[Ding!]

[Peak Mortal Body has been achieved.]

[Would you like to break through?]

The moment Shen Yuan gave the command in his mind. The status screen appeared in his mind once more.

[ Strength (STR): 100

Agility (AGI): 100

Dexterity (DEX): 100

Physique (PHY): 100 ]

The only thing changing on the screen were his attributes.

The four lines started coming close to each other in the centre before the words vanished and were replaced by another line.

[Body Cultivation Stages Unlocked!]

[Breaking Through To The Iron Fibre Realm]

[Be prepared, There Will Be Pain!]

’Wait, what?!’ Before Shen Yuan could finish thinking, his heart started beating against his chest.

Ba-dump!

His heart beat got so wild that everyone in the room could hear it.

Ba-Dump!

"AHHH!! Monster!"

"Kill him! Or he will eat us!" Someone started shouting, and the other followed behind him.

"Argh!" Shen Yuan groaned, feeling the pain suddenly shooting through all of his muscles.

He could feel the spiritual Qi from the surrounding beings forced into his muscles, stretching them like bowstrings.

Ba-Dump!

Ba-Dump!!

Ba-DUMP!!!

The violent heartbeat echoed throughout the cave like the beating of a war drum.

Every servant instinctively froze.

"...Did you hear that?"

"It came from him!"

Shen Yuan’s body suddenly trembled.

Every muscle beneath his skin twitched violently as though thousands of invisible hands were tearing them apart before stitching them back together.

"Argh...!"

Veins bulged across his neck.

His fingers dug into the stone floor hard enough to leave shallow grooves.

The surrounding spiritual qi suddenly became restless.

Instead of drifting peacefully through the cave...

It rushed towards Shen Yuan.

Streams of invisible energy poured into his body from every direction, disappearing beneath his skin.

"What is happening?" One servant stumbled backwards. "...He’s absorbing spiritual qi!"

"Impossible!"

"He doesn’t even have qi!" His face twisted in horror.

"I told you! He’s a demon!"

"Now, he has gone berserk after tasting blood!

"No!" Another servant pointed at Shen Yuan with trembling fingers. "It’s the side effects of his demonic cultivation technique!"

"I knew no normal person could fight like that!"

"Kill him!"

"Kill him now!"

"If we let him finish..."

"...we’re all dead!"

Fear quickly turned into panic.

Panic became desperation.

More than twenty servants charged simultaneously. Every weapon in the cave swung towards Shen Yuan.

Every attack sought to end his life before whatever transformation was happening could finish.

Meanwhile, Shen Yuan couldn’t hear any of it. The pain had reached its peak.

Every muscle in his body stretched tighter and tighter. It felt as though steel wires were replacing every fibre of flesh within him.

Then, Just as suddenly as it had begun...

The pain vanished. The twitching beneath his skin disappeared.

His breathing steadied, and his heartbeat too returned to normal.

Ba-dump.

Silence.

Shen Yuan slowly opened his eyes.

They looked calmer than ever.

At that exact moment—

A longsword descended towards his head.

Slash!

Without even looking, Shen Yuan casually raised one hand.

Clang!

His fingers closed around the blade itself.

The entire cave froze.

"...What?"

The servant stared blankly at the sword trapped inside Shen Yuan’s bare hand.

No blood flowed.

Not even a cut appeared on his palm. The sharp steel edge...

Couldn’t even pierce his skin.

Shen Yuan slowly looked at the sword. Then he looked at the servant holding it.

"...That’s it?"

The servant instinctively tried to pull the weapon back.

But the blade refused to move even an inch. It was not that he was not using qi to enforce the blade; he was one of the few who could.

Shen Yuan’s grip tightened slightly.

Crack!

Tiny fractures spread across the blade.

"What?!"

Crack!

The sword shattered into dozens of metal fragments.

Clink! Clink!

Pieces of steel scattered across the cave floor.

