Its colossal eyes ignored both the concept of distance and the Heavenly restrictions forbidding higher beings from peering into the lower realms.
Those laws were sealed by contract — yet contracts could be sidestepped if a cause existed.
And this ti, a cause had erged.
The ancient butterfly felt the call of a mutual growth contract. It wasn’t aid at it directly, but at one of its own, the egg pulsing in soft blue and white.
Its attention sharpened on Yu Xuan, and far below, the Tower of Trials shuddered under the weight of its gaze. The tower resisted, but not completely.
In that mont, the butterfly sensed sothing on Yu Xuan. Fragnted, incomplete... yet unmistakable. Not one, but three.
Understanding dawned. Now it knew why the contract reached for the blue white egg.
The butterfly’s vast wings unfurled, scattering the surrounding void as though it were re mist. Other titans dwelling within the tree’s boughs turned toward it, their thoughts unknown.
Two of the three resting eggs rose into the air — the blue-white and the dark one. The butterfly drew upon the deep, endless power of the great azure tree, weaving its essence into both eggs.
They shrank, their world-sized shells compressing until each was no larger than a ping pong ball.
Sensing this, the third egg — the eldest, containing the power of both life and death, trembled violently, sending shockwaves rippling through the void.
The butterfly brushed it with its wings, sending a sign of silent reassurance. The elder egg stilled.
Then the call of the contract swelled. The butterfly moved, altering the cause itself, shifting reality so that it would bind not one, but two.
In a flash that bent space like soft cloth, the two shrunken eggs shot through the void, vanishing from the higher realm and manifesting before Yu Xuan.
The butterfly watched. It felt no worry — both were cloaked in its protection, reinforced by the tree’s power.
It’s action may not go unnoticed.
But, it knew truths that even the other may have forgotten.
It had been alive for a very, very long ti.
***
Elsewhere, the shuddering of the Tower of Trials did not go unnoticed. Deep within the sect, several Elders paused their discussion as the tremor rippled through the earth.
An anomaly.
They quickly confird the source where it happened, and knowing that this tower was rely a copy of the original and thus posed no imdiate threat, they decided to assign soone to investigate it.
Back in the trial space, two small, glowing eggs — each no larger than a ping-pong ball, floated before Yu Xuan. Beside them, a simple yet ancient looking locket materialized, its surface etched with faintly shifting runes.
Yu Xuan stared.
He had been expecting sothing dramatic, perhaps a legendary dragon or phoenix swooping down, after which he would ride through the skies like so hero in a bard’s tale.
Instead... two eggs. That too unhatched.
He now wondered what these eggs had in store for him, he still rembered, this ti his skill [Fated Encounter] had activated. The previous ti it did, he saw a vision and this ti eggs appeared.
He rembered that the reward was a contract.
Not contracts. Not multiple, he didn’t have the idea why he now had eggs instead of a egg.
For a brief, terrible mont, a thought crossed his mind: If he ate these, will he get stronger? Maybe even grow visible muscles?
He wisely abandoned the idea just as glowing text appeared before him:
Drop your blood on these eggs.
With a shrug, Yu Xuan opened his already wounded palm, squeezed until fresh blood welled up, and let the drops fall onto the shells.
The eggs absorbed the blood instantly.
Then, without warning, they shot forward, slamming into his forehead and vanishing into him.
"AHHHHHH!" Yu Xuan scread loud, long, and entirely unrestrained before his consciousness was abruptly swallowed by darkness.
***
In another heaven — different from the one in which Yu Xuan existed, a small planet floated in space, encircled by massive, self luminous moons that bathed its surface in silver light.
Upon this planet stood an ancient temple.
Inside, a man sat in quiet ditation. His hair was a cascade of silver-blue, his eyes the sa hue, holding the cold brilliance of deep, star-filled seas.
Suddenly, his expression shifted.
"...The curse... vanished?" he murmured, the words edged with disbelief.
That should have been impossible. The curse was forged to cling beyond lifetis, binding even through reincarnation.
To sever it, either one of them would need to die. He had even enlisted help from those he would rather never owe, just to ensure it could not be undone.
His gaze narrowed, "Did they die? No... that’s not possible."
The question gnawed at him, an unwanted puzzle lodged in his mind. The vanishing ant sothing had changed.
If those two returned, things will get difficult for him.
But for now, he let it go. The thread would reappear.
And when it did... he would be ready.
***
After an unknown amount of ti, Yu Xuan woke up. His expression was grim, as though he had just awoken from a nightmare that refused to fade.
For an instant, his eyes shifted — to a pure, depthless darkness that seed to swallow the light around them.
Then, just as quickly, they returned to their normal shade, leaving only the faint mory of what had been.
He drew in a long, steadying breath, but it did little to quiet the storm inside him. His fists clenched so tightly that the scarred palm, the one he had cut earlier — split open again, sending fresh blood dripping down his fingers.
Only when he forced himself to look around did the tension ease slightly.
Floating before him were the two small eggs, glowing faintly.
He reached out, brushing them gently with his fingertips. A strange warmth pulsed through them, and he realized these fragile looking things had stopped sothing truly terrible from happening.
More than that, he could feel it now — there was a bond between them.
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