Pain became routine.
Li Yun learned this within three days of Yan Zhen's departure.
His body should have been bedridden. Ribs fractured, meridians overstressed, internal Qi flow damaged from repeated suppression under Foundation Establishment pressure. Any ordinary Qi Condensation cultivator would have spent weeks recovering.
Li Yun did not.
He sat cross-legged in his room, blood-stained bandages wrapped tightly around his torso, breathing slow and deliberate as Qi circulated through every meridian.
Each cycle burned.
Each breath scraped like broken glass.
But his Qi did not scatter.
It settled.
Yan Zhen's strikes had done more than injure him—they had compressed his foundation. Where Qi once surged violently, it now gathered with weight, pressing inward, demanding structure.
Li Yun opened his eyes.
This is the threshold, he realized.
This is where people break.
A Sect That Tightens Its Grip
The Black Crane Sect did not give him time to stabilize.
On the fourth day, a public announcement echoed across the inner compound.
"All inner disciple candidates are to participate in rotational missions. Refusal will be treated as defiance."
Li Yun felt it immediately.
This wasn't coincidence.
This was pressure.
Mu Qian appeared at his door shortly after.
"They're dispersing us," she said quietly. "Breaking alliances before they form."
Li Yun nodded.
"And assigning risks selectively."
Mu Qian studied him.
"You're on the highest-risk list," she said bluntly. "Border suppression. Rogue cultivators. Demonic beasts."
Li Yun stood.
"Good."
Mu Qian exhaled slowly.
"Careful," she said. "This isn't a test. It's attrition."
Li Yun met her gaze.
"So am I."
Mission: Broken Valley
The Broken Valley lay beyond sect territory, a scar of jagged stone and twisted Qi where multiple ley lines had collapsed decades earlier. Cultivation here was unstable. Beasts mutated. Techniques misfired.
Perfect for accidents.
Li Yun arrived with a temporary team of four.
None met his eyes.
They knew his reputation.
They also knew what happened to people associated with him.
The mission was simple: eliminate a rogue cultivator preying on nearby villages.
The reality was not.
They found the remains first.
Bodies drained dry, meridians torn apart.
"Blood-path cultivator," one disciple muttered.
Li Yun crouched beside a corpse, fingers brushing the wound edges.
"Not blood-path," he said calmly. "Devouring Qi."
The others stiffened.
"That's worse," someone whispered.
They didn't argue.
They followed him.
The Hunter Appears
The ambush came at dusk.
The air twisted violently, Qi spiraling as a figure emerged from behind fractured stone. His body was thin, eyes sunken, mouth stained dark.
Qi Condensation — Late Stage.
But distorted.
"Fresh disciples," the man crooned. "Sect Qi tastes… refined."
Two disciples panicked immediately.
One ran.
The cultivator laughed and flicked his fingers.
The fleeing disciple collapsed mid-step, Qi ripped violently from his body. He hit the ground lifeless.
The remaining two froze.
Li Yun stepped forward.
"Spread out," he said evenly.
They didn't.
Fear locked them in place.
The rogue lunged.
Li Yun met him head-on.
Qi Against Hunger
The first clash shattered stone.
The rogue cultivator's Qi was chaotic, invasive, trying to latch onto Li Yun's meridians and tear energy free. Li Yun grimaced as foreign Qi scraped through his channels like hooks.
So this is devouring cultivation…
He didn't retreat.
He forced his Qi inward, compressing, sealing his meridians partially. The jade-tempered foundation resisted intrusion, grinding against the invader.
The rogue hissed.
"Interesting…"
Li Yun struck.
His fist landed squarely in the man's chest, jade-aligned Qi detonating outward. The rogue staggered but didn't fall, laughing as he countered with a palm strike that sent Li Yun skidding backward.
Pain flared.
But something else did too.
Clarity.
Li Yun stopped trying to overpower.
He stabilized.
Circulated.
Condensed.
Each movement became deliberate.
Each strike heavier.
The rogue frowned as his devouring technique slowed, resisted by Li Yun's increasingly rigid Qi structure.
"You're turning yourself into stone," the rogue spat.
Li Yun met his gaze.
"Yes."
He stepped in and unleashed Jade Severing Slash—not violently, not wildly.
Controlled.
The blade of Qi cut through the rogue's technique, through flesh, through meridians.
The man screamed once.
Then fell.
Silence returned to the valley.
Aftermath Without Applause
The two surviving disciples stared.
"You… killed him alone," one whispered.
Li Yun wiped blood from his hand.
"Leave," he said.
They didn't argue.
Li Yun burned the corpse himself, watching the twisted Qi disperse into nothing.
His chest rose and fell slowly.
Inside, his Qi pulsed—dense, compressed, almost… complete.
Closer, he thought.
Return and Repercussion
The sect received the mission report without comment.
No praise.
No reward.
Only another assignment posted the next morning.
Higher risk.
Closer to the edge.
Elder Wei's hand was unmistakable.
Elder Fang did not intervene.
Not yet.
Li Yun understood.
They're waiting to see if I crack.
Night Cultivation
That night, Li Yun cultivated until dawn.
He sat amid cracked stone, sweat and blood soaking his robes as Qi pressed inward, trying to cross a barrier that refused to yield.
Foundation Establishment was no longer distant.
It loomed.
But his body resisted.
His meridians held.
He exhaled slowly.
Not yet.
Stone doesn't rush.
A Quiet Acknowledgment
Mu Qian left a single item outside his door the next morning.
A mid-grade spirit stone.
No note.
Li Yun stared at it for a long moment.
Then took it.
Not as trust.
As acknowledgment.
The Sect Watches
High above, Elder Fang listened to the report in silence.
"Another success," the attendant said. "No casualties besides the rogue."
Elder Fang nodded.
"And his condition?"
"Worsening," the attendant replied. "Or… stabilizing."
Elder Fang's lips curved faintly.
"Good."
Elsewhere, Elder Wei's patience thinned.
"He survives attrition," Elder Wei said coldly. "Then sharpen it."
The Man Who Refuses to Crack
Li Yun stood at the edge of the inner compound as the sun rose.
Below him, the Black Crane Sect stirred—schemes turning, knives hidden, pressure building.
He felt it all.
And still—
He stood.
His Qi circulated steadily, heavy and quiet.
Foundation Establishment is coming, he thought.
And when it arrives…
He clenched his fist.
I won't bend.