Twin Lotus

Yun Zhishu's extra training began the following morning.

Yali personally supervised, drawing a circle on the open ground behind their residence and having Yun Zhishu practice dodging, blocking, and falling safely within it. At first, the five-year-old girl cried her eyes out, her knees and elbows covered in bruises, but she gritted her teeth and refused to call for a stop—she was afraid that if she said it hurt, her sister would show that look again, the one that said, "I'm so afraid of losing you."

"Lower your center of gravity!" Yali's voice was unusually stern. "Don't close your eyes when your opponent throws a punch. See the trajectory clearly before you dodge!"

Yun Zhishu pursed her lips, tears welling in her amber-gold eyes, yet she stubbornly refused to let them fall. She wore a miniature training uniform, her hair tied into two little buns that swung back and forth with every dodge, like a stubborn little beast.

Yun Zhiyu stood outside the circle with a towel and water flask in hand, gripping them so tightly that her fingers turned white. She wanted to rush in and wipe her sister's sweat, wanted to pull her into her arms and comfort her, but she knew she could not—some roads had to be walked alone, and some pain had to be endured alone, before one could truly grow up.

"Let her train." Feng Wuyu appeared beside her at some point, a blade of grass between his teeth. "Yali knows what she's doing. She won't really hurt her."

"I know," Yun Zhiyu said softly. "It's just... hard to watch."

The old man glanced at her, his beard twitching. "When your hands were covered in blisters from forging, Yali felt terrible too. Elder sisters and mothers are all like that."

Yun Zhiyu fell silent. She remembered Yali's pale face when she had rushed in on the day Yun Zhiyu completed Thousandfold Forging with Astral Black Iron. She remembered those gentle hands trembling as they applied medicine to her wounds, and the slight shake of her mother's shoulders when she turned away. So heartache had always gone both ways.

Yun Ming's care became apparent on the third day.

At noon that day, Yuanen Yehui appeared at the forging room door. Her grayish-white face carried a trace of awkwardness, and she held a paper packet in her hand—it contained soul beast jerky from the Outer Court cafeteria, three days' worth of portions she had saved up.

"Master Yun said..." Her voice was very quiet, and her dark brown eyes did not dare meet anyone's gaze. "He said I should come here every day at noon and after dinner to keep you company."

Yun Zhishu immediately jumped up from in front of her drawing board and rushed over to hug her around the waist. "Sister Yuanen! You're here!"

Yuanen staggered a little, but she did not push her away. Looking down at the little girl in her arms, she thought of the younger sister she had never had, of all those fearful or disgusted looks from her family. Somewhere deep in her heart quietly softened.

"I-I brought jerky." She awkwardly handed over the paper packet. "For you."

"Sister Yuanen is the best!"

Yun Zhiyu poked her head out from behind the forging table, a smile in her violet eyes. "Come in. Don't stand around at the door. Zhishu, let Yuanen sit. Stop clinging to her."

"I'm not clinging." Though Yun Zhishu said that, her little hand still refused to release Yuanen's sleeve. "Sister Yuanen, watch me draw!"

Thus, a third figure appeared in the forging room. Whenever Yun Zhiyu forged, Yuanen sat on a tall stool in the corner, Yun Zhishu sprawled across her lap. The larger and smaller heads huddled together over the drawing board, debating whether the Battle Armor shoulder guards should be shaped like phoenix wings or patterned with dragon scales. Sometimes, Yun Zhishu would grow sleepy and doze off in Yuanen's arms, grayish-white skin pressed against rosy cheeks like a strange painting.

At first, Yuanen felt deeply uncomfortable. She was used to being alone, used to being excluded, used to diminishing her presence in the corner. But Yun Zhishu's enthusiasm was like a small flame, burning toward her without explanation and crackling away her restraint; Yun Zhiyu's quiet companionship was like a deep pool, silently holding her afloat so she would not drown in this sudden warmth.

"Sister Yuanen," Yun Zhishu suddenly asked one day, "can your Titan Giant Ape become tiny? Like a doll?"

Yuanen paused. "When I possess my martial soul... it can't become smaller."

