Soulbound: Dual Cultivation

Chapter 428: Failed Attempt

Lucas moved to the center of the space and sat down slowly, folding his legs beneath him. The lantern light cast long shadows across his face, the outline of the scars still visible beneath the dim glow.

One after the other, Henrietta, Lira, Nyx, and Selene took their places around him.

They formed a circle.

Close enough that their presence could be felt, not just physically, but through something far deeper.

For a brief moment, no one spoke.

There was no need.

They had done this before.

They all remembered that night.

Selene was the first to close her eyes.

"I’ll initiate the connection," she said softly.

Lucas nodded once.

"Do it."

A faint shift in the air followed.

It started subtly, like a ripple passing through still water.

Then it deepened.

Selene’s Qi stirred first, gentle and controlled as it reached outward. One by one, the others followed. Henrietta’s energy came steady and composed, Lira’s sharp and precise, Nyx’s warm yet slightly trembling beneath her emotions.

The moment their energies touched, the bond formed again.

It was not visible, yet it was unmistakable.

A connection that went beyond ordinary cultivation.

Lucas felt it immediately.

The moment their Qi linked with his, a surge of warmth spread through his body, flowing straight into his dantian like a river breaking through a dam.

He let out a slow breath.

"Steady," he murmured.

The girls adjusted instinctively, allowing their Qi to flow in a controlled stream rather than an overwhelming flood.

The energy began circulating.

From them to him.

Through his meridians.

Into his core.

Back again.

The damaged pathways within Lucas’s body responded almost instantly. The lingering residue of the Shadow Dragon’s inferno stirred, resisting at first, like a stubborn poison refusing to be expelled.

But the combined Qi pressing against it was relentless.

It pushed, cleansed and strengthened him.

Lucas clenched his fists slightly as the process began to take effect.

His breathing deepened.

The faint instability in his aura started to settle.

Behind them, the ice belle watched.

Her expression, for once, carried no trace of laziness or indifference.

She stepped forward slightly, her presence shifting as a subtle layer of cold spread through the tent.

She raised one hand slightly, her fingers moving almost lazily in the air.

A thin veil of icy Qi formed around the group, barely visible, yet precise in its purpose.

She was not interfering.

She was regulating.

Every surge of energy from the girls was subtly balanced, preventing it from overwhelming Lucas’s already strained meridians. Any excess Qi that threatened to spiral out of control was cooled, refined, and redirected.

Her eyes remained fixed on Lucas.

"Do not rush it," she said calmly.

Lucas nodded faintly, though his eyes remained closed.

"I know."

Nyx’s hands trembled slightly where they rested on her knees, but she did not break the connection. Selene’s breathing remained even, guiding the rhythm of the bond. Henrietta and Lira held firm, their control ensuring the flow never faltered.

The ice belle adjusted her hand slightly.

"Too much from the left," she muttered.

Lira immediately corrected her output without even opening her eyes.

The process deepened.

Lucas felt it clearly now.

The cracks within his meridians were being reinforced.

The lingering burn of the inferno was slowly being suppressed.

His dantian pulsed stronger with each passing moment, drawing in more Qi from the connection and refining it.

Lucas’s aura began to stabilize completely.

The weakness that had lingered in his body earlier was fading.

Lucas’s breathing steadied as the flow of Qi continued to circulate through him, growing smoother with each passing moment. The strength returning to his body was clear, but he knew that alone was not enough.

The real problem still remained.

He slowly opened his eyes.

"There’s something else," he said quietly.

The girls did not break the connection, but their focus sharpened immediately.

Lucas continued.

"The inferno."

They could all feel it now that they were connected to him this deeply. Beneath the surface of his meridians, hidden within the flow of his Qi, there was something else.

Something foreign.

Something wrong.

It pulsed faintly like a living thing, resisting the natural flow of energy around it.

Selene’s brows tightened slightly.

"It’s still there..."

Lucas nodded faintly.

"Yes."

His voice was calm, but firm.

"I need you to focus on it."

Nyx hesitated slightly.

"Focus on it... how?"

Lucas exhaled slowly.

"Drive it out."

That made all of them tense.

Lira spoke first, her voice low.

"That isn’t ordinary residue."

Henrietta added quietly.