The servant remained standing there, staring at the broken hilt in his hands with utter disbelief.

Shen Yuan slowly lowered his gaze.

A familiar blue screen appeared before him.

[Body Cultivation: Early Iron Fibre Realm]

Seeing the notification, the rest of the servants stopped in their tracks. Twisting on their heels, they turned around to run away from the cave.

Shen Yuan closed the screen, but the notification window appeared on his face.

[Mastery of Killer Move has been Upgraded— Proficient Stage—375XP]

[Mastery of Vanishing Steps. Who’s There? has been Upgraded— Proficient Stage—375 XP]

[Name: Shen Yuan]

Age: 16

Level: 10/10 (Late Stage of body Tempering ) XP: 66,400/50,000

[Do You want to Break Through The Next Major Realm?]

[Techniques Comprehended: Expand>]

’Is it about time?’ Shen Yuan thought to himself and clicked [yes] once more to initiate the breakthrough.

[Which technique would you like to select as your base Cultivation Manual]

Instead of breaking through, the system suddenly showed another question. This one came with a choice.

[False Sacred scripture of the Bloody Moon]

[The True Scripture of The Bloody Moon]

[Divine Star Cultivation Manual. Blood Stage.]

Without hesitation, Shen Yuan chose the last option. There was no better choice he had.

The moment his choice was confirmed...

The other two techniques dissolved into countless particles of light before disappearing from the screen.

Another notification appeared.

[The selected cultivation technique cannot be changed.]

[It may, however, be upgraded in the future.]

[Confirm Selection?]

’Yes.’

The instant Shen Yuan gave his answer...

The entire status screen trembled.

The line displaying his level slowly blurred before dissolving completely.

[Level: 10/10 (Late-Stage Body Tempering)]

...vanished.

The experience bar beneath it shattered into thousands of tiny fragments before reforming into something entirely different.

The numbers rearranged themselves one by one.

[Qi Cultivation: First Stage of Qi Gathering Realm]

[Qi Strands: 164 / 1000]

At the same time...

Something deep inside Shen Yuan’s lower abdomen suddenly trembled.

A warm current flowed through his body before gathering several inches beneath his navel.

His dantian.

The spiritual qi floating throughout the cave suddenly rushed towards him once again.

Unlike before...

This time it wasn’t strengthening his muscles. It was entering his dantian.

Streams of pale-white qi poured into his body before compressing together into an incomparably tiny point.

Shen Yuan had no idea where this qi was coming from because he did not feel it coming from the outside like before. It was generated from within his body.

And this qi had all sorts of colours, even the ones he could not see in the air.

Red. Green. Blue. Yellow. Black. White. Gold.

The colours touched enough others to mix into different shades before returning to their original colours. They started to settle down in separate spaces, creating beautiful sections of their own colours.

Shen Yuan’s pupils shrank.

’This...’

He instinctively examined the strand of qi quietly floating in his dantian.

The difference was obvious.

If the spiritual qi drifting throughout the cave was muddy river water...

Then the qi inside his dantian was crystal-clear spring water.

No...

Even that comparison failed to describe the gap. It felt as though every strand had been refined countless times before settling inside him.

The Qi quietly settled around the centre of his dantian like a bright, colourful tiny star suspended in the night sky.

[Qi Strands: 164 / 1000]

Shen Yuan slowly clenched his hands; for the first time, he could truly feel qi.

In the distance, the running servants increased their speeds. They did not even run back to see what the sudden burst of qi was about.

"Let me see how qi feels." Shen Yuan whispered to himself as he raised his axe in the air, staring at the back of the servants who had already reached the entrance of the cave and were about to step out. ’I wonder if I can still use that technique.’

"Heavy Axe Slash!" His voice drummed in the cave, sending a chill down the spine of the servants. He adjusted the blade of the axe in a horizontal direction before swinging it cleanly in a straight line from right to left. "Sweeping Ravager."

Whoosh!

Slash!

....