Lingxiao's wings beat a steady rhythm as Hanyuan soared back toward his estate. The silence of the Crest-Cloud District felt heavier than usual. With both Feng Yue and Qin Yu away visiting their families, the high peaks were devoid of the usual bickering and competition. For Hanyuan, this was the perfect opportunity.
He checked his storage ring. Inside shimmered approximately 55 Mid grade spirit stones. A massive sum, but in the path of the immortal, gold was meant to be burned for power.
Instead of going home, he directed Lingxiao toward the Inner Sect Shop. He entered the white marble pavilion and approached the counter. The old man with the cane looked up, his eyes narrowing through his spectacles.
"Back so soon?" the Elder noted.
"Senior, I wish to purchase two Star Breaker Pills and this list of twenty five specific soul soothing herbs," Hanyuan said, sliding a jade slip across the counter.
The Elder's hand paused. "Two pills at once? And those herbs are meant for high level stabilization. You're pushing the limits of your soul, boy. Be careful."
"I know the price," Hanyuan replied steadily.
"Thirty Mid grade spirit stones," the Elder grunted, gathering the items.
Hanyuan paid without flinching, storing the precious cargo in his ring before flying back to his obsidian pagoda.
Inside his meditation chamber, he moved with purpose. He brewed a thick, bitter decoction from the twenty five herbs, the steam carrying a numbing, floral scent. He set the soup aside and took a deep breath.
"Now or never. I will not stop until I reach the ceiling."
Hanyuan tossed both Star Breaker Pills into his mouth at the same time.
BOOM.
The agony was instantaneous and absolute. It wasn't just his body screaming, it was his very essence. His vision was flooded with a blinding crimson light. It felt as if a thousand jagged hooks had snagged his soul and were pulling in opposite directions, attempting to tear him into a million pieces.
"Gkh..!"
He lunged for the herbal soup, gulping it down with trembling hands. A wave of deathly cold followed the liquid, momentarily numbing the white hot fire in his brain, but the relief was minimal. The medicinal power of two Star Breaker pills was like a pair of celestial hammers pounding against the gates of his potential.
Desperate to maintain his sanity, Hanyuan pulled an Azure Sky Apple from his storage ring and crunched into it. The spark of lightning on his tongue and the mind clearing energy of the fruit acted like an anchor, keeping him from drifting into the darkness of unconsciousness.
Blood began to leak from his eyes, nose, and ears. His white inner disciple robes were quickly ruined, turning a gruesome shade of red as his pores wept under the pressure of the soul reforming.
I am not afraid of pain! Hanyuan roared in the silent of his mind, his teeth grinding until they bled. I have bled before! I have suffered before! I will not fall here at the door of my own future!
For what felt like an eternity, he endured the sensation of being unmade. Then, suddenly, the tension snapped.
The roaring in his ears vanished, replaced by a crystalline silence. The heat in his body transformed into a refreshing, divine cool. Hanyuan slumped against the stone wall, his breath coming in ragged hitches, his vision slowly returning to focus.
He reached for the testing stone with fingers that still shook. He pressed his palm against the cold surface.
Hummmm-VROOOOM!
The stone didn't just light up, it vibrated with a violent energy.
One, two, three... seven, eight, nine...
TEN.
Ten blindingly white stars flared to life, casting a brilliant frost light that turned the room into a winter palace. Beneath them, ten vivid purple stars crackled, their lightning arcs jumping across the stone's surface.
"Ten star Ice... ten star Lightning..." Hanyuan laughed, a raspy, triumphant sound.
He had reached the absolute peak of mortal potential. He stood at the very edge of the abyss, the point where stars ended and the Spirit Root began.
He immediately closed his eyes and initiated a cultivation cycle.
"WOOSH!"
The air in the Room was sucked into his body with the force of a vacuum. The high purity Qi of the Inner Sect peaks rushed into his meridians, flowing toward his Mortal Core with effortless ease.
"What?!" Hanyuan gasped, his eyes flying open. "The speed... it's at least ten times faster than it was an hour ago!"
He stared at his hands. At this speed, reaching the 2nd or 3rd Layer of the Mortal Core wouldn't be far away.
"If ten stars is this fast," Hanyuan whispered, looking up toward the sky, "then just how terrifying is a Spirit Root?"
