Chương 32: Kiss

Varek's flying sword struck Zhao's death qi spear with such devastating force that the corrupted weapon shattered like glass. The collision sent shockwaves through the air that made the entire ship groan. Varek leap from his sword at the last moment, landing gracefully between Lia and the Golden Core expert. His presence radiated protective fury and absolute confidence. His protective stance said more than any words could. It was claiming Lia was his alone. Lia's breath caught in her throat as she stared at him.

Even exhausted and qi-depleted, she felt her heart flutter traitorously at the sight of this powerful cultivator who had just declared her his woman in front of everyone. His broad shoulders blocked out the sky, his warrior's stance promising that nothing would reach her while he drew breath. The way the afternoon light caught his perfectly styled hair, the confident set of his jaw, the raw masculine energy radiating from his form—it was like something out of a romance novel.

"Absolutely not," Tim's consciousness recoiled in Lia's mind.

"I am not swooning over my student's other body. This is ridiculous." But Lia's female brain didn't care about Tim's protests. The hormones and instincts of her nineteen-year-old body were responding to the sight of an attractive, powerful man willing to fight a Golden Core expert to protect her. Her pulse quickened despite her exhaustion. Zhao Venom snarled at the interruption, his remaining good arm crackling with renewed death qi.

"Another Foundation Establishment welp? You'll die just as easily as the rest."

"Try me," Varek replied coldly, his own saber materializing in his grip. The weapon hummed with fire-attributed qi, but more than that, it seemed to resonate with something deeper—an understanding of the weapon. No even deeper a understanding of the Dao of the saber. Zhao struck first, his corrupted qi forming into a massive scythe of death energy that swept toward Varek's neck. It was an attack that could cleave a mountain in half. But Varek moved with impossible precision.

His saber rose to meet the death scythe at exactly the right angle, exactly the right moment, deflecting the vastly superior power with minimal effort. To those watching, it looked like he had simply guided the attack away rather than blocking it outright.

"Impossible," Zhao breathed.

"A Foundation Establishment cultivator cannot—" His words were cut off as Varek pressed his counterattack, his saber work flowing like water and striking like lightning. Each cut was perfectly placed, not to overpower but to redirect, to exploit the tiny gaps in Zhao's defenses that only someone with profound understanding could perceive. Varek saw the Dao of the Saber in ways that defied his cultivation level.

Where others saw a weapon, he perceived the fundamental principles of cutting, of separation, of the edge that divided one thing from another. Every attack Zhao launched revealed its weakness to his enhanced perception the slight tremor in the qi flow, the momentary gap in coverage, the microscopic flaw in technique that could be exploited. He would see where the saber belonged. It was like the Dao of the saber was a living breathing entity. To him it felt right to place it in the lines it guided him.

"How?" Zhao demanded, his death qi being turned aside again and again by movements that seemed effortless.

"You're only level 4!"

"Understanding matters more than raw power," Varek replied, his saber dancing through a series of deflections that sent Zhao's attacks harmlessly into the sky.

"You rely on brute force. I see the truth of the saber." Zhao's frustration mounted as his overwhelming Golden Core power was repeatedly turned against him. The young warrior before him moved like he could see the future, anticipating every attack and countering with surgical precision. If he was in good condition he could easily defeat Varek but the drained qi and heavy injuries were impeding him.

In desperation, Zhao funneled a absorbed soul for a soul attack—a technique that bypassed physical defenses entirely to strike at the victim's spiritual essence. The soul of a low level cultivator had been captured to use in soul attacks. Below nascent soul level, soul attacks were hard to defend against. This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. The attack launched directly at Varek's soul. But instead of the expected scream of agony, Varek simply smiled.

The golden grounding symbol blazed to life in his mind. Riku had been practicing it as much as possible in Vareks body so now Varek held the symbol in his soul. The soul attack struck the symbol and broke apart.

"Soul cultivation?" Zhao's eyes widened in shock.

