Close Sisters?

Huff, huff…

Nain steadied her shaking body and mind. Even if Decia occupied the place of family—of a younger sister—a stranger was still a stranger. She was a different kind of presence from Pou, the artifact-being, or from Geumhae, who was practically one flesh with her.

She drove back the forced panic that had begun to creep in, shoving it down with the vast mental strength of someone who had reached the second Spiritual Star of the Qi Refinement Stage. Even so, her hands and feet trembled violently, and her gaze sank of its own accord to the floor.

"C-could you step back a little? Y-yeah. Just one more step from there…"

Decia, mouth hanging open in a daze, shuffled awkwardly backward as if entranced by the request.

"Yes. That's far enough."

They had ended up beside the kitchen table, a long way from the living room. The distance between them was a good ten paces on foot. Looking down at the table heaped with dust from long disuse, Decia suddenly came back to herself.

Nain restrained the thrashing Geumhae and let out a deep breath.

The light of intelligence returned to her vacant eyes. Her slack expression sharpened again, keen as a drawn blade.

"You really broke through, Unnie."

No greetings. No polite filler. She had never cared for that sort of thing, even as a child. At a question that cut straight to the heart of the matter, Nain's whole body shook.

It felt exactly like being a mouse laid out before a snake.

"Cia. First… that aura of yours a little…"

"Ah, sorry. I was hunting demonic beasts until just now."

Drrrk.

Decia pulled out a chair and sat. Dust billowed into the air at the impact—and was swallowed whole by sparks of lightning, vanishing without a trace. Her presence gradually settled.

"I messaged you first. When you didn't answer, I came looking. Do you even check your terminal on a normal day?"

"Ah, well…"

"Whatever. Looking at you, you probably turned the alarms off for training. You used to do that too, so I get it."

Decia crossed her arms and hooked one leg over the other. Her bright yellow eyes narrowed into thin arcs. Nain, a little calmer now, held the still-wriggling Geumhae close.

"R-right. For a cultivator, nothing matters more than training, right?"

Decia swallowed the heavy sigh she wanted to heave at that answer. Then or now, Nain was no different from someone completely obsessed with cultivation. That was the very quality that had captivated her, though…

And she was still being captivated by it, in real time.

"Anyway, congratulations, Unnie. You made it safely… to the second Spiritual Star of Qi Refinement. Your spiritual power density looks high, too."

Nain felt her sister's gaze flick, just for a moment, toward Geumhae. Tension climbed her spine. From here on, she would have to choose her words carefully.

Decia smiled faintly.

"I'm glad. That's good."

That was all. Those bright yellow eyes clearly held Geumhae, nestled in Nain's arms. Anyone could see how bizarre the situation was.

Even as the silence stretched on, Decia asked nothing. She simply kept looking at Nain with that smile. Nain understood it instinctively, without a word spoken.

Her one and only younger sister did not ask what fortuitous encounter she had obtained. She did not wonder how someone with the talent of Five Spiritual Roots had reached Qi Refinement at all. In those eyes that looked only sharp, there was nothing but congratulations and relief, joy and pure affection.

That fact undid Nain's tension completely.

Srrrk.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

The tension melted like ice cream. Her rigidly locked shoulders sagged. The arms that had been pinning Geumhae in place loosened, strength draining away.

"Puhah—mmph…"

Stroking Geumhae as the girl burrowed blankly deeper into her embrace, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Nain thought herself pathetic. This was a genuinely good kid who set aside a busy sect life to look after her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shut-in unnie…

Did I think too badly of her?

She shook her head inwardly. No—this much wariness was only natural. What about Pou's functions? And what exactly was this clone that had appeared out of nowhere?

It was fortunate this was Decia, whom she had been close with since childhood. If it had been one of her other siblings… A parade of popular community posts about sibling disasters scrolled through Nain's mind.

Secretly dumping a sibling who had found a fortuitous encounter into a gate. Getting into the same university and canceling an older brother's acceptance because you were waitlist number one. Jealous of a sibling of higher realm and steadily mixing poison into the pills they took every day.

Those were the mild versions. The cultivation world was a terrifying place. The truly vicious stories were so horrible she did not even want to think about them.

Even with the law and guardians watching with eyes wide open, such things happened constantly. Of course, the protagonists of those stories all met the happy ending of being banished from Earth. Earth's justice was still alive.

I'm glad Decia is kind and talented…

Nain opened her mouth.

"H-hmph. I said I'd break through within a month, didn't I?"

Her voice still trembled, but clear confidence had entered it. She lifted her chin and met her sister's gaze head-on. Strangely enough, she was no longer afraid of Decia.

As if she had returned to her old body, she could think clearly with a person right in front of her, and her body moved entirely as she willed.

