Two figures stood silently on a tree branch in the backyard of the Li family estate. The night was dark and quiet, perfect for what they were about to do. One of them spoke in a low voice.
"It looks like it's here. The son of the Divine Sword, the holy son. Hehe."
The second assassin nodded, a cruel smile on his face.
"It takes no real effort to even get inside. The defenses seem light enough. Let's go."
Both of them jumped down from the branch and moved quickly toward the seclusion grounds. But the moment their feet touched the earth, a subtle sensing technique picked up their presence.
Inside his chamber, Fang Ren was still deep in cultivation, on the verge of a major breakthrough in his cultivation base. The surge of energy was immense. The moment he detected the intruders, he opened his eyes slightly.
Who is it, at such a time in the night? No one should be coming here right now. I was just about to pass through a mid-stage breakthrough.
Forcing someone to stop mid-breakthrough could cause serious damage—meridian ruptures, qi backlash, even death. He decided to ignore the intruders and push his concentration further, focusing on completing the breakthrough safely.
Outside his chamber, the assassins were already moving. One of them spoke to the other in whispers.
"You set the sealing marks and seal this entire area. I'll go check if anyone else is around."
The first assassin approached Fang Ren's room. He could see the lights were still on inside, which meant someone was awake. But as he got closer, he sensed something —a surge of residual energy that could only mean one thing. The boy inside was going through a breakthrough.
He turned back to his partner and nodded.
"He seems to be undergoing a breakthrough right now."
The second assassin stepped forward, his hand already reaching for something in his pocket.
"Let me see if he's really having a breakthrough or just faking it. What if he's acting and waiting for us?"
He pulled out a poisoned dart. But his partner quickly grabbed his wrist and stopped him.
"If we attack while he's in the middle of breakthrough, he'll either die or suffer permanent mental damage. That's not part of our plan. We need him alive as a hostage."
The second assassin reluctantly put the dart away.
"Fine, as you say. I won't attack him right now."
Suddenly, there was a sharp sound—Screeeech—that cut through the night. Both assassins froze and turned toward Fang Ren's chamber. The lights inside had gone completely dark.
"What was that?" the first assassin whispered.
"What happened? I can't even sense any qi anymore. Did the breakthrough fail?" the second one asked, confused.
The first one shook his head slowly.
"If it failed, he would be coughing blood right now. But something strange has happened here. It's like... there's no one inside at all now."
The second assassin moved toward the door and pressed his ear against it, listening carefully. He heard nothing.
"Let's go inside and check."
"Hey, wait—"
But the second assassin had already made his decision. He kicked the door, breaking it open with a loud crash.
"Kid, I know you've seen us come in, so why don't you come out and—"
A single flash of blue lightning cut through the darkness like a blade. It passed directly through his forehead, leaving a charred hole in its wake. His body went rigid and fell to the ground like a wooden mannequin, completely lifeless.
The first assassin rushed to check on his partner, his movements panicked and desperate.
"No, no, no—"
Fang Ren stepped out from the shadows, eyes glowing with residual lightning energy. His expression was calm and cold despite the violence that had just occurred.
"You guys are quite bold, I'll give you that. To intrude inside a great clan's seclusion grounds and even attempt kidnapping while knowing exactly what happened yesterday. That takes some real confidence."
The first assassin jumped back, his hand immediately reaching for a weapon.
"Who the hell are you? Come out and fight properly!"
Fang Ren walked forward slowly, with deliberate movements. "Who the hell? Don't you even remember your target's name? You entered uninvited in the middle of the night, and now you're asking who I am. Well, aren't you dumb?"
Trained assassins, huh? And there are six more hiding in the shadows around this place.
The assassin's eyes widened in confusion and fear.
"How... why can't I feel your aura at all?"
"So the technique is working as intended," Fang Ren said with a slight smile.
He was completely bewildered, not understanding what was happening.
"Well, since you're going to die anyway, I might as well tell you. Have you heard of the Dissipation Technique? Many top-tier assassination sect members use this method to hide their presence from detection."
The assassin's face went pale.
"But we were told it was just a ten-year-old kid."
"That's technically true though. My body might not look like it, but the age is accurate,"
"And since you've already sealed this area, no one will come in and no one will hear what happens. That means I can finally go all out."
Fang Ren let out all his accumulated qi in one massive burst. The pressure was overwhelming, and the ground beneath them began to crack from the sheer force of his power.
For his first move, he simply threw a single punch. The impact was devastating—the entire training grounds shattered around them, the impact crater spreading outward like a shockwave.
"It was so fucking cool!!..umm.. but the destruction is problematic," Fang Ren said looking at the damage.
[KILLED 2 CULTIST INTRUDERS - SECLUSION INTERFERENCE REWARD]
[DEMONIC BODY ASSIMILATION ABSORPTION TECHNIQUE ACQUIRED]
[Any or everything the host has killed can be absorbed and slowly increase cultivation]
Is this like offscreen cultivation? But it's definitely scary now. If someone finds out I'm using demonic techniques to dispose of corpses, that would be a serious problem.
