Chapter 32 — The Furnace and The Moon's Touch
The Feast of Fire
Long Tan was alone in the dark courtyard.
He looked down at the center of the garden.
There, resting in the black crater of the Vital Soil, lay the prize.
The Dragon-Blood Ginseng.
It was no longer a plant. It looked like a living organ torn from a beast.
It was the size of a human forearm. Its skin was a deep, violent crimson, translucent enough to see veins of liquid fire pulsing inside.
Thump... Thump... Thump.
The heartbeat of the root was so strong it vibrated against the ground.
"You are wild," Long Tan whispered. "But I am the Master."
He grabbed the root. It scorched his palm like a hot iron, but he didn't let go.
He brought it to his mouth.
CRUNCH.
It tasted like copper and sulfur.
Juice exploded in his mouth—thick, hot, and metallic.
He chewed grimly. The texture was tough, like raw muscle.
He swallowed.
The moment the chunk hit his stomach, his eyes widened.
It wasn't food. It was lava.
A ball of heat exploded in his gut. It didn't stay there. It shot through his veins like liquid fire, racing toward his fingertips and toes.
"Argh!"
Long Tan grunted, taking another bite.
He forced himself to eat faster. If he stopped now, the pain would make him quit. He had to consume it all.
He took a third bite. A fourth.
Tears streamed down his face, evaporating instantly on his burning cheeks.
He shoved the last piece into his mouth, swallowing the tail of the root whole.
The Sensation of Bursting
For ten seconds, there was silence.
Long Tan sat cross-legged in the mud.
Then, the Dragon-Blood woke up.
BOOM.
It felt like a grenade had detonated inside his stomach.
"RRRAAAAGH!"
Long Tan threw his head back and screamed. It wasn't a human scream; it was the sound of an animal being burned alive.
The energy rampaged through him. It ignored his meridians. It smashed into his organs, his bones, his blood vessels.
His heart began to hammer.
Thump-thump-thump-thump.
It beat so fast it became a blur.
"Hot... too hot!"
Long Tan clawed at his chest, tearing his shirt to shreds.
His skin turned from red to a terrifying purple.
His veins bulged out, looking like thick blue worms crawling under his skin. They pulsed violently, expanding to twice their normal size.
He felt like a balloon that was being inflated past its limit.
The pressure inside his skull was immense. His eyes felt like they were being pushed out of their sockets.
The blood rushing in his ears sounded like a waterfall.
He wasn't absorbing the energy. He was drowning in it.
His 700 Jin body was a small cup, and the Ginseng was a bucket of molten lead.
The Wall at 900
"Circulate!" Long Tan roared at himself. "Move!"
He tried to force the energy into his muscles.
750 Jin...
His muscles tore. The heat cauterized them instantly, sending bolts of blinding agony through his limbs.
800 Jin...
His bones creaked. The marrow inside them felt like it was boiling.
Long Tan gasped, coughing up a mouthful of black, steaming blood.
850 Jin...
His vision went white. The pain was no longer physical; it was consuming his mind. He couldn't think. He couldn't breathe.
He was burning from the inside out.
900 Jin.
He hit the wall.
He tried to push further, to reach the 1,000 Jin limit, but his body seized up.
The energy was too chaotic. It was eating him alive.
He fell onto his back in the mud.
The mud hissed and dried instantly upon touching his skin.
He was a furnace. His consciousness was fading. If he passed out now, the energy would consume him. He would burn to ash.
"I can't..." Long Tan thought, his mind drifting into darkness. "It's too much."
The Moon's Touch
Creak.
The heavy wooden door opened.
Long Tan tried to shout, "Stay back!" but only a wheeze came out.
Su Lan ran into the courtyard.
She saw him writhing in the mud, his skin purple, steam pouring from his nose and mouth. He looked like a demon on the verge of exploding.
She didn't run away. She ran to him.
"Tan!"
She fell to her knees in the mud beside him.
She reached out to touch him.
The heat radiating off him was intense enough to blister her skin, but she didn't pull back.
"You are burning," she cried. "You are too full of Fire!"
She remembered the cultivation manual.
Sun-Moon Breathing.
He was the Sun (Yang). She was the Moon (Yin).
Yang is fire. Yin is water.
When the fire burns too hot, only water can cool it.
"I am here," Su Lan whispered.
She placed her cold, trembling hands on his burning chest.
She didn't try to take his power.
She closed her eyes and activated her own technique.
Moon Breathing.
She drew in the cold, Yin energy of the night air. She didn't keep it. She pushed it out through her palms, directly into Long Tan's heart.
The Perfect Harmony
Hiss.
When her Yin energy touched his Yang fire, it didn't just cool him down.
It created a reaction.
Inside Long Tan's body, the violent, chaotic Dragon fire met the calm, cooling Moon water.
Instead of fighting, they swirled together.
Yin and Yang.
The fire stopped burning his flesh and started tempering it.
Long Tan gasped. His eyes flew open.
The pain vanished.
The feeling of "bursting" was replaced by a feeling of infinite density.
The energy wasn't running wild anymore. Su Lan's Qi was guiding it, acting like a riverbed for the flood.
"It's working," Long Tan rasped. "Don't stop, Lan!"
He sat up, grabbing Su Lan's hands.
He channeled the Sun-Moon Breathing at full power.
With Su Lan as his anchor, he grabbed the massive energy of the Ginseng and slammed it against the final barrier.
The Birth of a Master
900 Jin...
The energy compressed. It became heavy, like mercury.
950 Jin...
His bones popped loudly, one by one, realigning into a perfect structure.
Black sludge—the impurities of his mortal body—oozed out of his pores, pushed out by the sheer pressure of the energy.
990 Jin...
"BREAK!" Long Tan and Su Lan shouted together.
BOOM.
A shockwave blasted out from Long Tan's body.
The snow in the entire courtyard evaporated instantly.
The air rippled.
1,000 Jin.
Long Tan felt the invisible shackles of mortality shatter.
He wasn't just strong anymore. He had evolved.
The energy settled in his Dantian (lower stomach), forming a stable, swirling vortex of power.
The Morning After
The sun began to rise over the village walls.
Long Tan slowly stood up.
The dried black sludge fell off his skin like a shell, revealing the new form underneath.
He was taller. His shoulders were broader. His skin was pale and smooth like jade, but hard as iron.
He didn't look like a starving hunter anymore.
He looked like a King.
He looked at Su Lan, who was slumped on the ground, exhausted but smiling.
He picked her up with one arm—she felt as light as a feather.
"We did it," Long Tan whispered, feeling the raw power surging through his veins. "We broke the ceiling."
He clenched his fist. The air popped inside his palm with a sharp crack.
He was a Third Grade Martial Artist.
The struggle was over. The hunt could now begin.
[AUTHOR'S NOTE]
The Third Grade! 🏆
Long Tan has officially crossed the threshold!
Old Strength: 630 Jin.
New Strength: 1,000 Jin (Third Grade Warrior).
The Key: It wasn't just the Ginseng. It was Su Lan. Without her Moon Qi balancing his Sun Qi, he would have exploded.
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