The Spirit Latrine was exactly as awful as it sounded.
It reeked of rotting herbs, expired beast cores, and the collective ego of a hundred talentless outer disciples who thought spiritual waste didn't stink if you threw incense on it.
Ren Kairo knelt beside the massive jade basin, scrubbing charred remains of failed pill concoctions and shattered beast bones. Steam rose around him. If anyone walked by, they'd see a twelve-year-old failure, elbow-deep in divine compost, looking every bit the pitiful clan disappointment.
But they wouldn't see the truth.
They wouldn't see the Voidheart Codex whispering behind his thoughts, rewriting cultivation as he worked.
[Analyzing: Residual Spiritual Waste – Grade 3.]
[Compound mixture: Burned Silverroot, Molten Kelp, and Slumber Berries.]
[Flaw: Imbalanced fire-to-water ratio causes soul dampening effects.]
[Memory Echo Triggered: Original formula from First Cycle—"Serenity Blend" located.]
Ren Kairo blinked.
That formula had been lost for ten thousand years and now the Codex was just casually dropping it on him like a forgotten grocery list.
He smirked and dipped his hand into the sludge again, letting the chemical sting ignite the nerves along his fingers. With each second, the truth burrowed deeper into him. Not just information—but understanding. He could see the purpose of each herb. The original intent behind the technique. The lies scribbled over history by frightened elders trying to control what they couldn't comprehend.
This wasn't cultivation.
This was autopsy.
And heaven's corpse was still warm.
A shadow loomed over the latrine entrance.
"Oh! Still crawling around in shit, huh..Kairo?"
That voice.
He didn't even have to look to know who it was.
Jiang Wu. Inner disciple. Born with a Silver-Grade Flame Root and an ego that could strangle a Void Beast. In Kairo's past life, Jiang Wu became one of the key executioners in the Clan's cleansing of "defective" bloodlines.
Also: he once pissed himself during a sparring match with a Foundation disciple. Kairo had never let him live that down.
"Need something, Jiang?" Kairo asked without turning. "Or did your ego finally get so bloated you can't find your feet?"
Silence.
Then the sound of boots crunching against broken jade. Jiang stepped forward, a sneer forming on his thin lips.
"You've got a mouth for a cripple."
"And you've got the spine of a worm. Guess we're both special."
Jiang's hand twitched. The Flame Qi in his palm sparked with anger. Just a bit too much for someone playing it cool.
"Think you're clever?" Jiang said. "I saw your little trick with Zhao Ping. You think Elder Mo doesn't know?"
Kairo finally turned to face him, eyes calm, hands still stained from cleaning waste.
"You want to hit me," he said softly. "You're itching to prove something. Go ahead. But make sure you kill me."
Jiang blinked.
"Because if you don't?" Kairo's voice dropped, the steam thickening around his silhouette. "Next time you light a flame to warm yourself… it might burn your soul instead."
[Target: Jiang Wu. Cultivation: Flame Root – Tempered.]
[Flaw Detected: Unstable heart-rhythm during Qi ignition. Emotional impulse triggers backfire.]
[Suggestion: Provoke heartbeat acceleration. Cause Qi backlash.]
Ah. A gift from the Codex.
Kairo smiled and then… he yawned.
Loudly. Dramatically. Like a cat bored with a mouse.
"You're not worth the effort."
Jiang Wu's eyes burned.
But something in Ren Kairo's gaze—something ancient, something calculated—made him hesitate.
Then he spat to the side and turned. "This isn't over, trash."
"No," Kairo murmured as Jiang disappeared into the mist. "It's just the second life."
Back in the outer dorms, the low-ranked disciples snored or muttered in their sleep, dreaming of breakthroughs that would never come.
Ren Kairo sat cross-legged in the corner of his dark stone cell, finger pressed against a thin, tattered scroll.
The Spirit Cleansing Manual, Version 7.
The same cursed foundational technique given to every lowborn disciple. The same one that stalled meridians by the third cycle. Kairo could practically smell the flaw now—like rotten fruit wrapped in gold leaf.
[Manual Analysis: Confirmed intentionally flawed.]
[Correction Path: Invert energy flow. Add "Ash Pulse" breathing pattern.]
[Estimated result: 38% increase in spiritual resonance. Risk: Qi deviation if rhythm breaks.]
He inhaled.Slow. Deep.
Not through the chest, but the diaphragm.
Breath held for five seconds and exhale through the nose.
Then—pulse.
A sharp contraction at the end of the exhale. Like snapping a string beneath the skin.
Pain flared across his back as meridians resisted the change.
He did it again.
And again.
Blood beaded at the edge of his nostrils.Then—a voice was raised
[Qi Cycle Initiated: Ash Pulse Variant.]
[Hidden Affinity Detected: Void Resonance - Grade ???]
[New Path Unlocked: The Silent Flame.]
Kairo's eyes widened.
Void Resonance?
That wasn't even a known affinity. Not in this timeline. Not in any known technique compendium.
The Silent Flame…
He could feel it—like a candle burning in a vacuum. No light. No heat. But the flame still existed. Devouring impurities. Turning flawed energy into… clarity.
That's what the Voidheart Codex did. It didn't amplify you. It unmasked you.
And Ren Kairo?
He wasn't a genius because he broke limits.
He was a monster because he rewrote them.
At midnight,He crept through the southern orchard, silent as thought. The moon hung heavy, watching like a blind eye. Behind the old prayer wall, beneath a crooked tree with white roots, he stopped.
Memory led him here.
In his past life, tomorrow morning, a disciple named Fang Li would be accused of stealing a low-grade spirit pill from Elder Mo's storehouse.
He would be crippled publicly. Beaten until his bones shattered. Left to rot in the latrine pit.
Fang Li never stole anything.
Kairo crouched and waited.
Minutes passed.
Then—footsteps. Hesitant. Limping.
A skinny boy, half-starved and anxius, appeared from the bushes. He looked around, clutching a satchel close to his chest.
Kairo stepped out.
"You have five seconds to explain what's in the bag before I break your wrist."
The boy froze. "I-I didn't steal it! I just—I just saw the light on, and I—"
"I know," Kairo interrupted. "You were set up."
Fang Li's jaw trembled. "W-What?"
"Someone used you as a scapegoat. Same someone who wants to cover a missing ledger page in Elder Mo's inventory. You don't even know the pill's expired, do you?"
Fang Li opened the bag. The pill glowed faintly.
[Detected: Spirit Recovery Pill – 12 years expired. Now a Class D poison.]
[Ingestion causes organ rot within 3 days.]
The boy looked up, eyes wide with horror.
Kairo took the bag and tossed the pill into the stream.
"You live because I say so. And because I'll need a shadow."
Fang Li blinked. "A… what?"
"A shadow follows, listens, and never speaks unless asked. You're mine now. Unless you'd rather end up in that pit anyway?"
The boy nodded slowly.
Kairo turned away.
He wasn't building an army yet. But he'd start with one forgotten ghost.
Back in his room, Kairo sat alone again.He opened the scroll once more but this time, he wasn't reading it.
He was rewriting it.
With ash and breath and silence.
[Codex Update: New Technique Logged – "Ash Pulse Cleansing Manual."]
[Foundation Established. Throne Path Ready.]
He closed his eyes.
The first Throne awaited.
But first—he'd teach them all that garbage manuals weren't the only thing covered in waste.
Sometimes… so was destiny.