Qin Yuan

The Inner Sect Hall of the Third Peak of the Xuan Yuan Sect. Jade tiles paved the floor, and nine ever-burning glazed lamps hung from the high vaulted ceiling, their light flowing like living water.

Qin Yuan stood outside the hall entrance, took a deep breath, and then stepped inside.

He wore a faded gray Labor Disciple robe, its cuffs frayed, making him stand out starkly against the disciples in the flowing cloud patterned Inner Sect blue robes moving about the hall.

Ten years. He had carried Mysterious Iron Ore in the Seventh Mining Area for ten years. His back had bent and straightened countless times, and he had finally accumulated enough merit to transfer to the Inner Sect.

Behind the duty desk in the hall sat a young man in his early twenties, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes. His blue robe sleeves were embroidered with three silver stripes – the mark of an elite Inner Sect disciple.

Qin Yuan recognized him: Liu Feng, an Inner Sect disciple of the Third Peak's Enforcement Elder, with a cultivation base at the third level of Foundation Establishment.

"Disciple Qin Yuan, my ten-year Labor Disciple term is complete. I've come to handle the transfer to the Inner Sect procedures." Qin Yuan's voice was steady. He held out the Ebony Seal in both hands; ten years of blood and sweat were condensed into this small wooden token.

Liu Feng didn't take it. He leaned back in his chair, leisurely polishing the scabbard of a short sword in his hand, the silver stripes glinting coldly under the glazed lamplight.

Three seconds of silence passed.

Qin Yuan's hands remained still, his back perfectly straight.

"Tsk." Liu Feng finally looked up, his gaze sweeping over Qin Yuan as if he were looking at a stone by the roadside.

He extended two fingers, plucked the Ebony Seal from Qin Yuan's grasp, and a wisp of Spiritual Energy flowed from his fingertips.

Clack.

The seal fell onto the jade floor of the hall, making a clear sound. It rolled three times before stopping at Qin Yuan's feet. A white mark appeared on the corner of the wooden token where it had hit the ground.

Several Inner Sect disciples handling matters in the hall stopped their work and looked over. Someone let out a low chuckle.

Qin Yuan's fingers curled slightly, then relaxed. He bent down to pick up the seal, brushed away nonexistent dust, and looked directly at Liu Feng. "Senior Brother, what is the meaning of this?"

"Meaning?" Liu Feng smiled, and the short sword shinged as it was sheathed. "Qin Yuan, is it? I've checked your records. You joined the sect at sixteen, ten years as a Labor Disciple, Qi Condensation third level, Five Elements Mixed Spiritual Root, the lowest grade of talent."

He stood up, looking down at Qin Yuan. "Do you know what the minimum standard for accepting Inner Sect disciples on the Third Peak is? Single Spiritual Root, and reaching the sixth level of Qi Condensation before the age of twenty. You? You're twenty-six and still stuck at the third level of Qi Condensation. That merit on the seal, you earned it by carrying Mysterious Iron Ore for ten years, didn't you?"

"Sect rules state that Labor Disciples with no infractions for ten years can apply to transfer to the Outer Sect," Qin Yuan said, word by word. "If their contributions are outstanding and they pass an assessment, they can be admitted to the Inner Sect on merit. I discovered three new ore veins in the Seventh Mining Area; it's recorded in the merit book."

"Rules?" Liu Feng leaned forward, resting his hands on the desk. He lowered his voice, but it was like an ice pick stabbing at Qin Yuan. "Rules are made for people with talent. What do you think the Inner Sect is? A garbage dump?"

He straightened up and flicked his sleeve. "The Third Peak doesn't lack laborers to carry ore. Take your damned token and get back to the Outer Sect, or keep mining – that's where you belong."

Qin Yuan's fingernails dug into his palm. Ten years in the dark mine tunnels, the dripping water from the rock walls echoing in his ears for over three thousand nights. Those promises – that after ten years, even those without sufficient talent could enter the Inner Sect based on merit – were apparently just empty words written on paper.

"Senior Brother," his voice was dry, "I followed the sect's regulations—"

"Regulations are dead, people are alive," Liu Feng interrupted him, his smile containing undisguised contempt. "Understand? You're not worthy. Now, get out."

As the last word fell, a surge of spiritual energy flowed from Liu Feng's sleeve.

Qin Yuan felt as if his chest had been struck by a heavy hammer. He was sent flying backward, crashing through the hall doors and tumbling down seven or eight steps of the stone stairs before stopping.

A sweet taste filled his throat, and blood foamed at the corners of his mouth. Qi Condensation third level against Foundation Establishment third level – he didn't even have a chance to resist.

Laughter erupted from inside the hall.

"Junior Brother Liu was still too soft-hearted. This kind of waste of spiritual rice should have had his cultivation crippled and been thrown down the mountain."

"Only reaching Qi Condensation third level in ten years. Even my spiritual dog cultivates faster."

Qin Yuan pushed himself up, wiping the blood from his mouth. He took one last look at Liu Feng's back in the hall. The man had already sat back down at his desk, resuming the polishing of his sword scabbard, as if he had merely brushed away a speck of dust moments ago.

No angry roars, no useless arguments. Qin Yuan picked up the Ebony Seal that had rolled away again, clenched it in his fist, and turned to walk down the stone steps of the Third Peak.

Step by step.

The sharp edges of the wooden token in his palm dug into his flesh.

One day...

The Outer Sect disciple residences were located on the westernmost side of the Xuan Yuan Sect, a cluster of low wooden houses crammed into a mountain hollow.