"But you're so young—how could you possibly—""I have an excellent teacher," Varek replied, pressing his advantage as Zhao stumbled from the backlash of his failed soul attack. But even with his superior technique and soul defenses, Varek was taking damage. Zhao's Golden Core cultivation meant that even deflected attacks carried enough residual power to bruise and cut. Blood seeped from a dozen minor wounds, and his breathing was growing labored as the fight continued.

He was holding his own against a superior opponent through pure skill, but he couldn't keep it up forever. That's when the western horizon erupted in golden light. A massive formation appeared in the sky. It was dozens of cultivators in golden robes riding flying swords. At their head flew a figure whose presence made the air itself seem heavier, a Golden Core expert whose power dwarfed even Zhao Venom's corrupted strength.

"The Golden Lion Sect!" Marcus called out in relief.

"We've reached their territory!" The lead cultivator's voice boomed across the battlefield with absolute authority: "Zhao Venom of the Corpse Cleansing Sect! You dare attack civilians in Golden Lion territory? Explain yourself or face annihilation!" Zhao's face went white as he realized his position. Outnumbered, wounded, and now facing the territorial defenders of a sect, he had no choice but to retreat.

"This isn't over," he snarled at Lia, his form already beginning to fade as he activated an escape technique.

"The Corpse Cleansing Sect will have what belongs to us." With that, he vanished into a swirl of green mist, leaving only the lingering stench of death qi behind. Varek faltered a step and Lia rushed in to support him. He was over a foot taller than her at 6'2". He looked down at her and smiled.

"You're even cuter in person." Lia was feeling so emotional and so many new feelings she couldn't handle. The adrenaline from the battle, the relief of being saved, the way he was looking at her—it was overwhelming her nineteen-year-old hormones completely. Varek, high on victory and the rush of a life-or-death battle, leaned in to kiss Lia. Back on Earth, Tim and Riku had been sitting side by side on the couch, eyes closed as they concentrated on the battle through their other bodies.

Tim's male consciousness recoiled in shock as he felt Varek's lips approaching Lia's.

"Oh hell no," he muttered, his eyes snapping open just as Riku—still lost in Varek's perspective—leaned forward slightly, her lips parted as she experienced the kiss from the other side. Tim's competitive nature and territorial instincts flared. If she wanted to play games across galaxies, he could play too. Impulsivey, Tim leaned over and kissed Riku.

Her eyes flew open in shock, the connection to Varek's body wavering as she suddenly found herself being kissed by her teacher on his couch while simultaneously kissing Lia in another world. The dual sensation was overwhelming—Varek's confident masculine energy claiming Lia, while Tim's more hesitant but determined approach claimed her.

"Mmph!" she tried to protest against Tim's lips, but found herself caught between two worlds, two bodies, two completely different experiences of the same moment. In the cultivation world, Lia felt the kiss deepen as Varek pulled her closer, her exhausted body melting against his strength. But Tim's consciousness was fighting every second of it, his male pride refusing to be conquered by his own student's alternate personality.

The battle of wills played out across the bodies—Tim asserting his dominance on Earth while trying to resist Varek's claim on Lia, Riku caught between her feminine desire to be swept away and her masculine need to pursue and conquer. When they finally broke apart in both worlds, all four perspectives were breathing heavily and staring at each other with a mixture of desire, confusion, and competitive fire.

"That," Tim said quietly, still close enough to feel Riku's breath on his lips, "can go both ways." Riku's eyes were wide, her cheeks flushed as she processed what had just happened.

"You—I—we just—""Kissed each other in two different worlds," Tim finished.

"Yeah. That's a new level of complicated even for us." In the cultivation world, Lia was staring up at Varek with equally wide eyes, her heart racing from more than just battle exhaustion. The kiss had awakened feelings she didn't know how to handle, especially with Tim's consciousness still reeling in the background.

"Tim's going to lose his mind as you fall in love with me," Varek said, his arm was still around Lia's waist and he showed no signs of letting go.

"ah," Lia muttered as she turned bright red, though she was leaning into Varek's embrace despite Tim's mental protests. Riku's breath hitched as Tim pulled her close into an embrace on the couch. She didn't resist and felt her heart flutter. How the hell had she developed feelings for this oaf she thought.