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Chapter 6 - Chapter 6: The Pain of Growth

The sparring match changed everything.

Zhen Zenin walked through the clan compound, and for the first time, the whispers behind him weren't full of mockery—but fear. Confusion. Curiosity.

"He defeated Zhen Bo…"

"But he had no cultivation before... right?"

Zenin ignored them all. He had no need for their approval. Their eyes were too shallow to see what stirred beneath his skin.

That night, as others rested, Zenin returned to the ruined shed.

Candles lit. Fire burned. Sweat dripped.

He sat shirtless, legs folded, as he activated the Blazing Vein Technique again. Heat spread through his limbs like lava. He guided qi into his second meridian—and pain struck harder than before.

Crack!

He grunted, blood dripping from his mouth. His muscles convulsed. Bones creaked.

"Damn this fragile vessel…" he muttered.

But he didn't stop.

Every time the fire threatened to consume him, he thought of their faces—his traitorous brother Liang, the disciples who knelt before him then stabbed him in the back. His mother's cold gaze. His sister's scorn.

"I must rise," he growled. "I will rise."

Hours passed.

He passed out, woke up, trained again.

By dawn, he had opened the second meridian.

He collapsed to the floor, body scorched, heart thumping wildly.

"Qi Gathering Realm... just barely."

The flames around him died.

Zenin lay there, breath shallow, his vision spinning—but his lips curled into a victorious smile.

---

Outside, someone had been watching.

From the darkness, a girl's voice muttered, "He's changed."

Zhen Yan, a quiet girl from the outer family, had noticed Zenin's nightly disappearances. Curiosity led her here. What she saw… didn't make sense.

"No one becomes that strong in days… unless…"

She turned away, heart racing. "Who are you, Zhen Zenin?"

---

Back in the shed, Zenin slowly rose.

His body was broken, but his soul blazed stronger than ever.

Step by step, pain by pain... the emperor was returning.

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