Things resolved with unexpected neatness after that.

  Kevin agreed to travel alongside Shen Tianyi almost immediately. The language barrier proved challenging from the start. Kevin tried to pronounce "Tianyi" three times, each attempt more mangled than the last, before giving up entirely.

  "Tan Man," Kevin said, clapping Shen Tianyi on the shoulder. "My Tan Man. We're gonna have adventures."

  Shen Tianyi looked to Leo for translation. Leo just shrugged.

  "He's calling you his friend," Leo said. "Probably."

  The group spent the next hour discussing what Kevin would search for on the central continent.

  Nascent Soul level equipment topped the list. Shen Tianyi promised he would return with two treasures suitable for the Divine Sense Press. Compared to the value of the 'Chaos' formation, two custom T4 treasures would only be considered a small favor.

  But other things proved much trickier.

  "I have never heard of this Nether Sovereign Jade, but by the name alone it is probably a Tier Five spiritual material. As for Divine Sense increasing treasures, those are a different beast entirely," Shen Tianyi said. "The formation sects have hoarded nearly all of them. Even my Shen family finds it difficult to acquire such things. I can put out inquiries through our connections, but I would not pin your hopes on it."

  "Besides," Shen Tianyi added, "the same way you should not use body refining treasures before Foundation Establishment, a similar principle holds for the divine sense and Gold Core. Eating a feast before your stomach has grown only leads to ruin."

  Leo asked, "Is the demonic heart a body refining treasure? Should I wait on it?"

  Shen Tianyi thought for a moment, scanned Kevin a few times, and then answered Leo.

  "From what I can sense, absorbing it would likely increase your spiritual roots. Many prodigies of great clans take spiritual root enhancing medicine also while in Qi Refining. But with demonic remains, caution is always wiser than haste."

  Kevin pulled out his notebook and started scribbling.

  "Is the limit to a Gold Core the Superior Grade? Is there a higher grade?"

  Shen Tianyi nodded slowly. "Perfected gold cores exist. They do make a difference in advancement, particularly at the highest known realms. However, very few cultivators possess them. Superior grade is considered more than sufficient, even all the way to Great Ascension. The gap between Superior and Perfected is smaller than most cultivators fear."

  "So why bother?" Arthur asked.

  "Because fear does not listen to reason. Why settle for nine when ten exists?" Shen Tianyi paused. "Some theorize that spiritual roots determine whether perfection is achievable at all. Others believe that resolving Profundities and collecting Merit stamps can shift the odds. The evidence remains inconclusive."

  Kevin's pen flew across the page. He had filled three sheets already, his handwriting growing smaller and more cramped as he tried to capture every detail.

  "And the Chaos Formation," Kevin said. "The one you cut from the wall. Can I study it?"

  Shen Tianyi's expression grew guarded. "That formation is extremely valuable. My family will want to examine it thoroughly."

  "I know. I'm not asking to keep it." Kevin leaned forward, his eyes bright with academic hunger.

  "I just want to look at it. Ask questions. Pick the brains of your formation masters."

  "You have formation expertise?"

  "I was a graduate student." Kevin gestured vaguely at himself. "Formation theory. Your Chaos Formation shouldn't work. It violates fundamental axioms of structural separation. But it does work, which means either our axioms are wrong or there's something we're missing."

  Leo, Mike, and Arthur stared at Kevin. They had never seen this side of him before.

  "I want to write a paper," Kevin explained in English, rubbing his hands together. "Imagine it. Three Talents, Two Polarities, One Miller. My name will be immortal. In the history books forever. Every magical treasure will have a Miller formation on it."

  Tianyi turned to Leo. "I cannot understand a word this idiot is saying, but you should probably inform him that the Chaos Formation is not something us mere mortals can study. A man cannot become a fish by reading about the ocean."

  Leo just shook his head and laughed, encouraging Kevin.

  "I can't bear the karma of crushing the man's dreams."

