Deep within the factory, the twisted steel jungle cast shadows as thick as ink.
The air was heavy with rust, grease, and the faintest trace of blood.
Scarface Qiang's roar, like that of an injured beast, and the motorcycle engine's frenzied howl tightened like invisible nooses above the abandoned factory, as the shadow of death pressed down heavily.
Lin Xiao hid behind the steel base of a massive stamping machine. Cold metal pressed against his back, bringing a bone-piercing chill.
He kept his breathing extremely low, his chest barely moving. His entire body was like a stone sculpture fused with the shadows.
Only his eyes flashed with cold, sharp light in the gloom. Like a cheetah waiting to strike, they locked onto the increasingly glaring beams of light and the noisy voices coming through the entrance.
Source Energy Points: -0.1 (mild overdraft)
The deep-blue light screen in his mind remained dim, threaded with black cracks that had yet to fully close, but the pulse at its core had stabilized and grown strong.
The basic scanning function extended invisible tendrils with caution, clearly relaying the chaotic scene around the factory entrance.
Scarface Qiang's burly figure stood like a moving iron tower at the entrance of the decrepit factory. Under the shifting motorcycle headlights, the savage scar across his face twisted like a living thing.
Seven or eight vicious-looking thugs surrounded him, carrying machetes and iron rods like hyenas that had caught the scent of blood.
Ah Qi leaned on a makeshift iron pipe. His face was pale, one leg wrapped in thick bandages, but the venom in his eyes burned more fiercely than anyone else's.
"Search separately! That little bastard is badly injured and can't have gone far! Turn over every inch of this place! When you find him, I'll chop him to pieces with my own hands!"
Scarface Qiang's hoarse roar echoed through the empty factory, filled with undisguised murderous brutality.
Heavy footsteps, the piercing clang of metal striking abandoned junk, and the thugs' vicious shouts surged in from the entrance like a tide, rapidly spreading toward the depths of the factory.
Time! Lin Xiao needed time!
His injuries had not healed, and his Source Energy Points were still in a state of mild overdraft.
Facing an enraged peak Two-Star Martial Artist and his pack of ravenous subordinates, fighting head-on would be suicide!
His only path to survival lay in breaking through!
Break through the bottleneck of the Martial Disciple peak and advance another step!
Use the burst of power and recovery brought by the breakthrough to create chaos, find a chance to escape—and perhaps... counterkill them!
The thought flashed through Lin Xiao's mind like lightning, carrying the madness of an all-or-nothing gamble and calculations cold to the extreme.
Without hesitation, he pulled two things from the pocket close to his body.
One was the bottle of basic Body Tempering Fluid issued by the school.
The thumb-sized glass bottle contained a murky, pale-green liquid that gave off a pungent herbal odor and a faint energy fluctuation.
It was effective for ordinary Martial Trainees, but to Lin Xiao, who had already crossed the threshold of a Martial Artist—even if severe injuries had caused him to fall back in realm—the effect was negligible, though better than nothing.
The other was the lustrous white goatskin jade bottle Su Qingxue had given him—the "Jade Marrow Muscle Growth Powder."
Half the medicinal powder in the bottle had already been used, but its clear medicinal fragrance and pure aura of vital energy still seeped out faintly.
A trace of resolve flashed through Lin Xiao's eyes.
He abruptly pulled out the stopper of the basic Body Tempering Fluid bottle, tipped back his head, and poured the murky, pungent liquid into his mouth!
A spicy heat, tasting like cheap alcohol mixed with rotting grass roots, exploded through his mouth and esophagus, bringing an intense burning sensation!
At nearly the same moment, he pried open the jade bottle's stopper with his left thumb. Without hesitation, he poured out a pinch of powder shimmering with a jade-colored glow and pressed it directly against the back of his tongue!
Boom—!
Two medicinal forces of completely different natures yet equal dominance erupted inside Lin Xiao like an inferno of ice and fire!
The basic Body Tempering Fluid was like boiling magma, brutally scouring his already battered meridians and bringing tearing pain as it forcibly stimulated his dormant vitality.
The pure, gentle essence of the "Jade Marrow Muscle Growth Powder," meanwhile, was like a sweet spring. It followed close behind, struggling to repair the meridians scorched by the magma and nourish his withered cells.
Ice and fire intertwined! Agony and vitality coexisted!
