The apartment room had been transformed into a crude, powerful ritual space. The four mirrors reflected the light of the four small, white candles, creating shimmering boundaries that stabilized the room's ambient energy. At the heart of the setup, the stabilized Failed Reactor Core Fragment, now glowing a tranquil cyan thanks to the Stability Anchor, rested upon the ancient array Lin Xuan had drawn.
Li Mo sat in a corner, mesmerized and terrified. The air felt thick, charged, and utterly unlike the air of the mortal world.
Lin Xuan sat cross-legged opposite the core, his mind perfectly serene. He was not nervous; he was focused. This synthesis was the first step on a journey of ten thousand years.
"System," Lin Xuan commanded, his voice barely a whisper but echoing with Divine Will. "Initiate Rank D Synthesis: Minor Qi Condensing Formation."
[Synthesis Query: (Stabilized Reactor Core (D+) + Qi Condensing Array (D)) = Minor Qi Condensing Formation (D+)]
[Final Cost: 0 Synthesis Points (Materials & Array provided). Execution Commencing.]
A sudden, silent vacuum seemed to swallow the room. The cyan light of the stabilized core intensified, then dissolved entirely, along with the black marker lines of the array. All the energy and structure flowed not into an object, but into the space itself, creating an invisible, perfectly functioning circle of law.
Lin Xuan instantly felt the change. The formation began pulling the ambient, scattered Spiritual Qi of the Earth into the apartment, condensing it into a thick, swirling vortex. The effect was immediate and overwhelming.
The massive surge of pure Qi slammed into Lin Xuan's body. The process wasn't gentle; it was violent, purification by fire. His physical body, restricted by a lifetime of poor modern air and bad nutrition, began to shed its mortal dross.
Every pore on his skin erupted, expelling foul, black impurities that instantly evaporated into smoke. His bones groaned, stretching and strengthening; his blood pulsed with a newfound vigor, flushing out toxins. Pain, excruciating and total, ripped through him, but Lin Xuan endured it with the cold discipline of a cultivator who had transcended ten thousand tribulation cycles.
This is the Qi Foundation, he thought, the cleansing of the mortal vessel!
He focused the condensed Qi into his dantian—the energy center just below his navel. The tiny, fragile thread of energy he had previously used for minor synthesis was instantly reinforced, condensing into a stable, humming droplet of true Immortal Qi.
In minutes, the pain subsided, replaced by a feeling of profound, exhilarating lightness. Lin Xuan opened his eyes. They were clear, sharp, and capable of seeing not just the spiritual Qi, but the faint threads of elemental force woven into the air.
[Cultivation State: Qi Condensation Stage One (Stabilized)][Body Purity: 30% Cleansed (Rank E)][Qi Regeneration: +1 Synthesis Point/Day]
He had successfully created the Minor Qi Condensing Formation. The invisible formation now permanently drew and condensed the scarce spiritual energy into his room, ensuring his progress would never stall.
He looked at Li Mo, whose face was pale with alarm. The black smoke and the sudden, invisible pressure had made her physically ill, forcing her to lean against the wall, clutching her stomach.
"I am fine, Li Mo," Lin Xuan reassured her, his voice resonating with a deeper, richer tone. "The purification is complete."
But the synthesis was not without consequence. On a world where spiritual energy had been dormant for millennia, the sudden, colossal movement of Qi to form a Rank D Formation acted like a sonic boom in a silent library.
Miles away, in a secluded, heavily guarded manor carved into the side of a mountain, a pair of ancient, closed eyes snapped open.
Elder Jing, an old man who had spent the last two centuries suppressing his own waning cultivation base to live secretly among mortals, shot upright on his meditation cushion.
"That Qi signature… impossible!" he rasped, his voice thick with dust and age. "The quality is low, chaotic Earth Qi, but the density! It's the kind of energy movement that hasn't happened since the Great Exodus! Someone has established a stable Qi Condensing Formation in the city!"
To a hidden cultivator like Elder Jing, such a formation meant only one thing: competition. In a world starved of resources, whoever established the first stable cultivation base would gain an insurmountable advantage.
Elder Jing rose, his brittle form suddenly filling with cold, terrifying energy. His eyes, now glowing faintly with ancient power, fixed on the north sector of the sprawling metropolis.
"I must find the source," he vowed, gathering his remaining strength. "If it is a nascent genius, I will take them as my disciple. If it is a rival, I will eliminate them and claim the formation for my own."
Lin Xuan, basking in the glow of his successful breakthrough, was completely unaware that his first step back to power had immediately placed a powerful, hostile elder—the first true cultivator he had encountered in this lifetime—directly on his trail.
Lin Xuan has achieved Stage One and attracted his first formidable enemy.