Jiang Yi crouched behind a towering stack of ancient meteorite iron, his Third Stage core humming with raw, unsatisfied power. The medicinal Qi he'd stolen from Meng Li had solidified his foundation, but now his demand was even greater. The leap from the peak of the Third Stage to the powerful Fourth Stage—the realm where true Internal Power begins to form—required a massive, focused burst of pure energy.
And Meng Li was waiting for him.
The Serpent of the Outer Court hadn't believed the wall "exploded." He had spent the remaining hours of the night setting a trap near the largest source of discarded energy in the Depository: a cracked, five-foot-tall block of Spirit Jade. The jade had failed its purpose as a formation anchor, but it leaked a constant, powerful stream of High-Grade Qi.
Through a small gap in the meteorite iron, Jiang Yi observed Meng Li, who was casually "cleaning" nearby, but whose gaze kept flicking towards the Jade Block. Jiang Yi's enhanced senses easily detected the subtle, invisible lines of a Pressure-Sensitive Sensory Net Meng Li had woven from faint Qi threads around the base of the block.
A Fourth Stage cultivator is too impatient, Jiang Yi mused. He sets a clumsy, visible trap, but his power is still lethal.
Jiang Yi's plan was audacious: He needed to steal the Qi without physically approaching the block or stepping on the net.
He took a slow, deep breath, engaging the Dust Cloak Method until he felt the spiritual signature of utter incompetence cling to him like a second skin. He began to shuffle forward, moving not like an assassin, but like a dizzy, distracted idiot, dragging his broom.
"Look at this waste," Meng Li scoffed, loud enough to be heard. "Can't even walk straight. Get back to the refuse pile, peasant! This area is sealed."
Jiang Yi ignored the warning, his eyes fixed on the jade block. He deliberately took a step too wide, appearing to stumble awkwardly toward the edge of the sensory net. Meng Li tensed, ready to spring the moment the net registered the servant's foot.
But Jiang Yi stopped an inch short of the trap. He lifted his hand, not toward the Jade Block, but toward a small, broken ceramic pot lying three feet away from the trap.
He silently initiated the Minor Flow Convergence Array.
This was the Sphere's true power: ruthless efficiency. The Array didn't just target the Jade Block. Jiang Yi directed it to target all residual Qi in the five-foot radius—including the faint, minute energy threads that were powering Meng Li's sensory net.
Snikt.
The net, deprived of its minimal operating energy, instantly snapped, dissolving silently into the ambient air, completely undetectable to Meng Li.
Simultaneously, the Azure Array locked onto the colossal, leaking Spirit Jade Block.
WHUMM.
The block shrieked as its immense power was ripped free. The high-grade energy, which should have blasted Meng Li across the chamber, was instantly captured and purified into a dense, roaring cataract of azure liquid.
It slammed into Jiang Yi's dantian, triggering the final, violent surge he needed.
His entire body shuddered. The raw physical strength of his Third Stage core exploded, tearing through the last internal barrier. His bones felt like they were being crushed and then reformed, denser and heavier than iron.
Meng Li was paralyzed. The entire chamber had just gone spiritually silent. The massive, leaking Spirit Jade Block, which had illuminated the corner for years, turned instantly white and inert, collapsing into a heap of brittle powder. And the sickly servant standing a few feet away hadn't moved.
"You! What demon craft did you use!?" Meng Li roared, finally realizing the trap had failed and the energy was gone. He lunged, a powerful Fourth Stage punch tearing through the air, aimed at Jiang Yi's temple.
Jiang Yi, now at the peak of the Third Stage, didn't block. He simply tilted his head, letting the wind of the punch whistle past his ear. He executed the Spider Step with such refined grace that he appeared to phase through the air, reappearing ten feet away, calmly leaning on his broom.
"Senior Brother Li, you must be mistaken," Jiang Yi said, his voice still weak and trembling, but with a terrifying stillness in his eyes. "There was a terrible spiritual collapse. We should report it to Steward Ma."
Meng Li stared at the servant, his mind reeling. The movement was too fast, too controlled for a waste, yet the aura still read "failing mortal." He was facing an invisible enemy who had just stolen a king's ransom worth of Qi.
Furious, Meng Li rushed out to report the "spiritual collapse," terrified that if he stayed, the impossible servant would frame him for the destruction of the Spirit Jade Block.
Jiang Yi watched him go, then ran a weary hand over the mark on his palm. His core was overflowing, pure and ready. He was at the peak of the Third Stage Body Tempering. He had the power to face the upcoming assessment.
He emerged from the Depository moments later, the epitome of a physically exhausted servant. He was so convincing that Steward Ma, still terrified of the Depository, gave him a small, rare medicinal herb for his "fever" and sent him away.
As Jiang Yi swallowed the mild herb, he felt the true, dangerous consequence of his success.
High above the Azure Cloud Sect, far in the Inner Mountain's silent, cloud-shrouded peaks, Elder Xuan, a venerable cultivator of the Foundation Establishment Realm, was meditating. His eyes were closed, his perception spanning the entire sect.
He registered the chaotic spiritual fluctuations in the Spirit Depository. Annoying, but common. He focused on the energy signatures involved. The angry, panicked Fourth Stage fluctuation of Meng Li was clear. But then his attention snagged on something else.
For a flicker of a microsecond, the Elder's powerful perception saw through the grey haze of the Dust Cloak—not because the cloak failed, but because the internal power was so immense it pulsed through the spiritual static.
Elder Xuan saw, for a heartbeat, a brilliant, miniature star, blazing with pure, azure light, moving rapidly out of the Depository, concealed within the body of a servant.
Impossible, the Elder thought, opening his eyes slowly. That Qi… it possesses a purity that should not exist in this realm. It is the signature of a true, innate body cultivator. Who is this boy?
The Elder made no move, but his interest was piqued. The game of hiding was over; someone in the highest echelons now knew a prodigy was lurking amongst the waste.
Author's Remark:
Poor Meng Li. He spent half his cultivation on a trap only to have the electricity bill stolen by the very person he was trying to catch. Cultivation lesson #1: Never underestimate a man with a broom and an unprecedented need for energy.