Lin Xiao's body was thrown into a steel furnace, only to be plunged into an icy sea an instant later!
He clenched his teeth, the veins on his forehead bulging like writhing dragons. Cold sweat the size of beans mixed with traces of blood from his torn gums and instantly covered his forehead!
His body began to tremble violently beyond his control, while a suppressed, beastlike whine of mortal agony escaped his throat!
This pain far exceeded what he had endured when absorbing the low-grade Energy Stone!
He was using two completely different external forces to forcibly stimulate and squeeze his body's potential, charging at that invisible bottleneck barrier!
Not enough!
His body was wailing and his potential was being squeezed dry, yet the membrane blocking the Martial Disciple peak remained unyielding!
He had to add another spark! He had to use the modifier to forcibly pry open the bottleneck!
Lin Xiao's eyes were bloodshot. His will, like a red-hot branding iron, slammed fiercely into the deep-blue light screen in his mind!
Target locked: Host (Lin Xiao)
Status scan: Severe bodily injuries, not yet healed (moderate); moderate meridian damage; vitality forcibly stimulated (unstable). Realm: One-Star Martial Artist (pseudo) / late Martial Trainee. Bottleneck: Martial Disciple peak barrier (Firmness: High)
Modifiable item: ...Forcibly weaken the microscopic structure of the bottleneck barrier for an instant (estimated effect: reduce breakthrough difficulty by 15%)... Source Energy Points required: 0.3! Warning! The current core is mildly overdrawn! Forced modification may worsen the overdraft! Energy impact during the breakthrough may cause core turbulence!
0.3 points!
Subtracting another 0.3 from -0.1 would make -0.4! The overdraft would worsen! The risk was enormous!
But Scarface Qiang's footsteps and the thugs' shouts had become the drumbeats of death, pounding in the abandoned workshop next door! The nearest footsteps were less than twenty meters from the stamping machine where he was hiding!
There was no time to hesitate!
"Modify! Target: bottleneck barrier! Weaken it!"
Lin Xiao issued a silent roar from the depths of his soul!
His will carried the resolve of burning his boats behind him!
Command received! Source Energy Points deducted: 0.3!
Source Energy Points: -0.1 - 0.3 = -0.4!
Parameters being modified... (The light screen is fluctuating violently! The core's pulse is accelerating! Faint light flickers at the edges of the black cracks!)... Modification complete!
Buzz—!
A powerful dizziness and an empty sensation, as if his soul had been ripped away, struck him instantly!
The mild overdraft instantly became a -0.4 moderate overdraft!
The core's pulse grew somewhat rapid and unsteady!
But at the instant the modification was completed!
Lin Xiao felt the incomparably solid Martial Disciple peak bottleneck inside his body, hard as bedrock, lightly struck by an invisible hand at its most fragile and unstable "point"!
Crack!
A faint snap that only he could "hear," originating on the level of the soul!
A nearly imperceptible crack instantly appeared in the barrier!
Now!
"Break—for me!"
Lin Xiao unleashed a thunderous roar in his heart!
He sent the vitality and "Surging Waves Art" True Qi, forcibly stimulated by the two medicinal forces and now as violently chaotic as boiling magma, crashing recklessly against the cracked bottleneck barrier!
Rumble—!
It was as if a river had burst its banks, as if mountains had collapsed!
A sensation of power far more refined and profound than before, heavy and majestic as the earth, erupted from the deepest reaches of Lin Xiao's body like a dormant volcano!
The tattered clothes around him stirred without wind!
An invisible wave of air burst outward from him, sweeping up thick dust and iron filings from the ground!
Inside his body!
The True Qi of the "Surging Waves Art" seemed to have broken its final shackle and instantly became surging and turbulent!
Its circulation speed suddenly accelerated!
The True Qi that had originally flowed like a stream now surged like a mighty river!
Carrying the lingering quality of water and a newly born, abundant impact, it coursed through his meridians at unprecedented speed!
Wherever it passed, the minute injuries caused by the forced stimulation were rapidly smoothed over and nourished by this newly born, powerful force!
His meridians widened! His muscles and bones exploded with sharp pops!
His flesh greedily absorbed the nourishment brought by this new power!
An aura far stronger and more condensed than before rose thunderously from Lin Xiao like a colossal beast awakening!
