As Zhu Tian began to draw a deep breath, the ancestral hall was enveloped in an oppressive silence. The stone candles embedded in the walls trembled slightly, as if sensing a change in the air. The night felt unusually heavy; even the chirping of crickets outside seemed to vanish, leaving behind absolute stillness.
He calmed his mind. All the turmoil of the past six months—sweat, exhaustion, frustration—slowly flowed out of him. His heart gradually became like the surface of a lake: calm, clear, and silent.
"Draw in spiritual energy… forcibly," he repeated in his mind.
He tried to focus on the pores across his body. There was no obvious physical movement, yet on an inner level, it was as though he were opening a door that had long been tightly sealed.
The air around his body trembled faintly. Something seemed to awaken. A speck of dust—lighter than a feather, almost invisible—this was spiritual energy.
The spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
The spiritual energy that had long filled this mountain peak.
But the moment he tried to pull it in—
BOOM!
A sharp jolt pierced his skin, like countless fine needles stabbing at once.
"Kh—!"
His teeth chattered. His breathing faltered.
This pain was not ordinary pain. Not like a cut, not like a bruise. It spread from the surface of his skin down to the deepest layers of flesh, as if scorching, razor-sharp sand were being poured into his body.
Zhu Tian swayed, but he did not allow his posture to collapse. His back remained straight. His jaw hardened.
Slowly, spiritual energy attempted to enter his body again—like rippling water forcing its way through cracks in stone. He realized one thing: a mortal human body—whether from the modern world or this one—was not designed to accept energy so easily.
"Skin… muscles… bones…" he murmured inwardly.
Each layer of his body seemed to repel the spiritual energy outward. There was a natural resistance. A sense of foreignness. Spiritual energy was like a living being, and his body was like a fortress.
He tried again, drawing in spiritual energy with greater force.
CRACK!
The pain surged violently.
It felt as though his skin were tearing from the inside, while his bones trembled.
Zhu Tian's eyes opened slightly. A faint shimmer appeared in the air—thin spiritual lines moving slowly. This was no hallucination. It was the spiritual energy he was forcing inside. Soft light, yet carrying tremendous pressure.
"If I can't endure even this…"
He growled.
"…then how could I ever break past the limits of an ordinary human?"
The night wind suddenly swept through the gaps at the hall's entrance. The candles flickered, and Zhu Tian's shadow on the wall stretched and shrank.
He closed his eyes again. Focus. Pull.
Spiritual energy moved once more. Entered again.
The pain came back—this time not just in the skin and muscles.
A chill crept into his bones, like ice being forced into his marrow.
"ARGH—!"
A muffled sound escaped his throat.
Cold sweat formed at his temples, droplets falling onto the stone floor and leaving dark spots. His body trembled faintly. His hands clenched unconsciously on his knees.
He almost gave up.
But he stopped. He breathed again.
Still steady. Still controlled.
"Don't panic. Don't be afraid. Pain is the first gate. If you run from this pain, you are not worthy of even the smallest trace of spiritual energy."
Zhu Tian clenched his teeth.
"I didn't come to this world to be ordinary."
"I didn't enter this world just to live a hundred years and die like everyone else."
His thoughts hardened. His resolve did not waver.
He drew in spiritual energy again—this time more wisely. Not as forceful as before. Not overly gentle either.
Spiritual energy entered his body. Just a little. Very little.
But then—
BANG!
Like a hammer striking a fortress, his body rejected it again.
All the spiritual energy was repelled outward.
His body was pushed back several centimeters. He opened his eyes, panting. His vision blurred for a moment. His face turned pale.
Yet he realized one thing:
That was progress.
Small—but real.
He lowered his head and looked at his hands.
They were trembling, but they had not gone numb.
This was not complete failure.
For the first time, spiritual energy—even if only briefly—had entered his body in a few faint strands.
He regulated his breathing again.
"One more time."
He drew in spiritual energy.
Endure the pain.
Focus.
Pain stabbed through him. His bones creaked. His skin felt as though it were burning and freezing at the same time.
But he held on.
Longer than before.
About five seconds.
Then seven.
Ten.
Until his body could no longer endure it, and the spiritual energy was flung out once more.
Zhu Tian let out a rough breath.
His face was drenched in sweat.
His eyes were slightly red.
Yet his lips curved into a small, resolute smile.
"I can feel it…"
"Spiritual energy truly entered—if only a drop."
He closed his eyes again. This time, not to draw in spiritual energy, but to listen to his body.
The pain was still there.
But within that pain—there was something different.
Like a tiny warmth.
Thin.
Gentle.
Like the first spark of a campfire in the dark.
His body was beginning to learn.
Beginning to recognize spiritual energy.
No longer rejecting it completely.
Outside the hall, the wind battered the trees. Clouds drifted slowly across the night sky. The moon cast its cold light upon the mountain peak.
Time passed.
Minute by minute. Hour by hour.
Zhu Tian tried. Failed. Tried again. Failed again. Once more.
And again.
His body rejected spiritual energy repeatedly.
But each attempt—even in failure—brought change.
His skin became slightly more resistant.
His muscles slightly more flexible.
His bones slightly more accustomed.
He had not yet entered the path of cultivation. Not yet.
But he was already standing at the threshold.
The door was still closed.
Yet its hinges had begun to creak.
When the first light of dawn touched the sky…
Zhu Tian opened his eyes.
An entire night.
No sleep. No rest.
His body felt as though it had been struck by stones again and again.
But there was a small light in his eyes.
Not the light of spiritual energy—
but the light of determination.
"I haven't succeeded yet…"
He stood up slowly.
"…but I'm one step closer."
The morning view appeared through the gate. Sunlight once again bathed the mountain peak. Dew on the leaves reflected tiny rays like gemstones.
And in the midst of it all—
Zhu Tian felt a sensation he had never felt before:
His mortal body…
had undergone a small change.
Very small.
But real.
He smiled faintly.
"If one night can change my body even a little…"
"…then thousands of nights will change the world."
He had not entered the path of cultivation.
But…
For the first time in his life—
Zhu Tian felt that he had already touched the door to cultivation.