Dao-tier Lunar Constitution.
The awakening was violent and glorious.
Luna's body lifted off the ground, suspended in the air by forces beyond physical reality. Around her, space itself began to warp. Gravity lost meaning in her immediate vicinity—small objects lifted from the ground, floating in random orbits around her form.
A phantom moon materialized behind her, growing from a small sphere to massive size. It wasn't quite real and wasn't quite illusion. The construct existed on the boundary between physical and metaphysical, reflecting her Dao comprehension.
The moon rotated slowly, cycling through phases. New moon. Crescent. Quarter. Gibbous. Full. Each phase radiated different types of power, different aspects of what moonlight represented.
Luna's hair lifted as if underwater, floating around her head in a corona of black silk. Her skin began to glow from within, pale flesh becoming almost translucent, revealing networks of silver light flowing through her meridians.
Her comprehension expanded exponentially.
Lunar Law, which she'd mastered to peak level decades ago, suddenly revealed depths she'd never imagined. The Law wasn't just about moonlight's physical properties—it was about cycles, about transformation, about the interplay between light and darkness, presence and absence, reality and potential.
And beyond the Law, she could now perceive the Dao itself.
Early Lunar Dao.
The comprehension crystallized in her consciousness like ice forming on a winter lake. Where Law governed how moonlight affected reality within a solar system, Dao governed the very concept of the Moon across all space and time. The eternal cycle. The guardian of night. The counter to solar dominance.
With Dao comprehension came abilities that transcended normal cultivation:
Gravity Manipulation - The moon controlled tides through gravitational force. Luna could now manipulate gravity itself within her area of influence, creating zones of crushing weight or zero-g freedom at will.
Lunar Disintegration Beam - Channel concentrated moonlight that didn't just damage but fundamentally destabilized molecular bonds, causing matter to simply cease holding together.
Shadow Sovereignty - The moon created shadows. Luna gained absolute control over darkness and shadow, able to manipulate them as solid matter or merge with them completely.
Void Freeze - Beyond normal ice techniques, this ability reached absolute zero and below, freezing not just molecules but the very concepts of motion and change.
Lunar Regeneration - Moonlight had healing properties magnified to the extreme. As long as any moon existed anywhere in reality, Luna could regenerate from even catastrophic damage.
Tidal Force - Control over metaphysical tides. She could manipulate the flow of qi, fate, probability itself, causing waves of fortune or disaster.
Phase Shift Reality - By changing her personal "phase," Luna could alter her relationship with reality. Full moon for maximum power, new moon for perfect stealth, and all gradations between.
Gravitational Lensing - Bend light and space around herself, creating illusions or focusing attacks with the precision of a orbital mirror.
Micro-Singularity Creation - Form tiny black holes using gravitational manipulation, allowing for attacks that nothing could escape.
Moonlight Embodiment - Transform her body into pure moonlight, becoming intangible, immune to physical damage, and capable of existing across vast distances simultaneously.
The abilities continued flooding into her consciousness, each one a natural extension of her newly awakened constitution.
Luna's lifespan, which had been counting down toward its eventual end in perhaps another million years, suddenly extended dramatically. Dao-tier constitutions didn't just provide power—they fundamentally altered existence itself.
She would live for a billion years at minimum. Possibly forever, if she continued advancing.
Her body finished its transformation. Every cell had been restructured according to Lunar Dao principles. She no longer merely possessed flesh and bone—she was moonlight given mortal form, capable of shifting between material and immaterial states at will.
Luna descended slowly to the ground, her feet touching stone that cracked under her presence despite her gentleness. The phantom moon behind her solidified further, becoming more real, more present.
She looked at Nova, who was still deep in his own transformation, and marveled.
He did this. Whatever that gate opens to, whatever secret he's hiding, he gave me this gift.
Peak Mahayana Realm with Dao-tier constitution. Luna was now, without question, the number one strongest being of the entire middle realm. Perhaps in the top five. Only ancient monsters who'd mastered their respective dao might surpass her, buy she doubt they might remain in the middle realm, when they could directly ascend to the immortal realm through the application of dao, without the need to cross to the Immortal Ascension realm.
if she wanted to, she can just break the void with her dao, and travel to the immortal realm right now.
And she owed it all to the man sitting in front of her, whose body was still being destroyed and rebuilt thousands of times per second.
Nova felt his limit approaching.
Soul power at fifteen percent and dropping steadily. He had perhaps ninety seconds before he'd need to close the gate or risk permanent damage.
He pushed the Eternal Cycle Tempering to its absolute maximum, extracting every possible benefit from the remaining time.
His body had died and been reborn approximately 1.2 million times in the last eighteen minutes. Each iteration had made him incrementally stronger, denser, more perfect.
The flesh that existed now bore almost no resemblance to mortal biology. It was Law-forged matter, held together by principles of reality itself. His bones could probably survive a direct meteor impact. His blood carried enough concentrated energy to power a whole star system. His organs functioned on principles that would make biology professors weep.
