Rain poured heavily over the Lin Family estate, striking the stone courtyard with relentless force.
Water flowed through the carved grooves beneath Lin Yuan's knees, carrying blood away as if the ground itself was eager to erase him. He knelt upright at the center of the courtyard, spine straight, shoulders firm. A deep cut on his forehead bled freely, rain mixing with crimson before dripping from his chin.
He did not lower his head.
Around him stood the elders of the Lin Family, arranged in a silent arc. Their robes were spotless, protected by faint layers of Qi. Their expressions were calm, detached, and utterly indifferent.
This was not a trial.
This was a disposal.
At the front stood Lin Qingshan, hands clasped behind his back. His gaze was sharp and distant, and the restrained aura of a Foundation Establishment cultivator pressed subtly outward, reminding everyone present that resistance was meaningless.
"Lin Yuan," Lin Qingshan said evenly.
"Sixteen years of age. Unable to sense Qi. Failed to enter Qi Condensation."
Each word fell with finality.
"By the laws of the Lin Family, you are stripped of your status and removed from the clan."
A faint murmur passed through the onlookers, more habit than reaction. No one spoke in Lin Yuan's defense. No one even looked surprised.
Lin Yuan lifted his head.
Rain stung his eyes, but his gaze remained cold and steady.
"So this is your decision."
Lin Qingshan did not immediately reply.
"Cultivation is not determined by effort," he said after a brief pause.
"Talent defines value. Those without it are not worth investment."
Lin Yuan had heard these words his entire life.
Not always spoken directly, but always implied.
He heard them when instructors shortened his lessons.
When training schedules quietly excluded his name.
When praise turned into polite silence.
He had been tested at ten.
At twelve.
At fifteen.
Each time, the same verdict.
Unable to sense Qi.
Unable to draw it in.
Unable to condense even a trace.
In a cultivation family, that failure erased everything else.
Still, he had endured.
While others refined Qi, he refined his body.
While others circulated spiritual energy, he trained until his muscles tore and healed again.
He memorized techniques he could not use and studied manuals meant for cultivators far stronger than him.
He believed effort could compensate.
He was wrong.
Cultivation did not reward belief.
It rewarded results.
A figure stepped forward from the crowd.
Lin Feng.
His cousin.
Already in Early Qi Condensation.
Rain slid down Lin Feng's hair as he looked at Lin Yuan with faint amusement.
"You should accept this quietly," Lin Feng said.
"At least the clan didn't execute you outright."
Lin Yuan met his gaze.
"I will remember this."
Lin Feng laughed softly and stepped back, interest gone.
Lin Qingshan raised his hand.
The murmurs stopped instantly.
"This matter is concluded," he said.
"Take him to Falling Stone Mountain."
The atmosphere turned heavy.
Falling Stone Mountain was not exile.
It was execution without blood on one's hands.
A sheer cliff beyond the clan's territory, where jagged stone shredded anything that fell. No one had ever returned.
Hands seized Lin Yuan's arms.
The guards were efficient and silent.
As he was dragged away, Lin Yuan did not resist.
He watched.
The elders turned away.
The younger disciples avoided his eyes.
The Lin Family banners fluttered in the rain, unmoved.
He memorized everything.
The wind screamed as they reached the cliff.
Rain lashed sideways, driven upward from the abyss below. The sound of stone striking stone echoed endlessly.
The guards stopped.
Before them yawned Falling Stone Mountain.
One guard hesitated.
"Elder—"
"Do it," Lin Qingshan said flatly.
They pushed.
The world flipped.
Sky became ground.
Lin Yuan's body slammed into rock after rock. Bones shattered. Flesh tore. Blood sprayed across jagged stone and vanished beneath the rain.
Pain exploded—
Then faded.
Darkness crept in.
Yet his mind remained terrifyingly clear.
"So this is the end."
No panic.
No regret.
Only certainty.
Impact.
Stone shattered.
Pain erased everything.
Rain continued to fall at the bottom of Falling Stone Mountain.
Lin Yuan lay among broken rock, his body twisted unnaturally. Blood flowed freely, briefly pooling before being washed away.
His breathing was shallow.
His heartbeat weak.
Death had arrived.
Then something foreign descended.
A soul.
Not gently.
Not cautiously.
It crashed into his fading consciousness, carrying with it an overwhelming torrent of memories.
A world without Qi.
Endless steel towers.
Machines, networks, knowledge beyond imagination.
Stories of cultivation worlds, reincarnation, and systems.
Lin Yuan understood instantly.
"So this is reincarnation."
Two souls now occupied the same body.
In most cases, one would overwrite the other.
Here—
That did not happen.
Lin Yuan's soul dominated.
The foreign soul was crushed, unraveled, and absorbed completely. Its identity dissolved, leaving behind pure knowledge, experience, and understanding.
No struggle.
No hesitation.
The body accepted only one ruler.
Lin Yuan.
Clarity followed.
Not confusion.
Not shock.
Understanding.
He knew what systems were.
He knew how cheats worked.
He knew how protagonists rose—and how fools died.
And then—
Words appeared.
[Ten-Thousandfold Amplification System — Initializing]
Lin Yuan's consciousness sharpened.
A system.
A refinement-type system.
One that did not create from nothing, but multiplied what already existed.
Excitement surged briefly, sharp and controlled.
"This is not a minor cheat."
"This is authority."
[Host confirmed: Lin Yuan]
[Reincarnation anomaly detected]
[Soul integrity: Absolute]
The system had expected replacement.
Instead, it found domination.
It accepted him anyway.
Pain roared back.
Bones shattered.
Organs failing.
Blood loss critical.
[Condition: Near death]
Lin Yuan did not hesitate.
"My body is broken."
"That is the problem."
He focused inward, not on flesh, but on function.
The body's natural recovery.
Slow.
Imperfect.
But real.
"If amplification works the way I understand…"
"Then this is enough."
[Target identified: Biological recovery process]
[Amplification: Quality increased ten-thousand times]
The change was absolute.
Bleeding sealed instantly.
Bones aligned and fused optimally.
Muscles stabilized.
Organs corrected themselves.
Pain became irrelevant.
His heartbeat strengthened.
Breathing deepened.
Life returned decisively.
Rain struck his face.
Cold.
Real.
His eyes opened.
Lin Yuan pushed himself up.
Stone cracked beneath his palm.
He stood.
Alive.
[Body: Reconstructed]
[Body Cultivation: Initiated]
[Physique: Unclassified — Dormant]
[Qi Compatibility: High]
Lin Yuan scanned the information once.
Then smiled faintly.
"This is better than I imagined."
He turned away from the abyss and walked.
Each step was firm.
Controlled.
Dominant.
"The Lin Family thought they ended me."
"They created something far worse."
A soul had been absorbed.
A system had awakened.
And Lin Yuan—fully aware of the tool in his hands—had no intention of moving slowly.
He would refine everything.
Including the heavens.