The luxury of Peak Fourth Stage power came with an exorbitant maintenance cost. Over the next two days, Jiang Yi perfected the rhythmic siphoning of the Leech Array. He established a strict, silent schedule: every night, he would slip out under the flawless cover of the Dust Cloak Method, tap the Junction Node at the Lesser Spirit Meridian Peak for exactly twenty minutes, and return to the dorm, maintaining the sickly, unpromising aura of a Third Stage failure.
Meng Li remained his furious shadow. The Fourth Stage disciple, hobbled by his bandaged, throbbing arm, could do nothing but watch. He trailed Jiang Yi like a wounded wolf, his spiritual perception screaming the truth, while his eyes and every official measurement confirmed Jiang Yi was just a feeble waste. This contradiction was slowly driving Meng Li toward a nervous breakdown, which, Jiang Yi calculated, would neutralize him completely in another week.
Then, the official summon arrived. Not from Steward Ma, but from a genuine Inner Court messenger.
"Probationary Disciple Jiang Yi," the messenger, a slender girl of the Fifth Stage, announced with cold condescension. "Elder Xuan requires your immediate presence at his meditation peak. You will not delay."
Jiang Yi's internal core seized. The game was abruptly moved from the back alleys to the main arena. He calmly wrapped his broom in a piece of rag—a final, conscious nod to his former identity—and performed a deep, shaky bow. The Dust Cloak was at maximum deployment, cloaking his power in a suffocating layer of spiritual despair.
The ascent to the Elder's Peak was dizzying. The air thickened with every step, the pressure of millennia of high-level cultivation pressing down until Jiang Yi felt genuine nausea. It was a silent test designed to crush the will of anyone below Foundation Establishment.
Elder Xuan's meditation chamber was sparse: ancient stone walls, a single window overlooking the clouds, and a massive, perfectly smooth white jade cushion where the Elder sat. The atmosphere inside was so rich with concentrated Qi that it felt like breathing liquid gold.
Jiang Yi stepped inside, bowed until his head nearly touched the ground, and forced his body to exhibit a rapid, shallow tremor. "This disciple greets Elder Xuan," he managed, his voice weak.
Elder Xuan opened his eyes. They were the color of polished jade, utterly devoid of judgment, yet penetrating enough to strip away skin and bone. He did not radiate menace, but absolute, ancient authority.
"Rise, Jiang Yi," the Elder commanded, his voice soft, yet vibrating with unspoken power. "I have observed your recent diligence. You achieved the highest possible score among the servants and managed to sustain your life despite a severe, crippling weakness."
Jiang Yi kept his head down, maintaining the facade of a sickly youth overwhelmed by the Elder's presence. "This disciple is grateful for the Elder's leniency and guidance."
Elder Xuan smiled—a thin, unnerving curve of the lips. "Leniency? No. I merely see reality. You possess a unique affinity for the basic elements, Jiang Yi. Tell me, when you encounter chaotic Qi, what does your body do?"
Jiang Yi felt the subtle, non-hostile probe of the Elder's Foundation Establishment Qi brush against the boundary of the Dust Cloak. The cloak held, but barely. He had to tell a truth so close to the real thing that it satisfied the Elder's curiosity without revealing the Sphere.
"Elder," Jiang Yi whispered, injecting fear into his voice. "I… I only perceive the chaos. My body is weak, but my mind seems to naturally categorize the energy into what is useful and what is waste. I believe my weak meridians are simply hyper-sensitive to the structure of Qi."
"Categorization," the Elder mused. "An interesting word. You possess the mind of an artificer, yet the shell of a servant." He paused, leaning forward. "I believe you possess the potential to become the sect's finest Artificer of Restoration. Your weakness is your greatest strength; you see the internal fault lines others cannot."
He's giving me a sanctioned role, Jiang Yi realized. A perfect cover to use my abilities in public.
Before the Elder could continue, the entire peak screamed.
The chamber walls began to shudder violently. The immense concentration of spiritual energy in the air suddenly went wildly unstable, cycling between burning heat and arctic cold. Dust rained from the ceiling, and the Elder's serene jade cushion vibrated like a plucked string.
