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