Lin Wei spent the next two weeks living a double life. By day, he was the humble, slightly clumsy Dirt-Scraper, nursing his old bruises, always bowing low to the disciples. By night, he was the Devourer of Qi, draining the dregs and sipping the leakage from the Qi Pool.
He progressed with terrifying speed. The purity of the Qi from the Pool was so high that his cultivation was rocketing.
Qi Condensation, Third Level.
Qi Condensation, Fourth Level, Mid-Stage.
He was now spiritually stronger than Jian Lei, the bully who had tormented him for years. The difference was, Jian Lei's Qi was erratic and aggressive, fueled by arrogance and average techniques. Lin Wei's Qi, though possessing a strange, dark-green hue, was dense, disciplined, and utterly silent—a product of the Void Eye Edict's ruthless refinement.
The time for a test had come.
The Azure Sky Sect held a mandatory Monthly Sparring Assessment for all outer disciples above the Third Level of Qi Condensation. It was here that Jian Lei would try to publicly humiliate Lin Wei again.
Lin Wei hadn't signed up. He wasn't a disciple. But as he cleaned the courtyard where the assessment was to take place, Jian Lei and his cronies approached, their faces set in cruel grins.
"You're in luck, Dirt-Scraper," Jian Lei announced, gesturing to the assessment elder, a lazy, bearded man named Elder Sun. "We need an extra target for the first round. Elder Sun allows it. Think of it as public service."
Elder Sun, who barely glanced up from his flask, grumbled, "Just clean up the mess afterward. Don't waste my time."
Lin Wei bowed deeply. "As Disciple Jian commands." He stepped onto the sparring platform, a simple wooden stage reinforced with low-level protective inscriptions.
His opponent was not Jian Lei, but Disciple Mo, one of Jian Lei's cronies, a bulky cultivator at the peak of the Third Level. Mo sneered. "Don't cry when I break your arm, servant."
Mo attacked first, channeling his Qi into his palm for a clumsy but powerful Iron Sand Strike. The force behind it was enough to shatter stone.
Lin Wei did not move, he simply watched. The Void Eye Edict seemed to activate subconsciously, and in his mind, the movement of Mo's Qi and muscle was broken down into slow, distinct stages. He saw the path of the blow, the slight tilt of Mo's wrist, and the precise moment the strike would hit.
Just as the palm was about to connect, Lin Wei shifted his weight, slipping past the blow by a fraction of an inch, making the Iron Sand Strike dissipate harmlessly into the air.
Mo was stunned. Lin Wei, utilizing the split-second of shock, delivered a sharp, controlled strike—not with a cultivation art, but with the dense, refined Qi of the Fourth Level concentrated into his elbow, hitting the precise pressure point on Mo's ribs.
The strike was minimal in appearance, but the quality of Lin Wei's Qi was devastatingly superior.
Mo gasped, his own Qi instantly destabilized and his breath knocked out. He collapsed to his knees, clutching his side, coughing violently.
The courtyard was silent. A Fourth Level Outer Disciple had been defeated in a single, non-spiritual strike, by a powerless servant.