The Spirit Baptism Ceremony was meant to be a formality.
Once a season, Outer Sect disciples with at least six cycles of Qi refinement were brought before the Baptism Altar. It wasn't glamorous. It wasn't fair. Half the time, the elders forgot their names and called out numbers instead. Still, it was a chance—however slim—to earn a spiritual awakening and the right to challenge for Inner Sect status.
For Su Chen, in his last life, it had been the beginning of the end.
That baptism had nearly killed him.
Not in the poetic, dramatic sense. Literally. His meridians had cracked under the pressure of a forced energy surge, and the medicinal pool he was dumped into afterward had reacted with latent poison in his system. The result? Three months of spiritual seizures, demotion to manual labor duty, and a reputation as a "waste who couldn't even survive a blessing."
He knew better now that the ceremony hadn't failed.
It had been obstructed and now, standing beneath the towering marble steps leading to the Altar Pavilion, Su Chen could practically taste the trap waiting for him again.
The difference this time?
He was walking into it with his eyes wide open.
"You there! Su Chen, outer disciple #304!" shouted a gate elder, looking down at a parchment as if he hated every word it contained. "You've been granted a slot due to a last-minute dropout. Report to Line Three."
Ah. The same script. Right on schedule.
Su Chen bowed. "Understood, Elder." He didn't bow out of respect but the difference in strength made him do it.
As he walked past the pillars of the Altar Pavilion, he could already feel the eyes on him. Elder Shen's lackeys, half-hidden behind ceremonial veils. A few inner disciples pretending not to laugh. And—of course—the large, suspiciously cracked cauldron at the edge of the pool.
He remembered that cauldron.
That's where the 'stabilizing incense' was placed last time. The incense that, strangely enough, released mind-numbing fumes if you inhaled too deeply.
This time, Su Chen adjusted his breathing the moment he entered the field. Shallow inhales. No mouth breathing. One hand casually pressed to his waist—Not for modesty—he'd etched a sealing charm into the belt an hour ago.
[System Alert: Environmental Anomaly Detected]
[Status: Mild dream enhancer Present in Localized Airflow]
[Resistance Applied: Passive Willpower Check – Passed]
[Mental Clarity: Stable]
He stepped into the third line of disciples. Most were nervous. A few were trembling. One girl was openly sobbing into her sleeves. Typical outer sect energy.
Su Chen stood quietly, hands clasped behind his back.
His name wasn't called first.
It wasn't called tenth.
It was called forty-third.
Which was funny, because there were only supposed to be thirty-two registered candidates.
"Forty-three," Su Chen muttered. "Guess I'm already overflowing with honor."
An attendant led him forward. The Baptism Altar rose ahead, a stone platform etched with ancient sigils and powered by the root vein of Azure Sky Mountain's leyline. A river of qi flowed invisibly beneath it, tuned to stimulate one's spirit root. If successful, it would refine the disciple's foundation and allow spiritual perception to bloom.
If unsuccessful?
Well.
Su Chen stepped onto the altar.
The world dimmed.
Not from light, but sensation. His ears popped. His skin itched. His heartbeat slowed—then raced and in that moment of false silence, he saw the sigil beneath his feet shift.
Only slightly.
A half-inch realignment. But to Su Chen, it was as loud as a slap.
In his past life, he hadn't seen that shift until the backlash began. Until his veins started leaking blood.
But this time—
[System Alert: Formation Interference Detected]
[Redirected Qi Pulse – Intent: Meridian Overload]
[Activating Passive Anchor Thread – Defensive Mindframe Recall]
[Stabilizing Core Flow…]
Su Chen exhaled slowly.
He guided the incoming pulse not through his main meridians, but into a sealed loop he'd prepared inside his dantian—based on a forgotten breathing technique he'd read in his second life, long since dismissed as "too wasteful" by the sect.
Wasteful, yes.
But safe?
Absolutely.
The altar glowed.
The sigils flared.
And then—Silence.
Everyone waited for the explosion.
The shattering.
The failure.
Instead, a low hum filled the air.
Then wind.
Then the faint scent of ink and burning parchment.
[Anchor Triggered – Thread of Knowledge Reaction]
[New Trait Acquired: Mental Resonance Physique (Dormant)]
[Trait Description: Your body echoes with forgotten knowledge. Compatible with lost Daos and erased laws.]
The Baptism Pool rippled.
Golden light surged across the altar like lightning in water, coiling around Su Chen's limbs and seeping into his bones.
He felt the shift instantly.
It wasn't raw power. It wasn't cultivation advancement. It was… clarity.
He could feel the very structure of the glyphs beneath him.
He understood them.
Not just by sight, but by instinct.
The language of the formation was speaking, and for the first time, he could speak back.
His fingers twitched.
If he pressed here—if he traced this line with his spiritual sense, he could probably reverse the direction of the flow. Amplify it. Or maybe—
"ENOUGH!" barked an elder, his voice shaking the air.
The light snapped away.
The formation went dark.
Su Chen blinked, reeling slightly.
The elder who'd stopped the process was none other than Elder Shen.
Of course.
He stepped forward with a strained smile. "It appears Su Chen's root has… reacted abnormally. We must not risk damaging the formation with an unstable resonance."
"Of course, Elder," Su Chen said, bowing deeply. "Thank you for your concern. I would have surely combusted without your generous intervention."
Elder Shen's eyes narrowed.
Su Chen smiled wider.
Later, back in his courtyard, the system chimed softly in his mind.
[Mental Resonance Trait Analysis: 2% Complete]
[Anchor Thread Stabilized: 12%]
[First Internal Mutation Registered – System Compatibility Rising]
He leaned back against the wooden wall, breath steady, pulse slow.
It had worked.
He'd hijacked the Baptism meant to cripple him.
Not only that, he'd come out with the first genuine trait of his new path—a path not of brute force, but mental clarity, forgotten knowledge, and resonance with laws others had abandoned.
A forbidden path and now Elder Shen knew he'd survived. Which meant things were about to escalate but that was fine. He had seventy-two hours left on his first cooldown.
After that?
It was reset season.