  Tianyi shrugged.

  "The Demonic Heart," he said. "I must speak plainly about the dangers it carries."

  "If you allow that heart to feed," Shen Tianyi continued, "if you provide it with enough spiritual hearts to reform its Nascent Soul, it will become a Profundity again. The karma of that transformation will fall upon you. Every death it causes afterward will be your responsibility."

  "We weren't planning on feeding it. At most only three more hearts," Leo clarified.

  "Good. But I must also warn you against using it as a weapon." Shen Tianyi's expression grew stern.

  "Do not hurl it at some sect and hope it devours them for you. That heart still contains Luo Mingxia's memories. Her grudges. Her eight centuries of accumulated hatred. If you unleash it carelessly, it will remember who killed it. And it will find its way back to you."

  The group also made the decision to retreat to the Great Divide Mountains.

  The mountain range stretched across the region like a jagged spine, its peaks shrouded in perpetual mist, its valleys thick with spiritual energy and danger. Demonic Beasts prowled the lower slopes. Demonic sects maintained secret compounds deep within. Bandit camps hid in the passes, preying on towns lying on the bottom of the slopes.

  The group had scouted this territory for months while hunting demons. A Tier Two Spirit Vein occupied a narrow valley deep within the range. It didn't take long to clear out the resident pack of Demonic Wolves.

  "We need to lay low for a while," Leo said as they made camp in a sheltered ravine.

  "The Pond Gazing Sect is going to be angry."

  "They still owe us three vials of the Great Water Spirit Improving Elixir," Kevin pointed out. "We completed the contract. The demon is dead."

  "I doubt we can collect on that debt," Leo dismissed.

  Leo thought about the Pond Gazing Sect's current situation. They no longer had a pond to gaze at. The lake was drained and they had nothing to show for it. Their master sect on the central continent would certainly take notice and come asking questions.

  Apparently all three of the Pond Gazing Sect's Gold Core elders had fled, taking the sect's accumulated wealth with them. Half of the remaining disciples had dispersed, and prominent families were already discussing ownership of the abandoned T3 Spirit Vein.

  "I'll handle the debt collection," Arthur said. "Once things calm down a bit."

  Leo raised an eyebrow. "You?"

  "I ran a small business in the past." Arthur's smile held no warmth. "Chasing down payments was half the job. You'd be amazed what people try to get away with when they think you won't follow up."

  Leo decided not to argue.

  Mike cleared his throat. "With Kevin gone, I should probably start learning the language. Figure I'll spend a few hours each day. Can't be that hard, right?"

  "Famous last words." Arthur snorted. "Don't forget, we also need to hunt a lot of beasts to pay for more flak ammo. I want at least three thousand rounds in reserve."

  "But if we can't speak the language well, we'll just get ripped off," Mike pointed out.

  Arthur pulled out his shovel with a grin.

  "I'd like to see them try."

  ---

  Kevin and Shen Tianyi departed the next morning.

  Unfortunately, since the formation slab could not be put into a storage ring nor brought through teleportation formations due to fear of damage, they had to bring it back to the central continent by foot.

  Since the formation was too valuable and could even incite Deity Transformation masters or higher to take actions, they couldn't even travel by air for fear of detection.

  The journey was going to be very long, and Shen Tianyi warned it could take years if word spread and they were hunted. Unfortunately, the signature Ferrari red of the group's Eclipse was too distinctive, and Shen Tianyi believed if they attempted to travel using it, they would be immediately intercepted by Deity Transformation cultivators.

  If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  Kevin could still bring back messages to the group through earth. To be safe, Kevin wouldn't take his Otherworldly Demon Summoning formation, so Kevin would try his best not to die.

  Shen Tianyi clasped his hands and bowed to each of them in turn. "I'll leave you copies of my transmission talisman. When I return, we should investigate the Iron Rhinoceros Sect together. I have long suspected their situation involves a Profundity."

  Leo's interest sharpened. "What kind of Profundity?"

