BOOM!
A muffled explosion erupted from within.
His veins ignited—like molten metal forced through living channels.
Light surged beneath his skin as though iron fresh from a forge. The dim ember from his body erupted. A golden-red aura flared—an ethereal flame unfurled behind him—vast, towering, like the shadow of a primordial beast.
Silence draped the cavern.
His newly tempered body felt heavy yet weightless—solid in structure, fluid in motion. His bones hummed with compressed force.
Moments passed before he rose.
Joints cracked. His spine uncoiled. His form was dense, not swollen—like wearing armor crafted from his own flesh.
He lowered his gaze. His hands—denser, refined, faintly aglow—pulsed with crimson veins. As he curled his fist, power tremored through his arm, a contained explosion waiting for release.
"First Temper… complete. This Fire Qi in this mine helps me a lot. If I use the natural way to temper my body, it will take a whole month or perhaps more to reach this stage."
For a moment, Li Yan stood motionless at the heart of the Fire Mine.
His senses had sharpened drastically. He heard everything—the flow of his own blood, the molten surge coursing through reinforced veins. The sulfur and scorched minerals that once suffocated him now felt invigorating.
Knowledge had been insufficient.
He needed proof—something undeniable.
His eyes shifted to the far wall of the cavern. Fire Qi Stones gleamed from within the rockface, glowing like molten embers. Ancient. Untouched. Hardened by centuries of relentless pressure and flame.
They shimmered with Fire Qi.
Li Yan approached with silent, measured steps. Each footfall carried a quiet, controlled weight, echoing through the vast chamber.
He stopped.
A single Fire Qi Stone stood before him—his height, dense as metal.
He raised his right hand. Fingers curled. His fist tightened until the bone whitened. Qi gathered—not on the surface, but deep in the core of muscle and marrow. His body and Qi no longer functioned as separate forces.
Just a slight pivot. A twist of the waist. A breath drawn—sharp, controlled.
Then he struck.
BOOM.
The cavern exploded in light.
Crimson and orange flared as Fire Qi blasted outward. The stone didn't crack—it detonated. Dust erupted in a storm of glowing fragments. Heat haze ripped away in the shockwave, sparks scattering like startled sprites.
Silence fell again.
Li Yan lowered his hand, flexing his fingers.
Untouched. Unmarked.
"Not just strength…" His voice was low, rough, and certain. "This is domination."
He wasn't finished. He moved toward a boulder near the wall.
He opened his palm.
A deeper twist of the waist.
His palm struck.
BOOM.
Another eruption.
The boulder didn't break—it bloomed, stone bursting outward like a flower torn open by force. Shards scattered across the cavern floor. Dust drifted from the ceiling like dim, glowing snow.
"Enough."
Li Yan exhaled.
His arms gleamed under the shifting firelight—metallic contours over coiled strength, forged lines of power and precision.
He stared at his hands, a faint glint of pride crossing his eyes.
"This is just the beginning…"
He didn't need to say more. The splintered landscape spoke clearly.
And then—
GURRRRRK.
A deep, unrestrained growl rolled through the cavern.
Li Yan blinked.
He glanced down at his abdomen. His lips twitched.
"…Seems this practice made me hungry," he muttered dryly.
He gave a low chuckle and turned toward the teleportation portal. After slipping on his upper robes, he picked up the Qi lamp. Its flame flickered calmly—as though acknowledging the change within him.
As he reached near the glowing formation, a faint ripple stirred the air.
Li Yan stopped instantly. His gaze sharpened.
The teleportation portal pulsed, its runes flickering as a shadow surfaced within the swirling Qi mist.
Someone was coming through.
His pupils narrowed. "Impossible."
This mine had been abandoned for years. Off-limits. The entrance array required an access token—one he'd received personally from Ji Hong. No one could enter on a whim.
Li Yan's grip on the Qi lamp tightened as he sent his Spiritual Sense outward.
The silhouette inside the portal took shape, still half-swallowed by haze. The lamp's glow couldn't fully pierce the mist—only a faint outline appeared.
