The night was a deep, silent abyss, the moon and stars veiled by a thick blanket of clouds. The Azure Serpent Lake was a sheet of black glass, its powerful inhabitants slumbering in the depths. In the highest chamber of the steward's pagoda, Li Yu sat in the center of the room, a bastion of calm in a world holding its breath. The azure jade slip and the Beast Bag lay on the table beside him, symbols of the future he was about to seize.
He had reached the Great Perfection of the Body Tempering Realm, a pinnacle that countless cultivators spent their entire lives striving for. His foundation was not merely a deep well; it was a boundless sea, a testament to the heaven-defying power of his spirit and cultivation art. But he knew that to remain in this realm was to stagnate. The Body Tempering Realm was about perfecting the mortal vessel. The Qi Condensation Realm was about transcending it. It was the first true step on the path to immortality, the point where a cultivator's Qi could leave the body and influence the world. It was the difference between a sharpened sword and a master swordsman.
With a final, steadying breath, he closed his eyes and sank his consciousness into the vast, churning ocean within his dantian. The viscous, heavy Qi, a product of two years of devouring the essence of countless aquatic beasts, swirled with an unimaginable potency. His master had given him an expectation, but Li Yu was driven by a far more primal force: the instinct for survival. Jian Feng was just the first wave. The tide of trouble from Elder Jin's faction would be relentless, and he needed to be a reef of unshakeable power, not a sandcastle waiting to be washed away.
He began the process. Following the profound, esoteric pathways of the «Myriad Rivers Returning to the Sea Art», he exerted his will upon the boundless sea. The first step was not to compress, but to spin. He created a colossal whirlpool in his dantian, the entire ocean of Qi beginning to rotate, slowly at first, then faster and faster. The centrifugal force began to separate the purest, heaviest droplets of Qi, drawing them towards the center of the vortex.
The strain was immediate and immense. It was like trying to wrestle an ocean into submission. His mind, honed by months of controlling his spiritual sense, became a lighthouse in the storm, his will an unbreakable anchor. The whirlpool spun with ever-increasing velocity, the pressure at its center building to an astronomical degree.
Now came the second step: condensation. He focused his will on the core of the vortex, on the super-concentrated mass of Qi, and began to squeeze.
A pain unlike any he had ever experienced erupted from his dantian. It was not the sharp pain of a wound or the grinding ache of his body tempering. It was a deep, fundamental pressure, as if a star was being born and dying in the very center of his being. His 'Kraken's Heart' physique, which had endured the Yin-Yang forge, was pushed to its absolute limit. His internal organs, now incredibly resilient, vibrated violently, threatening to rupture under the sheer strain. His 'Leviathan Bones' creaked and groaned, and sweat, thick with black, foul-smelling impurities, poured from his skin, a sign that even his perfectly tempered body was being refined further under this incredible pressure.
The liquid Qi at the center of the vortex resisted. It fought against the compression, its nature unwilling to change. But Li Yu's will was absolute. He poured his focus, his spirit, his very soul into the effort. He was not just condensing Qi; he was forging a new foundation, a core that would define the rest of his cultivation journey.
Hours bled into one another. The sky outside began to lighten, the first hints of dawn painting the clouds in shades of grey and purple. Inside the chamber, Li Yu was a statue, his face pale and slick with sweat, his body trembling with the effort.
Then, he felt a change. A single, infinitesimal point at the very center of the vortex solidified. It was no longer liquid. It was a tiny, crystalline speck, as brilliant as a diamond and as deep as the abyss.
This was the tipping point. The single speck of condensed Qi acted as a seed, a gravitational core. The surrounding liquid Qi, drawn by this new, stable state, began to crystallize around it, layer by agonizing layer. The process accelerated, a chain reaction of profound transformation. The vast, churning sea of liquid Qi was being consumed, its boundless volume being compressed into a single, perfect form.
With a final, silent snap that resonated through his soul, the last drop of liquid Qi was absorbed. The roaring vortex in his dantian vanished, replaced by a profound, perfect silence.
Where the ocean had been, there was now a single, flawless, nine-sided crystal. It was the color of the deepest abyss, a black so pure it seemed to devour the light, yet from its core, a faint, crimson-gold light pulsed in time with his own heartbeat. This was his Qi Core, the heart of his new power.
He had broken through. He was now a cultivator of the First Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm.
The moment the core formed, the world changed. His spiritual sense, which had been a net he could cast outwards, was now a part of the world itself. He could feel the flow of spiritual energy in the air, the life force of the trees outside his window, the deep, slumbering auras of the beasts in the lake, all with a clarity that was a hundred times greater than before.
A torrent of pure, refined energy erupted from his new Qi Core, flooding his body. It was no longer the heavy, viscous Qi of the Body Tempering Realm. This was True Qi, a higher form of energy, lighter, faster, and infinitely more potent. It nourished his body, instantly healing the internal damage caused by the breakthrough and pushing his physique to a new level of consolidation.
He focused inward on his spirit. The blood-red Koi had undergone a dramatic evolution. It was now over three feet long, its scales shimmering with a metallic, ruby-like luster. The two golden threads had merged, forming a single, brilliant golden line down its spine that looked like a divine brushstroke. And now, two new, fainter golden threads were beginning to trace the edges of its pectoral fins. A third, dormant eye, a tiny golden slit on its forehead, had appeared, closed but pulsing with an ancient, unfathomable power.
Li Yu slowly opened his eyes, a wisp of turbid air, the last of his mortal impurities, escaping his lips. He felt… reborn. He looked at his hand and willed it. A soft, azure-colored light, the color of the «Azure Water Scripture», enveloped his palm. He focused, and the light coalesced, forming a small, sharp blade of solid ice that hovered silently above his skin.
This was the power of a Qi Condensation expert. The ability to manifest Qi externally. He had crossed the threshold.
With a thought, he activated the «Myriad Rivers Returning to the Sea Art»'s concealment ability. The powerful, sharp aura of his new realm was instantly suppressed, drawn back into his Qi Core. The overwhelming presence of a Qi Condensation expert vanished, replaced by the familiar, deep, but ultimately non-threatening aura of a Body Tempering cultivator. He carefully adjusted the output, allowing his "official" cultivation to appear as if he had just broken through to the Seventh Stage of Body Tempering. It was a plausible, even impressive, advancement for two months of diligent work. His greatest secret was once again secure.
He stood up and walked over to the table. He picked up the Beast Bag, channeling a thread of his new, potent True Qi into it. The bag glowed softly, and a small, shimmering portal opened at its mouth. He sent a command through his spiritual link to Crimson, who was resting in its enclosure below. Come.
The powerful Marsh-Drake dissolved into a stream of light and flowed through the air, entering the portal of the Beast Bag without any resistance. Li Yu felt the bag grow slightly heavier. He could feel Crimson's calm, loyal presence within the bag's inner space, comfortable and at peace. He now had a hidden trump card he could carry with him at all times.
Finally, he picked up the azure jade slip. He pressed it to his forehead, and the knowledge of the «Flowing Water, Still Shadow» spirit art flooded his mind. Shields of swirling water, whips of condensed liquid, blades of razor-sharp ice, and shrouds of disorienting mist. Before, these techniques were just theories. Now, with his Qi Core, they were tangible possibilities.
A slow, confident smile touched his lips. He was no longer just a boy with a strong body and a strange spirit. He was a true cultivator. He was a beast tamer with a powerful companion at his side. He was a hidden dragon who had finally left the river. And he knew, with absolute certainty, that the next time a fool like Jian Feng came knocking, the fight would be very, very different.