He approached the two bodies and activated the newly acquired technique. Both corpses slowly dissolved and were absorbed into his body, leaving no trace behind. He then found a letter tucked into one of their pockets and examined it.
A vicious plan indeed. If they'd released that poison smoke mist here, a lot of people would have died, and some would have even lost their cultivation entirely.
He went back inside his chamber and closed the broken door as best he could. The assassination attempt had actually confirmed something important.
"So the competition's attempts from our side were somewhat successful since they managed to reach here and try to attack. It's a relief that my breakthrough finished so quickly, or else my death would have been imminent."
*****
Ten days passed quickly in the seclusion chamber. Fang Ren had been receiving countless system rewards, and they were accumulating at an impressive rate.
"This system has rewarded me so many pills now. Should I sell these or keep them?" he wondered aloud, looking at the massive stockpile he'd gathered.
The amount of low-grade and mid-grade pills he'd collected was absurd. He couldn't possibly use all of them himself even if he trained for decades since they will not add much to his current realm, he needed high-grade or even supreme-grade resources.
"There are also weapons too. Like this Spear of Heavens, or the Bloodthunder Sword, but external items aren't what's really important right now. What matters is that I can now see my meridians and apertures."
By cultivating and observing carefully, he'd learned to visualize his meridian system and his primeval sea—the reservoir of his soul and spiritual power. He could see its quantity, color, and even the resistance of the spiritual barriers within it.
"The beginning was just black, so I didn't know what I was looking at. But later I understood when light started flickering and began forming a core. It kept getting brighter and brighter every time, finally lighting up the whole place," he explained as if teaching someone.
"After that, small particles about the size of atoms formed. It was like evolution. Then it evolved to something the size of a grain of sand. Maybe it's blue because of my thunder attribute."
He looked at his recent rewards and picked up one specific book.
"The Book of Immortal Stone from two days ago. It helps calm the mind and increase both physical and spiritual defense. It also helped me understand more about this primeval sea. It's apparently a soul defense technique."
At this point, the system's consecutive seclusion rewards were coming in like a trail, one after another, each one increasing a different aspect of his cultivation and power.
"Every arrangement this system has made is very scientific and methodical. Normally, people need constant teaching to know what to learn and when to learn it. But this system seems to be nurturing me directly, one aspect at a time."
He opened the log of the defense technique on his system interface and started reading through it carefully.
"This is quite a powerful technique. The book says that even people at the Emperor realm use this. So I don't have to worry about learning any more defense techniques. I can use the rest of my time to refine the Celestial Light Bending Technique teachings instead."
Meanwhile, outside the seclusion grounds, the cult had been quietly working to expand their influence. They'd been attacking various small sects scattered across the region, capturing territories and slowly increasing their power base.
In the main halls of the Li family estate, Li Juntian was furious. He paced back and forth while talking to several ministers and elders.
"Damned cultists! Aren't the demonic sects and unorthodox cultivators enough of a problem? Now we have to deal with this cult organization spreading across our lands. Let's see how long they keep running free before we hunt them all down."
A night passed. Fang Ren was sleeping peacefully in his bed, exhausted from his day of cultivation and training. But then something woke him up. A few watery drops fell directly on his face.
He stirred slightly, confused and groggy.
"Hmm? Who is it? What now?"
He tried to change position and go back to sleep. But then he felt something lick his face, leaving a wet trail across his cheek.
"You fucking—" he started to curse, but then the sensation came again.
He jolted awake suddenly, eyes flying open.
"Uhhh... wasn't I just taking a short nap? When did I fall asleep?"
He touched his face, feeling the wetness.
"What is this sticky... thing on my face? Oh no, did someone actually get past the defenses and—"
A small sound interrupted his panicking thought.
"Kooo—"
Fang Ren's eyes went wide as he saw a small creature the size of his palm perched on his chest. Its feathers shimmered with colors of red, gold, and orange, and it looked at him with intelligent, curious eyes.
"Whooooa, what the actual fuck!!"
[DUE TO HOST'S CONTINUOUS CULTIVATION AND REGULAR BREAKTHROUGHS]
[REWARD: SPIRIT BEAST PHOENIX - UNFETTERED GROWTH POTENTIAL]
What, a spirit beast? Really?
The beast was incredibly small right now, barely about the size of his palm, but according to the system message, it was a true Phoenix. That meant its growth potential was limitless. As Fang Ren advanced in cultivation, so too would the Phoenix grow in power alongside him.
"This is such a lottery. I never expected to get a companion beast just from cultivation breakthroughs," he said in wonder while extending his finger to let the small Phoenix perch on it.
The tiny bird chirped and rubbed its head against his hand.