The Transformed Sea of Spiritual Sense

Xiao Shenghe's consciousness seemed to plummet from an immense height into a boundless void.

There was no light and no darkness, only a chaos beyond color.

Nothing solid lay beneath his feet, yet he felt a vast, slumbering pulse, like the breathing of a planet.

"Is this... my sea of Spiritual Sense?"

He murmured, but his voice raised no echo here. It was merely a ripple of thought.

He had looked inward at his own spiritual world before. Though spacious, it had clear boundaries and currents of his own will.

But this place stretched without end, its silence enough to make his heart quail. He could sense none of the familiar "walls" or "floor." He was like a speck of dust floating in the cradle of the universe.

"No."

He rejected the thought at once, seized by a warning born of his soul's instincts.

"This is nothing like my sea of Spiritual Sense."

The difference was not one of size, but of essence.

His own sea of Spiritual Sense had been like a large but empty room;

this was wilderness, deep sea, a primal expanse that had never been cultivated, where even time seemed frozen. He tried to send out his thoughts to "light up" his surroundings, but they vanished like a clay ox sinking into the sea, stirring only deeper, soundless whirlpools.

The unknown awakened the most primal tremor within him.

He felt a cold sense of detachment, as though his very existence were being diluted by the void.

"Where... am I?"

The question was no longer an attempt to explore. It was more like a stone dropped into an ancient well, without even the expected plunk.

Just as the loneliness and bewilderment were about to swallow him,

"Brother Shenghe!"

A call rang out, clear and full of life, like the first ray of dawn cutting through an eternal night.

The voice came from no particular direction. It blossomed directly at the heart of his "existence."

Then a soft, vibrant point of emerald light appeared before his "eyes."

The light swiftly spread and stretched, outlining a small yet perfectly distinct figure.

Lu Yao's spirit form appeared, looking just as she did outside, save for the faint, firefly-like green glow surrounding her. It made her look slightly translucent and all the more lively.

Her emerald eyes brimmed with concern, along with a trace of delight at having completed an important mission.

"Hm? Yao'er!"

Xiao Shenghe's "voice" rang with incredulous joy and relief.

In this utterly unfamiliar realm, her arrival gave him not just a companion, but his only point of reference, his only anchor.

With that touch of green, warmth and "life" flooded the deathly still void.

Lu Yao's spirit form "floated" closer. She did not walk; it was more like her consciousness moving in step with his.

She reached out, her fingertips glowing with gentle warmth. She seemed about to touch Xiao Shenghe's consciousness, but stopped at the last moment and sent him that soothing thought instead.

"Don't be afraid, Brother Shenghe."

Her "voice" was gentle yet firm, carrying the Clouded Deer clan's distinctive power to soothe the heart,

"this really is your sea of Spiritual Sense."

A violent tremor ran through Xiao Shenghe's thoughts:

"But—"

"It's just that,"

Lu Yao picked up his unspoken question, pride and wonder mingling on her little face,

"this is the sea of Spiritual Sense awakened and transformed after your soul was linked to my life essence and that of the Clouded Deer clan through the 'Secret of Symbiosis.'"

She paused, as if searching for the most precise words, and looked out into the boundless chaos.

"Grandpa Xuan said that deep in every soul lies a Primordial Sea. But for most people, that sea remains dormant at the very bottom of their soul all their lives, covered and fixed in place by the consciousness and memories formed later, until it becomes the kind of 'room' you knew before."

She looked back at Xiao Shenghe, her green eyes shining brighter.

"The 'Secret of Symbiosis' is like the oldest of keys, opening the door to that primordial place."

"Our souls' auras intertwined. My Life Spirituality was like the first seed cast into a silent deep sea, stirring ripples... no, not ripples."

Awe entered Lu Yao's voice.

"A tide. Brother Shenghe, this 'sea' of yours is so deep, so vast."

"When my spirituality merged with it, I could barely sense its shores."

"The chaos you see now isn't emptiness. It's... infinite possibility."

"It's 'waking up,' redefining its shape because of our bond."

She raised a hand and pointed into the void.

At her thought, a faint light appeared there. Then more tiny points of light flickered on, one after another, like stars. They slowly revolved, as though a newborn galaxy were gathering before their eyes.

"Look,"

Lu Yao said, her voice dreamlike,

"this is the first stroke our 'symbiosis' has written. This will no longer be a lonely realm belonging to you alone. It will be our... world."

"Our... world?"

Xiao Shenghe's consciousness "gazed" at the swirling light and felt the aura of life radiating from it. It shared Lu Yao's origin, yet was purer.

This aura was no longer merely "fresh," as it was in the outside world. It carried a steadfast will to take root, to grow, to forge a connection with this void.

For the first time, the vast essence of his soul, that silent deep sea, registered a distinct "touch" from something beyond itself.

It neither rejected nor devoured it. Instead, it slowly, passively "accepted" and "adapted."

"Yes, Brother Shenghe."

Lu Yao's spirit form seemed a little more substantial. The green points of light around her glimmered in answer to the vortex,

"the 'Secret of Symbiosis' creates more than a contract. It marks a beginning. The spirituality of my life essence is like the first seed to fall into your 'Primordial Sea.'"

"It will take root and grow here. It and the essence of your soul will nourish each other and evolve together. The form this sea of Spiritual Sense takes in the future will depend on the experiences, feelings, and growth we share."

She paused, a hint of mischief and anticipation flashing through her emerald eyes:

"Grandpa Xuan said the most successful 'symbioses' in history eventually let the partners' seas of Spiritual Sense resonate in wondrous ways, or even partially merge, forming a unique 'Symbiosis Domain.'

"There, our power can flow between us and grow stronger without the slightest hindrance."

Xiao Shenghe was shaken.

This went far beyond anything he had first imagined.

I thought "symbiosis" only meant a closer partnership. I never expected it to reach so deep that it would reshape the dwelling place of my soul.

Carefully, he extended a wisp of thought toward the emerald vortex.

The instant they touched—

"Hum..."

It was no thunderous noise, but a resonance deep within his soul, faint beyond measure yet unmistakably clear.

Xiao Shenghe "saw" it—no, he "sensed" it.

At the vortex's heart was not pure energy, but an exceedingly intricate emerald rune, ceaselessly weaving and unweaving itself.

It was formed from countless fine threads of light, its shape branching as gracefully as antlers while holding the breathing rhythm of a forest.

This was the manifestation of the Clouded Deer clan's life essence, the core imprint of the "Secret of Symbiosis" contract.

At the same time, he felt a "corner" of his soul, once empty and still, drawn by the rune's rhythm. It began to gather and take shape of its own accord.

The faintest glimmer of pale gold flashed deep within his thoughts, trying to answer the emerald rune. But it was too "thin," or perhaps too "dormant," and vanished at once, leaving only a vague stirring behind.

"Did you feel that?"

Lu Yao's delighted thought reached him,

"your soul is answering! It's still very faint, but the connection has been made! The contract is truly taking effect!"

Just as the two of them first sensed the resonance between their Soul Imprints within the sea of Spiritual Sense, a sudden change erupted on the altar outside!

BOOM—!!!