The ruined manor was silent, save for the low, predatory hum of the electricity lingering in the air.
Lin Chen sat in the eye of the destruction, his body a battlefield. The white celestial thunder he had pulled into himself wasn't a guest; it was a conqueror, and he had to break it before it broke him.
With a surge of will, he forced the jagged white sparks of thunder deep into his pores. It felt as though thousands of needles, heated in the fires of the underworld, were stitching through his flesh. The lightning didn't just sit in his veins; it sought out his very marrow. He directed the current to wash over his skeleton, the intense heat of the heavenly bolt melting away the impurities of his mortal frame.
His bones began to vibrate at a frequency that turned them from brittle calcium into a substance resembling translucent white jade, humming with a hidden, metallic resonance.
Next, he turned the energy toward his meridians.
The paths that carried his Qi were widened and scorched, the lightning searing the walls of his internal channels until they were tough enough to handle a flood of power that would have burst any ordinary cultivator. Every muscle fiber was snapped and re-woven by the electric arc, becoming denser and more explosive.
When the final spark settled into his Dantian, Lin Chen opened his eyes. A faint, silver mist drifted from his skin, and the charred remnants of his old self fell away like a shed skin. He stood up, and the very ground beneath his feet seemed to groan under his new, concentrated weight. He wasn't just stronger; he had been fundamentally rebuilt.
.....
The central plaza of the Sky-Frost Institute was a sea of moving colors and desperate noise. Thousands of disciples were frantically organizing themselves, shouting out their strengths and seeking out the strongest partners.
The rule is that people can form team to enter the secret realm and can also go alone but the premise is that the team shouldn't exceed five members.
Lin Chen walked into the plaza, his presence a stark contrast to the frantic energy around him. He was a silent island in a roaring ocean.
He watched a nearby group of four pleading with a high-ranked disciple to join them, promising him a larger share of the spoils. He watched another group swearing oaths of eternal brotherhood, their faces full of a fragile hope that they would protect one another.
Lin Chen's expression remained as cold as mountain stone. The memory of Xue Linger surfaced. He remembered the feeling of her hand in his, and how easily that same hand had killed him.
The betrayal had stripped away his naivety, leaving behind a singular, jagged truth: With strength anything can be done. He looked at the laughing, shouting groups and thinking how they betray their teammates if a monster appeared that was too strong, these "brothers" would trip each other to escape. If a rare treasure appeared, these "squads" would turn their blades inward.
He didn't want to join a team. In the face of absolute power, a thousand ants were still just ants. Xue Linger had shown him that only strong make rules, the only person you could rely on was yourself.
If I am strong enough, I am law, he thought, his hand tightening on the hilt of his weapon. If I am strong enough, I don'y need a team or something, I can still be winner.
He stood apart from the crowd, leaning against a weathered stone monument. He was a part of the assembly, yet he was entirely alone. He didn't look for a group, and he didn't call out his name. He simply waited their for the secret realm to Open.