he air inside Industrial Zone 7 was thick with the scent of rust, ozone, and decay—a familiar, comforting aroma to a master cultivator who had often plundered the ruins of dead stellar empires.
Lin Xuan moved through the crumbling facility, Li Mo trailing nervously behind him. She was weighed down by a flashlight and a heavy survival bag; he was unburdened, relying on his Night-Piercing Gaze.
"The schematics show a structural weakness near the second ventilation shaft," Li Mo whispered, checking her phone. "We must take the long way around to avoid the sensor array…"
Lin Xuan didn't slow down. He simply held up the glossy black Rank D Universal Access Key. He pressed it against a thick, corroded control box near the shaft. The box's aged metal flickered with a green light. The key, now subtly broadcasting the deceased Dr. Wei's biometric sequence, registered as Authorized.
A faint, high-pitched whine sounded as the massive, triple-layered steel doors blocking the shaft unlocked and slid open.
"The key handles the logistics," Lin Xuan stated, stepping into the dust-filled darkness. "You handle the directions. We save energy for the true objective."
Li Mo could only follow, her heart pounding as they bypassed layers of security that the local police considered impossible to breach.
They finally reached the deepest sub-level, Sector C, and arrived at the final, heavily shielded door. This door required the full, high-grade Dr. Wei signature. Lin Xuan pressed the keycard against the reader. The door groaned, hissed, and then silently drew back, revealing a large, circular chamber—the former plasma reactor containment room.
The room was vast and empty, save for a central, deep pit where the failed core had once rested. The air here was strangely cold and still.
Lin Xuan ignored the surrounding decay and focused his Night-Piercing Gaze into the pit. Most of the room was spiritually inert, but at the very base of the containment cylinder, a basketball-sized piece of slag pulsed with a vibrant, raw golden-red Qi. It wasn't the pure, structured spiritual energy of a natural vein, but the chaotic, highly compressed residue of an immense, unstable reaction—the Failed Reactor Core Fragment.
Perfect, Lin Xuan thought. It is unstable, but its density is far beyond any native Earth material. It will be the perfect foundation for the Qi Condensing Formation.
Just as Lin Xuan prepared to drop down and retrieve his prize, three rough-looking men materialized from the adjoining utility tunnel, their movements suggesting practiced ruthlessness. They wore thick, padded clothing and carried industrial-grade crowbars and grappling hooks.
"Well, look what the cat dragged in," sneered the leader, a stocky man with a face scarred by old scrapyard accidents. "The kid who paid a king's ransom for a permit. You think that plastic card means anything down here?"
Li Mo gasped, shrinking back against the wall.
"We heard rumors about the core, kid," the leader continued, taking a step forward. "The Magnet gets everything valuable in this zone. Hand over the glowing rock, and maybe we'll let your little girlfriend walk out without a scratch."
Lin Xuan turned, his eyes fixed on the three men, treating them with the detached annoyance one reserves for a mosquito buzzing in a quiet room. He didn't reach for a weapon or attempt a flashy spell. His cultivation was still too weak for that. Instead, he channeled the entirety of his meager core Qi into the ancient, unbreakable muscles of his forearms and legs.
"You are interfering with an Emperor's material acquisition," Lin Xuan said, his voice flat, yet carrying an undertone of cosmic authority that made the men hesitate. "Withdraw, or suffer."
The leader, enraged by the lack of fear, charged forward, swinging his heavy steel crowbar in a brutal arc aimed at Lin Xuan's head.
Lin Xuan moved. The speed and precision of a Heavenly Emperor, even with a Qi Condensation Stage One body, was terrifying. He didn't dodge; he simply caught the crowbar mid-swing, trapping it between his palm and wrist.
CRUNCH.
The sound was not metal against flesh, but metal against overwhelming, concentrated force. The thick steel crowbar immediately bent into a 'U' shape, the shock traveling up the leader's arm, snapping his wrist with an audible crack. The leader screamed, dropping the ruined tool.
The other two scavengers, now fully alert and terrified, raised their crowbars.
Lin Xuan pushed the leader aside with a casual flick of his wrist. He moved toward the two remaining men, his footsteps silent on the concrete floor. He was a blur of ancient, martial perfection. One scavenger attempted a clumsy swing; Lin Xuan blocked it with his shoulder, which felt like hitting granite, and delivered a short, sharp kick to the man's knee. The bone immediately fractured.
The third man threw his weapon and scrambled backward, his face a mask of pure terror. "Ghost! You're a ghost! We're leaving! We didn't see anything!"
Lin Xuan ignored the fleeing man. The skirmish had lasted less than ten seconds. The other two were already writhing on the ground, silenced by paralyzing pain.
"Mortal strength is fragile," Lin Xuan stated, walking over to the containment pit. He dropped down and, using both hands, gently lifted the warm, pulsing Failed Reactor Core Fragment.
It was heavy, radiating a chaotic heat that only his reformed physical body could endure.
"It is secured," he announced, climbing out of the pit, the golden-red energy of the fragment illuminating his serene face. "The material is perfect. Li Mo, we move. We must now synthesize the Formation."