"Then when you're really strong," Yun Zhishu said seriously, "make one for me, okay? I'll put it by my bed. It'll look more impressive than Sister's hammer!"

Yuanen looked into her amber-gold eyes. There was no fear there, no disgust, only pure curiosity and anticipation. Suddenly, she felt that perhaps her martial soul was not so ugly after all.

"...All right," she said softly. "When I'm strong enough."

The days rippled outward like the waters of Sea God Lake, ring after ring. They seemed repetitive, yet without anyone noticing, they carried them farther from the shore.

Over the next half year, Yun Zhiyu's forging officially stepped into the threshold of Spirit Forging, and the Star Hammer grew increasingly fluid in her hands. Yuanen gradually gained control over her Titan Giant Ape martial soul; beneath her grayish-white skin, a rock-like texture faintly emerged, and she became strong enough to lift the forging table with one hand. Yun Zhishu's drawing skills advanced by leaps and bounds, her designs changing from crooked round cakes into decent Battle Armor sketches. Though the proportions were often off, her ideas were wildly imaginative.

And at last, Yun Zhishu's sixth birthday arrived.

The awakening room was completely different from the one Yun Zhiyu had entered six years ago.

The black jade stone walls were inlaid with soul guidance gems. Rather than a single blue color, six colors interwove to form an even more intricate formation. Yun Ming and Yali stood on either side, with Long Yeyue in the middle. Though elderly and stooped, she was full of vigor, sharp light contained within her cloudy eyes. Yun Zhiyu stood in the corner holding Yuanen's hand, both dressed formally, silver hair and reddish-brown hair reflecting one another beneath the soul guidance lamps.

"Nervous?" Yun Zhiyu asked quietly.

Yuanen shook her head, though the hand clasping Yun Zhiyu's was damp with sweat. She had been specially invited to attend the awakening ceremony. This trust left her both flattered and faintly uneasy—what right did she have to stand in the most central place in all of Shrek?

"Sister Yuanen," Yun Zhishu called from the center of the formation, waving at her, "once I awaken a powerful martial soul, I'll protect you!"

Yuanen froze for a moment, then the corners of her mouth rose unconsciously. This five-year-old girl could always say the words that warmed people's hearts most when they least expected them.

"Begin." Long Yeyue tapped the ground with her cane.

Yun Ming and Yali formed hand seals at the same time. Unlike a year ago, two completely different kinds of soul power entered the formation this time—Yun Ming's was tyrannical and fierce, like a sky-piercing pillar thrusting straight into the heavens; Yali's was gentle and sacred, like the light of a wish spreading across the earth. The two streams of soul power met and intertwined in the center of the formation, eventually transforming into a beam of intertwined gold and white that lifted Yun Zhishu into the air.

Yun Zhiyu narrowed her violet eyes. She watched her sister's little face gradually become calm within the light. That expression did not belong to a five-year-old child. It was more like some long-slumbering existence slowly opening its eyes.

"Wish Angel..." Yali's voice trembled. "Yun Ming, it's a Wish Angel!"

Before her words had even faded, a sudden change erupted.

Amid the golden light blooming around Yun Zhishu, a streak of silver-white suddenly pierced through. At first, it was only a thread, but in the span of a breath, it expanded and spread, standing against the gold on equal footing. In the end, they intertwined into the phantom of an enormous lotus—the petals were sacred gold, the stamen domineering silver. Beneath the lotus pedestal, space warped slightly, as though it could not bear such pressure.

"This is..." Yun Ming's pupils contracted sharply.

Long Yeyue's cane struck the ground with a thud, her aged face filled with shock. "A fusion of dual attributes! The dominance of the Sky-Pillaring Spear and the holiness of the Wish Angel have actually fused into one!"

The lotus phantom slowly rotated. Every petal that drifted down turned into a tiny spatial crack in the air, only to quickly heal. Yun Zhishu floated above the lotus pedestal with her eyes closed, her little face carrying a solemnity utterly unsuited to her age, like a sleeping little deity.

"The martial soul's name..." Yali's voice was as light as a dream. "Sky-Pillaring Sacred Lotus Spear. Sacred healing, spatial suppression... My heavens, this child is..."

