Somewhere ahead, Han Chen tucked his hands into his pockets, Hye Won humming beside him. The sun dipped below the skyline, casting long shadows over the city. But after entering inside their vehicle, her mood changed.
"Han Chen," she said quietly, "I love being with you… but…"
She hesitated, searching for the words. "Since I was a child, I dreamed of finding the perfect boyfriend, building a happy life together, having children, and spending time together, like my mother would have had. I've found the boyfriend part and I am now happy. But the rest… children , a peaceful life—I don't know anymore."
Her voice grew heavier. "You've pulled me into a world I never imagined. By the laws of this state, I'm a criminal now—no one knows, but I do. I followed you on a hunt, executing cultists who, yes, probably deserved death... but it was us who passed that judgment."
She looked at him, conflicted. "Now I can fly, do simple spells, crush metal with my mind, see through people's hearts, emotions, lies. I wield power like a martial Grandmaster. Even if most of it is borrowed from you, it's overwhelming. I feel like I'm falling into an existential crisis. Add to that you..."
She hesitated, voice trembling slightly. " ....And you—sometimes I wonder if you're even human anymore. Just a while ago when we were 'caught' in that CSMA questioning and you using your illusion and then you told me your blood was golden through connection. You said it so casually. golden blood? like I heard those in stories... but with a physique like that—how do I even fit into your partner as a human?" Her gaze dropped. "What am I in all this? What do I truly contribute? Why am I even here?"
Han Chen gave a lopsided smile. "Is it your time of the month again?" he teased—then softened his tone, seeing her expression. "No, you're right. I actually expected this existential crash sooner."
"You have a problem Hye Won, you constantly undermine yourself. You recently learned to heal others with spell right? Similarly you can trigger elemental transformation on qi to create a fireball..the things that's limiting you is dantian capacity, channeling efficiency and comprehension. That's how people start, from the basics."
He slowed the speed of their vehicle, and turned to face her fully. "Listen. Whatever I can do—you can, too. But only if you choose to keep going. Cultivation isn't just about accumulating power. It demands purpose. It demands that you form your own will, your own reason to continue. That's what allows your spirit to grow. People cultivate for all sorts of reasons—power, revenge, freedom, lust, the pursuit of eternal life. Some do it for mastery, some for purpose, some just to prove they can endure."
His eyes held hers. "But those who are truly favored by heaven—those with great talent—must choose a deeper reason. Eternal life isn't a gift unless you know what to do with it. Without purpose, it becomes a curse. This existential crisis of yours? It's a sign. Your soul is reaching a threshold—it needs an anchor before you cross into the next realm. If you don't find it, your spirit could collapse under the weight of that power."
He paused, then said gently, "So ask yourself: Why do you cultivate? That answer must come from within. Only then will your path open. I will explain about physique later..And if you chose to be a mortal for this life, I can also be with you till the very end.."
She didn't answer right away. But her fingers tightened around his.
Days passed. She was quieter than usual—not withdrawn, just thoughtful. The kind of silence that holds something slowly forming. Until one evening, as dusk fell across the hills, she walked into his room with calm certainty in her steps.
"I've found it," she said simply.
He looked away from his screen. "Found what?"
"My purpose."
There was a quiet confidence in her eyes now. A conviction that hadn't been there before. Han Chen raised an eyebrow.
"You're going to tell me? Or do I have to guess?"
"It's you," she said. No hesitation.
His eyes searched hers, reading not just affection but commitment, choice. "That's not a light thing to say. Purpose that rests entirely on another can collapse the moment that other leaves."
"I know," she said."But I'm not saying it to be romantic. I chose you. Not just to love you, but to walk with you, wherever your path goes. That's where I want my cultivation to take me. That's what I want to grow strong enough for."
"Then you also need to understand the risk. I'm not promising you a happy ending. I'm not promising I'll always be here. One day, I might walk a path even you can't follow. I might choose differently. Or—" he paused, voice quieter, "I might love someone else."
Her eyes flickered, but she didn't pull back. She was silent for a moment. Then: "I'm not naive. I know it's a risk." Han Chen's expression remained steady. "Then why still choose this?"
"Because even if you walk away someday, the path I followed with you will still be mine. My strength won't disappear. My memories won't. I'm not surrendering myself. I'm choosing what matters to me now—and I'll take responsibility for that.
Then she added, a sly glint in her eyes,"And in return, there's shared responsibility. You and I—we're choosing this together. Our secrets will bury with ourselves. I may follow you now, but that doesn't mean I can't lead… or leave, if I have to. Its for you to convince me not to.." She leaned in slightly, a half-smile playing on her lips. "I can choose differently too. If love is part of cultivation, then so is freedom."
"Freedom?" Han Chen raised an eyebrow, a teasing edge in his voice. "Girl, you'll need real strength to back that up." He gave her a light pinch at the waist.
"Owi," she muttered, shooting him a glare. "You always resort to cheap shots."
He smiled, but this time it lingered. "Maybe. But seeing you like this—clear, certain... it reminds me why I chose you. I love you even more " For a long moment, he just looked at her. Then finally, he gave a small nod. "Alright. If that's the truth of your heart, then let it shape your path."
She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him, resting her head against his chest. There was a long pause between them. "Now, about the physique—"
"It can wait."
Before he could say no, she pulled him back onto the bed, the door swinging shut behind them. Hours slipped away in unrestrained passion, as if she were shedding an old cage, embracing something raw and liberating. Han Chen could feel it—her soul burning brighter, expanding with every passing moment.
By the time they resurfaced, the sun had long since shifted in the sky. Neither bothered returning to their final-year classes that day.
