Cultivation starts with picking up attributes-Chapter 40: Ch-: Flicky moments

...

Half a heartbeat after their talisman-breaker strike, the jade cube’s light flared, and the hall dissolved. Tian Shen and Feng Yin plummeted through soft darkness.

When they landed, it was on an impossibly smooth floor of pale quartz. All around them stretched a limitless, faintly glowing void—an orb of white light so pregnant with quiet that even their breathing sounded loud.

They rose together. The door behind them had vanished. No sound. No scent. No wind. Only their shared pulse of life.

Tian Shen Thought.

’Where... is this? How many times have many trapped chambers in legends, only to escape by skin or by sword? This feels different. Like the world itself dissolved around us.’

Feng Yin’s jade-bright eyes met his. Even in this emptiness, he could feel her heartbeat—a soft metronome in the blank.

"Are you... okay?" she whispered.

Her voice echoed once, then folded back to them.

"Fine," he said, but his words shook. He looked down at their joined hands—skin pressed to skin.

Feng Yin–inwardly.

’He’s shaking. Is it fear? Anger? Regret? I’ve dragged him into every danger.

Why do I still pretend I’m strong enough to save him?’

She squeezed his fingers.

"Thank you ... for trusting me back there," she murmured. "I know I–"

Tian Shen drew in a breath so deep it rattled his ribs. He let go of her hand and took a step back—then realized, in that barren whiteness, there was nowhere to hide.

He met her eyes.

Tian Shen remembered a hidden memory deep inside.

’I remember the first time my predecessor saw her, stepping into the Beast Taming Sect, a blazing sprite of authority...’

’He- no, I, I-i thought I’d never fit. She was so sure of herself, so untouched by doubt. And I... was nothing but a broke, soul-hungry vagabond.’

He saw in himself all the scars she had never asked about.

And he saw in her a thousand battles she’d shouldered alone.

...

"Tian Shen—" she began.

He held up a hand.

"Wait."

[Flashback]

On a cliffside.

"Tian Shen, you aren’t fit to be my disciple."

A man looking like old serious man told to another simple and naive looking young man.

"Master, forgive me, i-i will try harder, i will practice like my life depended on it. P-please don’t abandon me!"

Tian Shen kneeled in front of him, pleading desperately.

’The f*ck you mean by try harder? I myself, am no cultivator. I am just a con artist who was scamming you, you naive brat.’

Though inwardly he thought that, he sighed pretendingly and spoke in a melancholic tone.

"Tian Shen, sometimes, hard work aren’t the deciding factor. Fate is. And we aren’t fated to be master and disciple."

As he let out his final verdict, Tian Shen’s con-artist master left, leaving the still kneeling Tian Shen alone.

When Tian Shen’s con-artist master abandoned him on a cliffside, He swore He’d never be helpless again.

Days passed, monthes passed.

He trained months in solitude, hunted monsters for Qi, bled for every drop of strength.

Until the day he joined the Beast Taming Sect... when he finally understood the truth.

His throat clenched.

He had chased power like a starving man chasing a scrap of bread.

Only... never strength was enough to fill the emptiness inside.

[Flashback ends]

Still immersed in his memories, he spoke out.

"And yet, this emptiness feels... smaller, with you here."

Feng Yin’s eyes softened. She reached out, brushing a lock of hair from his temple. She thought.

’He’s never said anything like that.

Always so focused on power, on the next breakthrough—

I thought he only needed me for battlefield flattery. But it’s something deeper—something I’ve wanted too.’

She took a step forward and pressed her forehead to his.

"I’m sorry."

She whispered.

He froze.

’Sorry? For what?’

Her breath ghosted over his lips.

"When I forced that... seed on you, I thought that I was right, that I was protecting myself."

She continued.

"But I ended up trapping you."

He closed his eyes.

[Flashback][Feng Yin’s POV]

From the first time Feng Yin saw Tian Shen, she knew he was... different.

As days passed by, she grew curious. And that curiosity only grew. It started from interest, then, it grew into some more. Love or to say OBSESSION.

She watched him struggle, day after day.

His naivety that held simplicity.

His clumsiness that held cuteness.

