Mike emerged from the lake and landed lightly on the frozen ground.
He stretched his shoulders and rolled his neck, exhaling slowly. Melting spiritual flowers is exhausting and boring,he muttered.
The lingering heat of his flame faded as the cave's cold reclaimed the space. He walked a short distance along the ice-coated stone, boots crunching softly.
What's next for me? he asked himself.
After a moment of thought, he reached into his storage ring.
Two beast cores appeared in his palm, one X-rank, blazing faintly with fire-aspected energy, and one A-rank, ice, stable and dense.
Mike's eyes sharpened. Now's the right time, he said quietly. A breakthrough won't wait forever.
He was about to sit but something tugged at his senses. From the ring.
His brows furrowed. Hm?
Before he could react, a small object shot out of the storage ring on its own and hovered in midair. A rusted metal fragment.
Mike froze. You? He stared at it in disbelief. Hey. I didn't take you out. Get back. He reached out to grab it. The metal piece dodged precisely, as if it sensed his movement before he made it.
Mike's expression darkened. You're testing my patience.
The fragment drifted closer instead, pulsing faintly. Suddenly, X-rank fire core in Mike's other hand trembled. Its energy began leaking out.
What? Mike snapped. Stop that!
The rusted piece pulled the fire essence toward itself like a starving mouth. The core dimmed rapidly, its blazing light collapsing inward.
Mike tried to pull it back but too late.
The fire core shattered silently, its energy completely drained. The metal fragment dropped into Mike's palm, lifeless and cold.
What the hell was that? he muttered.
As if answering him, the fragment floated up again. Light flickered. The rust began peeling away layer by layer. For a breath, something ancient and unfamiliar surfaced beneath.
Then, everything stopped, light vanished. The fragment clattered onto the ice, looking as worthless as ever.
Mike stared at it. So it absorbs core energy, he said slowly, thinking aloud. Activates for a moment… then shuts down.
His gaze sharpened. Let's test that. He took out an ice-aspected A-rank core and held it close. The fragment recoiled instantly. It drifted backward, rejecting the energy outright. Mike tried again, pushing the core closer. The fragment resisted harder, vibrating slightly but refusing to absorb even a trace.
Only fire, Mike concluded. He picked it up, turning it over in his fingers. I knew you weren't ordinary, he said calmly. But you're more troublesome than I thought. With a sigh, he returned the fragment to the storage ring.
Fine. We'll talk again later, he muttered. When I have more cores.
His eyes refocused. For now cultivation.
Mike sat down on the frozen stone, drew a steady breath, and closed his eyes. He steadied his breathing and entered a meditative posture.
The A-rank ice core floated before him, rotating slowly. The moment his spiritual sense touched it, cold energy poured out like a silent flood. Mike guided it inward with precision, letting it circulate through his meridians instead of crashing directly into his dantian.
Cold spread through his body but controlled. It dissolved steadily, its energy refining, compressing, becoming his own. Minute by minute, the ice essence merged with his spiritual circulation, strengthening his foundation.
Then, last trace vanished.
Mike's eyes snapped open.
Too much.
Spiritual energy surged violently through his body, overflowing like a river that had lost its banks. His aura burst outward uncontrollably, shaking the surrounding frost. Light flared faintly above him, not enough to cause a grand breakthrough phenomenon, but enough to tear a hoarse scream from his throat.
Hah!
Energy erupted upward in a narrow column before collapsing back into him. The breakthrough completed.
Jing Ying Second Step.
Clean. Stable.
Yet the flow did not stop.
His body continued absorbing, compressing, generating excess spiritual energy faster than he could stabilize it. His aura became sharp, violent, almost feral.
Damn it, Mike hissed.
If he let it continue, the only way to stabilize this overflow would be to force a third-step breakthrough. But he wasn't ready.
No experience. No preparation. No margin for error.
Forcing it would cripple him or worse.
Mike clenched his fists, forcing calm. No. There's another way. He closed his eyes again. His consciousness plunged into his storage ring, its vast inner world unfolding before his mind.
Shelves, sealed compartments, forgotten corners. Vast. Unexplored. A library of hidden remnants accumulated through chance, trade, and survival.
His conscious form walked through it, brows furrowed.
Nothing… he muttered. Not even a low-grade cauldron?
He moved deeper, then stopped.
A pedestal stood ahead, half-hidden, draped in a dull black covering.
Mike's heart skipped. What's this?
He rushed forward and pulled the cloth away.
A simple, low-level cauldron sat beneath it. No patterns, plain, perfect.
Finally, he breathed. This is exactly what I need. His consciousness withdrew.
The cauldron appeared before him in the cave.
Mike examined it carefully, then nodded. Let's do this.
He began channeling spiritual energy into it. The moment he ignited his flame and send to the cauldron. Then the world shattered, cave fractured like glass. Space cracked, collapsed, and exploded outward. Mike tried to move, but his body was frozen in place. The cauldron remained before him as everything else disintegrated.
Then, silence.
He stood in a vast, empty space, dark and boundless.
A voice echoed, ancient and emotionless. This cauldron refines only one-tier pills. Attempting higher-tier refinement will result in collapse and death. Energy converged before Mike's eyes, condensing into a floating book formed entirely of light.
This is the formula. The space vanished.
Mike jolted back to reality. The cave was intact. The cauldron untouched.
What was that? he muttered, breathing hard. An illusion? Then he noticed the book in his hands, no. He tried to open it but Nothing.
Frowning, he sent spiritual energy into it.
The book opened instantly, pages flipping on their own before stopping.
Mike understood. This cauldron doesn't just refine pills, he said slowly. It teaches.
A faint smile appeared. So its limit is first-tier pills only… but it gives the complete method. He exhaled. Master would love to see this. But this time let's focus.
Following the book's instructions, Mike stabilized his breathing and posture. Spiritual energy gathered inside the cauldron. Flame entered next gentle, controlled, restrained.
Energy on one side. Fire on the other.
He did not rush.
A trace at a time.
Merge. Separate. Repeat.
Sweat rolled down his temples. His control was pushed to the limit. His mind burned with focus.
Finally
The cauldron hummed softly.
A single yellow pill formed.
Mike extinguished the flame immediately and slumped backward, landing flat on the ice.
Alchemy is brutal, he muttered weakly.
He picked up the pill, staring at it.
But after refining one.
A faint smile touched his lips.
t really does feel like your own child.
After successfully refining his first pill a Tier-1 simple energy pill, faintly yellow in color, Mike didn't stop.
The A-rank ice core had provided far more spiritual energy than he initially expected, its reserves deep and steady. Letting that surplus go to waste would be foolish.
He settled into a rhythm.
Days blurred into weeks as the cave became his silent workshop. Refining, stabilizing, cooling, over and over again. Each pill demanded patience, and even with his growing control, the process was slow and unforgiving. Mistakes were corrected early; shortcuts were avoided entirely. Tradition mattered here. One careless move could ruin everything.
By the end of 15th day, the work was complete.
Thirty pills lay neatly arranged before him, uniform, stable, and pulsing faintly with contained energy. Not extraordinary on their own, but invaluable for the road ahead. Resources were power, and power favored those who prepared.
Mike exhaled slowly, storing the pills away.
That's enough for now, he muttered.
The cave fell silent once more as he straightened his body, cultivation awaiting him next.
For now, He had taken his first true step into a new path.