Wei Ji stood in the ruined courtyard, catching his breath as bits of petals drifted around him like the aftermath of some bizarre floral storm. He wiped the dirt off his cheek, then flicked a torn vine aside with the tip of his foot.

He stared at the fallen monster plant for a long moment.

Then he let out a low sigh.

"…I did not expect that."

The thought came slowly, almost dazed.

He walked closer to the defeated creature and nudged its core with a stick. It crumbled into dust, leaving behind a faint pink shimmer that was unmistakably Lu Shaohua's spiritual signature. It tingled against his skin like warm fire.

Wei Ji let out a breath that was half a laugh and half disbelief.

"This was supposed to be a simple gardening spell…"

His own voice sounded tired.

He leaned down and picked up one of the petals. It was soft, beautiful, and harmless now. But just a moment ago, the same bloom was trying to tear him apart.

"Shaohua… what did you do?"

No.

What did he do?

He taught her that spell.

A harmless beginner spell. A gentle little technique used by ordinary cultivators to help their plants grow smoother, brighten up colors, and maybe enhance spiritual scent a tiny bit. Something he thought even a mortal with slightly awakened Qi could practice without danger.

But in Lu Shaohua's hands…

He let out a slow breath.

"In her hands, it makes monsters."

He dropped the petal.

It turned into dust before it hit the ground.

Wei Ji rubbed the sides of his forehead, suddenly feeling much older than his actual age.

"If a harmless spell can turn her garden into… that… then what will her true cultivation method create in the future?"

The memory of the Celestial Demon Empress rose in his mind like a shadow. Her oppressive presence. Her endless armies. Her terrifying ability to twist life and spiritual energy into forms no one could counter.

He felt his spine grow cold.

He had believed it was because of ancient forbidden arts she learned later in life.

But now he was seeing the truth.

She was born this way.

She was born with a nature that didn't follow balance or harmony. Her spiritual power was too free, too wild, and too destructive for normal cultivation techniques.

And he—

He, a fool, taught her a spell without considering what her unique Qi would do to it.

Wei Ji crouched down and touched one of the blackened roots. It crumbled as well.

"If everyone else taught her anything like this… no wonder her growth in the future was terrifying."

He leaned back, letting the weight of realization settle on him.

Then his eyes narrowed slightly.

"And none of my upper realm spells worked on it either… That means the monster wasn't just a random spiritual mutation. It was made from her essence. It resisted foreign techniques."

He felt a shiver run down his arms.

Not from fear.

From shock.

His upper realm magic, which once tore apart demons and warlords, had almost zero effect. But copying her Qi circulation, mimicking her wild and chaotic rhythm? That was what worked.

He laughed quietly to himself.

"Of all things… I defeated it with her technique."

He looked up at the sky.

"Or rather, my very sloppy, barely passable imitation of her technique."

The irony was so sharp he almost choked on it.

In his past life, he had tried everything to find a counter to the Celestial Demon Empress. He researched every spell, charm, formation, and technique across seven worlds.

He never found a weakness.

Never.

And now, in this life, he had a monster born from her spiritual energy lying dead at his feet. And the only method that worked was using her own method back at it.

Wei Ji rubbed the back of his neck and winced.

"…I should be terrified."

His voice trembled slightly.

Because deep down, he truly was.

If this was what a simple household spell turned into…

If this was what her spiritual garden casually created…

What would she become when her true path awakened?

What would she become when the world pushed her into power?

What would she become if he was not there to guide her?

He closed his eyes.

But instead of pure fear… he felt something warm, something confusing, something that made his chest tighten.

"…I am also impressed."

He opened his eyes again and looked down at the monster he had defeated.

"Shaohua… you really are… something else."

He took a slow breath and stood.

His legs felt slightly shaky. Part exhaustion. Part the remnants of her chaotic Qi still vibrating in his meridians.

He shook his arm, trying to relax it.

"I copied her circulation just once and I feel like my veins are burning…"

And she did this effortlessly, like breathing.

He rubbed his chest.

"This means… in the future… she didn't need to steal forbidden cultivation methods to become the Celestial Demon Empress."

He let out a soft, troubled laugh.

"She only needed to grow up."

For a moment, he simply stared at the sky, letting the wind brush against his face.

He wasn't sure if he should fear the future or be grateful that he was here early enough to influence it.

Maybe both.

He walked over to a broken stone lantern and picked it up, setting it upright again.

Then he whispered quietly.

"…Shaohua, I need to rethink every spell I teach you."

Below the quiet whisper, a more private thought echoed.

"And I need to rethink how to handle you… before you handle the world."

He let out a long sigh.

Brushing leaves off his shoulder, he stepped back to the house.

"…I should clean this up before she thinks the courtyard attacked me."

But as he swept aside one last vine, he couldn't hide the faint smile forming on his face.

He was scared.