"The Sky-Guard Array!" Elder Xuan barked, rising with terrifying speed. His serenity was replaced by immediate, high-grade panic. "The main stabilizing array of the Inner Mountain is failing! The influx from the Outer Wilds is too great!"
The Sky-Guard Array was the ancient, vital shield that separated the sect's high-grade cultivation zones from the turbulent, volatile energies of the surrounding world. If it failed, the entire Inner Court would be flooded with chaotic Qi, potentially causing massive cultivation deviation, madness, or death among the senior disciples.
"It is collapsing due to a feedback loop in the stabilization manifold," Elder Xuan analyzed instantly, his eyes glowing with inner light. "The Qi is too chaotic for my direct intervention; my pure Qi would only amplify the instability."
He whirled on Jiang Yi, his jade eyes burning with a sudden, desperate hope.
"Jiang Yi! Your unique affinity. The failing manifold is located in the Central Gorge—you are closest! I cannot send a high-level disciple; their Qi is too pure! They will feed the chaos!" Elder Xuan seized Jiang Yi's shoulder. His grip was like iron. "Go! Use your skill! Categorize the failing energy! You must separate the clean energy from the violent energy and expel the chaos!"
He was ordering Jiang Yi to use his Azure Qi Refinement on a scale of sheer, cataclysmic power—to fix a Foundation Establishment-level crisis using the principles of the Leech Array.
"If you fail, the Inner Court falls," Elder Xuan hissed, releasing him. "Go!"
Jiang Yi didn't hesitate. He knew this was the real, sudden, and unpredictable test. He maintained the pathetic façade, but inside, his Fourth Stage core was already singing with calculated excitement.
He ran, the Spider Step moving him with impossible speed down the steep, treacherous path. He reached the Central Gorge—a massive, wind-swept clearing where the colossal Sky-Guard Array hummed, now sputtering and flashing with lethal, unstable energy.
The Array was a swirling vortex of multi-colored, chaotic Qi. Any attempt to touch it with normal Qi would result in instant obliteration.
Jiang Yi stopped fifty feet back. He had to use the Leech Array—evolved into the Azure Stabilization Method—across a vast distance, filtering and returning energy almost simultaneously. He had to be perfect.
He closed his eyes, dropped the Dust Cloak Method entirely, and unleashed the full, terrifying power of his Peak Fourth Stage Core.
A pillar of pure, celestial azure light erupted from his palm.
He extended the Azure Stabilization Method—a massive, silent array projected hundreds of feet across the gorge. The array wrapped around the failing Sky-Guard Formation like an invasive parasite. The Azure Sphere, now facing a challenge worthy of its power, engaged its highest-grade refinement setting.
The vortex of chaotic energy screamed as the refinement began.
The massive flow of multi-colored, lethal Qi was sucked into the Azure Array. It rushed through Jiang Yi's projected spiritual channels, filtered by the Sphere, and then, immediately, the clean, stable energy was channeled back into the Formation's manifold—a perfect, continuous loop of purification.
The chaos vanished. The Sky-Guard Array instantly stabilized, humming with renewed, clean power. The multicolored chaos was replaced by a soft, clear, single hue. The entire crisis ended in sixty seconds.
Jiang Yi collapsed to his knees, utterly spent. His Fourth Stage core was completely depleted, hollowed out by the sheer, overwhelming effort. He looked weak, frail, and exactly like the useless servant he was pretending to be—but the reason was genuine this time.
He managed to pull the Dust Cloak over his empty core just as Elder Xuan appeared at the Gorge's edge, his face stern but triumphant.
"You categorize well, Disciple Jiang Yi," the Elder stated, his jade eyes gleaming with utter certainty. "You saved the Inner Court. You shall be rewarded."
The unpredictable had happened: Jiang Yi was now an officially recognized hero with a legitimate, sanctioned purpose. But Elder Xuan now had absolute confirmation that Jiang Yi was the secret he ha d been waiting for.