The morning sun cast long, golden shadows across the courtyard of Clear Cloud Peak. Su Bai sat on his favorite stone with the Jade Slip of the Shattered Sea gripped firmly in his hand.

He had spent the better part of the morning staring at the dark, forbidden artifact. The system description had said: Anyone who attempts to read it suffers an immediate, violent backlash that permanently shatters their Dantian.

Su Bai’s smile was calm and unbothered. He pressed the jade slip to his forehead and closed his eyes.

The moment his spirit entered the jade, the technique didn’t just flow into his mind. It launched a full-scale digital assault. The forbidden knowledge was laced with a violent, jagged energy designed to force a Dantian to over-compress until it detonated.

But the moment that destructive pressure hit Su Bai’s Dantian, it fell into the abyss. There was no "sea" to shatter, only an infinite, silent void. The gravity that was meant to crack his foundation simply drifted into the emptiness, becoming nothing more than a gentle breeze.

His Reversal Body sensed the "over-compression" command and, finding no walls to crush, simply inverted it.

Instead of his Dantian cracking, the very space within him became incredibly heavy. His Qi didn’t just pool. It began to swirl into a beautiful, glowing vortex.

Then, the vision hit him. Memories entered his mind.

Sy Bai saw the creator: a wild-eyed, brilliant elder of the Radiant Sky Sect. Decades ago, this genius realized that a Dantian having a maximum physical volume is a fundamental flaw in cultivation.

To bypass this, he created the Nine-Fold Collapsing Sea Art.

The technique taught a cultivator how to violently compress their liquid Qi Sea down into a microscopic, ultra-dense singularity, allowing them to store 100 times more Qi than a normal person.

Su Bai watched the memories of the Great Fissure. He saw rows of Radiant Sky disciples, outmatched and exhausted, using the art. It was their greatest tactical advantage. Even the weakest disciple could draw upon a near-endless reservoir of energy, holding the line against the tide of enemies for hours on end.

But the price was paid in silence. The technique was inherently flawed. The human Dantian could not withstand the sheer physical pressure of the collapse forever. It didn’t explode immediately. But it caused internal micro-fractures that worsened with every use.

By the time the battle ended, the disciples who had held the line found their foundations permanently doomed. Their Dantian eventually failed and detonated long after the glory of victory had faded.

Because of this hidden cost, the technique was sealed away. It disappeared from history along with the elder who created it... one of the many ancient spirits now resting in the Slumbering Ancestor Peak. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

The vision faded, leaving the courtyard in a heavy, suffocating silence. Su Bai remained frozen on his stone seat.

Su Bai paled... if he could even get any paler.

"The Great Fissure." Su Bai had only heard that name from Lu Canghai once. He had always imagined it as a skirmish, a localized conflict on the border. He never thought the scale was this gargantuan, this apocalyptic.

The vision he had witnessed was merely a fragment, yet it was frightening enough to make his pulse stutter.

And the Radiant Sky Sect disciples... They hadn’t just been warriors. They had been human batteries, burning away their own futures to ensure the cultivation world survived the day.

Su Bai shook his head and turned his focus back to the technique itself.

The Nine-Fold Collapsing Sea Art.

The technique was useless to him. His Dantian was a literal void. He didn’t need to compress his Qi because his capacity was effectively infinite.

But for the rest of the sect? It was a different story entirely.

’A hundredfold increase in energy storage,’ Su Bai thought. ’If I can get a disciple to master this without the catastrophic failure, the Radiant Sky Sect’s combat efficiency rating would skyrocket to an industry-leading position.’

But the fatal flaw remained. The human body was a fragile vessel.

He pulled out his notebook and began to brainstorm. His pen scratched furiously against the paper.

Option 1: Elastic Pill.

He considered the "Rubbery Dantian Pill" he’d read about in the archives. It was a high-level concoction famous for its ability to make the Dantian walls as flexible as dragon-gut.

It was a staple for cultivators attempting dangerous breakthroughs or those brave enough to attempt absorbing untamed Heavenly Flame, as it prevented the Dantian from rupturing under the intense heat and expansion.

But it was temporary, expensive, and frankly, a logistical nightmare to distribute to thousands of disciples.

He crossed it out.

Option 2: The Tattoo Array.

Su Bai tapped his chin. If he could carve a miniature shock-absorbent array directly onto a disciple’s skin, it could vent the excess gravitational pressure as harmless steam. It was efficient, it was scalable, and it would look undeniably cool.

He sketched the design on his parchment. He imagined a disciple activating the Nine-Fold Art as steam hissed from their skin like a high-performance engine. Their power levels would suddenly spike to extreme heights.

Pros: High ROI, modular, easy to implement.

Cons: Not every disciple wants a permanent, glowing array etched onto their arm. Some might prefer their skin to remain, well, skin.

Su Bai kept this idea in reserves.

Option 3: The System Patch.

Su Bai closed his notebook. He had learned one thing about his system. It was surprisingly generous when it came to rewards that solved his current, most annoying problems.

"I’ll just wait," Su Bai muttered to himself.

He stood up, then stretched his limbs.

He walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down at the bustling sect below. He could feel the anticipation in the air.

Just then, Lu Canghai strolled toward him. His eyes were fixed on the horizon.

"Disciple," the old master called out. "A transmission talisman has just arrived from the Sect Master."

Su Bai turned.

"Master," Su Bai’s tone was laced with curiosity. "How did the campaign go?"

Lu Canghai stopped beside him, staring out into the vast sea of clouds. He stroked his white beard.

"The Sect Master’s message was brief, as is his way," Lu Canghai said. A rare smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth. "He said everything concluded successfully. No further details were provided, but knowing Li Xuanzong’s efficiency, I suspect the demonic cultivators and the traitors are currently little more than a pile of rubble and regret."

Su Bai nodded.

"Everything went well, then," Su Bai murmured, feeling the weight of the last few days lift from his shoulders. "It seems the collaborators have lost their primary source of funding."

"Indeed," Lu Canghai said, turning to look at his disciple with a glint of pride.