The promotion to Elite Disciple changed the very fabric of my existence within the Silent Path Pavilion. My new residence was a private stone courtyard located high on the mountain peaks where the air was thin and the Qi was dense enough to feel like a cold mist against my skin. The isolation was a luxury, but I knew it was also a cage built of high expectations. Most importantly, my jade token granted me entry into the restricted wing of the Central Archives, a place where the air smelled of ancient parchment and the heavy weight of secrets.
I stood before the massive, iron-reinforced doors of the Archive. Two stone statues of lions sat at the entrance, their eyes glowing with a faint, scanning light that made the hair on my arms stand up. To any other disciple, these were mere alarms or guardian deities. To my Heaven-Piercing Demon Eye, they were the anchors for a high-level Soul-Searching Formation, a complex web of spiritual sensors designed to detect the slightest hint of an unauthorized soul signature. I focused my right eye, watching the silver threads of the detection field ripple as I approached. I adjusted my internal Qi circulation to perfectly align with the resonance of the jade token in my hand, sliding through the detection field like a needle through silk.
The doors groaned open with the sound of grinding stone.
I bypassed the common sections of history and geography, heading straight for the Core Condensation vaults. Normally, a cultivator must progress through the Upper and Peak stages of the Meridian Foundation realm. These stages are designed to manually smooth the walls of the meridians and expand their capacity through years of trial and error. It is a slow, agonizing process of waiting for Qi to naturally stretch the channels without causing them to burst. Most spend a decade here, meticulously polishing their internal pathways until they are wide enough to facilitate the violent transition to a solid Core.
But I did not have years. The shadows of the Heaven's Gaze Pavilion were lengthening, and my family's blood was still fresh on my hands. My Insight of Ruin had allowed me to bypass the clock. Because I could see the microscopic flaws in my channels, I had already refined my meridians to a level of structural integrity that most Peak experts never achieve. My body was an engine with Middle Stage fuel but Peak Stage piping. I realized that if I was careful, I could skip the rest of the foundation and jump straight into the Core.
I knew this would be the only time I could ever skip stages. Once a Core is formed, the path becomes a rigid ladder. The Core defines the potential of the soul, and there would be no more shortcuts after this. If I succeeded, I would be a monster among men. If I failed, my body would become a crimson stain on the archive floor.
I searched the shelves until I found a dusty, black-bound manual tucked into a dark corner: The Nine-Fold Void Compression. I pulled it down, feeling the cold leather against my palms. Instantly, my Veilbreaker Sight revealed the truth. The manual was written in a deceptive cipher, a trap designed to kill anyone who tried to learn it without the proper spiritual key. But the key was not a password or a ritual; it was just a specific, counter-intuitive pattern of Qi circulation that I could see hidden beneath the ink like a ghost in the machine.
The technique was perfect. It did not just compress Qi; it folded the energy onto itself nine times, creating a Core of immense density that functioned like a miniature black hole within the body. The flaw, which the Eye made painfully obvious, was that a normal human body should not be able to handle that much internal pressure. The sheer vacuum created by the compression would normally implode the Dantian before the Core could stabilize.
"But my meridians are already flawless," I whispered to the shadows.
I sat on the cold stone floor, crossing my legs and entering a deep meditative state. I used my Heaven-Piercing Demon Eye to look inward, watching my Dantian. I saw the swirling mist of my Middle Meridian Foundation Qi, a vast sea of energy that I had spent the last few weeks purifying. Following the Nine-Fold Void Compression, I began the process.
The first fold was simple. I gathered the gaseous Qi and forced it into a tight sphere. The second and third folds followed, each increasing the pressure and the heat radiating from my stomach. The pain began as a dull ache, then sharpened into a white-hot needle.
By the fifth fold, the true danger began. My Dantian started to show hairline fractures under the unnatural weight of the compressed energy. Normally, this is where a cultivator would stop or die as their internal world shattered. But I could see the exact points of the fractures with my red eye. I used my Insight of Ruin in reverse, identifying the weakness in the cracks and flooding them with stabilized, high-density Qi to solder them shut before they could expand. I was rebuilding my body at the same speed it was being destroyed.
The sixth and seventh folds turned my blood into molten lead. My skin glowed a faint, angry red, and steam began to rise from my pores. I could feel the Archives trembling around me, the stone floor cracking beneath my weight as my internal gravity shifted.
Eighth Fold.
The pressure was screaming now. My red eye was bleeding, a single crimson tear rolling down my cheek. The heat was nearly blinding me, and my muscles tightened with the effort of holding my physical form together against the internal vacuum. My heart rate slowed to a crawl as my body diverted all life force to the Dantian.
Ninth Fold.
I let out a silent scream as the final layer of energy snapped into place. For a heartbeat, there was nothing but absolute, crushing darkness. Then, a sudden, terrifying silence filled my mind. The gaseous Qi was gone. In its place was a tiny, obsidian-black sphere, no larger than a grain of rice, spinning with such incredible speed that it created a localized pull of power. It was dense. It was heavy. It was perfect.
I had done it. Against all laws of cultivation and the established order of the Crimson Lotus Continent, I had jumped from the Middle Meridian Foundation to the Lower Core Condensation Stage.
I felt the power instantly. It was not like the mist-like Qi of the Meridian realm; this was liquid fire. Every breath I took was amplified; every movement was backed by the weight of a star. I felt as heavy as the mountain itself.
But as the Core solidified, the world outside responded. The sky above the Silent Path Pavilion did not remain blue. The clouds began to swirl into a dark, bruised vortex of purple and charcoal. I could feel the static in the air, the hair on my neck standing up as the Heavens detected the presence of something that should not exist.
Purple lightning began to crackle within the storm, a sound like the grinding of tectonic plates. The Heavens were not just watching; they were preparing to strike. This was the Heavenly Tribulation, the cosmic filter designed to prune the "Forbidden Beings" who dared to cheat the natural progression of reality.
I stood up, my dual-colored eyes glowing with a cold, predatory light. My left blue eye was sharp and calculating, while my right red eye blazed with the full, unbridled power of the Heaven-Piercing Demon Eye.
The Archives shook as the first roll of thunder struck the roof. I knew the Elders would be panicking, wondering what monster had been birthed in their restricted vaults. I didn't care about their politics or their fear. I walked toward the exit, my steps heavy, my obsidian Core humming a low, dark tune of defiance.
My path was set. I had skipped the ladder and leaped for the throat of the sky. I would face the lightning, I would survive the storm, and I would take exactly what I deserved from a world that had tried to take everything from me.
I pushed open the iron doors, stepping out into the courtyard just as the first bolt of violet lightning tore the sky in half. The rain hadn't started yet, but the air was thick with the scent of ozone and the impending end of the world.
"Come then," I whispered, looking up at the swirling vortex. "Show me the flaw in your judgment."
The sky answered with a roar that shattered the windows of the Archive. The Tribulation had begun, and for the first time in my life, I wasn't the one being hunted. I was the one standing my ground.