His soul had achieved similar transcendence. The crystalline structure was so dense, so perfect, that calling it a "soul" seemed inadequate. It was more like a geometric proof of his existence, a mathematical certainty given consciousness.
Sixty seconds.
His cultivation base, locked at 333th stage Qi Refining, compressed one final time. The density reached a point where the qi was nearly crystallized, existing on the boundary between energy and solid matter.
He'd gone as far as Qi Refining could take him. Any further advancement would require breaking through to the next realm entirely.
Thirty seconds.
Nova began the shutdown sequence. He couldn't just release the gate—that would cause it to collapse catastrophically, potentially tearing a permanent wound in reality. He had to close it gently, carefully, maintaining control even as his soul power drained to critical levels.
The flow of Infinite Qi began to slow. The torrent became a stream, then a trickle.
Ten seconds.
The cracks in the cultivation chamber stopped spreading. The pressure in the air began to normalize—though "normalize" was relative when the ambient qi in the room was still denser than anywhere else on the continent.
Five seconds.
Nova's soul power hit five percent. Warning signals flooded his consciousness. Any lower and permanent damage became possible, even with Infinite Regeneration.
Three seconds.
The gate shrank from dinner-plate size to the size of a coin.
One second.
It collapsed to a pinpoint of impossible light.
Zero.
The gate snapped shut with a sound like reality exhaling in relief. The transdimensional connection severed cleanly, no residual energy leaking through, all that was left was a massive wound left in space, and it was healing very slowly.
Nova's soul power hit three percent.
His consciousness went black.
He felt himself falling forward, but his body never hit the ground.
Luna caught him with speed that seemed to distort time itself, crossing the distance before his knees had fully buckled. Her newly enhanced body moved with casual ease despite his weight, cradling him gently as she lowered them both to the ground.
"I've got you," Luna whispered, though Nova couldn't hear. "Rest now. You've earned it."
She held him close, her phantom moon's light bathing them both in silver radiance, as the chaos they'd unleashed continued to reshape the Black Tide Sect around them.
Across the Sect - Hours Later
By the time the ambient Infinite Qi had fully dissipated, the Black Tide Sect had been fundamentally transformed.
Thousands of disciples had broken through multiple stages. Hundreds of elders had advanced to realms they'd thought forever beyond their reach. Even mortals who'd never cultivated had awakened spiritual veins, becoming cultivators overnight.
The sect's "heavenly luck" had increased dramatically. The ambient qi, permanently altered by exposure to Infinite Qi, had evolved from normal spiritual energy to something approaching Immortal Realm quality. Not as potent as true Immortal Qi, but far superior to what any mortal sect should possess.
The Black Tide Sect had become what ancient texts called a "Heavenly Cultivation Site"—a location where the very air accelerated advancement, where techniques were easier to comprehend, where bottlenecks shattered with half the usual effort.
Other sects across the star system and neighboring star systems had detected the massive spiritual pressure surge. Scouts and spies were already being dispatched to investigate. Theories and rumors were spreading at the speed of jade phone transmissions.
But for now, the Black Tide Sect's members simply cultivated, consolidating their miraculous breakthroughs, too focused on their own advancement to question the source.
Only the Grand Elders, having finally emerged from meditation, looked toward the Lotus Palace with expressions of awe and understanding.
"The Sect Leader," Grand Elder Elera said quietly. "She's done something impossible."
"We should send a formal inquiry," Grand Elder Thaddeus suggested.
"We should mind our own business," Grand Elder Magnus countered. "Whatever she's done, it's benefited the entire sect. We owe her gratitude, not interrogation."
The other two Grand Elders nodded agreement.
In the Lotus Palace, Luna sat in the ruins of her cultivation chamber, holding Nova's sleeping form, her new Dao-tier constitution pulsing softly with silver light.
And she smiled.
Tomorrow would bring questions and complications.
But tonight, she had this moment of perfect peace.
And that was enough.
Technical Notes:
Nova's Final Status (Chapter 16):
Cultivation: 333th Stage Qi Refining (absolute peak) Body: Tempered ~1.2 million times with Infinite Qi Soul: Crystalline geometric structure, near-indestructible Laws: 69 Early Laws, all enhanced through extreme tempering Achievement: Body-soul unification exceeding True Self Realm Soul Power: 3% (critical exhaustion)
Luna's Final Status (Chapter 16):
Cultivation: Peak Mahayana Realm Constitution: Dao-tier Lunar Constitution (awakened) Dao: Early Lunar Dao comprehension Bloodline: Lunar Spirit heritage (activated) Lifespan: Extended to billions of years New Abilities: Gravity Manipulation Lunar Disintegration Beam Shadow Sovereignty Void Freeze (absolute zero+) Lunar Regeneration Tidal Force (metaphysical) Phase Shift Reality Gravitational Lensing Micro-Singularity Creation Moonlight Embodiment.