The bottom of the abyss was no longer a grave; it was a furnace. For weeks, Lin Chen remained in the darkness, driven by a hunger that transcended physical need. With the Heaven-Devouring Scripture fragments as his guide, he plunged into a relentless cycle of cultivation that would have killed a normal man.
First came the Body Building stage. Unlike ordinary cultivators who used gentle herbs, Lin Chen used the scripture to devour the harsh, jagged Abyssal Qi. He forced the energy into his marrow and muscles, tempering his physique until his skin took on a faint, obsidian sheen. Each time his muscles tore from the pressure, they healed back denser and stronger.
As his physical foundation hardened, he broke through into the Qi Refinement stage. The vortex in his dantian expanded, spinning with such ferocity that it pulled the very life force from the moss and stunted fungi growing in the damp crevices.
Level one, level three, level five... his progress was a blur. By the time he reached the late stages of Qi Refinement, the air around him hummed with an oppressive, dark weight.
But power without skill was useless. From the Supreme Will's memories, he unearthed two vital techniques. The first was the Void-Shattering Palm, a combat strike that withered anything it touched. The second was the Phantom Void Step, a movement technique that allowed him to move like a flickering shadow.
He spent days blurring through the darkness of the pit, his feet barely touching the ground as he mastered the movement. Once his Qi was stable enough, he summoned the iron sword he had carried during his fall. Channeling his dark, refined Qi into the blade, the metal hummed with a cold, predatory light.
Lin Chen stepped onto the blade. With a sharp surge of energy, he soared upward. He didn't need to climb the jagged rocks by hand; he rose like a dark comet, weaving through the narrow chasms of the abyss with the grace of his new movement technique.
By the time he crested the lip of the canyon, the sun was setting, casting long, bloody shadows across the Five Element Sect. He stood once more on the high ground, looking toward the distant peaks—Gold, Water, Fire, Earth, and Wind.
He didn't head for the Water Peak to claim his belongings. He didn't head for the Gold Peak to seek immediate revenge. He knew that, despite his growth, he wasn't yet strong enough to take on the entire sect leadership.
"Enjoy your peace while it lasts," Lin Chen murmured, looking toward the Gold Peak where Xue Linger likely resided, thinking him a ghost. "The next time I stand on this ground, the Five Element Sect will become nothing more than fuel for my path."
With a flicker of the Phantom Void Step, he vanished into the tree line.