Recognition.

She recalled the realization she had once obtained. Just as she no longer seized up around Pou and Geumhae, it meant Decia, too, had come inside the fence of recognition.

"That's right. You really did it."

"What's with that doubtful tone? Did you think I couldn't?"

"…It's not that."

Drrrk.

The chair scraped back as Decia stood. Tap, tap. Light footsteps brought her to the sofa, where she sat. The sofa was wide enough for three with room to spare, yet Decia pressed right up against Nain's side.

Even at that close distance, Nain felt no rejection at all. A smile rose instead. It felt like they had gone back to being ordinary sisters.

"Why did you come this time? The Foundation Establishment… tribulation, was it? Weren't you busy with that?"

"I am. So busy I can't catch a breath. I was only going to text—but someone hasn't answered for a whole week."

"Ah, haha."

Nain awkwardly fussed with her bangs and tried to nudge the wriggling Geumhae off to the left. Decia blocked her hand. Then she scooped Geumhae up in one motion and settled the girl into her own arms.

Unlike the stunned Nain, Decia casually ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stroked Geumhae's hair. Geumhae rubbed her head into the touch, looking thoroughly pleased.

Two unnies… I want to hug both, but real Unnie probably won't…

"Hehe. So cute. Unnie always lives in such a frenzy. To think you'd forget even that."

"Th-that? Was there some schedule I don't know about…?"

Feeling an inexplicable sense of defeat, Nain hurriedly switched on her terminal. There was no special schedule or event she had recorded…

"Don't tell me you really don't know?"

Decia's expression shifted into something beyond surprise—a face mixed with sheer absurdity and bewilderment. That only made Nain more frustrated.

"Why don't you just say it straight?"

"No. I never even imagined you'd actually not know…"

She tapped the terminal. The hologram display that was normally visible only to its owner appeared and showed itself to Nain as well. It was Decia's schedule.

"Here. Look, Unnie. See this?"

The finely diced blocks of time made her eyes swim. Demonic beast hunting, training, meditation, city exploration, sparring, technique comprehension, Foundation Establishment exams… Sleep and rest, of course, did not exist.

Twenty-four hours of training and testing, over and over.

Am I… actually living ridiculously leisurely…?

A flicker of self-reproach washed over her, then she shook it off. Pace was something you set yourself—and besides, she had not yet reached a realm that completely cast off the need for sleep.

I still need sleep…

Nain nodded to herself, rationalizing.

Decia pointed to one section. From January 20th through February 3rd, the schedule was completely empty. Nain tilted her head at a calendar full of blank white in what ought to have been a busy stretch of days.

The Greater Cold period.

The last of the twenty-four solar terms, the coldest and harshest stretch of the year. What about Greater Cold made the calendar so empty?

"It's the period of Mom's Foundation Establishment banquet…"

"!!!"

It felt as if lightning had crashed down inside her skull. Right—the Foundation Establishment banquet. She had succeeded at Foundation Establishment this New Year, so of course there would be a celebration feast!

Nain did not know the finer details either. Born with Five Spiritual Roots, she was a low-tier cultivator who had never even brushed against high society. But luckily her mother was a genius among geniuses, so every so often there had been occasions to meet people from the upper circles.

People had a habit of associating with those who matched their own standing. Thus only geniuses gathered at the side of the genius Eun Seolhwa. That was why Nain had a few childhood memories of attending banquets.

Celebration feasts were usually held during whichever of the twenty-four solar terms matched one's spiritual attribute. They were gatherings to firm the Foundation Establishment realm with highly compatible spiritual energy and to settle one's connections.

She did not know what Great Dao her mother walked. But it would certainly be a path related to cold—to ice. She possessed an ice-attribute mutated spiritual root, after all.

Nain hurriedly tapped her own terminal.

The 18th. Nine in the evening. Not even a day and a half remained until the banquet began.

"Let's go. We should at least see Mom's face for once in a long while, Unnie."

Decia rose from her seat and lightly held out a hand.

"That's why I came. The banquet—let's go together."

Nain shook her head.

"No. I can't go. I absolutely can't…"

Tremble, tremble.

Nain's body shook like a leaf in a gale. The mere imagination of opening the front door and stepping outside—that alone was enough for an unbearable tremor to find her.

O-outside? A banquet hall packed with people?

Pathetically, the strength drained from her legs. She could not imagine being able to leave the house at all. She could feel the color draining from her face in real time.

Panic arrived without regard for her will and began to devour her mind. Watching her, Decia's expression hardened.

The social anxiety and panic symptoms were more serious than she had thought.

"Unnie, are you okay…?"

Fwaat!

From within the closed cultivation chamber, Pou released a faint light. Causality was newly rewoven…… Decia froze.