While Lin Hao was tinkering with a sniper rifle in a soundproof bunker, the rest of the world was looking at the sky over Beijing.
It was 2:00 PM, but the sun had vanished.
Above the sprawling estate of the Chen Guardian Family, a massive, traditional courtyard compound hidden within the city's prohibited zones, an unnatural vortex of black clouds was swirling.
It wasn't a storm. There was no rain. There was only a heavy, suffocating pressure that made pedestrians three miles away fall to their knees, gasping for air.
Inside the Chen estate, the air was thick with the smell of burning incense and old blood.
Chen Long, the "Prodigy" who had declared himself the future of humanity, was currently kneeling in the dirt of the main courtyard, his head bowed. Behind him, hundreds of Chen family disciples were prostrate, trembling.
"The Ancestor," Chen Long whispered, sweat dripping from his nose. "He's really doing it."
Deep within the central meditation hall, a man was screaming.
It wasn't a scream of fear. It was a scream of pure, unadulterated exertion.
Chen Xiao, the 110-year-old patriarch of the Chen bloodline, sat on a jade prayer mat. He was withered, his skin like old parchment. Surrounding him were piles of shattered "Spirit Stones", rare, low-grade crystals excavated from ancient sites, worth billions on the black market.
He had consumed them all.
"BREAK!" the old man roared, his voice cracking like dry wood.
He was trying to force the final door. He was Level 8 (Late Stage), and he had been stuck there for two weeks. He felt the ceiling of the mortal limit pressing down on him.
Unlike Lin Hao, who had simply paid 1,000 UP to click a button, Chen Xiao was fighting physics with brute force. He was ramming his own aging, impure meridians against the barrier of the Houtian Peak.
BOOM.
A shockwave blasted out from the meditation hall, shattering the wooden lattice doors and sending tiles flying from the roof.
The black clouds above the city swirled violently, as if rejecting the energy rising from below. Lightning, red and dirty, crackled in the vortex.
"ARGHHH!"
Chen Xiao's eyes burst. Blood streamed down his cheeks like tears. His capillaries ruptured. His skin tore.
But through the blood, his aura spiked.
The barrier cracked.
The chaotic, violent energy of the shattered Spirit Stones flooded his Dantian, forcing it to expand. It wasn't a "Perfect Foundation." It was a cracked, leaking, cobbled-together foundation held together by will and madness.
But it held.
The pressure over Beijing suddenly vanished. The clouds dispersed, leaving a strange, metallic smell in the air.
Silence fell over the courtyard.
Then, a laugh.
"Hah... hahaha..."
It was a wet, gurgling sound.
Chen Xiao stepped out of the ruins of the meditation hall. He looked like a demon. He was covered in blood, his robes tattered, his eyes glowing with a terrifying, unstable red light.
But he was standing straight. The hunch of age was gone. His withered muscles had swelled with power.
He looked down at his trembling descendants.
"I have done it," he croaked, his voice amplified by a chaotic, surging Qi.
"I have reached the Peak."
Chen Long looked up, awe and terror warring in his eyes. He saw the aura. It was dense. It was heavy. It was undeniable.
"Grandfather..." Chen Long breathed. "Level 9."
Within the hour, the news broke every internet firewall on the planet.
[BREAKING: THE FIRST HUMAN LEVEL 9!] [CHEN FAMILY ANCESTOR BREAKS THE LIMIT!] [THE STRONGEST MAN IN HISTORY!]
The Global Cultivation Association immediately issued a statement, officially ranking Chen Xiao as "World Rank 1."
The world cheered. Humanity had a champion. They had a god who had reached the summit of evolution.
In his bunker, Lin Hao glanced at the notification on his phone.
He saw the video of the bleeding, laughing old man. He saw the "red aura" that signified impurities and instability. He saw the headline declaring him the "Strongest."
Lin Hao took a sip of his coffee.
"Cute," he murmured.
Then he went back to upgrading his rifle.