The moon hung like a silver sickle over the Glacial Moon Residence, its light filtered through the swirling Qi mist that had grown so thick, it felt like walking through water. Deep beneath the frost-carved halls, in the heart of the Sub-Zero Chamber, Yin Shen was no longer a man; he had become a vessel of cosmic ambition.
The Star-King Breathing Technique had accelerated to a point where a visible vortex of violet-gold energy swirled around his seated form. Every breath he drew sounded like the low thrum of a distant sun. By midnight, the metallic resonance of his bones had reached a crescendo. His internal organs, now tempered by the starlight, pulsed with a vitality that felt alien. He had reached it—the absolute limit of the physical body.
[Current State: Body Tempering - 9th Stage (Peak)]
Yin Shen didn't open his eyes. He didn't even pause to celebrate. He knew the sun was moving, and with it, the "inspection" party that intended to bring his journey to a bloody end. He reached into the cold-iron box and retrieved the Qi Condensation Breakthrough Pill. It was a sphere of crystalline blue, vibrating with the trapped energy of a hundred high-grade spirit stones.
Without a second of hesitation, he swallowed it.
The reaction was instantaneous. If the previous pill had been fire, this was a supernova. The medicinal essence didn't just flow; it exploded, seeking out the Chaos Meridian. The Dantian—the center of a cultivator's power—which had previously been a dormant space, was suddenly thrust into a state of violent creation.
Suddenly, the air in the Sub-Zero Chamber grew heavy. Outside, the clear night sky was abruptly swallowed by unnatural, obsidian clouds. Thunder, deep and resonant, rolled across the Yin Estate, waking every cultivator from their slumber.
"A tribulation?" Yin Xue, standing on her balcony, looked up at the sky, her face paling. "At the first realm? Impossible!"
Standard Qi Condensation breakthroughs didn't trigger the Heavens' wrath. Only those who defied the natural order, or possessed veins so powerful they threatened the balance of the world, were met with Heavenly Tribulation. And as the clouds began to swirl into a funnel directly over her residence, she counted the sparks.
One... three... six... nine.
"Nine strikes of the Heavenly Thunder," she whispered, her hands trembling. "If the Elders see this, they won't just inspect the residence; they will raze it to the ground to kill the monster within."
She bit her lip, her eyes flashing with a resolute, icy fire. She couldn't let the sound or the light escape.
She leaped into the air, her white robes fluttering like the wings of a swan. She bit her finger, drawing a drop of blood, and began to trace complex runes in the air.
"[Mirror of the Moon: Nine-Fold Sanctum]!"
A massive, multi-layered barrier of translucent blue Qi erupted from her fingertips, expanding until it formed a shimmering dome over the entire Glacial Moon Residence. Each layer was etched with frost-runes, designed to absorb and diffuse energy.
BOOM!
The first bolt of thunder—a jagged spear of white light—slammed into the barrier. The first layer shattered instantly, turning into a rain of ice shards.
In the chamber below, Yin Shen felt the impact. His Dantian was a battlefield. The starlight Qi was being crushed, forced into a liquid state. He gritted his teeth, his silver hair standing on end from the static electricity.
'I am the Master! I am the Sovereign!' he roared in his mind. 'Chaos! Devour it all!'
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Three more strikes descended in rapid succession. Yin Xue's barrier groaned under the weight. Cracks appeared in the fourth and fifth layers. She coughed up a spray of blood, her face turning pale as her robes, but she didn't lower her hands. She poured her very life essence into the Nine-Fold Sanctum, desperate to hide the brilliance of her brother's soul.
Few hours later.
As the first finger of dawn touched the horizon, the obsidian clouds vanished as quickly as they had appeared. The heavy pressure lifted, leaving behind a silence so profound it was deafening.
