The world felt different once Qi began to circulate properly.
Lin Yuan walked forward at an even pace, but the sensation beneath his skin had changed completely. Spiritual energy flowed through his meridians like a disciplined army, moving exactly where it was needed, reinforcing flesh, sharpening senses, and settling naturally into every corner of his body. There was no resistance, no discomfort—only a sense of seamless integration.
"This is what cultivators call harmony," he thought calmly. "Most of them never truly achieve it."
For ordinary cultivators, Qi Condensation was a fragile stage. Too much Qi caused backlash. Too little made breakthroughs impossible. Countless manuals warned against greed, impatience, and recklessness.
Those warnings existed because most bodies were crude vessels.
His was not.
Lin Yuan exited the rocky wilderness and stepped onto a dirt road leading toward Qingyun City. Wagon tracks cut deep grooves into the ground, and the faint smell of smoke drifted on the wind. Far ahead, low silhouettes of walls and watchtowers were just barely visible through the haze.
Civilization.
He adjusted his presence instinctively, allowing his Qi to circulate internally without leaking outward. To anyone passing by, he would appear like an ordinary young man—healthy, perhaps, but unremarkable.
Attention was unnecessary.
Power did not need witnesses.
As he walked, Lin Yuan reviewed his situation with ruthless clarity.
Current state:
Body: Reinforced far beyond mortal limits
Qi Cultivation: Mid Qi Condensation
Qi Quality: Extremely refined
Physique: Dormant, unclassified
System authority: Basic access
"This is already enough to crush most outer disciples and low-tier cultivators," he concluded. "But it's nowhere near sufficient."
He did not confuse early dominance with true strength. He had absorbed too many cautionary tales from the otherworld to fall into that trap.
The system was powerful, but the world was vast.
Lin Yuan stopped beside the road near a cluster of trees and sat down on a flat stone.
Not to rest.
To refine.
He closed his eyes and turned his awareness inward, not to his Qi itself, but to how it moved.
The circulation pattern was smooth, efficient, and stable. But stability did not mean perfection.
"There's still waste," he observed.
Even refined Qi lost energy during circulation. Even optimized meridians leaked trace amounts of power with every cycle. For most cultivators, that loss was unavoidable.
For him, it was unacceptable.
He focused his intent.
Not on adding more Qi.
Not on breaking through realms.
On reducing loss.
The system responded instantly.
[Target identified: Qi circulation process]
[Status: Active]
"Improve efficiency," Lin Yuan directed calmly. "Eliminate unnecessary dissipation."
[Amplification applied: Efficiency increased ten-thousand times]
The effect was immediate.
Qi circulation tightened, pathways smoothing even further as though polished from the inside. Energy that would normally disperse instead folded inward, reinforcing itself with every cycle.
Lin Yuan inhaled slowly.
The Qi density in his dantian increased—not because more Qi entered, but because less was wasted.
"This is compounding," he thought. "This is how absurd growth actually happens."
He stood up again and resumed walking.
Each step now carried more force than before, even though his posture remained relaxed. The ground beneath his feet compressed slightly with every stride, unable to fully resist the weight of his refined body and Qi.
By the time he reached the outskirts of Qingyun City, dusk had begun to fall.
The outer districts were busy.
Merchants shouted prices. Caravans rolled through the gates. Armed escorts—mostly Early and Mid Qi Condensation cultivators—stood watch, their Qi leaking openly, their foundations uneven and crude.
Lin Yuan observed them as he passed.
"They cultivate like people who don't understand what they're holding."
Wasteful breathing.
Unstable circulation.
Bodies barely capable of supporting their own Qi.
And yet, in this city, they were considered competent.
"That's good," Lin Yuan decided. "It means the bar is low."
He entered the city without incident and made his way toward the outer market district. Unlike the inner city, where clans and sects dominated, the outer districts were chaotic—filled with independent cultivators, mercenaries, traders, and opportunists.
Information flowed freely here.
So did danger.
Lin Yuan welcomed both.
He stopped at a modest inn and secured a room without drawing attention. After a brief wash, he sat cross-legged on the bed and reopened the system interface.
Not to admire it.
To interrogate it.
[System Authority: Basic]
"Basic authority means limitations," he reasoned. "Not in function, but in scope."
The system did not contradict him.
That silence was confirmation.
He shifted focus.
"What unlocks higher authority?"
The system responded.
[Authority increases through host growth and system utilization]
Simple.
Logical.
No hidden tricks.
"Then I'll grow fast enough that authority becomes irrelevant."
Lin Yuan turned his attention to his physique.
Unclassified. Dormant.
"That's not a passive label," he realized. "That's a warning."
Physiques awakened under specific conditions—extreme pressure, unique resources, or radical transformation. His body had already undergone one such transformation during reconstruction.
It had not awakened then.
Which meant it required something more.
"Good," he thought. "Mystery scales better."
Night settled over Qingyun City.
Lin Yuan left the inn again and moved through the outer market, observing stalls selling herbs, low-grade manuals, beast materials, and cultivation tools. Most were mediocre. Some were outright scams.
He ignored them all.
Until he felt it.
A faint fluctuation.
Subtle.
Almost imperceptible.
But wrong.
He turned toward a stall run by a thin, nervous-looking man selling what appeared to be broken jade fragments.
Lin Yuan picked one up.
The jade was cracked, drained of most spiritual energy, and considered worthless by conventional standards.
But Lin Yuan saw something else.
Residual structure.
"This used to be part of a formation core," he realized instantly.
The seller scoffed. "Broken junk. No one wants it. I'm just trying to get rid of it."
Lin Yuan nodded.
"How much?"
The man named a low price.
Lin Yuan paid without bargaining.
Back in his room, Lin Yuan placed the jade fragment on the table and studied it.
The formation was shattered.
The energy was gone.
But the design remained.
"And design is enough."
He focused his intent.
[Target identified: Formation structure residue]
"Enhance integrity," Lin Yuan ordered. "Restore structural coherence."
[Amplification applied: Quality increased ten-thousand times]
The jade fragment vibrated faintly.
Cracks sealed.
Lines of formation script reappeared, faint but complete.
Spiritual energy began to gather naturally around it.
Lin Yuan smiled slightly.
"So refining concepts works too."
This was important.
Very important.
He did not activate the formation yet.
Instead, he sat back and considered the implications.
"If concepts can be refined…"
"Then techniques, Daos, even laws are eventually within reach."
The system had just confirmed it.
Lin Yuan lay back on the bed, hands folded behind his head.
He felt no exhaustion.
Only momentum.
Tomorrow, he would:
Enter deeper markets
Seek higher-grade resources
Begin refining external tools
Test limits openly
There was no reason to hide forever.
Only until hiding stopped being efficient.
Outside, Qingyun City buzzed with life, unaware that someone had already stepped beyond its understanding of cultivation.
Lin Yuan closed his eyes.
"This world runs on rules."
"And I have a tool designed to refine them."
The thought settled comfortably.
Not as ambition.
As inevitability.
When dawn came, Qingyun City would wake to another ordinary day.
But Lin Yuan would wake ready to dismantle everything it thought it understood—one refined step at a time.