Dragon of the Drunken Lotus

Chapter 3: The Bound Fate Ritual

The violet light pulsing between their locked fingers grew so intense that the surrounding lake water began to vibrate, sending rhythmic ripples toward the frost-covered shore. Longwei’s heart wasn't just doing the tango; it was performing a frantic, high-stakes drum solo against his ribs.

"Lanqiao, I’m not being dramatic, but I think I’m seeing colors that don’t exist in nature," Longwei wheezed, his eyes wide as the steam around them turned a neon shade of orchid. "Is everything supposed to be humming? My teeth are humming!"

"Shut up and focus, you idiot!" Lanqiao hissed, though her grip on his hands was white-knuckled. Her face was flushed, her icy composure melting under the sheer friction of their clashing energies. "My Ice Qi is trying to suppress your heat, but your heat is… it’s absorbing it! It’s making the cycle faster!"

"I’m sorry! I didn’t mean for my heat to be so greedy!"

"What is the meaning of this obscenity?"

The voice cut through the roar of the boiling water like a thunderclap. Longwei winced as a sudden, powerful gust of wind swept across the lake, instantly clearing the thick veil of steam.

Standing on the shore was a man who looked like he had been carved out of ancient granite. His robes were a deep, scholarly blue, and his aura was so heavy it felt like a physical weight pressing down on the water. Beside him stood Elder Han Yuze, the Sect’s Chief Physician, looking remarkably like a man who had just seen a ghost.

"Sect Leader Qiao?" Longwei squeaked, his voice cracking. "Elder Han? Fancy seeing you here! In this… restricted, private, lady-only pond!"

"Xianyu Longwei," Sect Leader Qiao Renfeng said, his voice vibrating with suppressed fury. "You are currently holding the hands of the Ice Phoenix Pavilion’s top disciple, in a state of half-undress, while causing a spiritual phenomenon that can be seen from the Main Hall. Start talking before I decide to skip the trial and go straight to the execution."

"Sect Leader, please!" Lanqiao gasped, her eyes darting toward her masters. "It’s not what it looks like! This boy—this fool—he fell into the spring! He’s consumed something… something impossible!"

Elder Han stepped forward, his eyes narrowing as he watched the violet sparks jumping between their palms. "Sect Leader, look at the resonance. That isn't a mere embrace. Their meridians are locked in a feedback loop. And that scent… is that the Drunken Lotus?"

"He ate it like a piece of candy, Elder!" Longwei shouted, desperate to defend his honor, or at least his life. "I thought it was ginger! Su gave it to me! I have a sensitive stomach!"

"You swallowed a Grade-9 Forbidden Elixir because you had a stomach ache?" Sect Leader Qiao’s expression shifted from anger to genuine bewilderment. "Do you have any idea what you’ve done?"

"I’ve become a human lighthouse?" Longwei suggested weakly.

"You’ve turned yourself into a walking catastrophe," Elder Han said, his face turning grim as he walked onto the water, his boots barely disturbing the surface. He stopped a few feet away, squinting at the pair. "Don't move. And for the love of the Heavens, do not let go of her hands."

"Believe me, I’m not letting go!" Longwei cried. "I think our skin is actually fused together!"

"It isn't fused, you dimwit," Lanqiao snapped, though her voice trembled. "It’s the magnetism of the polar energies. Elder, please, it’s getting hotter. I can feel my own Ice Qi turning into steam inside my veins."

Elder Han reached out, hovering his hand near the vortex of energy between them. He recoiled instantly, his fingertips frosted with a strange, glowing rime. "It’s worse than I thought. Sect Leader, the Drunken Lotus Pill is pure, unrefined Yang chaos. Lanqiao’s Ice Phoenix Art is the pinnacle of Yin stillness. Usually, they would just negate each other—violently—but because they both reached a state of near-death panic at the same moment, the energies have reached a 'Twin Heaven' equilibrium."

"English, Elder! Speak English!" Longwei begged.

"It means you’re two halves of a bomb," Qiao Renfeng said, landing softly beside the doctor. "If you pull apart now, the sudden vacuum of Qi will cause a backlash that will vaporize everything within a mile. Including you. And especially Lanqiao."

Lanqiao’s face went pale. "Vaporize? I… I have the inner-sect tournament next month. I can’t be vaporized."

"Priorities, lady! We’re talking about living!" Longwei looked at the Sect Leader. "So, what’s the plan? Do we just live in this lake forever? Because the water is getting a bit crowded and I’m starting to prune."

"There is only one way to stabilize a Twin Heaven loop without a total collapse," Elder Han said, looking at the Sect Leader with a hesitant expression. "But it is… unorthodox."

"Do it," Qiao Renfeng commanded. "We cannot lose Lanqiao, and as much as I’d like to see Longwei launched into orbit, we can’t risk the damage to the peaks."

"Elder? What is 'it'?" Lanqiao asked, her grip tightening on Longwei’s hands out of pure reflex. "What are you going to do?"

"We are going to perform the Soul Tether Ritual," Elder Han explained, reaching into his sleeve and pulling out two silver needles that shimmered with a faint, ghostly light. "It will create a permanent bridge between your spiritual cores. It will allow the excess heat from the pill to be tempered by the ice, and the freezing cold of the ice to be warmed by the pill. It will create a cycle that you can both control."

"Permanent bridge?" Longwei blinked. "That sounds like a lot of commitment for a first date."

"It’s not a date, you cretin!" Lanqiao yelled. "Elder, is there no other way? A Soul Tether? That’s for life-bonded partners or… or…"

"Or for people who are about to explode," Qiao Renfeng reminded her coldly. "Choose. The Tether, or the afterlife. I’m fine with either, but the Tether is less messy to clean up."