  "Unknown. But the sect's circumstances are unusual. Their founder disappeared under mysterious conditions. Their cultivation techniques have degraded over generations. And they possess body cultivation methods that no one can fully replicate."

  Shen Tianyi's eyes gleamed. "Body cultivation would be valuable to you, Leo. A cultivator’s physical form will always be the limiting factor and biggest weakness. After you reach the age of maturity and enter Foundation Establishment, you can begin proper body cultivation."

  Leo filed the information away. Foundation Establishment still felt distant, but he was learning to think in longer timescales.

  "Stay safe," Leo said. "Both of you."

  "Until we meet next time," Shen Tianyi replied with a daoist salute.

  As the pair turned to leave, Kevin told the group in English where the demonic heart was located. The three of them immediately set off, the only thought on their minds was how delicious the heart was going to be.

  ---

  The hiding spot was laughably simple. Kevin had buried the heart beneath a distinctive boulder shaped like a crouching toad, perhaps fifty meters from their campsite. The storage container sat in a shallow pit.

  Leo, Arthur, and Mike stood in a rough triangle around the unearthed container, each positioned exactly equidistant from the prize.

  "I should eat it first," Leo said. "I did most of the work. Without me, we would never would have found this heart in the first place."

  "That's terrible logic," Mike countered. "I did most of the damage. The flak killed Luo Mingxia, your dinky broom just annoyed her."

  "Neither of you has my experience." Arthur said. "I've been cultivating longer. I understand the risks better. I should go first."

  "You've been cultivating longer because you're old," Leo shot out.

  "Exactly. I'm older, so I am wiser."

  The air between them crackled with tension. Leo's hand drifted toward his sword hilt. Mike's fingers twitched near his storage ring. Arthur shifted his weight, preparing to move.

  They all knew this was irrational. The heart would reform after killing whoever ate it. They could take turns. There was no logical reason to fight over eating order.

  And yet.

  The hunger gnawed at Leo's mind, drowning out rational thought. The heart's spiritual energy called to something primal in his cultivation base, promising power beyond measure. He wanted it. He needed it. The idea of waiting while someone else consumed that delicious qi was physically painful.

  "Rock paper scissors," Mike suggested, his voice strained.

  "That's a child's game," Arthur dismissed.

  "Do you have a better idea?"

  "Yes. I eat it first because I'm the senior member of this party."

  "Senior member?" Leo's hand closed around his sword hilt. "This isn't a retirement home, Arthur."

  "Respecting your elders is a virtue."

  "That's the same argument with different words!"

  They circled the container slowly, each watching the others for any sign of sudden movement. The forest around them had gone silent, as if the local wildlife sensed impending violence.

  "Wait." Leo held up his free hand. "Wait. I just thought of something."

  "If this is another argument for why you should go first..."

  "What if the heart replaces people?" Leo's voice dropped. "What if it kills you and replaces your soul? Wears your skin? Becomes you?"

  Mike and Arthur paused.

  "What if Kevin already got replaced?" Leo continued, the horrible logic unspooling in his mind. "What if the person traveling with Shen Tianyi right now is a Kevin-shaped thing? A Not-Kevin that walks and talks and remembers Kevin's memories, but underneath is just... the heart?"

  The silence stretched.

  Mike's face had gone pale. "That's... that's ridiculous. Kevin is the same loser as usual. The heart would have at least improved his personality."

  "Or maybe Not-Kevin is really good at playing pretend? Zhou Yangmei definitely acted like someone who got replaced."

  "Oh, forget this."

  Arthur lunged forward, snatched the heart from its container, and stuffed the entire thing into his mouth.

  Leo and Mike stared in shock as Arthur chewed aggressively, black ichor dribbling down his chin. The heart was roughly the size of a grapefruit. Arthur's cheeks bulged obscenely as he forced the mass down his throat.

  "Arthur, what the hell..."

