The sky above Jianghai that afternoon showed no signs of peace. Clumps of gray clouds hung low, holding the aroma of rain that hadn't yet fallen. In an abandoned industrial area on the outskirts of the city, Lin Xuan stood alone in the middle of a large old warehouse. Dust motes danced in the slivers of sunlight entering through the leaking roof. This was where he planned to build the nerve center for his new business, an entity he named Aura Nexus.
However, physical reality seemed to be rejecting his vision. Since morning, Lin Xuan had received reports that seven of the largest material vendors and three main construction companies suddenly canceled contracts unilaterally. The Lin family name had become a red zone in the Jianghai market.
This was not just a coincidence, but a frequency of rejection collectively sent by the Nine Heavens Consortium.
"Xuan, we can't keep this up," Lin Haifeng's voice echoed off the empty warehouse walls. His father arrived with a face that looked ten years older in just a few hours.
"Not a single paint store is willing to sell their brushes to us. They're afraid of Zhang Wei's shadow. Maybe we should give up on this location and look for a place outside the city."
Lin Xuan turned slowly. His hands touched the cold concrete pillar. "Father, if you run from a shadow, you will only get tired from running. The shadow will keep following you as long as you turn your back on the light."
"But this is reality, Xuan! We need cement, we need steel!" his father exclaimed, showing his phone full of rejection messages.
Lin Xuan did not look at the phone screen. Instead, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and performed inner synchronization. In his mind, he did not see the empty warehouse—instead, he saw a magnificent technology center. In fact, he did not feel a rejection, but a wave of people begging to cooperate.
"When all doors are closed, don't waste your energy knocking on them, Father. Build your own door, and let the world beg to enter," Lin Xuan said with a tone so stable that the vibration of his voice seemed to calm the flying dust motes.
"But how?"
"Invite them all here. This afternoon. The vendors, the contractors, and even those who have canceled their contracts. Tell them the Lin family will make an offer that the Consortium cannot match."
At five in the afternoon, about twenty men in suits and work clothes stood awkwardly in the dimly lit warehouse. They came not out of respect, but out of curiosity—and some wanted to see the Lin family's destruction firsthand.
Among the crowd, Lin Xuan saw several eyes shining with malicious intent. Sure enough, in the corner of the shadows, a group of men in dark jackets seemed ready. They were Zhang Wei's minions, sent to ensure this meeting ended in tragedy.
Lin Xuan stood on a small wooden platform. "Thank you for coming. I know you are all under pressure to stay away from us. You are afraid of losing contracts, you are afraid of bankruptcy."
"We are not afraid, Young Master Lin," one steel vendor shouted cynically. "We are just logical. Who wants to do business with dead people?"
Just as the sentence was finished, a small explosion was heard from the back door. Someone had thrown a molotov. In seconds, fire ignited a pile of dry wood and cleaning chemicals left in the warehouse. Black smoke began to fill the room.
Panic broke out. People ran toward the exit, but the main door was suddenly locked from the outside. The vendors screamed in fear, some tried to put out the fire with their jackets, but the fire grew even larger, licking the warehouse ceiling.
Lin Haifeng frantically grabbed a small bucket of dirty water in the corner of the room. "Xuan! Help Father! We must put it out!"
Lin Xuan remained standing in his place, he did not move. However, he saw the fire not as a disaster, but as a manifestation of Zhang Wei's anger and mental chaos sent to test him.
"Fire is energy. Heat is vibration," Lin Xuan murmured to himself.
He closed his eyes, visualizing the oxygen atoms around the fire becoming cold and still. He applied the Law of Energy Transmutation. He did not fight fire with water, but fought the chaos of fire with his absolute inner order.
Lin Xuan began to step. He walked slowly toward the center of the blaze blocking the exit. The vendors yelled warnings at him, thinking he was committing suicide. However, a strange phenomenon occurred.
Every time Lin Xuan took a step, the fire seemed to retreat. The tongues of fire that had been licking fiercely suddenly bowed, as if there was a very strong atmospheric pressure suppressing the blaze until it died. He walked through the black smoke without coughing even a little bit, his aura so cold that the people around him felt their hair stand on end.
When he reached the door, he placed his hand on the burning iron padlock. With one gentle touch, the iron cracked and the door opened. Fresh air entered, and the fire behind him suddenly went out, leaving only small embers that were no longer dangerous.