His headstrong idiot attitude making him loyal and trustworthy, but also scammable and easy to trick.

Her heart twisted with fear: what if he left before she could say it? Before she could express her love, express her obsession over him.

Or maybe someone else could claim him before she could.

She’d planted the seed, telling herself it was for his own good—that she deserved his loyalty.

[Flashback Ends]

And now she tasted regret on her tongue.

She Thought, questioning her decisions.

’I never asked if he wanted the bond.

I just assumed...’

Slowly, her hand began to slip away.

But Tian Shen caught her hand before it could.

"I know why you did it," He said, his tone immersed in understanding.

"Because you’re afraid."

Her eyes widened.

"Afraid... I...?"

He shook his head.

"But so was I."

She blinked.

Tian Shen Thought.

’I was afraid—afraid of being forgotten. Afraid of becoming just another ordinary name not even worthy of remembering. So I chased power—any means to anchor myself to this world. Until she dragged me back from the edge, over and over.’

He drew her closer, holding her arms gently.

"Neither of us deserved to be alone."

He said.

Her eyes glimmered.

"Stop saying that," she breathed.

He smiled wryly.

"Well, if we both admit it..."

He tilted his head and kissed her softly. Something asked and answered in a single breath.

In that kiss, the blank whiteness around them pulsed like a heartbeat—and then bloomed with light.

The chamber walls re-formed around their joined forms—jade pillars inscribed with talismans honoring unity and shared purpose.

They broke apart, breathless, as the floor beneath them gently settled.

The echo of their confession still rang in the air, vibrating through the talisman seals.

When their lips parted, neither spoke for long seconds.

Finally, Feng Yin whispered.

"Thank you."

He brushed a thumb across her cheek.

"For what?"

"For loving me enough to trap me—but only so we could find each other."

He smiled—a real smile, one that crinkled his eyes.

’In all my years chasing strength...

Never have I felt so powerful as when her hand fits mine.’

Feng Yin laughed, a soft, joyous sound that filled the chamber.

"We should get out of here before it collapses completely," she teased.

He chuckled, pulling her hand.

"After you."

They strode forward together, stepping into the next corridor—stronger, bound together by more than power, but by choice and by heart.

And somewhere deep in the ruins, the talisman seals glowed brighter in blessing.

The moment Tian Shen and Feng Yin crossed the threshold of the underground hall, a hush fell over them, not of silence but of expectation.

The air was heavier here, laced with ancient Qi that seemed to whisper with forgotten intent.

Dust motes drifted through beams of light shining from cracks in the dome above, illuminating the grand dais at the hall’s center.

Feng Yin took a cautious step forward, her fingers brushing the edge of a broken talisman on one of the ancient tables.

"These tables... they weren’t meant for rituals. They were meant for teaching."

Tian Shen nodded slowly.

"It feels like a classroom. A very intimidating, spirit-infested classroom."

Her lips twitched.

"So, just like the Beast Taming Sect, then."

He smirked but kept his focus forward. The floating cube at the center of the dais glowed faintly with jade-green radiance.

Symbols danced across its surface, occasionally flaring bright before sinking back into subtle shimmer.

As they stepped closer, a pulse rippled outward, brushing against their spiritual senses.

[Dual presence detected. Talisman Affinity confirmed. Initiating trial access.]

A formation activated beneath their feet, and before either could react, the floor dropped out beneath them.

When Tian Shen opened his eyes, it wasn’t darkness he saw.

It was stars. A night sky unlike any he’d seen in the mortal realm stretched above him, ink-black and filled with swirling constellations.

The ground beneath him was smooth jade, etched with talisman arrays that pulsed rhythmically like a heartbeat.

Feng Yin lay a few feet away, groaning as she sat up from the earth.

"I really hate space traps."

"We are not dead?"

"Annoyingly so," she muttered, brushing her hair back. "Where are we?"

Tian Shen stood, surveying the strange realm. "A memory fragment? A trial illusion? Whatever it is, it’s linked to the inheritance."

As he moved toward the central circle of light, words began to appear in the air as echoed through the space.

[Welcome, seekers. This is the Heart Pavilion of the Ethereal Talisman Sect. Only those bound by fate and trust may claim its inheritance.]