Pain lost its meaning.
At some point, Lin Chen stopped counting breaths. Time stretched and twisted, broken only by the cold force grinding through his flesh like a whetstone against steel.
Every cell screamed.
Not metaphorically.
He felt them—his muscles tearing microscopically, bones humming under unbearable pressure, blood thickening as foreign energy sank into it. This was not cultivation as he knew it.
This was refinement.
Brutal. Direct. Unforgiving.
Lin Chen's vision flickered. The forest floor beneath him cracked slightly, thin fractures spreading outward as his body trembled.
"Focus," the voice said calmly."If your will scatters, your flesh will collapse."
Lin Chen clenched his jaw.
He remembered the orthodox methods—guiding qi through meridians, circulating gently, nurturing the dantian. Those techniques treated the body like porcelain.
This method treated it like raw ore.
"Then I won't scatter," Lin Chen rasped.
He forced his mind inward.
Instead of resisting the cold energy, he compressed it. Drew it tighter. Denser. He imagined his body not as a vessel, but as a furnace.
The pain spiked.
Blood burst from the corners of his eyes.
But something changed.
The cold slowed.
The energy obeyed.
"…Interesting," the voice murmured.
Hours passed.
Or minutes.
Lin Chen no longer knew.
When dawn's faint light finally crept through the canopy, the cold receded. His body sagged forward, breath coming in shallow, uneven gasps.
Then—
Silence.
Lin Chen opened his eyes.
The world looked sharper.
Not brighter. Sharper.
He could hear insects moving beneath the soil. Feel the uneven texture of bark against his fingers without touching it. His senses stretched outward, thin threads brushing against everything nearby.
Slowly, he stood.
His legs trembled, but they held.
Lin Chen raised his hand.
There was no qi flow. No familiar warmth.
Instead, a dense, quiet pressure rested deep within his muscles and bones—like coiled strength waiting to be released.
"What realm am I in?" he asked.
The voice was quiet now. Measured.
"You are not."
Lin Chen frowned.
"Your strength does not belong to the established realms," the voice continued."For now, think of yourself as… unranked."
Unranked.
Lin Chen flexed his fingers.
A sharp crack echoed.
The tree beside him shuddered. Its bark split as a fist-sized dent appeared where his knuckles had brushed it.
Lin Chen froze.
He hadn't used strength.
He had barely touched it.
A slow breath escaped his lips.
"So this is the beginning," he said.
"This is survival," the voice corrected."The beginning comes when others start trying to kill you again."
Lin Chen's expression hardened.
He looked back toward Azure River Sect's mountain peak, barely visible through the trees.
"Then I'll be ready," he said.
The voice did not respond.
Deep within Lin Chen's body, the cold energy settled—silent, patient, hungry.
Waiting for the next cycle.