Qin Yuan's room was at the very end. The wall panels were leaky, and the window paper had three holes, haphazardly plugged with oilcloth brought from the mining area.

He pushed the door open, and the smell of mold mixed with dust hit him.

A hard wooden plank bed, a wobbly wooden table with a broken leg, and a spare gray Labor Disciple robe hung on the wall.

This was all his worldly possessions.

Qin Yuan sat on the bed and began to regulate his breathing. Liu Feng's strike hadn't used full force; it was more like a humiliating expulsion. But even a trace of a Foundation Establishment cultivator's spiritual energy was enough to injure the meridians of a Qi Condensation cultivator.

Spiritual Energy circulated within his body with difficulty, each passage bringing a fine, stinging pain.

Half an hour later, he exhaled a breath of turbid air. His injuries were barely suppressed, but his face remained pale.

The sky outside darkened, the setting sun like blood splashed across the western mountainside.

Qin Yuan looked at the last ray of light, and the fire in his chest began to burn, making his bones feel hot.

When he had first transmigrated and joined the sect at sixteen, he too had harbored dreams of immortal cultivation, believing that diligence could compensate for lack of talent.

But reality was that the Five Elements Mixed Spiritual Root absorbed Spiritual Energy at only one-fifth the speed of a Single Spiritual Root. After ten years of arduous cultivation, he had made no further progress since breaking through to the third level of Qi Condensation three years ago.

Foundation Establishment? A lifespan of three hundred years, soaring through the heavens on a sword, exhibiting nascent divine abilities? Those were all steps for geniuses.

For someone with his aptitude, reaching the sixth level of Qi Condensation was already the ceiling. He would spend his entire life doing odd jobs in the Outer Sect, perhaps becoming a low-ranking steward after forty, managing newly recruited Labor Disciples—that was the entirety of the future he could foresee.

"Why?" he whispered, asking the empty room, asking the wind that slipped through the cracks.

There was no answer.

Only the flame deep within his heart burned hotter and hotter, turning into a desolate rage, and after the rage burned out, it revealed the cold powerlessness beneath.

He closed his eyes.

Just then—

[Detected host's intense unwillingness and will to survive.]

[Conditions met, binding system...]

A mechanical voice devoid of emotion suddenly rang out from the depths of his mind.

Qin Yuan's eyes snapped open.

Nothing in the room had changed: the broken window, the old table, the drafty walls.

But a semi-transparent light screen materialized out of thin air before his eyes, pale blue, with faint data streams flowing along its edges.

[Ten Years Cultivation Per Day System bound.]

[Host: Qin Yuan]

[Age: Twenty-six]

[Cultivation: Qi Condensation Level 3 (Damaged)]

[Spiritual Root: Five Elements Mixed Spiritual Root (Worst Grade)]

[System Rules: Automatically accumulates cultivation equivalent to ten years of arduous training for the host daily, ignoring bottlenecks, aptitude limitations, and inner demon tribulations. Note: Cultivation growth requires the host to actively circulate cultivation techniques for guidance and conversion.]

[Current Extractable Cultivation: 0 Years (Refreshes daily at midnight)]

Qin Yuan stared at the lines of text, his breathing growing more rapid.

Hallucinations? Inner demons? Or had he finally gone mad from spending too long in the mines?

He bit down hard on his tongue, the taste of rust filling his mouth. The pain was clear, and the light screen remained.

It wasn't a dream.

"Ten years... per day?" His voice trembled. "Ignoring bottlenecks? Ignoring aptitude?"

The light screen flickered, and new text appeared:

[Correct understanding. The system will generate cultivation accumulation equivalent to ten years of arduous training for the host's current aptitude, based on the rules of the host's world. The host needs to actively circulate cultivation techniques to convert this accumulation into actual realm advancement. No side effects.]

Qin Yuan's fingers began to tremble.

Ten years. He had struggled desperately, toiling in the dark, sunless mines for a full ten years, only to reach the third level of Qi Condensation.

And this system gave him ten years' worth of arduous training accumulation in one day!

If it were true...

If it were true!

He leaped off the bed, pacing the small room twice before forcing himself to sit back down.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and when he opened them again, the wild light in his eyes was forcibly suppressed into a calm, deep pool.

Try it.

He had to try.

He sat cross-legged again, placing his hands palm-up on his knees, and circulated the Qi Guiding Art, the mandatory cultivation technique for Outer Sect disciples of the Xuan Yuan Sect. It was the most basic technique, crude and inefficient, but it was the only thing he knew.

Spiritual Energy slowly gathered, flowing along his meridians, its speed as sluggish as ever—the Five Elements Mixed Spiritual Root was like a leaky bucket; for every ten parts of Spiritual Energy absorbed, only two were retained.

But in the next moment, a drastic change occurred.

In his lower abdomen, his Dantian, a torrent of heat surged without warning! This wasn't Spiritual Energy absorbed from the outside; it was generated out of thin air, pure and immense, rushing into his meridians like a bursting river!

Qin Yuan's body trembled violently, nearly falling out of his meditative state. He gritted his teeth, desperately circulating the Qi Guiding Art, guiding the torrent along the technique's path.

Boom--!

It was as if barriers shattered in his ears.

Qi Condensation Level 4, broken!

The torrent did not stop, continuing to surge. His meridians expanded, Spiritual Power surged, and previously obscure acupoints opened with a single push.

Qi Condensation Level 5, broken!

Not enough. The power continued to surge, seemingly without end. Qin Yuan's body began to heat up, and fine dirt seeped from his skin—this was the Marrow Cleansing brought on by the rapid increase in cultivation.

Qi Condensation Level 6!

Like breaking through bamboo!