  Arthur swallowed with an audible gulp, then sat down cross-legged on the forest floor. His expression was almost peaceful.

  "I'm going to die soon anyway," Arthur said, wiping his chin. "Might as well be now. See you suckers on the other side."

  Leo exchanged a glance with Mike. They waited.

  "How do you feel?" Leo asked after a minute.

  "Great!" Arthur's eyes were closed, his breathing steady. "Really great, actually. I can already feel my spiritual roots expanding. This is amazing. Much better than the regular demon hearts."

  "Any murderous urges? Desire to consume our souls? Overwhelming compulsion to betray humanity?"

  "Nope. Just warmth. Spreading through my whole body." Arthur's smile widened. "I'm going to try to speed this up. Encourage the heart to kill me faster so I can log off and you guys can have your turn."

  "That's morbid."

  "That's efficient."

  Leo sat down to watch. Mike joined him. They stared at Arthur like scientists observing an experiment, ready to take notes.

  Three minutes passed.

  Arthur's breathing slowed.

  Four minutes.

  His skin took on a grayish pallor.

  Five minutes.

  Arthur slumped sideways onto the ground, completely still.

  A moment later, Arthur's body dissolved into motes of light, leaving behind only his equipment and one black, glistening heart.

  The heart sat on the grass, pulsing gently, completely intact.

  "Huh," Mike said.

  Leo picked up the heart, feeling its weight in his palm. The organ was warm, almost hot, and it seemed to vibrate with contained power.

  "You go next," Leo said.

  Mike raised an eyebrow. "Why me?"

  "I want to try something. It'll take more time. Don't want you waiting on me."

  Mike considered this for a moment. His eyes kept drifting to the heart, his expression hungry despite his obvious reservations.

  "Fine," Mike said finally. "But if Kevin already got replaced, it's unlikely the heart can control multiple bodies simultaneously. So even if this thing took Arthur over too, its probably safe for me to eat."

  "That's the spirit."

  Mike grabbed the heart and ate it in three large bites, apparently having learned from Arthur's struggle with the whole thing. He chewed methodically, swallowed, and then sat down to wait.

  The process took roughly the same amount of time. Mike reported feeling excellent, then warm, then sleepy. He sped the process up. His skin grayed. His breathing stopped.

  Another pile of equipment. Another pristine heart.

  Leo held the heart for a long moment, studying its surface.

  He had watched two teammates die from this thing. He had observed the timeline, noted the progression of symptoms, catalogued the sensations they reported. Now he had a theory.

  Arthur and Mike had embraced the heart's power passively. They had let it wash over them, welcomed the increased spiritual roots, and encouraged the process to complete faster. What if Leo took the opposite approach?

  He bit into the heart.

  The taste was indescribable. Rich and dark and impossibly complex, with undertones of power that made his entire cultivation base sing with joy. He chewed slowly, savoring each mouthful, and swallowed.

  The heart began to dissolve in his stomach almost immediately. He could sense the pieces breaking apart, spreading through his bloodstream, seeking their destination.

  They were heading for his heart.

  Leo focused his awareness inward, tracking the fragments as they moved. Tiny pieces of the Demonic Heart, each carrying a spark of Luo Mingxia's original power, each eager to find his cardiac tissue and merge with it.

  He stopped them.

  It required concentration, but Leo had been training his divine sense for close to two years now. He could feel every corner of his meridians, every chamber of his core, every beat of his physical heart. The fragments of the Demonic Heart pressed against his divine sense like water against a dam.

  They didn't get through.

  Leo held them there for several minutes, observing. The fragments didn't dissipate. They simply waited, patient as stone, ready to resume their journey the moment he relaxed.

  But his spiritual roots didn't feel any different.

  Leo frowned. The whole point of eating the heart was the massive increase in spiritual potential. If he blocked the replacement process, he gained no benefit at all.

  Slowly, carefully, he let a tiny amount of the fragments through.

