The deeper Han Feng ventured into the Green-Azure Secret Realm, the more the environment rebelled against his presence. The "Tainted Qi" here wasn't just a mist anymore; it was a physical weight, a viscous purple sludge that clung to the obsidian trees like cobwebs.
Beside him, Su Yue moved with a new-found grace. Her breakthrough to the Second Stage of Qi Condensation had purged the sluggishness from her movements, but she still stayed strictly within the ten-meter "Sanitized Zone" maintained by Han Feng's mirror.
"We're approaching the Jade Spring," Su Yue whispered, her hand tight on her rapier. "The Sect legends say it's a source of pure spiritual water, but in reality, it's the most toxic place in the realm. The water has concentrated the miasma for centuries. Even the Inner Sect Elders only stay there for minutes at a time."
Han Feng looked at the Purification Mirror in his palm. It wasn't just humming; it was pulling him toward the spring. To the mirror, the Jade Spring wasn't a danger—it was a buffet.
"If it's concentrated filth," Han Feng said, his eyes scanning the thicket, "then it's the perfect place to finish your baptism."
The Sword-Saintess of the Inner Peaks
As they broke through a wall of giant, serrated ferns, the forest opened into a wide grotto. In the center lay a pool of liquid that looked like molten emerald, but the air above it was so corrosive that the surrounding rocks were pitted and scarred.
Standing at the edge of the pool was a figure that didn't belong in this rotting world.
She wore robes of snow-white silk, untouched by the grime of the forest. Her hair was like a river of ink, tied back with a simple silver ribbon. She stood perfectly still, her eyes closed, a single longsword floating horizontally in front of her.
Around her, a terrifying aura of sword-intent created a vacuum, shredding the purple mist before it could touch her.
"Lin Xiruo," Su Yue gasped, her voice barely a breath. "The 'Sword-Saintess' of the Inner Peaks. Why is she here? She reached the 5th Stage of Qi Condensation months ago. This realm should have nothing left for her."
Lin Xiruo didn't open her eyes, but her voice drifted across the grotto, cold and sharp as a winter blade. "The Jade Spring has birthed a Corrupted Lotus. I am here to destroy it before its seeds infect the mountain. Leave, Outer Disciples. Your presence here is a death sentence."
Han Feng stepped forward, crossing the threshold of the grotto. "You're trying to cut the corruption with a sword, Senior Sister Lin. That's like trying to stop a flood with a toothpick. You'll shatter the Lotus, but you'll spread the poison across the entire province."
Lin Xiruo's eyes snapped open. They weren't brown or black—they were a piercing, metallic silver. The floating sword turned, its tip pointing directly at Han Feng's throat.
"An Outer Disciple dares to lecture me on the Dao of the Sword?" she asked, her voice dropping an octave.
Then, she paused. Her silver eyes narrowed as she looked at the air around Han Feng. She didn't see a technique. She saw a Void. Around Han Feng, the "Tainted Qi" didn't just move—it ceased to exist.
"How?" she demanded, her sword-intent wavering for the first time.
The Lotus Awakens
Before Han Feng could answer, the Jade Spring erupted.
A massive, blackened stalk burst from the center of the emerald water. At its top, a lotus flower the size of a carriage uncurled its petals. They weren't pink or white; they were the color of a bruised lung, pulsing with a rhythmic, sickening light.
THUMP.
The heartbeat of the Lotus sent a shockwave of concentrated miasma through the grotto.
Lin Xiruo immediately bit her lip, her white robes finally staining grey as the toxicity overwhelmed her sword-intent. She dropped to one knee, her silver eyes clouding with purple veins. "N-no... the seal was supposed to hold..."
"Su Yue, stay back!" Han Feng shouted.
He didn't draw his sword. He didn't use a movement technique. He ran straight toward the Jade Spring, his hand outstretched, the Purification Mirror facing the Lotus.
"You want to feed?" Han Feng roared, his voice echoing with a power that shook the very trees. "Then drink until you're full!"
The Great Sanitization
Han Feng leaped into the air, landing directly on one of the Lotus's massive, toxic petals.
The moment his feet touched the plant, the Mirror turned into a sun.
A pillar of pure, white radiance shot upward, piercing through the violet clouds of the Secret Realm and into the sky above. The "Tainted Qi" within the Lotus didn't just leave—it was incinerated.
The emerald water of the spring began to boil, turning from a sickly green to a clear, sparkling blue. The black stalk of the Lotus turned to white marble, and the petals began to glow with the softness of a summer moon.
[System Notification: Massive Purification Detected.]
[Mirror Evolution: Phase 2 Beginning...]
[Absorbing 'Fallen Phoenix' Essence...]
Han Feng felt his own Dantian expand. The "Perfect Pill" energy from earlier was nothing compared to this. The Mirror was funneling the purified life-force of the Lotus directly into his meridians.
CRACK.
CRACK.
CRACK.
His bones turned to jade. His blood turned to liquid gold.
Body Tempering: Peak → TRANSITION.
Qi Condensation: STAGE 1... STAGE 2... STAGE 3!
In the span of ten breaths, Han Feng had bypassed years of cultivation. He stood atop the now-white Lotus, his long hair fluttering in a wind that smelled of jasmine and ozone.
Lin Xiruo watched from the shore, her silver eyes wide with an emotion she hadn't felt since childhood: Awe. The poison in her own body had been sucked out by the vacuum Han Feng created. She felt lighter, faster, and more powerful than ever before. But more than that, she felt a terrifying realization.
The boy standing on the Lotus wasn't just a disciple.
"You're not a cultivator," she whispered, her sword falling to the ground. "You're a cure."
Han Feng turned to her, his eyes glowing with a faint, white light. "The world is sick, Senior Sister. I'm just the first dose of medicine."