Ten hours of deep meditation passed like a single breath. Hanyuan opened his eyes, the violet sparks in his pupils receding as he stabilized his internal state. He looked at his storage ring, feeling the weight of the wealth he had accumulated.
"One hundred Mid grade spirit stones," he mused. "Should I save them, or spend them to accelerate my foundation?"
His thoughts were interrupted by the soft rustle of a messenger talisman fluttering into his garden like a golden butterfly. He caught it, and as his Qi activated the script, Elder Qi's voice echoed in his mind. The contents of the letter left Hanyuan's face cold.
Elder Zhang was dead. The old man had used the last dregs of his life essence to force Bai Xueling into the Mortal Core realm before his breath failed him. Worse, the letter detailed Xueling's descent into tyranny, she was now extorting the weaker branch members for resources, using her status in the Heavenly Frost Sect to threaten anyone who dared to protest, even the clan elders.
Hanyuan's jaw tightened, and the stone bench beneath him began to frost over. "Should I just go back and kill her?" he whispered to the silence. "A parasite like that will only rot the Bai Clan from the inside."
But he remembered Elder Qi's pleading tone at the end of the message, urging him not to do anything rash that would bring the wrath of a Great Sect down on his family. Hanyuan exhaled, a long plume of white mist, and penned a short reply promising to remain in the mountains for now.
The frustration needed an outlet. He snatched the Roaring Thunder Spear and moved to the basalt training ground.
"500... 820... 1,500... 3,000... 5,430!"
He trained until the moon set and the sun rose, the sound of his spear tip breaking the sound barrier echoing throughout the Crest-Cloud District. Once the anger had been burned away into physical exhaustion, he whistled for Lingxiao and flew toward the Sapphire District.
"Qin Yu?" Hanyuan called out as he landed in his friend's courtyard.
The estate was silent.
"Well, whatever. I'll do a mission alone then," Hanyuan muttered.
The next month Hanyuan pushed himself to the limit, completing four High Rank missions in the Myriad Herb Forest and the surrounding mountain ranges. On the third mission, he had been ambushed by a Tier 2 Wind Tail Panther,he had escaped with his life only by using the Thunderclap Steps to the point of meridian strain, his chest bearing a fresh set of shallow scars.
But the risk had paid off. Between the mission rewards and the beast materials he sold, his storage ring now held 210 Mid-grade spirit stones.
He didn't wait. He flew straight to the Inner Sect Shop and stood before the old man with the black wood cane.
"I want to buy a Ten-Star Unity Pill," Hanyuan stated, his voice ringing with a level of confidence that made other disciples in the shop turn their heads.
The old man's eyebrows shot up. He lowered his book, staring at Hanyuan with a new intensity. "A Ten-Star Unity Pill? That is the path of no return, boy. If you fail to condense the root, your talent will shatter, leaving you a mortal. It costs 200 Mid-grade spirit stones."
Hanyuan didn't blink. He swiped his amethyst jade, and the stones materialized on the counter in a mountain of shimmering blue.
The Elder nodded slowly, respect replacing his usual indifference. He produced a jade bottle that felt warm to the touch, pulsing with a golden light.
Hanyuan took the bottle and flew back to his estate. He entered the topmost chamber of his pagoda,the meditation room that looked out over the infinite sky. He sat in the center of the floor, the Roaring Thunder Spear lying beside him.
"A Spirit Root..." Hanyuan whispered, holding the golden pill in his palm. It looked like a miniature sun, so bright it was hard to look at directly. "I have reached the peak of what a mortal can be born with. Now, I will steal the potential of the Heavens."
He closed his eyes, lighting his last stick of Heart Calming Incense. He didn't swallow the pill yet. He spent the next few hours adjusting his breathing and circulating his Qi until his condition reached its absolute peak. The silence of the mountain peaks enveloped him, the only sound the rhythmic thrum of his Mortal Core.
It was time to transcend.
Hanyuan tilted his head back and swallowed the Ten-Star Unity Pill.
For a heartbeat, there was only a terrifying silence. Then, his world ended in fire.
It didn't feel like a pill, it felt as if he had swallowed a literal sun. A searing, blinding heat erupted from his throat and tore through his chest, radiating outward into every single cell. His bones felt like they were being melted into slag, and his mind felt as if it were being scoured by white hot irons.
"Nnngh..!"
Hanyuan's back arched with a sickening crack, his fingers digging into the stone floor so hard the basalt pulverized beneath his nails. This was a pain that transcended the physical,it was the agony of his soul being rewritten.
Realizing he was on the edge of a mental collapse, Hanyuan fumbled for his storage ring. He pulled out an Azure Sky Apple and crunched into it desperately. The cool, sparking juice helped clear the fog for a microsecond, but it was like a bucket of water against a forest fire.
His heart pounded with a rhythm so violent and loud he thought his eardrums would burst.
He snatched a second Azure Sky Apple, then a third, shoving them into his mouth while gasping for air that felt like liquid fire. He refused to let the darkness take him. He watched through bloodshot eyes as the stars finally collided.
"BOOM!"
A silent explosion rang out in his mind, more powerful than the breakthrough to the Mortal Core. For a moment, Hanyuan's consciousness expanded beyond the pagoda, beyond the island, reaching into the very fabric of the world. He could see colors he hadn't known existed and hear the hum of the mountains themselves.
The twenty stars had vanished. In their place sat a jagged, crystalline pillar that grew from his core, pulsing with a deep, rhythmic light.
The Nine-Abyssal Winter-Thunder Root.
It was a Top-Grade Spirit Root. While Hanyuan intuitively knew there were even more legendary roots above this, this was a tier that would make even the Three Great Sects' Ancestors go to war for a disciple.
As the new root settled, Hanyuan felt his Qi transforming.It underwent a fundamental metamorphosis. He raised his hand and channeled his frost energy. Instead of the translucent blue, a jet black, ominous ice crawled across his palm. It radiated a cold so absolute it seemed to swallow the light.
Then, he sparked his lightning. The purple arcs were gone, replaced by brilliant, majestic Golden Lightning that crackled with the authority of the heavens.
"100 times..." Hanyuan whispered, his voice trembling. "The speed is... 100 times faster."
The Qi didn't just enter him,it belonged to him. The surrounding atmosphere bowed to his presence. Hanyuan threw his head back, his long black hair whipping around his bloodstained face as a manic, triumphant laugh tore from his throat.
"HAHAHAHA! Finally! Finally, you decide to give me the talent!" he shouted at the sky, his obsidian eyes burning with a blinding light.
Sou!
The air in the room suddenly solidified. Hanyuan's laughter cut off as his instincts screamed at him to move. He didn't move,he couldn't.
Standing in the center of the meditation room, having bypassed every high level array was a man who looked to be in his early twenties. He had long, flowing hair the color of deep vibrant purple and eyes that glowed with a terrifying, unblinking gold.
The man radiated a pressure so vast it made the Soul Transformation Elder Han feel like a child in comparison.
"Hm? Interesting," the man said, his voice smooth and carrying a weight that resonated in Hanyuan's very marrow. "The Nine-Abyssal Winter-Thunder Root. A Top-Grade Spirit Root, formed from the ashes of mortal stars. You have a very stubborn soul, little one."