The Cloud Fist Library was not the grand sanctuary of knowledge Lu Chen's memories suggested. To his Admin-trained eyes, the pagoda was a crumbling "Data Center" built from wood that wept sap like leaking coolant. The air was thick with the scent of silverfish and decaying paper—the smell of [Physical_Data_Corruption].
To the average disciple, these rows of scrolls were sacred "Martial Arts." To Lu Chen, they were a collection of Legacy Scripts written by authors who clearly didn't understand the "Hardware" of the human body.
[ LOCATION: THE_CLAN_ARCHIVE. ]
[ DATA_INTEGRITY: 42% (CRITICAL_FRAGMENTATION). ]
[ SECURITY: PASSIVE_LOW-LEVEL_ENCRYPTION. ]
"AIDA," Lu Chen whispered, his fingers brushing against a scroll titled The Seven Fold Gale Strike. "Check the 'Header' on this one. My Spirit-Sense is picking up a 'Warning' flag."
[ REPORT: ARTHUR, THE SEVEN_FOLD_GALE_STRIKE_MANUAL_v1.2 HAS A CRITICAL SYNTAX ERROR. ] AIDA's voice echoed in the cathedral of his mind, crisp and clinical. [ THE_ORIGINAL_AUTHOR_FORGOT_TO_DEFINE_THE_EXIT_PROTOCOL_FOR_QI_CIRCULATION. IF_YOU_FOLLOW_THE_STEPS, THE_ENERGY_LOOP_NEVER_CLOSES. ]
"An infinite loop?" Lu Chen muttered, sliding the scroll back onto the shelf. "No wonder the last three 'prodigies' who practiced this became crippled. They weren't weak; they just hit a logic trap without a break condition. Their meridians basically experienced a 'Stack Overflow'."
He moved deeper into the library, his footsteps silent on the dusty floorboards. He bypassed the "Public Repositories"—the basic techniques that were essentially "Hello World" scripts for cultivators—and headed toward the restricted section.
A shimmering barrier of golden light blocked the path. To a Stage 3 Body Refiner, this was an impassable wall of energy. To Lu Chen, it was a [ROOT_FIREWALL] maintained by the Sect Leader's own biological frequency.
"AIDA, can we perform a SQL Injection on this barrier?"
[ ANALYZING_BARRIER_FREQUENCY... ]
[ FREQUENCY_MATCHED. ]
[ INITIATING_SYN_FLOOD... ]
Lu Chen simply touched the golden light. To any observer, it looked like he was resting his hand on a wall. But internally, AIDA was hammering the barrier's "Logic Gate" with millions of tiny requests per second. The barrier's "Security Script" became overwhelmed, trying to verify so many phantom signatures at once.
For a split second, the golden light flickered—a [CONNECTION_TIMEOUT].
Lu Chen stepped through the gap before the system could "Reboot."
***
The restricted section was cold, illuminated only by the faint, pulsing glow of jade slips. In the center, resting on a pedestal of obsidian, sat the Clan's most guarded secret: The Heaven-Shattering Palm.
It was a single, pitch-black jade slip that hummed with a dark, violent frequency. It was the "Top-Tier Software" of the Cloud Fist Clan, the technique that had allowed the Sect Leader to dominate the region for decades.
"Let's see what the 'State-of-the-Art' looks like," Lu Chen said, his eyes beginning to glow with a faint bronze light as he initiated a Deep Scan.
[ ALERT! MALICIOUS_SCRIPT_DETECTED! ]
[ THE_HEAVEN-SHATTERING_PALM_IS_A_TROJAN_HORSE. ]
[ FUNCTION: 'SECRETLY_UPLOAD_USER_LIFE_FORCE_TO_EXTERNAL_HOST'. ]
Lu Chen's breath hitched. "A Trojan? You're saying this 'Ultimate Technique' is actually a harvesting tool? Where is the 'Data'—the life force—being sent?"
[ TRACING_CONNECTION_ROUTE... ]
[ DESTINATION_IP: 'SECT_LEADER_CHAMBERS_FORBIDDEN_ZONE'. ]
"The old man isn't teaching this to make the disciples strong," Arthur realized, a cold, clinical anger rising in his chest. "He's using the disciples as External Batteries. Every time someone practices this 'Palm,' they feel a surge of power—a temporary 'Cache' of energy—but $30\%$ of their base lifespan is being 'Uploaded' to the Sect Leader. It's a literal 'Life-Force Mining' operation."
It was a brilliant, cruel piece of engineering. The disciples thought they were learning a god-tier move; in reality, they were installing a virus in their own Dantians.
"Well," Lu Chen whispered, his fingers hovering over the obsidian tablet. "The Sect Leader is about to learn why you never leave your 'Backdoor' open to an Admin. AIDA, can we 'Refactor' this script?"
[ STANDBY... ]
[ RE-WRITING_PERMISSIONS... ]
[ INVERTING_SOURCE_AND_DESTINATION_POINTERS... ]
***
Lu Chen's mind became a digital workshop. He didn't just "read" the jade slip; he [DE-COMPILED] it.
