The world snapped back into focus.
Long Chen stood in the small servant's quarters, exactly where he was left off. The straw mat beneath his feet, the cracked walls and faint smell of mildew that never quite went away.
He sucked in a breath. The air here felt different—thicker, heavier with spiritual energy. His body adjusted immediately, cultivation pathways opening like they'd never closed.
Two notifications appeared.
[Welcome back to: Return of the Heavenly Sword God 2.]
[Time passed in the narrative world: 1 week.]
[Time passed in the real world: 2 days.]
One week. He'd returned to the exact spot he'd left, but a week later. Him being here meant nothing significant had happened yet. That was good.
Then the second set appeared.
[New Mission: Annual Clan Gathering.]
[Objective: Pass the trials and rank within the top 10 participants.]
[Reward: Access to clan sword graveyard, Access to fourth floor of martial technique pavilion.]
[Penalty: Continued humiliation, Loss of cultivation resources.]
[Time limit: 5 weeks.]
[New Mission: Immortal Sword Sect Recruitment.]
[Objective: Impress the sect recruitment elders and secure an invitation token.]
[Reward: Sect membership, Advanced training, participation in secret realm exploration.]
[Penalty: Stagnant growth, possibly death.]
[Time limit: 6 weeks.]
Long Chen read both missions twice, then his jaw tightened.
He had five weeks until the clan gathering, and six until sect recruitment.
The gathering was brutal. Every year, the clan tested its young members—servants, outer disciples, inner disciples, everyone under twenty. Combat trials, cultivation assessment, and technique demonstrations. It was supposed to identify talent.
In reality, it was a bloodbath. Servants like him got thrown in to make the disciples look good. Most didn't even make it past the first round.
And sect recruitment? That was worse. The Immortal Sword Sect only took the best. One or two people per clan if they were lucky. The pressure alone had broken people.
Long Chen looked down at his hands. Dragonfang rested against the wall, still sealed. The jade slips from the inheritance sat tucked in his robe.
Five weeks.
He could work with that.
"System," he said quietly. "Any recommendations?"
[Your current cultivation is so weak, you're like an ant here.]
[I'd recommend secluded training to learn and master the martial skills and cultivation art you got from that saint and breakthrough.]
[Lucky for you the cultivation realms are something you know since you wrote it yourself but just in case your bird brain forgot.]
[Body refining
Qi acquisition
Foundation establishment
Core condensation
King
Emperor
Saint
Sage
Immortal]
Long Chen rolled his eyes as the system went on and on, telling him things he already knew.
[At least, at the Qi acquisition stage you can fight against some of the geniuses of the clan.]
Long Chen nodded slowly. The back mountains were steep, isolated, and filled with low-rank spirit beasts. Servants weren't supposed to go there—it was technically outer disciple territory—but no one patrolled it seriously.
If he went now, he could train without interruption. Master the techniques from the inheritance. Push through to Qi Gathering, and come back stronger.
Strong enough to survive the gathering. Strong enough to impress the sect.
He grabbed a worn bag from under the mat and started packing. Dried rations he'd saved. A waterskin. The jade slips and the dragonfang, still wrapped.
Five minutes later, he slipped out of the servant quarters and into the pre-dawn darkness.
---
The back mountains were colder than he expected.
Long Chen found a cave halfway up the eastern ridge, hidden behind a waterfall that muffled sound and kept curious eyes away. The inside was dry, spacious enough to move, and far enough from the clan that no one would bother him.
Perfect.
He set Dragonfang against the wall, arranged his supplies, and sat cross-legged in the center.
The Heavenly Demon Cultivation Technique scroll unrolled in his mind, every word and diagram still fresh from the inheritance.
Body Refining was almost complete. Nine stages of tempering muscle, bone, and organ. But Qi Gathering was different. It required pulling spiritual energy from the surroundings and condensing it into liquid qi within the dantian.
Most people took months to break through. Some took years. Long Chen had five weeks to do it and master combat techniques on top of that.
He closed his eyes and the phantom of a celestial dragon appeared behind him, scales that glittered like the stars in the sky, wings that represented the freedom and pride of a dragon.
A strand of mysterious pressure appeared the moment he called out his martial spirit.
Spiritual energy hummed everywhere. In the air, in the rocks and in the water cascading outside. It was wild, chaotic, and untamed.
Roar!!
The dragon pulled.
The energy rushed in like a dam, Long chen already prepared, immediately circulated the spiritual Qi according to the Heavenly demon cultivation technique.
Hours passed.
Then days.
---
First week.
Long Chen's body ached in ways he didn't know were possible.
The breakthrough wasn't gentle. The spiritual energy fought him every step, tearing through pathways that weren't fully opened yet, burning through impurities he didn't know existed.
He gritted his teeth and kept going.
Between cultivation sessions, he trained with the techniques from the inheritance.
Heavenrend and Void-Splitting Strike—both sword techniques that required precise control and devastating power. He practiced the forms over and over, his borrowed blade cutting through empty air until his arms felt like lead.
Phantom Step came easier. His body already knew how to move, but refining it made the difference between survival and mastery. By the end of the week, he could cross the cave in three steps, barely disturbing the dust.
He hunted spirit beasts when he needed food. Low-rank ones, nothing too dangerous. Each fight sharpened his instincts, taught him how his body moved with cultivation backing it.
By the seventh day, the energy in his dantian was coalescing into a single drop of liquid qi.
Progress.
---
Second week.
The breakthrough came violently.
Long Chen was deep in meditation when the spiritual energy in his dantian compressed suddenly, forcefully. Pain shot through his core. He gasped, nearly losing focus, but held on.
The energy condensed further. One drop became two. Then five. Then ten.
His body trembled. Sweat poured down his face. His meridians burned as they expanded, adjusted, and restructured themselves to handle the new pressure.
Then it stopped.
Long Chen opened his eyes, breathing hard.
[Cultivation Advanced: Qi Gathering Stage 1.]