Inside the Tiny Forest, Zi Yue sat motionless beside the jade bottle.

The bottle itself glowed faintly now. Dense spiritual Qi gathered around it continuously, so rich that even the air nearby had become heavier and colder. Wisps of spiritual energy drifted outward from the mouth of the container like pale mist, spreading across the nearby ground and trees.

Zi Yue stared at it with disbelief.

She still had not touched it. She did not even dare open the bottle fully.

And yet...

Just the faint moisture escaping from it was already enough to make changes happen inside her body.

The poison corroding her meridians began slowing down. The burning pain inside her chest weakened. Even the damaged spiritual Qi within her dantian started stabilizing little by little.

Zi Yue’s breathing gradually calmed.

Her pale face slowly regained traces of color.

The effect was terrifying.

No—terrifying was not enough to describe it.

What kind of spiritual water could suppress Spirit Rot Venom without even being consumed?

Her eyes trembled slightly.

If this treasure appeared outside, entire sects would probably slaughter one another for even a single drop.

And yet...

The Senior Deity had casually handed it to her while cultivating himself.

The thought alone made her lower her head respectfully again.

...

Meanwhile, outside the Tiny Forest, Clayne remained seated cross legged on the classroom floor. His eyes stayed shut tightly while he focused entirely on the circulation routes Zi Yue taught him earlier.

This time...

Everything felt different.

The moment he swallowed another tiny amount of the water, spiritual Qi exploded inside his body again. But unlike earlier, he no longer panicked.

He slowly, and carefully guided it as per the Tiny Maiden’s instructions.

The Five Elements of Destruction Cultivation Method operated continuously within him while the spiritual Qi surged through his meridians like rushing rivers.

Clayne could feel every movement clearly now.

The energy flowed through his chest. Down his arms. Across his spine. Into his lower abdomen.

At first, much of the spiritual Qi still escaped from his body. But now...

Some of the wisp remained.

Tiny portions of it stayed behind after every circulation. Little by little, his dantian slowly filled.

The sensation was strange.

It’s heavy, but it was warm and it felt like each of his being was given more energy... no, something more like—life.

It felt as though something invisible was slowly growing within him.

Clayne focused harder.

The spiritual Qi entering his body became smoother with every passing moment. His breathing deepened naturally. His heartbeat slowed.

The surrounding spiritual energy gathered around him more intensely than before.

Dust on the classroom floor trembled faintly. The curtains beside the windows fluttered again despite the lack of wind. The entire classroom seemed unnaturally still.

And inside that silence...

Clayne continued cultivating.

Honestly, deep inside, he felt thankful toward Zi Yue. Without her guidance, he would never have understood how to circulate spiritual Qi properly to absorb some of the spiritual Qi entering his body. He probably would have wasted all the spiritual energy earlier.

Still...

While Clayne cultivated peacefully above...

The danger in the real world was quietly growing worse.

Below the classroom floor...

Inside the dark hallway stained with blood and scattered corpses...

The mutated zombie slowly crawled forward.

Its movements no longer resembled the stiff and awkward motion of ordinary undead. It moved lower to the ground now. Its elongated arms dragged against the floor while its sharpened claws scratched the tiles with slow scraping sounds.

Its head twitched constantly. Sniffing—sniffing again—then sniffing harder.

The creature moved left. Then right. Its nose twitched violently as though searching for something hidden deep within the building.

The sound alone was disturbing.

Wet, uneven and even an animal cannot replicate it.

Unlike ordinary zombies that wandered aimlessly toward noise, this thing actively searched.

Like a starving predator.

Its four long fangs glistened faintly under the dim hallway light while thick saliva dripped continuously from its mouth.

Then suddenly—

It stopped.

Its head slowly lifted upward. The creature sniffed the air again—aggressively this time. Its entire body trembled slightly.

Something had caught its attention.

Something is at the door at its front.

Inside another classroom several rooms away, a young man hid silently behind a barricade of desks. His school uniform was stained with sweat. Both hands covered his mouth tightly while tears gathered in his trembling eyes.

The room around him was dark and silent except for the distant groans outside.

He had barely survived the entire night hiding there.

Every sound terrified him now. Every creak. Every footstep. Every distant scream.

His body shook continuously from exhaustion and fear.

Then suddenly—

Outside his classroom...

The sniffing stopped.

The young man froze.

A strange feeling crawled up his spine immediately.

Danger.

Pure danger.

His breathing became shallow.

Slowly...

Very slowly...

Something moved outside the door.

Then—

BOOM!

The barricade exploded violently inward.

The young man nearly screamed. His entire body jerked backward in panic.

Then—

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The door shook continuously under terrifying impacts. The desks slid backward inch by inch across the floor.

The young man immediately threw himself against them desperately.

"No... no no no..."

Tears streamed down his face. He pushed with everything he had.

