Chương 130: The Path Ahead

The late evening light spilled across Human Hut Mountain. The sky had turned the color of warm honey, and the breeze carried the faint smell of spiritual wheat from the fields below. A few cranes drifted through the air practicing their formations, their white feathers catching the sun. Leo watched them from the path and wondered what it would be like to be a crane. Wake up. Fly around. Eat some bugs. No demons, no karma threads, no Enemy lurking deep in the Catacombs. Just wind and sky and song and dance.

His stomach tightened as he rounded the next bend. He had been looking forward to seeing Vivian all day, and now that he was minutes away, he realized he had no idea what to say to her. It should have been easy. They had worked together for over a year. They had survived the Grand Formations Summit together. But after an hour of the guys making it weird, there was no going back. Then he saw her. She wore contacts instead of glasses, a ruffled skirt and pink T-shirt instead of her usual slacks and blazers.

The Otherworldly Demon Summoning Formation brought over whatever mortal clothes you were wearing when you logged in, which meant Vivian had dressed up for him. Leo blinked. She looked... pretty good, actually. Right. Play it cool.

"Vivian." He walked toward her with what he hoped was a relaxed smile.

"Good to see you."

"Leo!" She waved at him.

"Congrats on Foundation Establishment. How does it feel?"

"Honestly? Like someone filled my meridians with wet sand. Everything's heavier."

"That goes away in a few weeks. Your body's still adjusting to liquid qi." She looked him up and down, and her expression softened.

"You look really good, though. Way better than I expected after everything."

"Yeah, well, I spent the morning chasing Arthur and Mike around the mountain throwing Scholar's Ink at them until they rage-quit." He paused.

"Logged out. Whatever. At least the cranes had a good time." Vivian covered her mouth, laughing.

"Oh my God, I wish I'd been there. Did Arthur get angry?"

"He called the whole thing elder abuse and threatened to sic Adult Protective Services on me. I don't really think that's what they do, but I didn't know enough about it to correct him." Something in his chest loosened. He had been bracing for awkwardness, for loaded silences, for questions he didn't want to answer. But standing here, listening to her laugh, he realized he didn't have to be afraid of Vivian. She was the same as always.

"Hey, it's really nice out." He motioned toward the path along the eastern ridge.

"Want to walk? I've been lying in a hospital bed for over a week. I could use some fresh air." Vivian smiled and fell into step beside him.

"I heard you were the first one to wake up after the Summit," Leo said.

"What happened after I went under?"

"The Grey Cult covered the whole thing up. Pretended like nothing happened. The only public statement was a press release saying the Summit concluded early due to 'unforeseen circumstances.'" She made air quotes. She continued, "Lord Perdue filled me in on the rest. Worst Grand Formations Summit in decades. The entire Weaver Cult team was dead. Several competitors from other teams got purged in the corruption investigation." Leo's throat went dry. People his age.

Kids who had trained for years, who had traveled across the Catacombs for the chance to compete. Gone.

"By the time I woke up, the other teams had already surrendered and evacuated from Ashviel." She paused.

"There was nobody left to compete against."

"So we won by default."

"You saved their lives, Leo." Vivian bumped his arm gently.

"That's the least they could do." Leo didn't know what to say to that. They walked in silence for a while.

"I pushed for early transport back to Earth. The others agreed as they woke up." She paused.

"Mateo and Danyl are already home with their families. Liyang went straight to Beijing for debriefing. Thad and Ella..." Her expression flickered.

"They're with the Oblivion Cult now. You knew that." Leo winced. That was a memory he had no interest in revisiting. Vivian nudged his shoulder.

"Hey. We won, Leo. You're allowed to be happy about it."

"Happy?"

"Lord Perdue arranged personal teleportation plates for every member of the team. When we're ready to reach Foundation Establishment, we can teleport directly to the Room of Reflection and claim our prize." She grinned.

"Five times divine sense enhancement. That will save many of years of mind numbing formation work." Leo smiled. The conversation settled into a comfortable rhythm as they walked. Vivian asked about the breakthrough itself, and Leo found himself describing it in detail. Then he found himself sharing everything. The visions. The memories surfacing with new clarity. The terrifying revelation about the Enemy that he was keeping locked down tight.

They reached a flat stretch of the path where a few old pine trees grew between the rocks, their roots gripping the ridge like fingers. Leo stopped walking.

"There's something else," he said. Vivian turned to face him.

"During the final round, the Moderator made the karma threads visible to everyone in the Grand Pavilion. I saw three lines extending from me. One to Mateo. One to you. One to Ella." He told her what Thad had told him. About the thread between killer and killed. About Ella seeing the connection and knowing what it meant. About Thad's goodbye. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Then he said the part that had been eating at him.

"Three threads, Vivian. Three. If the one connecting me to Ella means I'm going to kill her, then what do the other two mean?" He looked at her.

"What if I'm supposed to kill Mateo too? What if I'm supposed to kill you?" Vivian stared at him for a moment. Then she laughed.

"Leo, you're being ridiculous."

"I'm being serious."

"I know you are." She started walking again, and Leo had to catch up.

"Karma threads represent connections. Thad told you himself. Brotherhood, love, friendship, rivalry. Death is one possibility out of dozens."

"But Ella's thread..."

"Ella is the divine daughter of the Oblivion Cult. We are literally at war with them." Vivian waved a hand.

"Your thread with Mateo is probably just friendship. Remember his speech at the Ivy League Conference championship? He declared he was going to cultivate the heart of flesh too."

"Okay," Leo said slowly.

"What about ours?" Vivian's pace didn't change. She kept her eyes on the path ahead.

"I know exactly where our thread was made." Leo turned to look at her.

"Where?"

"The lake house. Last year. Under the white pines."