******
Han Chen hit the 13th level of foundation establishment over the last few months—those final two realms were, well, surprisingly easier to cross actually. Something about the increasingly chaotic foundation made it... I don't know, more natural? He was just a few sessions away from true peak now.
Hye Won reached mid grand master stage in Qi cultivation, which was... honestly pretty impressive given where she started. Han Chen had explained the whole philosophy of immortal cultivation to her—spirit roots, foundation establishment, all that technical stuff. Problem was, she'd need some kind of genetic uplifting, you know, like what Han Chen did to create a proper spirit root. Not exactly a weekend project.
Yue Lan managed to hit Transform Jin Peak with his help, even though she was swamped with work half the time. Always rushing between cultivation sessions and whatever corporate thing she had going on.
But now, um... now they had to turn their attention to something way more mundane but somehow just as pressing—finishing their final year. Despite all this extraordinary progress in realms that, well, most people don't even know exist, they still had to complete their research and get it published. Crucial step for graduation, for fitting into normal society for however long they planned to stick around in it.
Graduation was basically a formality at this point, but Hye Won was adamant about it. "We need to be perfect in everything," she kept saying. Everything. Like somehow their cultivation achievements didn't count if they couldn't also nail the academic stuff.
***
The ALU, Nanjing Legal Archives
Han Chen, as a reincarnated immortal cloaked in the skin of a quiet student, carried epochs of experience behind his eyes..., his girlfriend and intellectual equal, carried a legal mind sharp enough to cut through bureaucratic inertia. Their thesis, a joint submission for the university was no less... Though he felt no need to strive or flaunt his strength, whatever he wrote naturally exceeded standard.
The work itself—they called it the Civic Harmony Protocol, or CHP—basically proposed this legal framework for, well, keeping cultivators accountable in a society where martial strength routinely just... trampled over civic order. It wasn't just policy stuff. It was like... recalibrating power itself.
At its core was Han's concept: the Authority-Duty Continuum. Cultivator ranks weren't mere hierarchies of strength—they denoted corresponding layers of civic responsibility. As enhanced individuals grew in number, the law, they argued, must demand greater restraint from the powerful. The CHP didn't neuter martial elites; it redirected them—toward public service over private dominion and how legal efforts can enforce it.
Then there was the Historical Collapse Matrix—this forensic model of legal breakdowns. Tang-era sect uprisings, Qing dynasty tribunals, recent supernatural... mishaps. Hye Won, with that surgical clarity of hers, drew modern parallels from Korean post-war reconciliation, Qing border mediations. Made ancient cases suddenly feel relevant to bureaucratic types.
Their third pillar was the Predictive Oversight Engine. Data-driven algorithm forecasting legal responses to cultivator-induced disruptions. Seventy-five to eighty-five percent accuracy, analyzing strength indices, Qi signatures, forensic incidents, clan records. Though they acknowledged its limits—modeling human impulse, especially the martial kind, was more... probabilistic art than prophecy.
Han and Hye were aware of their paradox, though. They lived outside the system they designed—beings beyond the mortal register. But this was their gesture at... belonging, I guess. And soon, its relevance would resurface, tied to Yue Lan's upcoming genetic enhancement program.
The thesis's implications? Well, they unsettled the establishment. Could two students really propose systemic reform? Only under Professor Zhang Weiran's protection did their project survive scrutiny. Zhang was this Ming Jin cultivator with a scholar's restraint—both skeptic and believer. Thirteen years ago, he'd watched a similar thesis get buried, its author blacklisted. The memory made him cautious. But this time... he chose resolve.
At their first consultation, he lingered on this citation from the 1644 Blade Clan Edict. "This is either brilliance or madness," he said. They met his gaze, unblinking. He nodded. "Let's thread the needle."
Before the defense, Zhang warned them—"Elder Xu, Jade Flame Clan affiliate, he'll see the HCM as a leash." The panel would be less a review board than a firing squad.
The day arrived. Review committee included Elder Xu from the Cultivation Regulatory Office, Lin Yuxia from the Lin clan, Professor Wei of martial jurisprudence. All cultivators. All wary of legal... fetters.
As questions turned sharp, Han let this pulse of scholarly spiritual intent radiate—subtle, precise. It didn't coerce, just... harmonized. Ancient technique, honed over lifetimes, softened defensiveness into curiosity. Xu's barbed inquiries gave way to hesitation.
Professor Wei fixated on some 1708 sect dispute. "This isn't research," he murmured. "It's... foresight." Lin Yuxia squinted. "Fabricated? Not possibly. But we do need stability." Wei exhaled. "If it's fake, they're the cleverest forgers I've seen. Every clause hits like precedent."
Hye Won handled the ethical barrage with this... eerie calm. "Law isn't eternal—it's anticipatory. Ignoring predictive chaos is negligence." Her argument reframed martial justice—not as opposition to clan autonomy, but as its lawful evolution.
The panel adjourned in silence. Five days later, against their own usual bias, they approved with Distinction. Archived under "Restricted Access."
The restriction was expected. A redacted version appeared months later in Martial Jurisprudence Quarterly, authored only as H.C. and H.W., under Zhang's cryptic endorsement. The uncensored version spread through back channels—legal forums, quiet seminars, sympathetic judges.
Few months later in Guizhou, a judge cited "CHP Continuum §4.1" to block an unlicensed clan tribunal. The ruling held on appeal. A spark had caught.
The Asia Law Review reprinted translated excerpts under the headline: "Martial Governance and Sovereignty: The CHP Model." Foreign analysts speculated that the nation was reining in its cultivators, unaware of the thesis's restricted origin. Like some dissident tract smuggled through censors, the CHP was hiding in plain sight.
In time, it would be canonized into the CCC—the Cultivators' Civil Code.