The room was quiet.
So quiet that I could hear my own heartbeat echoing in my ears.
I sat cross-legged on the bed, spine straight, palms resting lightly on my knees. The faint glow of spiritual light seeped through the cracks of the wooden window, but I paid it no attention. My focus was entirely inward.
On the system panel floating before me, a familiar reward pulsed softly.
Verdant Dew (White).
I exhaled slowly.
Then, without hesitation, I clicked it.
The moment it activated, a surge of pure spiritual energy flooded into my body.
Not a gentle flow.
A storm.
It rushed through my meridians like a sudden tide, roaring as it poured into my dantian. The spiritual mist inside churned violently, waves crashing against the inner boundary.
My dantian swelled.
Not expanded.
Resisted.
A deep pressure bloomed in my abdomen, as if an invisible wall were pushing back with stubborn defiance. The mist thickened, compressed, and began to spiral faster and faster, but the boundary refused to break.
My brows knit together.
"…Still not enough."
The resistance was clear.
What stood before me now was the threshold of the late stage—a realm that demanded more than steady accumulation. It demanded decisive force.
I didn't hesitate.
I activated two Verdant Dew rewards at once.
The effect was immediate.
The spiritual energy didn't merely surge—it exploded.
My dantian trembled violently. The pressure skyrocketed, my meridians humming as if strained to their limit. The spiritual mist compressed so tightly that it almost seemed to liquefy.
Then—
Boom.
Something shattered.
The invisible shackles restraining my cultivation broke apart like brittle glass.
A wave of relief and exhilaration surged through me as my dantian expanded violently.
from Eighteen meters to.
Nineteen.
Twenty.
Twenty-one.
Only when it reached twenty-one meters did the expansion finally slow and stabilize.
I let out a long, trembling breath.
But before I could even savor the breakthrough.
Something else stirred.
A gentle force peeled away from the dantian, warm and soothing, unlike the violent surge of spiritual energy. It flowed upward through my meridians, past my chest, past my throat..
And entered my Mindspace.
My consciousness sank inward instinctively.
Inside the vast, quiet void of my mindspace, my soul floated calmly, luminous and steady. The incoming force wrapped around it like warm water, merging seamlessly, strengthening its core.
This was it.
The soul enhancement granted by stepping into the late Qi Refining stage.
I did not waste a single breath.
I immediately began the Divine Soul Nourishing Art.
My physical hands moved in precise, ancient gestures.
And before me, my soul mirrored every movement perfectly.
Slow.
Controlled.
Focused.
Soul energy gathered.
Condensed.
Before my soul, a familiar process began.
The outline of a sword appeared.
At first, it was nothing more than a faint silhouette blurred, unstable, barely holding form. Compared to the first time, this condensation was far more demanding. The resistance was stronger, the strain deeper.
Time stretched.
My will began to fray.
The outline wavered, flickering as if it might collapse at any moment.
My breathing grew heavier.
A dull ache throbbed behind my temples.
Just as my focus began to slip.
A cool sensation bloomed against my chest.
The pendant.
Its gentle chill spread outward, flowing up my neck, into my head, and finally washing over my Mindspace like a calming tide.
My thoughts cleared.
The haze lifted.
My soul steadied.
"Not yet…" I murmured silently. "You're not breaking now."
Reinvigorated, I pressed on.
The sword's outline sharpened.
Its blade grew straighter.
Denser.
More defined.
Sweat rolled down my forehead, soaking into my clothes as the final stage dragged on. Every second felt like an eternity. My jaw clenched, teeth grinding as I poured every last shred of will into the forging.
Finally—
The sword solidified.
Transparent.
Tangible.
Sharp.
The second Soul Sword was completely formed .
I opened my eyes abruptly.
"Hah…"
Air rushed into my lungs as if I had been holding my breath for hours. My chest rose and fell rapidly, heart pounding hard enough to shake my ribs.
Exhaustion crashed over me all at once.
I could feel sweat clinging to my skin, mixed with faint impurities forced out by the breakthrough, but I didn't move to clean myself. Instead, I lay back, staring at the ceiling, letting the fatigue wash over me.
After a while, I activated the robe's cleaning function.
Warmth.
Then coolness.
The grime vanished, leaving my body refreshed and light.
I sat up again and closed my eyes.
Back into the Mindspace.
Two soul swords were floating around my soul.
They revolved slowly, silently, like celestial guardians—forming a layered defense that radiated killing intent sharp enough to tear apart any foreign intrusion.
A quiet sense of security settled in my chest.
Withdrawing from the mindspace, I shifted my awareness to my dantian.
