Kang Lin opened her eyes, a feat she hadn’t believed she’d ever manage again. After all, some small amount of time previously, she’d been a disembodied soul floating off to wherever such things ended up.

But Master had, somehow, called her back.

“How are you doing?” he said.

She took a deep breath before patting herself. Her robe was torn, revealing more of herself than was proper, but the exposure wasn’t extreme. The more important part was that her body appeared to be in perfect condition, and she didn’t feel any pain.

“How did you do that?” She pointed at the sky. “I was up there.”

He shrugged. “One grows older. One learns things.”

Kang Lin probably would have laughed at his response, one he’d used repeatedly after doing something extraordinary, if it weren’t for the other person hovering over her—Yang Ru. She looked at him.

His eyes were wet, and his expression was one of profound disbelief. She didn’t blame him. Even for a disciple of the Rising Tide Sect’s leader, it wasn’t often that one experienced something as unbelievable as seeing someone brought back from being dead.

“Are you … really you?” Yang Ru said.

The question puzzled Kang Lin. Too much was happening too quickly. She was still trying to catch up.

“She is,” Master said. “Do you think I practice necromancy?”

Oh. Yang Ru’s question was a good one actually, an important one.

Yang Ru’s face contorted as he realized the accusation he’d accidentally lobbed. “Of course not, Master, but…”

The sect leader grinned. “You’ve had a bit of a shock. It’s fine.” He explained that he had learned a Soul Cultivation technique that could transfer souls from one body to another or, in her case, pull one back to its original body. Since her soul hadn’t yet departed, it was apparently easy for him to restore her.

“Her soul. Her body. No passing beyond the veil. She is her,” he continued, chuckling a little at the end. “Good job with the contingency ring, though. There would have been absolutely nothing I could do if her soul had passed on.”

Yang Ru helped her to her feet, and she tested herself for any pain. She still felt absolutely fine.

“Well,” Master said, “the emergency is over, but I still have to deal with the tedious part and some additional unpleasantness.”

Kang Lin grimaced. He referred to the fact that he’d vowed to exterminate every person in two big three sects at the realm of Golden Core and above. Which basically meant all their Golden Cores because he’d already killed all the Nascent Souls.

The Poison Claw Sect had just become the big one, and Kang Lin didn’t know what to think about that. For the moment, she was happy that people much more experienced than her would be responsible for dealing with the ramifications of what just happened in the square and what would be happening at the Swift Blizzard and Jade Chameleon sects.

“You two kids should talk,” Master said. “Really talk. Understand?”

“Yes, Master,” she said.

Dying had clarified her life for her. It would be good to get some of her thoughts and feelings out into the open.

“Yes, Master,” Yang Ru said, his tone much more reluctant.

“Be safe,” the sect leader said. “See you later, alligators.”

He disappeared, Teleporting away as usual.

“Did he just call us alligators?” she said.

“I think so.”

They both looked at each other and laughed.

It was said that the more powerful a cultivator became, the more eccentric they acted. Having been around the sect leader for quite some time and understanding that he stood above everyone on the continent, she could vouch for the truth of that statement.

Tension had existed between her and Yang Ru for quite a while, which was mostly her fault. Really, it was entirely her fault. The shared laughter eased it some. For the moment, anyway.

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She spoke quickly to take advantage of that opening. “I’m sorry. I really messed everything up.”

Kang Lin had apologized before to the twins, but that whole situation had been weird. They had both, after all, been suffering from an emotional affliction tied to their qi aspect. She felt the need to offer a more personal acknowledgement of her fault.

“You died,” he said.

That wasn’t the reaction she’d expected to her heartfelt apology.

“I didn’t ask you to do that,” he continued. “It should have been me.”

There was no heat in his voice, but he was clearly irritated.

Her first thought was to become defensive. She had, after all, literally died for him. Being annoyed with her wasn’t the response she deserved.

“You are too important to die for a random junior,” she said.

“That’s my role. You interfered with me doing my job.”

Honestly, his response stung.

“Is that the only reason you’re upset?” She felt her own eyes water, though she wasn’t sure why.

Yang Ru took a deep breath. “No, of course not. I hated seeing you… Your… your corpse. I hated the thought that I couldn’t protect you. I hated the thought that you died protecting me.” He paused. “Why? Why would you do that? You don’t even care about me.”

She’d always heard the expression “jaw dropping,” but she’d never experienced it. After that last part, though, her jaw literally dropped.