  They flowed toward his heart and merged with the tissue there. Leo felt a subtle shift in his cultivation base, a slight expansion of his spiritual capacity. The increase was real.

  He let more through.

  The sensation intensified. His spiritual roots were growing stronger with each fragment he allowed to integrate. The hunger that had driven him to claim the heart in the first place purred with satisfaction.

  But Leo could feel the truth now. The fragments were replacing his heart, piece by piece, transforming his ordinary cardiac tissue into someone else's.

  He couldn't have the power without the replacement.

  Leo made a decision. He released his resistance entirely.

  The remaining fragments flooded into his heart, completing the transformation in seconds. His physical heart stopped being his heart and became the Demonic Heart, fully integrated, fully operational.

  And then something else awakened.

  Divine Sense. The heart's Divine Sense, preserved through eight centuries, suddenly flared to life inside his chest. It recognized that it was inside a new body. It recognized that Leo was an obstacle to its continued existence.

  It attacked.

  The assault came from inside his own ribcage, a psychic pressure that attempted to crush Leo's consciousness like a bug under a boot. The Demonic Heart wanted to live. The Demonic Heart wanted to consume. The Demonic Heart had no intention of being a passive organ in some mortal's chest.

  Leo fought back.

  His own Divine Sense, pathetic compared to the Nascent Soul power of the heart, pushed against the invasion with everything he had. The pressure was overwhelming. The heart had centuries of experience. Leo was only a kid.

  He held on for almost a second.

  Then his consciousness shattered.

  [14:59:59]

  He lay still for a moment, processing what had just happened, staring at the message in the VR pod.

  The heart could be resisted. He had proven that. His Divine Sense had been inadequate to the task, but it had held for a second against a Nascent Soul level devouring. That meant the gap was closeable.

  If Leo could increase his Divine Sense to Nascent Soul level... if he could overpower the heart's divine sense... he might be able to crush its consciousness entirely. He would have a Demonic Heart inside his chest. That seemed like it would come with risks. Compatibility issues. Potential corruption. Unknown side effects.

  But the power would be incredible.

  Leo made a mental note to ask Shen Tianyi about it when he returned. Their new friend would probably know whether replacing your heart with a demonic organ was a good idea or not.

  He climbed out of the pod and checked his phone.

  The Signal chat was exploding.

  Arthur: So we're all in agreement that the real Mike died and this is Not-Mike

  Mike: I'm not fake. Arthur is clearly the fake one. He doesn't remember what we talked about at dinner last Thursday.

  Arthur: I was playing through dinner last Thursday. I eat at my desk.

  Mike: The real Arthur would remember that we discussed the formation patterns in the Pond Gazing treasury.

  Arthur: We definitely didn't discuss that.

  Mike: SEE. Fake.

  Arthur: I'm not fake! You're the one who doesn't remember my ex-wife's maiden name!

  Mike: Why would I know your ex-wife's maiden name??

  Arthur: Because I told you three months ago when we were grinding Foundation Establishment beasts!

  Mike: You never told me that.

  Arthur: FAKE MIKE CONFIRMED

  Mike: You're literally just making up things I should know and then claiming I'm fake when I don't know them!

  Arthur: Exactly what a Not-Mike would say.

  Mike: What's Kevin's mother's middle name?

  Arthur: How would I know that?

  Mike: NOT-ARTHUR CONFIRMED

  Arthur: That's ridiculous!

  Mike: You literally just used this exact logic on me!

  Leo scrolled through three more pages of similar accusations.

  Leo: You're both fake. The real Arthur and Mike would never be this stupid.

  Arthur: LEO

  Mike: LEO YOU'RE ALIVE

  Arthur: Quick, what's Kevin's secret we told you before you ate the heart?

  Leo: We never talked about any secret of Kevin's.

  Arthur: ...

  Mike: ...

  Arthur: We found the impostor. Leo has been replaced by Not-Leo.

  Mike: We need to apologize to his parents.