Deep within the Tier-2 valley, the forest thickened into something far more oppressive than before. Light struggled to penetrate the dense canopy, and the air carried a constant pressure of wild Qi, heavy enough to dull the senses of the unprepared.
Li Yan moved through it like a shadow.
His presence was almost nonexistent, his footsteps silent against the uneven ground. His Spiritual Sense remained fully extended, forming an invisible net around him, capturing every subtle vibration—the shift of leaves, the rhythm of breath, the faint tremor of hidden movement within a fifty-meter radius.
Nothing escaped him.
A sudden disturbance broke the stillness.
From above—
A Thunderclaw Leopard descended.
Its body tore through the air with explosive force, claws crackling faintly with electricity as it lunged downward with a guttural roar. The attack was swift, lethal, timed to catch its prey unaware.
Li Yan's eyes sharpened instantly.
His body shifted.
With a precise adjustment of his footwork, he slipped beneath the descending beast, his movements fluid and controlled. In the same motion, his palm rose, Fire Qi condensing at its center before erupting in a focused strike against the creature's underside.
The impact was immediate.
The leopard's body convulsed mid-air before crashing heavily into the ground, stunned.
Li Yan did not hesitate. His sword was already in motion. Darkness Qi gathered along its edge, warping the light around it for a fleeting instant. The blade moved in a single, clean arc—silent, efficient, absolute.
One strike. The beast fell still.
Li Yan remained where he stood, allowing his breathing to settle, his senses sweeping outward once more to confirm the absence of further threats. Only when the forest returned to its steady rhythm did he step forward.
He knelt beside the corpse and extracted the beast core with practiced precision, the faint glow of contained energy reflecting briefly in his eyes.
"Twelve," he murmured. The core vanished into his storage ring.
The hunt continued.
For three days, Li Yan moved through the valley with calculated ruthlessness. Each encounter was approached with intent, each battle treated not merely as combat, but as refinement.
His movements grew sharper.
His reactions faster.
His control is more precise.
He no longer relied on raw output. Instead, he refined his use of Qi into layered applications—subtle, efficient, controlled.
A thread of Darkness Qi to dull a predator's perception.
A flicker of distortion to mislead an attack.
A momentary shadow to create false movement.
Every technique evolved.
Every action improved.
Li Yan did not simply hunt.
He adapted.
At times, his pursuit led him beyond battle.
While tracking a Flamehide Bear through a rocky incline, he stepped into a glade veiled in thin, silvery mist. The air there was cooler, quieter, carrying a faint, unfamiliar fragrance.
He paused.
His gaze lowered toward a cluster of luminous grass growing between the stones.
"Moonveil Grass," he murmured, kneeling slightly. "A catalyst for Qi Replenishment Pills…"
His eyes shifted.
Nearby, faint crystalline roots shimmered beneath the soil.
"…and Frostroot."
Recognition sharpened.
The area was not ordinary.
Herbs grew in scattered clusters, some common, others rare, and a few he had only encountered within intermediate herbalism texts. Their arrangement was natural, yet balanced, as though the environment itself nurtured their coexistence.
Li Yan moved carefully.
Each plant was gathered with precision, his mind cataloging their properties, combinations, and potential uses.
"When paired with molten vine… potency could increase," he thought quietly. "But extraction must be controlled, or the Qi will destabilize."
By the end of the third day, the results were evident.
His robe bore marks of battle—torn edges, faint traces of dried blood, and subtle signs of strain. A few injuries had accumulated, shallow but unavoidable.
Each one had been treated.
Each one resolved.
His posture, however, remained unchanged.
Steady. Composed.
If anything, his eyes had grown sharper.
Brighter.
When he returned to the sect, his storage ring carried far more than just beast cores. Materials, herbs, and remnants of countless encounters filled its space—each one a resource, each one a step forward.
He did not linger. After returning to his room, he rested.
*****
The following day, Li Yan entered the Core Hall.
The exchange hall remained as orderly as ever, its atmosphere calm despite the steady flow of disciples. At its center stood Elder Qiu Xuan, overseeing transactions with practiced indifference.
That indifference did not last.
As Li Yan transferred the contents of his storage ring into ther Elder Qiu's, he handed it over.
Elder Qiu counted the Beast bodies.
One after another. Over six hundred Tier-2 beasts.
Elder Qiu Xuan's gaze sharpened slightly as he observed the pile. The quantity itself was not unprecedented—Li Yan had sold larger amounts before—but this time, the context was different.
Tier-2 beasts.
And Li Yan's cultivation—
Did not align.
Yet the results stood before him.
Undeniable.
"Six hundred…" Elder Qiu Xuan murmured, his tone restrained. At ten Shadow Points per body, the total rose quickly.
Over six thousand.
Li Yan accepted the transaction without comment.
Later, Li Yan appeared in the swordsman section of the library.
Scrolls covered the table before him, illuminated by soft, floating Qi lamps. His fingers moved steadily, turning pages with quiet focus, pausing only when a passage drew his attention.
He read without distraction.
Occasionally, he made notes in a small black notebook, his writing precise, concise—capturing only what mattered.
A few disciples passed by the table where Li Yan was seated, their steps slowing as they glanced at him. "He's back…"
"And already studying again…" Their voices remained low, but the curiosity within them was not hidden.
Li Yan did not react. Later that afternoon, he returned to his alchemy chamber.
The furnace ignited once more, its flames rising steadily as the room filled with the faint aroma of herbs. This time, however, his approach remained restrained.
He did not attempt Tier-2 alchemy.
Not yet. Instead, he refined what he had already mastered. Tier-1 pills.
Using the ingredients gathered during his hunt, he repeated the process—refining, observing, adjusting—ensuring that every step remained under absolute control.