"Innate full soul power, rank fifteen!" Yun Ming blurted out.

The beam of light abruptly withdrew, and Yun Zhishu slowly descended. When she opened her eyes, a ring of silver-white patterns had appeared within her amber-gold irises, like lotus petals embedded deep in her pupils. Looking down at her hands, she saw a tiny golden lotus floating above her palm, with the phantom of a silver spear faintly visible within its core.

"Sister..." She looked at Yun Zhiyu, her voice carrying the confusion of someone newly awakened. "I saw so much light, and... and a spear. Such a long, long spear..."

Yun Zhiyu rushed over and hugged her sister tightly. She felt the surging soul power within Yun Zhishu, felt the dual attributes of healing and suppression contained in that golden lotus, and a complicated swell of emotion rose in her heart—joy, pride, and a faint trace of worry.

A martial soul that had never appeared in the original story had been born because of her transmigration, because of Life Water's transformation, because of the fusion of Yun Ming and Yali's bloodlines. It was an anomaly, an unknown, an existence that might overturn everything.

"Zhishu." She cupped her sister's face and spoke seriously. "Your martial soul is very powerful, incredibly powerful. But remember, what is powerful is not your martial soul. It is you."

Yun Zhishu blinked, and the golden lotus spun once in her palm. "I know! I'm going to protect Sister, protect Sister Yuanen, and protect Father and Mother!"

Yuanen stood to one side, watching the scene as a softness appeared on her grayish-white face.

She recalled the moment she had awakened her Fallen Angel—there had been no blessings, no protection, only fear and rejection. Yet here, in this awakening room, she saw another possibility.

"Congratulations," she said softly, her voice hoarse but sincere.

Yun Zhishu wriggled out of Yun Zhiyu's embrace and ran over to grab Yuanen's hand. "Sister Yuanen, from now on, we'll become strong together!"

"...All right."

Long Yeyue suddenly spoke, her aged voice cutting over everyone's laughter. "Yun Ming, Yali, do not spread word of this child's martial soul for now."

Yun Ming nodded. "I understand, Senior."

"And not only that." Long Yeyue's gaze fell upon Yun Zhiyu, then shifted back to Yun Zhishu. "A fusion of dual attributes, a spatial attribute—this has never existed in Shrek's history. Her future path will be more difficult than Zhiyu's, and more... eye-catching."

Yali drew Yun Zhishu protectively into her arms, her face slightly pale. Yun Ming wrapped an arm around his wife's shoulders, his gaze steady. "We will protect her. One step at a time, steadily and surely."

Yun Zhiyu said nothing. She looked at the golden lotus in her sister's palm and thought of the rewards in the system space, the small shield she had forged for Yuanen, and the eight words: Never forget your original intention, and you will achieve your ultimate goal.

She knew that from this day onward, she needed to accelerate her plans.

That night, Yun Zhiyu sat alone in the forging room, taking stock of her system rewards.

[Congratulations to the host for accumulating seven years of check-ins]

[Reward One: A batch of rare metals and god-grade metals]

The list unfolded in her sea of consciousness. The dense array of names left her dazzled. Aside from the already familiar Profound Ice Meteoric Silver, Primordial Sword Gold, and Dragon-Patterned Purple Gold, there were many metals that had never appeared on Douluo Continent—Star Sand, Void Mithril, Chaos Red Copper, Nine Netherworld Iron... Every one of them carried an ancient air, as though they came from another world.

[Reward Two: Primal Sword Embryo (Growth-Type)]

[Dark Star Divine Punishment Gauntlets (Growth-Type)]

Yun Zhiyu's gaze settled on the two items. The Primal Sword Embryo was a hazy gray ball of light, within which she could vaguely make out the outline of a sword, though it had no fixed shape, like some life that had yet to be born. The Dark Star Divine Punishment Gauntlets were black as ink, dark violet lightning patterns flowing across their surface and radiating a heart-palpitating pressure.

Growth-type meant they could evolve alongside their owner's soul power, accompanying them all the way from ordinary iron to divine artifacts.

