** The Forge of Will**
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### **1. The Weight of Choice**
Chen Zhen stood in the doorway of the bamboo shack, his shadow stretching long in the amber light of dusk. Shanggu Julong sat at the rough-hewn table, a half-empty teacup steaming in his hands. The old cultivator's gaze was distant, fixed on some unseen horizon, but sharpened as Chen entered.
*"Sit,"* Julong said, gesturing to the stool opposite him. *"Your energy is… uneven."*
Chen obeyed, suppressing a wince as Julong's spiritual sense raked through his meridians like hot coals. He waited, back straight, until the scrutiny ended.
*"Ask,"* Julong said.
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#### **2. The Question of Foundations**
Chen leaned forward, hands clasped to hide their tremor. *"The energy nourishes my body, mind, and soul—but not my dantian. How do I progress without stalling?"*
Julong's eyebrow twitched—a telltale flicker of surprise. *"Explain."*
Chen detailed his observations: muscle fibers tightening like steel cables, memories sharpening to crystalline clarity, the souls' restless stirrings calming with each cycle. He omitted the clone, but Julong's eyes narrowed as if sensing the omission.
*"You're fracturing your cultivation,"* Julong said at last. *"Typical of dual-soul hosts. But fixable."*
He snapped his fingers. The air shimmered, resolving into a holographic diagram of a dantian—a glowing orb laced with meridian channels.
*"Most cultivators pour energy here."* Julong tapped the orb. *"You're leaking it *here*."* His finger traced rogue pathways to Chen's brain and heart. *"We plug the leaks. By force."*
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### **3. The Crucible's Curse**
Julong's solution was elegant in its brutality:
1. **Overload the dantian** with twice its capacity in energy.
2. **Hold it** on the brink of rupture until the meridian walls thickened.
3. **Repeat** before each breakthrough.
*"It'll feel like swallowing molten lead,"* Julong said cheerfully. *"But you'll thank me when you vaporize your first Nascent Soul cultivator."*
Chen's clone stirred uneasily in his mindscape. *[He's not wrong. But the pain…]*
*"I'll do it,"* Chen said.
Julong leaned back, studying him. *"Why?"*
*"My family doesn't have centuries to wait."*
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### **4. The First Trial**
At dawn, Julong returned with the carcass of a **Thunderhoof Stag**—its antlers crackling with residual lightning. *"Eat."*
Chen devoured the spirit beast's heart. Energy detonated in his gut, searing through meridians. The clone seized control, diverting half to reinforce Chen's mindscape, but the remaining flood threatened to shred his dantian.
*"Now *hold* it,"* Julong commanded.
Chen's vision whited out. Blood trickled from his nose as he cycled the energy—
- **Shanggu Feng** roared, *"CRUSH IT!"*
- **Lou Tian** hissed, *"STEER IT!"*
- **The Clone** whispered, *"ENDURE."*
Three hours later, Chen collapsed, his dantian swollen but intact. Julong nodded once. *"Adequate."*
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### **5. The Mentor's Mask**
As Chen slept, Julong retreated to the forest's edge. The moon painted his face in silver and shadow as he whispered to the wind:
*"You'd laugh at me, old friend. Training a *doorway*."*
Memories surfaced—decades ago, another disciple, another war. A boy with Feng's eyes and Lou Tian's pride, reduced to ash by the Nexus's corruption. Julong's hands tightened on his staff.
*"This one's different,"* he told the ghosts. *"Or am I just desperate?"*
A twig snapped. Julong vanished, reappearing beside Chen's bedroll. The boy's scaled arm glinted in the moonlight—dragon essence seeping through.
*"Not yet,"* Julong murmured, sealing the scales with a touch. *"We're not done with you."*
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### **6. The Clone's Gambit**
In Chen's mindscape, the clone stood before the Nexus shard. The amulet's cracks pulsed like a heartbeat, its violet light staining the void.
*"Show me,"* the clone demanded.
The shard flared. Visions cascaded:
- **Shanggu Julong**, younger and fiercer, shattering the Nexus. *"Balance is stagnation!"*
- **Lou Tian's ancestor**, weeping as her phoenix clan burned.
- **Chen's family**, their bodies warping as violet energy consumed Earth.
*[You can stop this,] a voice hissed—not Feng's, not Lou Tian's. [Merge with me.]*
The clone recoiled. *"Who—?"*
Julong's spiritual chains lashed out, yanking the clone back. *"Meddle again,"* the old man growled through the void, *"and I'll unmake you myself."*
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### **7. The Hunt**
At first light, Julong led Chen deep into the **Shattered Peaks**, where spirit beasts prowled the leyline intersections.
*"The **Frostfang Wyrm**,"* Julong said, pointing to an icy cavern. *"Its core will triple your dantian's capacity. Kill it."*
The wyrm emerged in a blizzard of razored ice. Chen fought with desperate ingenuity:
- **Lightning** from Feng to melt its armor.
- **Fire** from Lou Tian to boil its blood.
- **Clone's calculations** to dodge strikes millimeters from death.
When the wyrm fell, Chen collapsed atop its carcass, laughing through bloody teeth. Julong tossed him the core.
*"Eat. Then scream."*
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### **8. The Breaking Point**
The core's energy was tectonic. Chen's dantian swelled until his skin split, golden light bleeding through the cracks.
*"Hold!"* Julong barked.
The clone partitioned Chen's mind:
- **30%** cycling energy.
- **50%** suppressing Feng and Lou Tian's rebellion.
- **20%** clinging to Li Na's face like a lifeline.
*[You're fracturing!] the clone warned.
*"Then… glue… me…"* Chen rasped.
The clone hesitated—then fused their consciousnesses.
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### **9. The Birth of a Monarch**
When Chen opened his eyes, the world had changed.
Colors vibrated with hidden meaning. The air hummed with leyline songs. His dantian, now twice its original size, glowed like a captive star.
Julong stared. *"You… stabilized?"*
*"We did,"* Chen said, the clone's voice layered beneath his own.
Shanggu Feng's chains tightened. Lou Tian's flames dimmed. For the first time, *they* feared *him*.
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### **10. The Mentor's Fear**
That night, Julong added a new entry to his mental ledger:
*Subject exhibits symbiotic bond with mind-clone. Energy efficiency: 227% above baseline. Threat potential: catastrophic.*
He watched Chen sleep, the boy's scaled arm now reverted to flesh.
*"What are you?"* Julong whispered.
The clone's voice answered from the shadows: *"Your reckoning."*
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###
As dawn broke, a scout from the Lou Clan crested the ridge, her talismans keyed to Chen's energy signature. She raised a signal flare—
Chen's hand shot out, lightning pinning her to a tree. *"Run home,"* he said, Julong's lessons twisting his voice to winter. *"Tell them the doorway is *armed*."*
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🐉🔥