Progress did not always require advancement.
Sometimes—
It required refinement.
*****
The following day, Li Yan did not retreat into isolation.
Instead, he walked the sect grounds with quiet intention—not to display his strength, nor to attract attention, but to observe, to listen, and to engage where it mattered.
His presence remained understated.
Yet deliberate.
He spoke with several disciples along the way, his tone relaxed, his words measured. With White-Ranked juniors, he offered small corrections—subtle adjustments to breathing, minor guidance on elemental balance, practical insights that required no display of superiority.
They listened.
Not out of obligation—
But trust. It was not merely courtesy. It was structured.
Ji Hong's words echoed faintly in his mind. "Power alone does not shape your future. The people around you do."
Li Yan understood. Strength created distance. But influence—
Required connection.
Each conversation was a seed planted quietly beneath the surface. Each interaction, however brief, established a presence that would not be forgotten.
Not now. Not later.
By the time afternoon settled over the sect, the sunlight had softened, filtering through the high cliffs and casting long, wavering shadows across the stone pathways.
Li Yan's steps slowed. Then shifted direction—The Fire Mine.
He had no intention of tempering his body today. The second tempering required him to reach at last the peak of the Qi Refining Realm, and until then, the mine served only as a supplementary environment.
Even cultivation was not his purpose, though his foundation had already stabilized. What he needed now—
Was an observation. His hand brushed lightly against his storage ring as his thoughts settled.
The Spiritual Beast Egg.
At its current stage, it remained dormant, yet responsive. It accepted Qi when guided—but the question remained—
Could it absorb energy on its own?
Specifically—
Fire Qi.
If so, then its growth would not rely entirely on his input. The thought lingered.
Precise. Calculated.
A theory worth testing.
Li Yan stepped into the teleportation formation. The space around him folded briefly before releasing him into a familiar environment.
Heat surged outward instantly.
The Fire Mine welcomed him with its usual intensity, waves of Fire energy pressing against his body as if testing his resistance. The air shimmered faintly, distorted by the density of Fire Qi embedded within the cavern.
Li Yan remained unaffected. His body had already adapted.
His robes shifted slightly in the rising currents as he reached down, retrieving the Qi lamp resting near the entrance. It was the same one he had used during his initial tempering—simple, but reliable.
With a small motion, he ignited it.
A thread of Fire Qi sparked into existence, catching the wick as a steady red glow spread outward. The light flickered against the stone walls, casting moving shadows that stretched and contracted with each subtle shift of flame.
He began walking.
The path wound deeper into the mine, narrowing in places before opening again into broader chambers. With each step, the density of Fire Qi increased, coiling through the air like unseen currents, brushing against his skin with a steady, oppressive warmth.
The deeper he went, the quieter it became. After a short while, he arrived.
The central cavern.
The flat stone surface remained unchanged, its presence familiar beneath the shifting heat of the mine. This was where he had endured his first tempering—where his foundation had begun to solidify under pressure.
Li Yan approached without hesitation.
He lowered himself onto the surface, sitting cross-legged as the warmth seeped through his clothing, settling against his body with a steady, controlled heat.
Comfortable. Stable.
He closed his eyes. The world dimmed. Then—
His Spiritual Sense expanded.
It flowed outward in a precise radius, sweeping through the cavern and beyond, capturing every fluctuation within the surrounding space. Streams of Fire Qi surged through the environment, rising from the stone, drifting through the air, pooling in denser pockets across the chamber.
The mine was not still. It was alive.
Pulsing. Breathing.
A faint smile touched the corner of Li Yan's lips as he observed the dense currents of Fire Qi swirling through the cavern. The environment was ideal—stable, potent, and rich enough to sustain extended testing without fluctuation.
Satisfied, he exhaled slowly, his breath dissolving into the heat-heavy air.
With a subtle flick of his fingers, the Spiritual Beast Egg appeared from his storage ring. It hovered briefly above his palm before descending onto the flat stone surface before him, settling with quiet stillness.
Its appearance remained striking.
A seamless blend of obsidian black and burnished gold, its surface reflected the shifting firelight in muted ripples. Beneath that polished shell, faint golden veins pulsed gently, carrying a subdued yet unmistakable vitality.
"Now…" Li Yan murmured, his gaze sharpening, "Let's see how you respond."
He withdrew his hand and waited.
Time passed.
The Fire Qi within the cavern continued its natural circulation, flowing around the egg without disruption. There was no pull, no distortion, no indication that the egg recognized or responded to the surrounding energy.
A full minute slipped by in silence.
Li Yan's expression remained calm as he gave a slight nod. "As expected," he said quietly. "No autonomous absorption."
The conclusion was not disappointing—only confirming.
He extended his hand once more.
This time, his palm pressed lightly against the egg's surface. His Qi moved instantly, forming a controlled conduit between his body and the surrounding environment. Fire Qi from the cavern responded, drawn inward by his will and gathered into a concentrated stream.
The energy converged in his palm.
Then flowed.
Guided precisely, the Fire Qi entered the egg in a steady, uninterrupted current, its heat and density carefully regulated to avoid instability.
Almost immediately—
The egg reacted.
A soft golden glow spread across its surface, the faint veins beneath its shell brightening as the energy within began to stir. The pulse grew stronger, more defined, synchronizing with the rhythm of Li Yan's controlled flow.
This time, the response was undeniable.
Li Yan remained still, maintaining the connection without interruption. His control did not waver as he increased the density of Qi slightly, feeding the egg in a steady stream, like coaxing embers into flame.
Minutes passed.
Then more.
Nearly an hour slipped by in quiet continuity.
The glow deepened.
The pulse strengthened.
Then—
A sound broke the silence.
Crack.