He saw the lines of Qi-flow as code. He saw the "Leech-Nodes" hidden in the palm's meridian path. Working with AIDA, he began to "Patch" the technique. He didn't remove the life-force drain—that would alert the Sect Leader. Instead, he [SPOOFED] it.
"Change the destination of the 'Upload'," Arthur commanded. "Instead of the Sect Leader's Dantian, set the 'Receiver' to 'Self'. And let's add a little [RECURSIVE_GIFT]. Every time the Sect Leader tries to 'Ping' this technique to check on his 'Harvest', he'll accidentally 'Donate' a fragment of his own cultivation to the user."
[ PATCH_APPLIED. ]
[ VERSION_2.0: 'HEAVEN-SHATTERING_PALM_OPEN_SOURCE'. ]
[ STATUS: 'MALICIOUS_FOR_THE_SENDER, BENEFICIAL_FOR_THE_USER'. ]
Lu Chen pulled his hand back, the obsidian tablet glowing with a slightly purer light. He had just turned the Clan's greatest weapon into a Reverse-Leech.
"Now," Lu Chen said, a witty spark returning to his eyes. "I just need a 'Beta Tester'."
***
"Who goes there?" a voice boomed, echoing through the pagoda.
Lu Chen didn't panic. He smoothed his robes and stepped out from the restricted section, the golden barrier seamlessly closing behind him. Standing in the aisle was Disciple Liang, a Stage 5 Body Refiner and one of the "Enforcers" of the Outer Sect.
Liang was twice the size of Lu Chen, his muscles bulging with the "Spaghetti-Code" Qi of the Cloud-Mist Manual.
"Lu Chen? The 'Trash' from the back row?" Liang sneered, his hand resting on the hilt of a heavy iron sword. "What are you doing in the Restricted Archives? Only Inner Disciples have the 'Permissions' to be here."
"I was just looking for a manual on 'Spelling and Grammar', Brother Liang," Lu Chen replied, his voice calm. "I found the Sect's current documentation to be... lacking."
"You dare mock the Clan's wisdom?" Liang stepped forward, his Qi flaring. In this world, a Stage 5 could crush a Stage 3 with raw "Throughput" alone. "I heard about your lucky breakthrough this morning. It seems you've grown arrogant. Allow me to 'Format' your attitude."
Liang lunged, his fist glowing with a dull grey light—the Cloud-Crushing Punch.
[ ENEMY_ATTACK_DETECTED. ]
[ TYPE: 'HEAVY_PHYSICAL_BLUNT'. ]
[ PREDICTED_IMPACT: 400_NEWTONS. ]
[ RECOMMENDATION: 'EXECUTE_REFRACTORED_PALM'. ]
Lu Chen didn't dodge. He stood his ground, his younger, wiry arm moving in a strange, non-linear path. He didn't use the "Cloud-Crushing" logic. He used the [PATCHED_HEAVEN-SHATTERING_PALM].
"Let's check for 'Updates'," Lu Chen whispered.
Clang.
The impact didn't sound like flesh hitting flesh. It sounded like a "System Error."
When Lu Chen's palm met Liang's fist, the "Trojan" in the technique activated. Liang's Qi didn't explode outward; it [COLLAPSED]. Because Lu Chen had "Patched" the logic of the Heaven-Shattering Palm into his own defense, the moment Liang's energy touched him, the system identified Liang as a "Donor."
Liang's face went from arrogance to sheer terror. He felt his Qi—the energy he had spent five years cultivating—suddenly [LEAK]. It wasn't just being blocked; it was being [DOWNLOADED].
"What... what are you doing to me?" Liang gasped, his knees buckling as his "Power Levels" plummeted.
[ DOWNLOAD_IN_PROGRESS: 10%... 20%... ]
[ QI_ACQUIRED: 50_UNITS. ]
[ HOST_LEVEL: STABILIZING_AT_STAGE_4. ]
Lu Chen pulled his hand back, and Liang collapsed onto the dusty floor, gasping for air. The Enforcer wasn't dead, but his "Database" had been wiped of its recent gains. He had been "Downgraded" to Stage 4.
"It's called 'Peer-to-Peer Sharing', Brother Liang," Lu Chen said, looking down at his own glowing hands. "You should really read the 'Terms of Service' before you attack someone."
***
Lu Chen walked out of the library, leaving a confused and weakened Enforcer behind. As he stepped into the sunlight, he felt the extra Qi swirling in his Dantian—pure, high-quality energy that AIDA was already "Compressing" into stable storage.
[ STATUS_UPDATE: ]
[ CULTIVATION: BODY_REFINING_STAGE_4 (ACCELERATED). ]
[ REPUTATION: 'UNKNOWN_THREAT_DETECTED'. ]
"AIDA," Lu Chen thought as he looked toward the mountain peak where the Sect Leader resided. "How long until the 'Admin'—the real one—notices I've been tampering with his 'Mining Rig'?"
[ ESTIMATED_DETECTION_TIME: 48_HOURS. ]
[ RECOMMENDATION: 'RE-WRITE_THE_SECT_LEADER_BEFORE_HE_RE-WRITES_YOU'. ]
"Agreed," Arthur smiled, his sapphire-emerald Admin eyes flashing for a split second. "Let's see if we can turn this whole Sect into an 'Open-Source' project."