Yet Li Yan's Spiritual Sense caught the aura of a stronger cultivator—an aura that belongs to an elder.
Then a voice emerged, calm, familiar, tinged with relief.
"Li Yan? Is that you?"
His shoulders eased—not fully, but enough.
He stepped forward. "Yes… Elder Ji."
Ji Hong moved out of the fading mist, the lamp's soft light catching the lines of tension on his face. Relief washed across his features the moment he confirmed Li Yan was alive, calm, and uninjured.
"It's good that you're alright," Ji Hong said, exhaling deeply.
Li Yan raised a brow. "Of course I'm alright. Did something happen?"
Ji Hong chuckled, though a glint lingered in his eyes. "Actually… when you entered the Fire Mine, the portal array sent me a notification. I expected you to return shortly after finishing your cultivation, but—"
His gaze swept across the scorched stone, shattered rubble, and faintly glowing dust.
"You never came out until now. Time passed. Still no exit alert. It made me uneasy. My mind conjured every possibility. Had something gone wrong? Had you been trapped? Or worse…"
He sighed lightly. "So I decided to check."
Li Yan's brows rose. A measured pause followed. "…Did I stay here that long?"
Ji Hong folded his arms inside his sleeves, expression thoughtful under the lamp's flickering glow. "You've been in here for nearly two days," he replied.
Li Yan's eyes narrowed—not in fear, but quiet realization. "Two days?"
He hadn't felt it. No fatigue. No drag of time. Just the fire, the silence, and the tempering.
"That explains why I felt hungry," he murmured.
"I lost track of time," he admitted.
Ji Hong stepped closer, studying him not as a mere elder, but as a cultivator gauging a phenomenon. His sense perception brushed against Li Yan's realm.
His cultivation had risen—one stage, no more.
But the aura…
It was different. Denser. Heavier. Cohesive.
Not the bright eagerness of a rising disciple, but the quiet pressure of steel cooling just before it hardens.
Ji Hong exhaled slowly, eyes narrowing. "You look… much stronger than before. But your cultivation hasn't risen beyond a single stage. You're not hiding it with a high-tier concealment artifact, are you?"
Li Yan shook his head. "I don't own such an artifact, Elder Ji. And what you sensed—that's my real cultivation."
Ji Hong blinked. "Then what exactly were you doing in here for two days, if not cultivating?"
A faint smile touched Li Yan's lips. "That? I didn't try to increase my cultivation recklessly. I increased my cultivation by only one stage and stabilized my foundation. After that, I focused on physical refinement—body tempering."
"You were tempering your body?" Ji Hong asked, stunned. His expression tightened. "Wait… don't tell me you already started the First Flame Baptism. That scroll was incomplete and far too dangerous at your level. I gave it for later, not—"
Li Yan cut in gently. "No, Elder Ji. I didn't start that technique. I know my limits. I wouldn't attempt something so unknown without preparation. Its tier is still unidentified. I'll only begin once I have the full inheritance—or understand it fully."
Ji Hong's shoulders eased, a relieved breath escaping. "Wise decision. Rushing a technique like that could destroy your meridians… or worse. Then what technique were you training?"
"Steel Body Tempering Technique," Li Yan said. "I got it from the Techniques Hall."
Ji Hong raised a brow. "That one's vicious. Most disciples quit before they get anywhere. But with Fire affinity… yes, a clever choice. How is it progressing?"
"I wouldn't say I've mastered it," Li Yan replied, modest but steady. "But it's going smoothly. Your permission to enter the mine was greatly appreciated. The Fire Qi is denser than expected. It supports more than just cultivation."
He didn't speak the whole truth. There was no need.
His tone remained calm. Steady.
Not pride.
Not arrogance.
Just certainty.
He had done what needed to be done. And he had succeeded.
Ji Hong, however… his gaze held something deeper—awe, and beneath it, apprehension.
"Li Yan," he said quietly, "have you experienced any side effects? Overstrain? Numbness? Erratic Qi flow?"
Li Yan met his eyes and shook his head. "None. Everything is… in balance."
Ji Hong studied him a moment longer, searching for fractures in the façade. He found none.