Lanqiao looked at Longwei. Longwei looked at Lanqiao.

"I’m too young to be a cloud of gas," Longwei whispered.

"Fine," Lanqiao groaned, closing her eyes. "Do it. But I want it on the record that I am doing this under extreme duress."

"Duly noted," Elder Han said. He moved with blinding speed.

He didn't stab them. He flicked the needles into the air, where they dissolved into two streaks of silver light. He began to chant in a language that made Longwei’s ears itch, his hands weaving a complex pattern in the air.

"Hold tight!" Han shouted. "This is going to sting!"

"Wait, define 'sting'—"

Longwei’s question was cut off by a sensation that felt like a bolt of lightning had been driven through the top of his head and out through his heels. The violet light between him and Lanqiao flared into a brilliant, blinding white. He felt a tugging sensation deep in his chest, as if a hook had caught his very soul and was pulling it toward the girl in front of him.

Lanqiao gasped, her head falling back as a blue-and-pink sigil flickered briefly on her forehead. A matching mark appeared on Longwei’s brow.

The boiling water suddenly calmed. The steam dissipated. The overwhelming heat in Longwei’s blood cooled to a pleasant, rhythmic warmth, and the biting chill in the air became a refreshing breeze.

Longwei slumped forward, his forehead nearly touching Lanqiao’s. "Is it… is it over? Did we not die?"

"We didn't die," Lanqiao whispered, her breath hitching.

They slowly let go of each other's hands. For a second, everything seemed normal. Longwei took a tentative step backward, wading through the chest-high water.

"Oh, thank the stars," Longwei sighed, wiping his face. "Okay. That was fun. Let’s never do that again. I’m going to go home, sleep for three days, and pretend I don't know what a pill is."

He took another step back.

"Ugh!"

Longwei froze. A sharp, searing pain shot through his chest, like a hot wire being pulled tight.

"Ow! What was that?" he yelled, clutching his heart.

Two feet away, Lanqiao had also doubled over, clutching her own chest. "It… it feels like my ribs are being crushed!"

"Sect Leader? Elder?" Longwei turned back to the shore, his face pale. "Something’s wrong! I’m having a heart attack! A second heart attack!"

"That isn't a heart attack," Elder Han said, folding his arms. "That is the Tether. I told you, it’s a bridge. If you move too far apart, the bridge stretches. If it stretches too far, it snaps. And if it snaps… well, refer back to the 'vaporization' conversation we had earlier."

Longwei’s jaw dropped. "How far is 'too far'?"

"Based on the current stability of your cores?" Qiao Renfeng mused, tapping his chin. "I’d say about ten feet. Maybe twelve on a good day."

"Ten feet?" Lanqiao shrieked, her voice echoing off the mountain walls. "Ten feet? I have to be within ten feet of this… this lazy, glowing, pill-munching accident?"

"For how long?" Longwei asked, his voice trembling.

"Until the Drunken Lotus Pill is fully digested and Lanqiao’s Ice Phoenix core has reached the next stage of maturity," Elder Han said with a shrug. "Could be a month. Could be a year. It depends on how well you cultivate together."

"Cultivate together?" Longwei looked at Lanqiao, who looked like she was considering using her remaining Ice Qi to drown him. "You mean I have to stay with her? Every day? Every night?"

"The Sect’s reputation must be maintained," Qiao Renfeng stated, his tone brook no argument. "To the rest of the world, you are now 'Special Meditation Partners' assigned by my direct order. You will share a residence in the Inner Circle, where the Elder and I can monitor your progress. If either of you tries to break the Tether, the results will be… unpleasant."

"This is a nightmare," Lanqiao whispered, her hands shaking. "My reputation… my solitude… it’s all gone. I have a shadow. A pink, glowing shadow."

"Hey, I’m not thrilled either!" Longwei protested. "I have a very strict schedule of doing absolutely nothing! How am I supposed to nap with you glare-freezing the air every five minutes?"

"You will adjust," Qiao Renfeng said, already turning to leave. "Elder Han, escort them to the Jade Bamboo Pavilion. It’s isolated enough that their… outbursts… won't disturb the other disciples."

"Wait!" Lanqiao called out, a sudden, horrifying realization dawning on her face. "The Jade Bamboo Pavilion only has one bedroom! It’s a meditation retreat!"

Longwei’s eyes went wide. He looked at the Sect Leader’s retreating back, then at the Elder, then at the furious, beautiful, and terrifyingly cold woman standing three feet away from him in the water.

"One bedroom?" Longwei swallowed hard. "Sect Leader! Sir! I can sleep on the floor! I’m very good at sleeping on floors! I’ve practiced it my whole life!"

"The floor is within ten feet," Elder Han noted with a small, almost sadistic smile. "I suggest you two start getting along. It’s going to be a very long night."

Longwei looked at Lanqiao. She was staring at him with an expression that suggested she was currently picturing his head on a silver platter.

"So…" Longwei said, trying to offer a weak, charming smile. "Do you… do you have any snacks at your place? Or do we have to share the ones I don’t have?"

Lanqiao didn't answer. She simply turned and began wading toward the shore, her every step radiating enough cold to turn the lake's edge to slush.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Longwei scrambled after her, the invisible wire in his chest tugging painfully as the distance hit nine feet. "Don't go so fast! My legs are still noodles! Lanqiao! The ten-foot rule, remember? The ten-foot rule!"

As they reached the shore, the pink butterflies returned, swirling around the two of them in a glittery, inseparable cloud. To any distant observer, it looked like a romantic scene from a legend. To Longwei, it felt like the start of a very, very complicated life.