Dual Cultivation: Gathering SSS-Rank Wives in the Cultivation World

Chapter 704: Chapter 704- A Mother’s Worries

"Elder brother," Xu Ran repeated. The word was absurd. He was nineteen. This boy was eighteen. They were classmates. They were not related. They had never spoken more than three words to each other.

But the demon. The eight-foot void entity with claws that had destroyed four cultivators in the span of a breath. That had healed a mortal wound with a touch. That had spoken in his mind.

That demon had called itself his elder brother.

And now it was a boy. An eighteen-year-old boy in his class. A boy who was on his knees, trembling, exhausted, looking up at him with brown eyes that held no threat. Only sincerity.

Xu Ran’s pride, the pride that had carried him through five years of academy training, the pride that had made him the strongest Core Formation cultivator in his year, the pride that had flicked blood off his sword and asked who was next, vanished.

He clasped his hands. He bowed. His head lowered. His forehead nearly touched the cratered earth.

"I promise," he said. His voice was raw. Shaken. The voice of a young man who had just been saved by something beyond his comprehension. "On the name of the Xu family. I will always consider you as my elder brother."

The words were formal. Traditional. The oath of a younger brother to an elder. The kind of oath that, in the cultivation world, was binding. Spiritual. A vow acknowledged by heaven itself.

Lau, on his knees, looked at him. At the bow. At the clasped hands. At the forehead nearly touching the earth. His brown eyes, exhausted, filled.

"Thank you," Lau whispered. "Thank you, younger brother."

He reached forward. His thin arms, trembling, wrapped around Xu Ran’s shoulders. He pulled him up. Held him. The embrace of an elder brother, however unlikely, however absurd, however impossible.

Xu Ran, held in the arms of a boy a year younger than him, felt something he had not felt in years. Safety.

The academy medic was a small room in the east wing of the Crimson Peak Academy. Stone walls. A single window. Two beds with clean sheets. Shelves lined with jade bottles, pill cases, and dried herbs. The air smelled of spirit-mint and healing salve.

Xu Ran sat on the bed. His robes were torn but his body was whole. The cut on his side was gone. The crack in his rib was mended. The poison was purged. He felt better than he had in weeks.

Lau sat on the other bed. His plain academy robes, gray and unadorned, were clean. His brown hair was neat. His face was pale, the exhaustion from the transformation evident in the dark circles under his eyes. His hands, folded in his lap, trembled faintly.

Xu Ran looked at him. At the boy who had saved his life. At the boy who was a demon. At the boy who was his elder brother.

’He’s the headmistress’s son. I know that. Everyone knows that. Lau. Son of Madam Yueying. The headmistress of the Crimson Peak Academy. He sits in the back of the class. He doesn’t participate in sparring. He doesn’t join the sect competitions. No one bullies him, not because they’re afraid, but because his mother is the headmistress. He’s been in the academy for two years and I’ve never seen him fight. Never seen him cultivate. Never seen him do anything remarkable.’

’And he just killed four Core Formation cultivators by turning into a demon from the void.’

’What is he?’

Lau stirred. His brown eyes opened. He had been resting, head bowed, the exhaustion pulling him into a half-sleep. He blinked. Looked around.

"Ran," he said. His voice was clearer now. Less thin. "Your head. What happened? Are you..."

"I’m fine," Xu Ran said. "You healed me. You... whatever you did. The claw. The energy. I’m fine."

Lau nodded. His brown eyes were steady. "Good. I was... I wasn’t sure it would work. I’ve never..."

He trailed off. His hands tightened in his lap.

"What are you?" Xu Ran said. The question was blunt. Direct. The kind of question that Xu Ran asked. No subtlety. No tact.

Lau looked at him. At the direct gaze. At the young man who had just sworn brotherhood on his family name.

"I don’t know," Lau said. "Not entirely. I... I was chosen. By something. A force. A presence. It’s been with me for years. In my head. In my dreams. It tells me things. Shows me things. Tonight, when you were about to die, it... it moved. Through me. I didn’t control it. Not fully."

"Chosen by heaven," Xu Ran breathed. The words were the only framework he had. The only concept that fit. In the cultivation world, in the orthodox tradition, there were stories. Legends. Of beings selected by the heavens to fulfill a purpose. To correct a wrong. To restore balance.

"I think so," Lau said. "The presence... it calls itself something. A name I can’t pronounce. But it means, roughly, ’the hand that shapes.’ It says I’m a vessel. A conduit. It says there’s a storm coming. A war. And that I need to be ready."

Xu Ran stared. At the plain-faced boy. At the vessel of a heavenly force. At his elder brother.

Before he could speak, the door burst open.

The woman who entered was not running. She was striding. Fast, purposeful, her heels clicking on the stone floor. Her body was thick. Voluptuous. The kind of body that the academy uniforms, designed for functionality, could not disguise. Her robes were formal, dark blue with silver trim, the headmistress’s attire. The fabric pulled across her chest, the buttons straining, the gap between each button revealing slivers of pale skin and the white fabric of her undergarment beneath. Her breasts, large and heavy, moved with each step, the flesh pressing against the silk, the outline of her bra visible through the thin material. Her hips were wide, the fabric of her robe pulling taut across her ass with each stride, the curve of each cheek visible through the silk.

Her hair was up. Dark, thick, secured with silver pins. Her face was beautiful. Mature. The face of a woman in her early forties who had aged like spirit wine. Full lips, high cheekbones, dark eyes that were currently wide with a mixture of fear and relief.

"Lau!" she said. Her voice was rich. Deep for a woman. The voice of authority used to commanding rooms. "Are you all right? My son!"

She reached him. Her hands, pale, the fingers slender, found his face. She cupped his cheeks. She looked into his brown eyes. Her dark eyes, wet, scanned his face.

"I felt it," she said. "The energy. From my office. The sky. The... the thing. I felt it and I knew. I knew it was you. What did you... what happened?"

Lau looked at her. At the woman who had given birth to him. At the mother he had never been close to. At the headmistress who ran the academy with discipline and precision but who, in his presence, became something else. Soft. Anxious. Overbearing.

He avoided her eyes.

"Yes, Mother," he said. "I am fine."