Martial Disciple peak!
The breakthrough came naturally!
Ding! The host has broken through to the Martial Disciple peak! Life level has undergone a minor leap! Physical attributes have comprehensively increased (Strength +30%, Speed +25%, Stamina +40%, Neural Response +20%, Total True Qi +50%, True Qi Condensation +30%)!
Ding! The host has been detected completing a realm breakthrough event (Influence: Personal)... Source Energy Points settlement received: +0.5!
Source Energy Points: -0.4 + 0.5 = +0.1!
The notification was clear and pleasant, like heavenly music!
A warm current far purer and more immense than the one produced by absorbing the low-grade Energy Stone surged into the depths of Lin Xiao's soul like a flood bursting its banks!
The deep-blue light screen in his mind suddenly erupted with brilliant deep-blue radiance!
The remaining black cracks rapidly closed and vanished under the nourishment of this pure energy, like spring snow melting before his eyes!
The core's pulse became stronger, steadier, and more vigorous than ever!
The lingering feeling of exhaustion and emptiness vanished instantly like morning mist beneath the sun!
Source Energy Points: +0.1 (surplus)! Core status: Stable! Functions restored to normal levels (minor modifications cause no issues)!
Power!
An unprecedented sense of power filled his every limb and bone!
Lin Xiao abruptly opened his eyes!
Two substantial rays of light flashed through the gloom and vanished.
He felt as if his body had been reborn!
The wound on his right shoulder and back, deep enough to expose bone, no longer brought searing pain. Instead, it gave him a tingling itch as it rapidly healed!
He gave both arms a slight shake. His joints popped like beans frying, and abundant power far beyond what he had possessed before surged through his muscle fibers!
With the slightest force beneath his feet, his body became as light as if it had lost all weight!
He had broken through! Not only had he escaped the overdraft, he now possessed surplus Source Energy Points!
Under the life-level leap brought by the breakthrough and the nourishment of his newly born True Qi, his injuries were rapidly improving!
"This way! I heard something!"
A startled shout accompanied by hurried footsteps suddenly rang out from the other side of the stamping machine!
Clearly, the energy fluctuation and wave of air Lin Xiao had been unable to completely suppress during his breakthrough had alerted the nearest searchers!
"He's over there! Surround him!" Scarface Qiang's furious roar exploded like thunder, brimming with the murderous delight of having found his prey!
Heavy footsteps and the harsh scrape of metal dragging across the floor surged toward Lin Xiao's hiding place like a tide of death!
The corner of Lin Xiao's mouth slowly curled into a cold, cruel arc, like a drawn blade flashing in all directions.
He rose slowly, his movements steady and powerful, without the slightest trace of his former weakness or sluggishness.
He rolled his neck, and his joints cracked crisply.
He felt the "Surging Waves Art" True Qi rushing through his body, the stable, brilliantly glowing deep-blue light screen operating in his mind, and the composure brought by the +0.1 surplus.
His gaze swept over the massive stamping machine before him, the rust-eaten steel beam overhead, and the abandoned oil barrel nearby, stained with suspicious grease.
Environmental scan activated...
Target: Heavy stamping machine base (Stable), suspended rusted steel beam (Connection points A and B, rust level 78%), abandoned oil barrel C (highly volatile solvent vapor remaining inside, concentration: Dangerous)...
Modifiable item: ...Instantly amplify the metal fatigue effect at connection point A of the rusted steel beam (+10%)... Source Energy Points required: 0.05...
Modifiable item: ...Slightly adjust the critical vapor pressure of oil barrel C (-1%)... Source Energy Points required: 0.03...
The notification was clear and steady, filled with efficiency.
The prey's whimpering was right beside his ears.
The hunter's savage face was already close at hand.
Lin Xiao shifted slightly, hiding himself behind the massive shadow of the machine. He spread the five fingers of his left hand and gently pressed them against the cold, rough, grease-covered base of the stamping machine. His right hand was held loosely in a fist, a condensed current of "Surging Waves Art" True Qi silently circulating through his palm.
He raised his head and looked toward the direction of the approaching footsteps and shouts. His gaze was calm and still, like a deep pool.
"Scarface Qiang..." he muttered, his voice echoing through the machine's shadow, cold as the Siberian wind. "Welcome... to my slaughterhouse."
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