"The time we talked with Tom and Matt about finding the true path of cultivation together? And unlocking the mysteries of the Great Ascension?" Vivian shook her head.

"Not that promise." She met his eyes.

"I said I'd always watch your back. That's what our karma thread is, Leo. I'm always going to be here for you." Leo looked away. He hadn't thought much of her words back then. He had been technically dating Kim Yuna at the time, and Vivian's promise had registered as nothing more than friendly support. Vivian had known he was with someone else. But she had made that promise anyway. And she had meant it deeply enough to leave a mark on fate itself. That meant something.

Something he wasn't sure he was ready to think about. They walked without speaking for a while. The path narrowed where the ridge jutted out, and the valley opened below them, green and gold in the late light.

"Leo." Vivian's voice was quieter now.

"Promise me something." He waited.

"Don't go back into the Catacombs."

"Wasn't planning on it," Leo said.

"I've had enough underground cities and demon stuff to last me like ten lifetimes. Maybe twenty."

"I mean it." Vivian's eyes held his.

"The things we saw in Ashviel. The things that almost happened to you. I don't want to be the person who gets a knock on the door and finds two officers standing on my porch."

"I promise," he said.

"Quiet life for a while. NFL, cultivation, maybe actually go to college like a normal person." He cleared his throat.

"So what's next for you? The Grand Formations Summit is over. What are you doing for school?"

"Georgia Tech. Computer science."

"Georgia Tech? As a teacher or student?" Leo laughed.

"You could get into MIT or Caltech with your eyes closed."

"MIT's entire undergraduate population is already Foundation Establishment. Caltech is basically the same." Vivian's tone stayed even, but Leo caught the edge beneath it.

"I'll be Qi Refining until I'm twenty-four. Georgia Tech actually has cultivators at my level. It's the realistic choice."

"Sure, but why computer science? You're already better at formation theory than most grad students."

"Because someone needs to think long-term." She ticked off points on her fingers.

"Cranesong AI needs continued development. The Singular Formation is eventually going to need computational modeling for forbidden rune derivation. Machine learning for formation analysis is basically an untouched field."

"I want to understand the tools, not just use them."

"Okay, that's fair." Leo walked a few more steps in silence.

"But four years is a long time. You'll be sitting in lecture halls while everyone else is out doing stuff."

"That's literally what school is."

"I know. I just..." He trailed off, trying to find the right words.

"I keep thinking about what we could build if we didn't have to wait."

"Do you have something specific in mind?"

"Tianyi made me an offer. He's going to teach me karma formations. The techniques his family uses to read fate and track connections. This stuff doesn't exist on Earth, Vivian. At all."

"Go on."

"If I can learn it, I can commercialize it. Bring it to the American market before anyone else even knows it's possible. But I can't run a company and play Flying Aces and cultivate all at the same time. I need someone handling the rest of it." Vivian stopped walking.

"Leo. If you want my help, just ask. You don't have to warm me up first."

"It's more complicated than that. I can't even pay you right now." He grimaced.

"The government is taking my entire signing bonus for body refining costs. I'm going to be broke for years."

"Did I ask about money?"

"No, but I'm not going to ask you to work for free." Leo thought for a moment.

"Okay, what about this. You could be my agent. For the NFL. Standard cut is three percent, which means you'd get paid when I get paid." Vivian tilted her head.

"So let me get this straight. Business partner for the karma company. Agent for the NFL." A smile crept across her face.

"What else? Should I just be your personal assistant while I'm at it? Maybe follow you around with a pencil skirt and a clipboard?" Leo opened his mouth, then closed it. His face felt warm. Vivian laughed.

"I'm serious, though. You don't have time to do everything yourself. And I've got five years until I can max out my divine sense and advance to Foundation Establishment." She shrugged.

"Might as well spend it doing something that matters."

"Am I asking you to do too much?"

"I mean, three percent of your contract is $180k." She raised an eyebrow.

"I can do a lot with $180k, Leo."

"Thanks, Vivian." The words came out softer than he intended.

"Seriously. Thank you." She smiled and looked away, toward the valley below. A breeze rolled up from the valley, carrying the green scent of the terraced fields. Vivian's hair lifted and drifted across her face. She reached up and tucked the strands behind her ear in one smooth motion. Without her glasses, with her hair swept back, her profile was suddenly visible in a way he had never noticed before. Leo's heart stuttered for a brief moment. He looked away before it could settle into anything he'd have to name.

"The personal assistant thing," he said.

"You weren't just joking about that, right? Because I don't want to assume..." Vivian turned back to him, still smiling.

"You know what Kevin always says. You eat the meat and we drink the soup, and we'll all be immortals." She held his gaze.

"I'm choosing the soup. Wherever you go, I'll follow." He stepped forward and hugged her.

"You're the best friend I could ask for." She fit against him easily, her arms wrapping around his back, her head tucking against his shoulder. The embrace lasted longer than it needed to. Long enough that Leo felt her warmth, and the steady rhythm of her breath. When he pulled back, he couldn't quite meet her eyes.

"I should go check in with Arthur and Mike before they start another poker game," he said.

"Kevin's probably already lost his shirt."

"Go save him." Vivian's voice was light.

"I'll see you in a few days for graduation." Leo nodded and left her behind. He made it about ten steps before the guilt caught up with him. What had he just done? He had asked Vivian to restructure her entire future around his needs. And she had said yes. Without hesitation. Because she cared about him in a way he didn't know if he could return. He would make it up to her somehow. Give her some equity. Make sure the partnership was worth it. Make sure she never regretted betting on him.

It was the least he could do for her. Behind him, at the pavilion, Vivian watched him disappear up the mountain path. A small, satisfied smirk curved her lips.