Yin Shen slumped forward in the training hall, his forehead touching the frost. He was drenched in a mixture of cold sweat and a thick, black-gray sludge—the final "waste extracts" of his mortal marrow and meridians, purged by the breakthrough. His breathing was shallow; his body shaking from the sheer trauma of the transition.
But inside? Inside, he felt like he could crush a mountain.
---
{Ding!}
{Mission Accomplished: The First Ascent.}
{Evaluation: God-Tier Efficiency. You have reached the Qi Condensation Realm in 47 hours and 10 minutes.}
I forced myself into a sitting position, my muscles screaming in protest. I wiped a layer of filth from my face and called out to the system.
"Show me... the rewards."
{Calculating Early Completion Bonus...}
{Reward 1: 50 System Points received.}
{Reward 2: System Shop Unlocked.}
{Reward 3: Mid-Rank Earth Martial Art has been promoted due to 'Extreme Efficiency' and 'Heavenly Tribulation Resonance' to...}
{New Skill: [Absolute Domination] (High-Rank Earth).}
I focused on the skill description.
[Martial Art: Absolute Domination]
* Rank: High-Rank Earth
* Type: Aura / Willpower / Suppression
* Description: This technique allows the user to project their killing intent and internal Qi as a physical weight.
* Effect: Those with weaker wills or lower cultivation are suppressed, their Qi circulation slowed or halted entirely. It creates an "Absolute Zone" around the user where they are the sole sovereign.
I looked at my hands. They were pale, almost translucent, but beneath the skin, the violet-gold Qi flowed with a predatory speed. I was no longer tempering the vessel. I was the energy itself.
"System," I whispered, my voice hoarse. "Open the Shop."
A new window flickered to life, filled with items that made my heart hammering in my ribcage.
* [Sovereign's Bloodline Essence] - 50,000 SP
* [Seven-Star Destroyer Sword] - 10,000 SP
* [Basic Qi-Recovery Pill] - 10 SP
* [Void-Walker Boots] - 500 SP
I only had 55 points. I was still a beggar in the eyes of the system, but I was a beggar with a High-Rank Earth Martial Art in my pocket.
Just then, the ice doors slid open.
Yin Xue walked in, or rather, she stumbled. Her robes were torn at the shoulders, and a trail of blood stained her chin. Her aura was incredibly faint, her Spirit Sea clearly drained from holding the barrier against nine strikes of Heavenly Thunder.
She looked at me, lying in a puddle of my own purged filth, and then she sensed it. The swirling vortex in my Dantian. The aura of a 1st-stage Qi Condensation expert—but one whose Qi felt heavier than her own had at that stage.
She didn't speak for a long time, she simply stood there and leaning against the doorway for support.
"You're alive," she finally whispered.
"I am." I replied, standing up slowly. My bones felt like they were made of reinforced diamond.
I walked toward her, my footsteps silent. "You held the barrier. Nine strikes. Why?"
Yin Xue gave a tired, bitter laugh. "Because if I hadn't, the Elders would be here now, and I would be explaining why my brother just triggered the 'Calamity of Nine Thunders,' a sign reserved for those destined to destroy the world."
She looked me in the eyes, her blue gaze searching mine. "Yin Shen... what are you? That wasn't a Supreme-grade awakening. Not even an Eternal-grade one would trigger that level of fury from the Heavens."
I looked at the sunrise visible through the ventilation shaft. The "inspection" party would be here within the hour.
"I am the answer to the injustice of this family, Sister," I said, my voice cold and final. "And today, the ancestors will realize they didn't just awaken a genius. They awakened a reckoning."
Suddenly, the sound of a horn echoed from the distance. The Council had arrived at the gates of the Glacial Moon Residence.
"They're here," Yin Xue muttered, her hand going to her sword. "Can you walk?"
I looked at my new skill, [Absolute Domination], glowing in my mental inventory. I felt the dense Qi in my Dantian, ready to be unleashed.
"I can do more than walk, Sister," I replied, a dark, predatory smirk crossing my lips. "I can hunt."
---