim, unseen sky.
"What you see before you is my mental space," Xue Ren's voice echoed, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.
Tianlei turned slowly, but she was nowhere to be seen. He looked down. The water lapped gently around his feet, warm, alive.
"This… when I used the Drowning Cursed Mind, she pulled my soul directly into her mind," he murmured.
"My mental space is calm like an ocean," her voice continued. "It holds its own vitality. Here, I create my will. Here, I establish my rules."
Tianlei shifted his foot, disturbing the water. Ripples spread outward, carrying a faint pulse of warmth. The vitality was undeniable. It felt like standing in a warm lake during a cold winter—comforting, intimate. The sensation stirred emotions he hadn't expected.
Happiness surfaced.
Sadness followed immediately after.
Memories rose unbidden—moments of warmth, fleeting joys, and the countless scars left behind by loss and failure. His desire for vengeance flared, sharp and violent, only to soften again, replaced by the memory of gentle hands and light blue hair brushing against his skin.
His chest tightened.
"I am… happy," he whispered. "And sad."
"The happiness you feel is the love I cultivated throughout this life," Xue Ren said. "The sadness is the sorrow, vengeance, anger, and desire to kill that I keep."
"Every human experiences both," she continued. "These emotions must be cultivated before anything else."
Tianlei bent down, scooping water into his hands, and splashed it across his face. The warmth lingered.
"Heavenly Thunder."
The voice came from behind him—soft, familiar, impossibly close.
Tianlei turned.
He was staring at himself.
The figure before him shared his features, yet was unmistakably different. Long, radiant blue hair cascaded down his back. His eyes shone like distant stars, calm and boundless.
The figure smiled.
Without thinking, Tianlei smiled back.
The figure stepped forward and raised a hand. Tianlei placed his palm against it. Their fingers intertwined naturally, as though they had always belonged together. Tianlei pulled him into an embrace.
An overwhelming sense of happiness washed over him. His vision blurred as tears welled in his eyes.
"I can't walk with you for now," the figure said softly, holding him close. "But I am waiting for you at the end of the lane."
Before Tianlei could respond, the embrace faded.
"How could you let them do this to us?"
The new voice was rough, filled with restrained fury.
Tianlei turned just as the previous figure vanished. Another stood in its place—twisted, broken. One eye burned with anger, the other drowned in sorrow, tears streaking down its face.
Its hands were soaked in blood. Its body was covered in countless wounds.
"I am tired of being weak," it said, stretching out its arms. "Won't you hug me?"
A crushing weight pressed down on Tianlei's chest. Sadness and anger flooded him, and he broke down, sobbing.
"Please," the figure whispered. "I am so lonely."
"You are my sadness," Tianlei said hoarsely. "You will follow me wherever I go, no matter how tightly I cling to happiness."
All his life, he had chased happiness. Yet every time it appeared, weakness tore it away from him. That endless sorrow had rooted itself deep within his heart.
He stepped forward and embraced the figure.
"You are my weakness," Tianlei whispered, "but also the reminder that I am tired of remaining this way."
The figure smiled faintly.
"You can never get rid of me," it replied. "I will always exist."
A sharp, tearing pain exploded in Tianlei's abdomen.
The figure vanished.
Tianlei staggered, looking down. A massive wound gaped across his stomach, blood pouring into the lake, staining the water a deep crimson. He clutched it desperately, but the pain refused to fade. His legs gave out, and he collapsed to his knees.
"Endless pain," Xue Ren's voice echoed, "while happiness is the wind that comes and goes."
Her words settled into him, heavy and undeniable. Happiness and sadness were not enemies. Neither could exist alone.
"Happiness and sadness coexist," Tianlei said quietly.
"Yes," Xue Ren replied. "But they can be swallowed not by death, but by destruction itself."
The lake around him darkened completely, turning blood-red. Above, black clouds churned violently, forming a massive cyclone. At its center yawned a black hole, devouring light itself.
The lake began to boil, its waters dragged relentlessly toward the void.
"This is Heavenly Tribulation," Xue Ren said. "Destruction incarnate. Happiness, sorrow, love, spiritual energy, destiny, fate—everything is consumed by it. It is the ultimate system, one that cannot be ruled."
Her voice sharpened.
"Even you will bow before it."
Tianlei lifted his gaze to the black hole.
If that was Heavenly Tribulation, the sin of all sins, the god of gods . The system of all systems and then what, truly, was he?