Twenty-one meters.
And every meter felt… larger than the last.
I frowned slightly.
This wasn't linear growth.
It felt more like ripples spreading outward on still water—each expansion requiring exponentially more energy than the one before.
If I had to quantify it…
In sheer mana reserves, I might already rival early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators.
The thought made me exhale slowly.
"Ridiculous…"
And yet, the cost to fill it also increased dramatically.
I summoned the system panel again.
Verdant Dew (White) ×4.
After a moment's hesitation, I activated two more.
The familiar surge came again vast, pure, and forceful.
Yet this time, even with two Verdant Dew rewards activated together, the effect was noticeably weaker. The spiritual energy roared into my dantian, churning the mist violently, but when everything settled, the result was… underwhelming.
Only half of the nineteenth meter had been filled.
I stared inward for a long moment.
Then I laughed softly, the sound carrying a hint of helpless amusement.
"This consumption…" I muttered, rubbing my forehead. "At this rate, even a mountain of resources wouldn't last long."
The reality was becoming clearer by the day. My path was no longer one that ordinary cultivation methods could sustain. Every breakthrough demanded an absurd amount of energy, and every expansion widened the gap further.
"I'll have to plan ahead," I thought quietly. "Expand the fields. Increase output. Otherwise, I'll eventually choke on by my own growth."
The thought of the five mu of abandoned land surfaced in my mind.
But ambition alone wasn't enough.
If I couldn't show tangible progress, convincing the chief to entrust me with more land would be nothing more than empty talk. No one cared how promising I was, or how confident I sounded.
Results spoke louder than potential.
And words, no matter how well spoken, were lighter than grain weighed on a scale.
I exhaled slowly, the faint smile fading from my lips.
"Then I'll give them results."
Only then would the road ahead truly open.
I calmed myself and began stabilizing my cultivation with spirit stones, guiding the energy carefully by practicing the Longevity breathing technique cycle by cycle, adjusting my strength until everything settled into perfect balance.
-----
When I finally opened my eyes again, the room was wrapped in silence.
Dark.
Midnight had long since passed.
I rose slowly and stepped into the backyard, the wooden door closing behind me with a soft creak. Cool air washed over my skin, carrying the faint scent of soil and night-blooming grass.
Above me, the sky stretched without end.
Deep. Vast. Boundless.
Countless stars were scattered across it like fragments of shattered light. My gaze wandered aimlessly at first, until it stopped.
One star stood out.
Its glow carried a faint purple hue, subtle yet unmistakable, brighter than the others around it. It pulsed gently, as if breathing.
For reasons I couldn't explain, my chest tightened.
A familiar face surfaced in my mind.
Gentle eyes.
A calm smile.
Someone I hadn't thought about in a long time… or perhaps someone I had never truly forgotten.
So close in memory.
So distant in reality.
Unreachable.
I didn't move.
I simply stood there beneath the starlight, letting the night breeze brush past me, tugging lightly at my robes. Within me, two soul swords revolved in silent vigilance, guarding my mind. My ever-expanding dantian hummed steadily, overflowing with power.
Yet despite all of that
My heart remained human.
Slowly,
It ached.
It remembered the loss.
The face remained buried deep within his mind.
No matter how much time passed, he could not forget it the pale, gentle voice that still clung desperately to life… and those eyes that had slowly lost their light.
A sudden pain surged within him without warning, sharp and suffocating, as if something had clenched around his heart. His vision blurred, warmth gathering at the corners of his eyes despite his efforts to suppress it.
Some wounds never faded.
They only waited.
Slowly that pain started to transform...
If anyone had seen Shen Yuan at that moment, they would have been terrified.
His pupils burned crimson, madness and killing intent churning within them like a storm barely held in check. It was the kind of gaze that spoke of things that would be repaid in full, without mercy. The kind of look that made people pray they were never on the receiving end of whatever fate awaited.
For a brief instant, even I felt myself slipping.
Then,
A cool sensation bloomed against my chest.
The pendant activated.
Cold clarity poured into my mind, washing over the raging emotions, suppressing the murderous intent before it could fully erupt. The storm didn't vanish, but it settled, sinking deep into silence.
I exhaled slowly, gripping the pendant in my hand, letting the breath dissolve into the night air.
"Tomorrow…"
The word was heavy.
Tomorrow, the real harvest would arrive.
The harvest I had waited for...
Five long years.
Not grain.
Not rewards.
But the harvest of debts.
Blood debts.
The proof that everything I had endured every loss, every scar, every silent night had not been in vain.