“How can you say I don’t care about you?” she said, her voice quivering embarrassingly.

He looked at her like she was a complete idiot. “You knew where I wanted things to go between us, and you pulled away. What other explanation was there?”

Tentacles of guilt she’d thought eradicated stabbed at her. She should have sat down with him and truly explained her feelings. Instead, she’d simply told him about the problem without adequately conveying how the situation made her feel.

“It was because I cared about you that I acted the way I did,” she said. “I didn’t feel worthy of you and felt it was my duty, as your … friend to protect you.”

He tensed, and she realized that she’d chosen her words poorly.

“The real problem was me,” she said, continuing hastily. “With my average roots, my family treated me exactly as that—average. It was clear that I wasn’t as important as my cousin. My future was capped as a result of a trait I was born with, something I couldn’t control. I was not important.

“If I wasn’t worthy of love and respect in a struggling mid-tier family in a sect, how could I have considered myself worthy of marrying an A ranked talent who was the heir of a truly heavens defying entity? To even imagine myself as such would have broken my mind. It was truly beyond comprehension.

“It was because of that insecurity that I hurt you. And, for that, I am truly sorry.”

“But I told you—”

“It didn’t matter what you told me. Mere words couldn’t penetrate my feelings. Nothing could.”

He opened his mouth but hesitated before speaking. She gave him a moment to gather his thoughts.

“I don’t understand why you think I’m so important,” he said.

She almost laughed, but seeing how serious he was, she kept her tone even. “It’s how sect cultivators are trained to see people. Your potential is incredible. Barring you getting yourself killed while protecting meaningless juniors, you will eventually be counted among the elite, you and your sister both.”

From his expression, he clearly didn’t understand.

“In a sect war,” she said, “how many Qi Gathering cultivators does it take to kill one at Foundation Establishment? How many at Foundation Establishments to kill one Golden Core? The higher the realm, the more important the person. Master is unbelievably powerful, able to defeat sixteen Nascent Souls almost completely by himself. Any number of us juniors should be willing to die to protect him.”

“That’s not the way he thinks. He believes it’s his job to die, if necessary, to protect us.”

“I know, and I still don’t understand how to reconcile the position of someone who is obviously so important when it’s so diametrically opposed to what I’ve been taught my entire life.”

Yang Ru paused again, obviously thinking, before finally saying, “I get how being told you’re one thing all your life would affect your thinking. The difference between how I grew up and now is … difficult for me sometimes. But you do know you’re amazing, right? You made top four in the tournament. That’s extraordinary, right? And Master listens to your advice more than anyone’s except Zou Tian’s. There’s not a person in our sect who doesn’t respect you.”

Hearing those words from him was both challenging and just about the best experience of her life at the same time.

“I know,” she said.

His expression showed his confusion, which made sense given their conversation.

“My success in the tournament helped me see the truth about myself, which led to a lot of thinking. I was an idiot to let my parents and cousins influence my thinking so much. Challenging the heavens isn’t about accepting what you were given at birth; it’s about becoming more than that.” Kang Lin cupped her hands toward him. “I forgot that, and it caused me to hurt you. Again, this lowly one apologizes.”

“What does that mean?”

“Uh… An apology is when a person who has wronged another person admits fault and seeks forgiveness?” Maybe her dying had been more traumatic for him than she’d realized.

“I meant, what does it mean for us?” he said. “If you pulled away from me because you didn’t think yourself worthy and you now think differently, what does that mean?”

Her newly restarted heart started beating quite rapidly. “That really depends on you.”

“How so?”

“After what I did to you, it would be the absolute height of hubris to think that you would take me back.”

“And if I did want to take you back?”

Her mind froze. She couldn’t even say it.

“Kang Lin, I want you back. I would marry you right here, right now.”

Heavens. It was really happening, wasn’t it? And her all bloody with a torn robe. She must look quite the sight.

“Okay.” Her voice squeaked.

“Just like that?” He seemed surprised.

“Most cultivators don’t get a chance to make the same mistake twice. Those rare few who do would have to truly be idiots to actually repeat their error. I am not that much of an idiot.”

“Oh.”

They both just kind of stood there for a moment, her looking at him and him looking at her. Both were clearly confused about what to do next. The awkward moment stretched.

And stretched.

And stretched some more.

He scratched the back of his neck. “I’m going to kiss you now.”

Finally.

She closed her eyes and leaned toward him, and … he did exactly that.