A cold, ambitious fire ignited in his obsidian eyes. He had touched the ceiling of mortals. Now, it was time to break through it and become something else entirely.
The adrenaline from his upgrade was still humming through his veins as Hanyuan finished a twelve hour marathon of cultivation. The moon was a pale sliver in the sky, illuminating the frost that had formed on his pagoda's walls from the sheer intensity of his improved absorption.
Hanyuan stood up, his joints popping with a metallic resonance. "Twenty five Mid grade spirit stones isn't enough," he mused, looking at his remaining pouch. "The higher I climb, the more resources the Sect provides. If I can take Rank 140, my cultivation speed will accelerate even further."
He didn't wait for morning. He mounted Lingxiao and flew through the cool night air toward the Challenge Plaza.
Thirty minutes after registering his intent, his opponent arrived. She was a woman of about eighteen with flowing black hair and eyes as cold and sharp as blue diamonds. She radiated a dense, stable 1st Layer Mortal Core aura,someone who had lived in this realm for much longer than Hanyuan.
"You are still too early to challenge me, little boy," she snorted, her hand resting on the hilt of a slender rapier style sword.
"Begin!" the middle aged Elder announced.
Sou!
She didn't posture. She unsheathed her blade in a blur and appeared before Hanyuan in a heartbeat. The blade whistled as it slashed downward, aimed for his shoulder.
CLANG!
Hanyuan met the strike with the shaft of the Cold Cloud Spear. Sparks erupted, dancing between the blue steel and her silver blade. She immediately kicked out at his lead leg, but Hanyuan twisted his waist with fluid grace.
"Silver Crescent Horizon!"
Using the momentum of his twist, Hanyuan launched a sweeping counter. The freezing arc of Qi forced her to transition into a defensive form.
"Cutting Edge!" she cried out, her sword emitting a sharp, focused beam of Metal Qi.
BOOM!
The collision sent a shockwave across the arena. Hanyuan was blasted back five steps, his boots skidding, while the woman only swayed, taking a single, measured step back. The gap in their experience was clear.
Hanyuan grit his teeth, his fighting spirit igniting. "Not over yet!"
"1st Thrust!"
"2nd Thrust!"
"3rd Thrust!"
"4th Thrust!"
He unleashed the thunderbolt sequence, clashing against her silver blade four times in rapid succession. With every strike, his wrists throbbed and the Cold Cloud Spear trembled from the weight of her parries. She was like a stone wall with a razor edge.
"5th Thru.."
Hanyuan's lunge was halfway through when the woman moved. She faked a high kick, drawing his attention upward, but her rapier flickered like a snake in the grass, slashing horizontally at his midsection.
SQUELCH!
A deep, jagged wound opened across Hanyuan's waist. A terrifying amount of blood gushed out, staining his white inner disciple robes crimson.
She didn't stop. Another sword ray hissed toward his neck.
"Thunderclap Steps!"
Hanyuan triggered an explosive burst of lightning in his soles, flickering ten feet away, but the wound at his waist caused him to stumble. The blood loss was making his vision hazy. He bit his inner cheek hard, the copper taste of pain grounding him as he used Star Point Piercer to parry her follow up.
CRUNCH!
Taking advantage of his instability, she stepped in and delivered a heavy, Qi infused kick to his chest. Hanyuan felt his ribs groan and buckle under the force. He was launched five meters backward, sliding across the stone until he lay motionless.
The middle aged Elder stepped onto the stage, saw Hanyuan struggling to draw a breath, and raised his hand. "Winner: Rank 140!"
Hanyuan lay on the cold stone for a moment, the taste of defeat bitter in his mouth. He didn't feel jealousy, and he didn't feel depressed. Instead, he pulled a healing pill from his ring, swallowed it, and forced himself to stand. He bowed to the woman, who merely sheathed her sword and walked away without a second glance.
He flew back to his estate in silence.
Once back, he didn't enter the pagoda. He sat cross legged beneath the Azure Sky Apple Tree. He plucked a ripe fruit and took a slow, methodical bite. As the juice cleared the fog from his mind and the lightning spark calmed his nerves, he closed his eyes.
He sat there for hours, dissecting the fight frame by frame.