"How many days has it been…?"
Lian wondered as he dragged his feet forward.
His legs felt heavy, his body sore, and every few steps a hidden trap would spring forth—forcing him to react, to defend, to survive.
"I'm not getting anywhere!"
Gritting his teeth, Lian spread his Qi outward.
It crawled through the air and seeped into the ground, extending several meters ahead—searching, probing.
Nothing.
No people.
No buildings.
No landmarks.
Only space—vast, silent, infinite.
"Just where am I…?"
His thoughts began to spiral.
"Who was that man?
Why did he put me here?
What happened to everyone?
Why did Lin Feng transform like that…?"
"AHHHHH!"
Lian roared into the emptiness, his voice swallowed instantly—as if the void itself refused to acknowledge him.
He walked.
For days.
The food inside his storage ring dwindled at a steady pace. He tried everything—
Expanding his Qi farther.
Launching blade attacks.
Unleashing fire and frost.
Nothing changed.
Eventually, exhaustion forced him to stop. He sat down, crossed his legs, and began circulating Qi—absorbing what little energy this place offered.
Days passed.
Then more days.
And in that endless repetition, Lian finally noticed something wrong.
Every attack he released…
Returned to him—twice as powerful.
Every strand of Qi he sent outward…
Came back—twice as dense.
Lian slowly opened his eyes.
This place wasn't empty.
It was watching.
And it was teaching him—
Whether he wanted to learn…
Or not.
Then, finally—
Lian stopped.
After all this time wandering the endless void, one truth became clear to him.
"If I want to leave this place… I must become stronger."
He exhaled slowly and came to a halt.
"No," he corrected himself. "Not just stronger. I need to understand this place… its rules."
Lian sat down, crossed his legs, and closed his eyes.
He began to cultivate.
Instead of releasing his Qi recklessly, he sent it out in short, controlled bursts. The energy travelled through the void—and, just as before, returned to him twice as dense.
Each time it came back, Lian absorbed it, refined it, and circulated it through his meridians. His internal energy grew steadily with every cycle.
Through this process, he began to grasp the true essence of his Qi.
Fire.
Ice.
Once separate, opposing forces—now refined together, merging into a single, balanced energy.
Again and again, he repeated the process.
With each cycle, his Qi became smoother… purer… until it no longer felt like something external.
It felt like an extension of himself.
A thought crossed his mind.
"What would happen if I laced strands of my consciousness into my Qi?"
Carefully, he split a fragment of his awareness and embedded it within the energy before sending it outward.
In an instant, his perception expanded.
He felt himself travelling farther than ever before—seeing what he could not see with his eyes alone.
This place…
It wasn't empty.
It was governed by rules—laws that bound space itself together.
Though his understanding remained shallow, Lian continued.
Hours passed.
Days.
Months.
Each time his Qi and soul energy returned to him, refined and strengthened, his power surged by leaps and bounds.
Through constant repetition, his comprehension of cultivation deepened.
Under normal circumstances, breaking through the Foundation Stage could take years. One had to refine Qi, expand the dantian, and overcome ten minor realms before advancing to the next major stage.
Yet within this strange void—
It took Lian six months.
He didn't realise it himself, but he had already far surpassed the limits of the Foundation Stage.
His dantian expanded naturally, his Qi stabilized effortlessly, and his realm advanced without resistance—
As if this place had been designed for him to grow.
And this process was normally extremely difficult.
One had to constantly draw Qi from nature, refine it, and force it to become one's own—a slow and arduous path.
But Lian was different.
He was absorbing his own Qi.
Energy he understood better than anything else. Because of that, refinement came naturally, and his cultivation soared. Intentional or not, this strange environment was nothing short of a goldmine for cultivation.
More than that—
Without realizing it, Lian was tempering his soul alongside his Qi. With every cycle, his comprehension deepened, further accelerating his cultivation speed.
By the time his energy stabilized, Lian had already stepped into the Essence Development Stage, where Qi undergoes its first true transformation—condensing into Gang Essence.
Then, when he sent his Qi outward once more—
It met resistance.
Something vast.
A presence like a great mountain, standing far ahead in the void.
"Huu…"
Lian exhaled lightly as he rose to his feet.
"I finally found something."
He leapt forward, sprinting toward it with blinding speed.
I've gotten stronger… haven't I?
He couldn't tell what realm he was in anymore—but he knew one thing with certainty.
The months he spent cultivating here had changed him completely.
As he reached the mountain, a sudden blinding light erupted before him.
After months—of endless darkness, his senses were overwhelmed.
He felt himself falling.
When Lian opened his eyes again, his heart skipped a beat.
Familiar faces surrounded him.
All of them bound.
Exhausted.
And standing before them was a man walking forward at an unhurried pace.
"You all did well this time," the man said.
His voice was calm—but each word carried crushing pressure.
The boys' bodies trembled.
"Is this an immortal…?"
Lian thought silently as the man approached.