Earlier, the zombies eventually stopped after pushing for some time. That was how he survived.

So he endured. He held on desperately.

One minute passed. Then two. Then three. Then four.

But the attacks never stopped. Instead...

They became stronger. Much stronger.

Every slam against the door sounded heavier than before. The entire barricade rattled violently now. The desks bounced slightly from the force. Metal legs scraped loudly across the floor tiles.

The young man’s arms began trembling from exhaustion.

"How...?"

His voice cracked badly.

"How is it still going...?"

Fear swallowed him completely.

Ordinary zombies did not act like this. They stopped eventually. They wandered away eventually.

But this thing outside...

Kept attacking nonstop.

Worse...

The impacts were growing stronger.

Then suddenly—

CRACK!

One of the stacked desks flipped sideways violently.

The young man almost lost balance completely.

Panic exploded inside him. He pushed harder. Harder. Harder.

Then—

Silence.

The attacks stopped instantly.

The young man froze. His breathing became ragged.

For several seconds, he did not move.

Then slowly...

Relief flooded his face.

"It... stopped..."

His legs nearly gave out from exhaustion.

But just as he thought it was over—

CRASH!

The small glass window near the top of the classroom wall exploded inward.

The young man screamed.

A dark figure forced itself through the shattered opening violently.

It was the mutated zombie.

Its body twisted unnaturally while squeezing through the narrow space designed for the classroom air conditioner.

At first, it struggled. The opening was too tight. The creature’s elongated limbs bent horribly while bones cracked loudly beneath its flesh.

The young man saw it and nearly cried from relief.

"It can’t fit..."

But he underestimated the creature’s hunger.

The zombie forced itself harder. Bones snapped. Its shoulders compressed inward grotesquely. Flesh tore apart.

Yet it continued crawling forward relentlessly.

Then suddenly—

It pushed through.

The creature flopped heavily onto the classroom floor.

The young man froze completely.

Slowly...

Very slowly...

The mutated zombie stood up. Its glowing pale eyes locked onto him immediately.

Nooo...

The young man despaired.

...

Meanwhile, inside Clayne’s classroom, cultivation continued.

Clayne could feel the changes becoming clearer now.

The spiritual Qi flowing through his body had grown denser compared to earlier. Every successful circulation strengthened him further.

His muscles tightened slightly. His senses sharpened more and more.

Even with his eyes closed, he could faintly sense the classroom around him.

The desks. The walls. The distant groans outside.

And deep inside his lower abdomen...

The gathered spiritual Qi slowly formed a warm rotating presence.

Clayne focused entirely on it.

He was close.

Very close.

Just a little more...

And something inside him would completely change.

The sensation grew stronger with every passing moment. The Five Elements cultivation method operated faster now. The spiritual Qi around the room surged toward him continuously.

Invisible currents gathered from every direction before sinking into his body.

Outside, however...

His physical body remained calm, silent and motionless.

Like a statue sitting alone in the middle of a barricaded classroom.

...

Inside the Tiny Forest, Zi Yue suddenly opened her eyes.

The moment she did—

Her expression changed completely.

Shock filled her face.

Above her...

The sky darkened.

Clouds gathered rapidly across the heavens.

Spiritual Qi erupted violently throughout the valley.

Zi Yue’s heart nearly stopped.

"...No..."

Then realization struck her immediately.

The poison inside her body had weakened greatly after being exposed to the divine spiritual water. Her cultivation bottleneck had loosened.

And now—

Her Core Formation breakthrough had arrived.

Fear appeared on Zi Yue’s face immediately.

Not because of the breakthrough itself.

But because of where it was happening.

Inside the Deity’s sacred land.

"This junior apologizes..."

She whispered weakly.

"I cannot stop it..."

Her hands trembled slightly. She hurriedly sat down cross legged before stabilizing her spiritual Qi desperately.

Because if she interrupted the breakthrough forcefully now...

She would die.

The spiritual Qi around the valley exploded violently.

Boom!

Thunder roared above.

The clouds darkened further.

Lightning flickered endlessly between them while terrifying pressure descended upon the Tiny Forest.

The trees bent violently under the force. The river surged wildly. Winds swept across the valley in powerful waves.

Zi Yue’s spiritual Qi erupted upward continuously as her cultivation advanced toward Core Formation.

Thunder echoed again.

Louder this time.

The heavens themselves seemed enraged by the breakthrough.

Inside the classroom above the miniature world, faint crackling sounds suddenly appeared around the tiny forest. Tiny flashes of lightning flickered within the project itself.

The air around Clayne became heavier immediately.

Below the classroom...

The mutated zombie slowly raised its head.

Its nose twitched violently.

At the same time—

The wandering zombies outside the school corridors also stopped moving.

One by one...

They slowly looked upward.

Toward Clayne’s classroom.