"That is the Shadow Dragon’s inferno. It’s not just energy. It’s... corrupt."

Lucas’s gaze remained steady.

"I know."

There was no hesitation in him.

"If I go into that fight tomorrow with it still inside me, it will slow me down at the worst possible moment."

Selene swallowed softly.

"And if we touch it..."

Lucas looked at her.

"That’s why you have to be careful."

The ice belle, who had been silently observing, finally spoke.

"Careful will not be enough."

Her tone was calm, but there was a seriousness to it now.

"That thing will try to latch onto you the moment you make direct contact with it."

The girls exchanged brief glances.

Nyx’s voice came out quieter this time.

"But we can still try... right?"

Lucas nodded.

"Yes."

There was no turning back now.

Selene took a slow breath.

"Alright."

Her voice steadied.

"We’ll do it together."

The flow of Qi shifted.

Instead of simply feeding Lucas’s dantian, their energies began to probe deeper into his meridians, searching for the source of the corruption.

It didn’t take long to find it.

The moment they touched it, all four of them felt it at once.

A violent resistance.

The inferno reacted instantly.

What had seemed like dormant residue suddenly flared, writhing like something alive. It pushed back against their Qi with a vicious intensity, its presence burning, invasive, and wrong.

Nyx gasped softly.

"It’s fighting..."

Lira gritted her teeth.

"Of course it is."

Henrietta’s control tightened.

"Push together. Don’t let it scatter."

Selene guided the flow again.

"On my signal... now."

They pressed harder.

Their combined Qi surged forward, attempting to isolate and force the foreign energy out.

For a moment, it seemed to work.

The inferno receded slightly, compressed under the pressure.

But then it lashed out.

A sudden spike of violent energy surged through the connection.

Nyx flinched.

"Ah—!"

Her Qi wavered.

Selene’s eyes snapped open briefly.

"Hold steady!"

But it wasn’t that simple.

The inferno wasn’t just resisting, it was spreading.

Thin strands of that corrupt energy began slipping into the very Qi they were using, trying to climb back through the connection.

Lira’s expression tightened sharply.

"It’s contaminating the flow!"

Henrietta reacted immediately.

"Cut it off—!"

"Don’t!" Lucas snapped.

If they broke the connection abruptly, the backlash could damage all of them.

The tension spiked instantly.

The inferno surged again, more aggressive this time.

Nyx’s breathing became uneven.

"I... I can feel it..."

Selene’s voice was strained now.

"It’s trying to get into us!"

For a split second, things began to spiral.

Then....

A sudden chill swept through the entire tent.

The ice belle moved.

Her hand lifted slightly, and the thin veil of icy Qi surrounding them expanded instantly, becoming denser, sharper, more precise.

The invading strands of corrupt energy froze mid-flow.

The ice belle’s eyes narrowed slightly as she focused.

"Reckless."

Her voice was calm, but carried a quiet edge.

"You would have let it spread."

She adjusted her control with terrifying precision, isolating the inferno within Lucas’s body while severing its reach toward the others.

"Pull back."

The command was simple.

Immediate.

The girls obeyed without hesitation.

They withdrew their probing Qi, returning to a safer, controlled flow focused only on stabilizing Lucas rather than purging the corruption.

The inferno settled again, though it still pulsed faintly beneath the surface, untouched at its core.

Nyx exhaled shakily.

"I... I thought..."

Selene shook her head slightly, regaining her composure.

"It’s too dangerous."

Lira clicked her tongue softly.

"That thing is not something we can remove."

Henrietta looked toward Lucas.

"We can suppress it. Strengthen you. But removing it... that’s beyond us."

The ice belle lowered her hand slowly, the cold around them easing but not disappearing completely.

"If I had not intervened," she said plainly, "at least one of you would have carried a piece of that corruption out of this tent."

Tom, who had quietly returned at some point and was standing near the entrance, swallowed hard.

"Yeah... let’s not do that again."

Lucas remained still for a moment, feeling the now-settled flow within his body.

The inferno was still there, but contained. For now.

He exhaled slowly.

"That’s enough."

The girls gradually eased the connection, though the bond lingered faintly as the flow of Qi returned to normal.

The attempt had failed.

And they all knew it.