After a beat, Li Yan shifted the subject. "Elder Ji, I'm… quite hungry. May we return to the sect?"
Ji Hong blinked—then chuckled, tension unwinding from his posture. "Of course. Let's go."
They stepped toward the glowing teleportation portal. Spatial energy pulsed, rising in waves of crimson and gold. The moment they crossed its threshold, light swallowed them whole.
____
Night greeted them on the other side.
Thick clouds muffled the stars; only a pale moon traced the sect's rooftops. A faint chill drifted through the trees, rustling the leaves like murmured secrets.
Ji Hong and Li Yan parted without ceremony.
No lecturing.
No needless words.
Just a nod.
Li Yan walked toward the food stalls still open at this hour. The scent of roasted meat and simmering broth wrapped around him, tugging at something primal.
He ate in silence—face calm, posture composed—yet every bite struck a body pushed past its limits. Only now did he sense how deep the hunger had burrowed.
When he finished, he followed the moonlit path back to his courtyard.
Crickets hummed in the grass.
Lanterns flickered along the walkway, casting soft halos across the stone.
Inside his room, he didn't cultivate.
He didn't plan.
He let his body sink into the bed.
And Li Yan slept.
*****
The first light of dawn crept over the jagged mountain ridges, washing the sect in a soft golden glow. Mist curled through the forest edges like a wandering spirit, and somewhere in the distance, a beast's call echoed across the valley.
Li Yan stepped out of the teleportation portal into the Tier-1 Hunting Ground, moving with the rising sun. His robes stirred in the morning breeze, and his long purple hair shimmered beneath the light, loosely bound by his familiar golden clip.
Today marked a new phase—one of endurance, strategy, and strength.
As he passed the towering white stone leaderboard, his gaze swept across the top name.
[1st – Mu Fan – Qi Gathering Realm (Stage-Peak) – 246 Hunts]
Three days had passed since the rankings refreshed. Three days he'd been away.
Mu Fan had reclaimed first place. A faint, almost imperceptible amusement touched Li Yan's eyes.
"Oh? Working hard to stay on top?" he murmured, voice mild. No pride. No disdain. He turned away without another look.
The Hunting Ground awaited.
Li Yan moved deeper into the Hunting Ground with calm assurance. He knew the terrain—the patterns of its beasts, the shifts of elemental fields, the rhythm of danger hidden beneath the undergrowth.
His goal this time was higher: harvest 150 Tier-1 beast cores before returning.
And unlike before, he wouldn't rely solely on his sword. His recently tempered body demanded real combat—bone against claw, muscle against hide.
A crimson-furred Firefang Wolf burst from the thicket, eyes burning with aggression. Li Yan didn't reach for his weapon.
He stepped forward.
A pivot—clean, effortless.
A sidestep—precise.
His fist—reinforced by body tempering—drove into the wolf's ribcage with a sharp, bone-breaking crack. The beast collapsed before it could even register the pain.
Li Yan flexed his hand. No blood. No scratches.
Only strength.
____
Hours slipped by in quiet violence.
Li Yan moved through the Hunting Ground like a whisper of death.
Efficient. Unhurried. Surgical.
A wind-aligned beast? He grounded it with oppressive flame.
An earth-aligned brute? He outmaneuvered it, slipping past every heavy strike before shattering its joints.
Sometimes he drew his sword—only when numbers rose by ten or more beasts.
But most of the time, he didn't need to. He did wear his Gauntlets.
With them, each punch became heavier. Sharper.
Trained. Tested.
____
By the fifth midnight, his target of 150 beast cores was achieved.
Li Yan left the Hunting Ground without glancing at the leaderboard.
He didn't need to.
But his name already sat at the top.
[1st – Li Yan Tian – Qi Gathering Realm (Stage-8) – 1377 Hunts]
He returned to the sect, robes dusted with dirt and dried beast blood.
A pulse of Qi instantly cleansed the stains. His aura—steady, controlled, more refined than ever—settled around him like a quiet inferno.
He entered his room, the night deep and calm.
And after five days of relentless hunting, Li Yan finally allowed himself to rest.