He was impressed.

He was humbled..

He was horrified.

But most of all—

He was beginning to realize…

Lu Shaohua was far more terrifying than the Celestial Demon Empress he once knew.

Or he's just starting to know how terrifying the Celestial Demon Empress would become.

. ..

Wei Ji stood in the center of the courtyard, hands on his waist, staring at the ruined patch of soil as if it had personally offended him. The wind brushed softly across the quiet morning, carrying the faint scent of crushed petals. The monster he defeated was gone, reduced to dust and spiritual residue, and now only silence remained.

He exhaled slowly.

"…Alright. Let's try this again. But properly."

He lifted both hands and summoned a small cluster of green spiritual light. It flickered weakly, like a lantern struggling against the breeze.

This was his spell.

His harmless, gentle, safe spell.

A spell even toddlers in low realm villages could cast without making the heavens tremble.

Yet, because of Shaohua's bizarre and chaotic spiritual flow, the same spell had turned into a creature that nearly tore the courtyard apart.

Wei Ji swallowed.

"Focus. Don't use upper realm circulation. That does nothing to her energy."

He closed his eyes and remembered how she breathed when she cultivated. How her spiritual energy moved like a wild river that refused to follow the normal channels. He recalled the strange twists, the odd pauses, the sudden bursts of force that defied all logic.

He remembered the strange, uncontrolled pulse of her meridians.

It defied everything he learned.

Everything the upper realm considered proper.

Everything the world considered stable.

But somehow… it was powerful.

He lifted his hands slightly and began to mimic the rhythm he felt from her. His breathing softened. His heart slowed. His meridians trembled under the unfamiliar pattern.

"Slow at the start… then let the Qi jump… then roll it back… then let it spin out of control for a moment…"

He flinched when he felt a faint burn under his ribs.

"This is ridiculous. This is not a cultivation method. This is a disaster with a flowchart."

But he kept going.

He opened his palm.

A small seedling of spiritual energy formed.

It floated above his hand and shimmered softly.

Wei Ji blinked.

"Oh. That actually worked."

He tilted his head and whispered as if talking to a small pet.

"Stay cute. Don't explode."

The seedling gently bobbed up and down, looking harmless. Calm. Peaceful.

Then it stretched.

And grew a leaf.

Wei Ji's eyes widened slightly.

"That's not bad…"

Then it grew another leaf.

And another.

And another.

"Wait, wait, slow down…"

The spiritual seedling ignored him.

It doubled in size.

Then tripled.

Then roots shot down into the ground.

Wei Ji stepped back.

"No. No. Stop. We're not doing this again."

But the seedling didn't understand human language.

Or maybe it did understand and simply didn't care.

Which was somehow worse.

The roots spread rapidly.

The leaves multiplied.

The soil trembled beneath his feet.

Wei Ji stared in horror.

"You're kidding me."

He quickly formed another set of hand signs and forced the circulation to slow down.

He tried to restrain the chaotic flow.

He tried to clamp down on the wild blooming.

He tried to steer his spiritual energy back into a normal, safe pattern.

But because he was using Shaohua's chaotic circulation, it refused to obey like normal Qi.

Instead, the rhythm bucked against his control like a wild horse.

The sprout shot upward.

It grew into a flower.

Then another flower.

Then another.

"Stop. Stop growing. This is supposed to be a simple gardening spell."

The vines curled around each other.

The petals opened in slow, dramatic fashion.

The ground shook as if something enormous was forming beneath the soil.

Wei Ji dragged his hand over his face.

"You have got to be kidding me."

The courtyard, which he had just spent all morning cleaning, erupted with spiritual life again. Flowers burst forth. Vines curled across stone pillars. Trees formed where there was not even soil before.

He backed away as an entire row of luminous blossoms sprouted behind him.

"No. No. No. Please stop."

The vines wrapped around the edges of the pond.

The grass shot up like it was competing with the sky.

Glowing petals drifted down like snowfall.

Wei Ji stared at the disaster before him with a blank expression.

"…This is even worse than Shaohua's garden."

He looked at his hands.

"I only tried the circulation for one spell…"

He slowly turned around, surveying the newly grown forest he accidentally made.

"This is not a garden. This is a jungle."

A vine gently brushed his foot.

He kicked it away in reflex.

"Don't touch me. I am already tired."

He grabbed his head and groaned loudly.

"I just cleaned this place. I spent so long cleaning this place."

He turned around slowly, defeated.

"Now it looks like a spiritual beast habitat again."

Then he pointed a shaking finger at the blooming chaos.

"There goes again. I knew it. I knew this would happen."

His voice cracked.

"This time… it was my own doing."

He stared at the explosion of flowers and spiritual light for a long moment.

Finally, he gave up and muttered under his breath.

"…Shaohua is going to laugh at me when she sees this."

And sadly, he knew she would.

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