A chilling silence enveloped the warehouse. The vendors stared at Lin Xuan with a sense of horror mixed with worship.
Lin Xuan turned, looking at them one by one with sharp, gleaming eyes. "You are afraid of the Consortium because you think they hold your lives. But look at this fire—it died not because of water, but because it lost the will to burn in my presence. So too are your enemies. They are only as strong as the fear you give them."
Lin Xuan continued with a weighty voice, each word feeling like a hammer hitting a nail. "Starting today, whoever chooses to stand on the Lin family's side will not only gain material profit, but they will be under the protection of a frequency that cannot be touched by any fire in this city. Now, choose... do you want to remain a slave to fear, or become the architect of the future with me?"
One by one, the vendors bowed their heads. They realized that the young man in front of them was no longer an ordinary human.
After the crowd dispersed and new contract promises had been signed on the smoke-smelling paper, the rain finally fell heavily. Lin Xuan stood outside the warehouse, letting the rainwater wet his face.
Under the dim street light, he saw a woman's silhouette standing near his car, Han Seo-Ah. The woman looked drenched, her silk dress clinging to her body, and her face filled with deep anxiety.
Lin Xuan approached, took off his black coat that was still dry inside, and draped it over Seo-Ah's shoulders. The touch made Seo-Ah flinch slightly, but she did not refuse.
"You shouldn't be here, Seo-Ah," Lin Xuan said softly.
"My family... they are participating in the boycott, Xuan," Seo-Ah's voice trembled, almost covered by the sound of the rain. "I tried to stop it, but my father wouldn't listen. He said you were a disturbance that must be removed. They have sent an Executor from the Nine Heavens. Someone much more dangerous than Master Mo."
Lin Xuan looked into Seo-Ah's teary eyes. He saw sincerity there, a pure vibration trying to fight the current of her own family's darkness.
"You are not responsible for your family's sins, Seo-Ah," Lin Xuan touched a wet strand of her hair. "And you don't need to be afraid of me. Happiness is not something you wait for to come. It is something you create by bravely refusing what destroys your soul. You have done your part by coming here."
Han Seo-Ah looked at him with full entreaty. "Leave Jianghai, Xuan. Before it's too late."
Lin Xuan smiled thinly. "Too late for them, maybe. But for me, this has just begun."
That night, in Zhang Wei's luxurious office in the city center, the atmosphere was quite the opposite. Zhang Wei was pouring whiskey with a trembling hand when the televisions in his office suddenly broadcast breaking news.
A famous investigative journalist reported findings of large-scale tax fraud documents and money laundering involving Zhang Wei's company. The evidence magically appeared on the editor's desk that afternoon, complete with Zhang Wei's original signature.
"How is this possible?! Who stole those files?!" Zhang Wei shouted, slamming his glass to the floor.
Outside the building, police had started arriving with sirens blaring. Zhang Wei looked to the window, and in the distance, on top of the building across the street, he seemed to see Lin Xuan's figure standing staring at him coldly.
Lin Xuan used his energy not to steal files, but to pull the truth out. He sent an intention so strong that the universe arranged a meeting between an honest journalist and the neglected files in Zhang Wei's secretary's drawer.
However, as Lin Xuan was about to turn to leave the building's roof, he felt the air temperature around him suddenly freeze.
A figure of a man in a clean white robe appeared from behind the shadow of the water tank. His face was covered by a silver mask, and he carried a thin sword that emitted a pale blue light. This was the Executor of the Nine Heavens—a true cultivation practitioner who no longer relied on mental tricks, but pure physical strength.
"Lin Xuan," the man's voice was cold and flat. "You have disturbed the balance. Your manifestation ends here."
Lin Xuan did not look surprised. He even stretched his neck slowly. "The best revenge is not by becoming as evil as your enemy, but by becoming so successful that your existence is a punishment for them. But if you insist on using a sword, then I will show that the mind can also be the sharpest steel."
Lin Xuan stood tall, ready to face his first physical confrontation as an LOA practitioner in a world he had just begun to master.
Never be afraid of outside sabotage, because the real sabotage is when you let your enemy's doubts grow inside your own mind. When your inner self is whole, fire itself will lose its heat in your presence.