Yun Zhiyu's thoughts raced. Combined with Dragon-Patterned Purple Gold, the Primal Sword Embryo could be used to forge Yun Zhishu a growth-type divine sword—the Sky-Pillaring Sacred Lotus Spear was her martial soul, but a sword could serve as an external weapon, complementing her martial soul. As for the Dark Star Divine Punishment Gauntlets...

She thought of Yuanen Yehui. The strength of the Titan Giant Ape and the darkness of the Fallen Angel—these gauntlets were practically tailor-made for her. The "dark" in Dark Star corresponded to the Fallen Angel's darkness attribute, while the "punishment" in Divine Punishment matched the Titan Giant Ape's domineering strength. Their growth-type nature meant they could accompany Yuanen down the long road of cultivation, all the way until she became a Titled Douluo.

"Dark Star Divine Punishment..." she murmured the name, the corners of her lips curling upward.

[Reward Three: God-grade defensive soul guidance necklaces ×5, bracelets ×5]

Yun Zhiyu took out a necklace and examined it. The chain was made from some material that seemed both metallic and jade-like, warm and smooth to the touch. The pendant was a tiny shield-shaped gemstone containing a complex defensive formation. She tried channeling a thread of soul power into it, and the gemstone immediately glimmered, forming a pale golden barrier around her.

"Good stuff." She nodded in satisfaction.

Five necklaces and five bracelets—just enough to distribute among family and friends: Yun Ming, Yali, Yun Zhishu, Yuanen, and herself. One for each person. They did not need to make them invincible; they only needed to give them a little more chance of survival in a critical moment.

Just as she was considering how to distribute them, the forging room door was gently pushed open. Yun Zhishu poked her little head inside, her amber-gold eyes faintly glowing in the dark, the silver-white patterns in her pupils not yet fully faded.

"Sister, why aren't you asleep yet?"

"I'm thinking about something." Yun Zhiyu beckoned her in.

Dressed in pajamas and hugging a pillow, Yun Zhishu slipped familiarly into her sister's arms. She nuzzled against Yun Zhiyu's chest, her voice muffled. "Sister, when I awakened today, I heard a voice."

"What voice?"

"A very, very old voice." Yun Zhishu furrowed her little brows, trying hard to describe it. "It said... it said, 'When the lotus blooms, space will be reshaped.' Sister, what does that mean?"

Yun Zhiyu's heart tightened. When the lotus blooms, space will be reshaped—those words sounded like some kind of prophecy, or perhaps a mission. She thought of the spatial suppression attribute in Yun Zhishu's martial soul, of the twisted space surrounding the golden lotus when it had appeared, of the unknown realms never touched upon in the original story.

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "But no matter what it means, Sister will stay with you. Step by step, we'll figure it out together."

Yun Zhishu murmured an "Mm" and quickly fell asleep in her sister's arms. Holding her, Yun Zhiyu looked at the moonlight outside the window and recalled Yuanen's figure standing in the corner during the day, recalling her hoarse congratulations.

Suddenly, she felt that perhaps she had not come to this world merely to change Yun Ming and Yali's fates. Those supporting characters from the original story, those names that had been mentioned only in passing—Yuanen Yehui, Wu Changkong, Long Bing... they also had their own stories, their own pain, and their own light.

And she wanted to be the one who lit that light.

The Primal Sword Embryo goes to Zhishu, and the Dark Star Divine Punishment Gauntlets go to Yuanen, she silently planned. The necklaces go to Father and Mother. The bracelets... one for Elder Long, and the rest as backups.

Moonlight spilled down, casting a silver-white silhouette across the forging table. The Star Hammer lay quietly in the corner, the five-pointed star on its head faintly glowing in the darkness like an undying spark.

Yun Zhiyu lowered her head and kissed her sister's forehead, softly humming that ancient nursery rhyme.

"Little bugs fly, little bugs fly, who are you missing..."

Her song was light and gentle, scattered into the night wind. Yun Zhishu smacked her lips in her sleep, her small hand tightening around her sister's clothes. The golden lotus silently bloomed in her palm, casting a faint glow through the room's darkness.