The night air in the Gu Clan's lower valley was thin, flavored with the scent of pine needles and the distant, sulfurous breath of the mines. Inside his pavilion, Gu Xian sat enveloped in a pale, acrid mist.
He was currently performing a procedure that would have looked like suicide to any traditional healer.
In front of him sat the lead-stoppered jar of "Tears of the Slag-Heap"—concentrated nitric acid—and a small bowl of refined spirit-honey. Between them lay the black "paperweight" cylinder he had recovered from the Sinks.
Information Retrieval: Respiratory Optimization.
Baseline: The human lung is an inefficient bellows. 75% of inhaled oxygen is exhaled without being utilized. In high-altitude combat or under the pressure of a 7th Stage cultivator's aura, the 'Average' body suffocates from its own inefficiency.
Gu Xian reached for the cylinder. His fingers, now possessed of a faint, crystalline rigidity beneath the skin, traced the etched lines. He didn't use Qi to open it. He used a small, needle-thin pick to press a hidden release valve based on the mechanical symmetry of the device.
Hiss.
A pressurized vapor escaped—a gas that smelled of ozone and ancient, preserved thunderstorms. This was the "Propellant" he had sensed.
"If the bone is the frame, the lungs are the furnace," Gu Xian whispered, his voice vibrating with a new, metallic resonance.
He didn't drink the acid. Instead, he used a small copper pipe to bubble the ancient propellant gas through the nitric acid, creating a volatile, oxygen-rich vapor. Then, using a technique from the Earth Shard's forbidden chemistry—Nitration—he began to treat a series of porous "Sponge-Roots" he had harvested from the riverbank.
Once the roots were saturated, he placed them in a small incense burner and inhaled the smoke.
The effect was not a "burn," but a sudden, violent expansion.
Warning: Pulmonary alveoli experiencing rapid dilation. Capillary permeability increasing by 400%.
Gu Xian's chest heaved. His ribcage, reinforced with Corundum, groaned under the internal pressure. He felt as if his lungs were being turned into leather—tough, elastic, and capable of absorbing every single molecule of oxygen and Qi that entered his system.
He was essentially creating a biological "Super-Charger."
"Gah—"
He coughed, and a cloud of red, nitrogenous vapor escaped his lips. His silver-violet eyes glowed with a frantic intensity. He wasn't just breathing anymore; he was combusting.
While Gu Xian was rewriting the biology of his breath, a different kind of storm was brewing in the guest wing of the estate.
Ye Chen, the "Genius" of the Azure Peak Sect, stood on a balcony overlooking the darkened gardens. His right knee was wrapped in medicinal bandages, the dull ache a constant reminder of the white-haired boy's "tap."
"He didn't use Qi, Elder," Ye Chen said, his voice low and dangerous. "I felt nothing. No spiritual signature. Just... a vibration."
Elder Li sat in the shadows behind him, sipping tea. "There are ancient paths, Ye Chen. Paths of the 'Physical Saint' that do not rely on the standard meridian system. But that boy... he is too frail. His hair is white from soul-wither. He should be a corpse."
"He looked at me as if I were a specimen under a glass," Ye Chen hissed, his hand tightening on his jade sword hilt. "I want him investigated. If the Gu Clan is hiding a 'Secret Realm' technique that allows a cripple to shatter ceramic with a touch, the Azure Peak Sect must have it."
"The Mineral Expedition ends in three days," Elder Li said calmly. "The final trial takes place at the 'Cloud-Piercer Altar.' If he is a 'ghost,' we will see if he can handle the pressure of the heights. At ten thousand meters, a weak constitution cannot hide."
Three days later. The Cloud-Piercer Altar.
The air here was so thin it felt like shards of ice in the throat. Most of the Gu Clan disciples were pale, their Qi flickering as they struggled to maintain their internal pressure.
Gu Xian stood among them, his gray hood pulled high. To others, he looked as if he were on the verge of collapse. His white hair fluttered weakly in the gale.
But inside his chest, the "Sponge-Root" nitration was complete. Every breath he took was processed with a 98% efficiency rate. While the others gasped for air, Gu Xian felt as if he were breathing the concentrated essence of the world.
Heart rate: 42 bpm.
Oxygen saturation: 99.8%.
System Status: Overclocked.
The trial was simple: The "Sun-Severing" ceremony required the disciples to strike a massive bronze bell at the top of the altar. The louder the chime, the higher the "potential" of the cultivator.
Gu Reng went first, his face purple from the altitude. He struck the bell with his "Iron-Crushing Palm."
DONG.
The sound was respectable, echoing across the valley.
Next was Gu Ling. She used an arrow tipped with fire-crystal.
CLANG.
The sound was sharper, more resonant.
Then, Ye Chen stepped forward. He didn't look at the bell. He looked at Gu Xian, a mocking smile on his face. He drew his jade sword and struck with a flash of blue light.
BOOM.
The sound was like a thunderclap, vibrating the very stone beneath their feet. Several disciples fell to their knees, their ears bleeding.
"The Fifth Son," Ye Chen said, his voice amplified by Qi. "Show us your 'Scholar's Touch.' Or is the air up here too heavy for your 'Information' to handle?"
Gu Xian stepped forward. He moved slowly, his feet making no sound on the frost-covered stone.
He didn't draw a weapon. He didn't even raise his hand.
He simply stood before the massive bronze bell and took a deep, lung-expanding breath. To the onlookers, it looked like a sigh. But to Gu Xian, it was the intake of a massive amount of atmospheric pressure, compressed by his new, leather-tough pulmonary walls.
He leaned in close to the bell, his lips inches from the metal.
"Everything has a flaw," he whispered.
He didn't strike it. He Screamed.
It wasn't a human scream. It was a focused, ultrasonic burst of air and Qi, ejected from his "Super-Charged" lungs at the exact resonant frequency of the bronze alloy.
There was no "Dong."
There was a sound like a thousand glass windows shattering at once. A high-pitched, agonizing hum that made the Elders on the dais stand up in shock.
The massive bronze bell—a relic that had stood for three centuries—didn't just ring. It Vibrated until the metal itself began to turn white-hot. And then, with a sound like a dying god, it split down the center, a jagged crack appearing from top to bottom.
Gu Xian stepped back, exhaling a final cloud of red vapor.
The silence that followed was more deafening than the bell.
Gu Xian looked at Ye Chen, his silver-violet eyes cold and clinical. "The alloy was 12% tin. Too much brittleness for this altitude. You should have told the clan to use more copper."
He turned and walked down the steps of the altar, his white hair flowing in the wind.
He hadn't used a single martial technique. He had simply used the "Information" of the world to break it.
Internal Log: Pulmonary output exceeded expectations. Physical stress on the ribcage handled by Sapphire reinforcement.
Next Objective: The Azure Peak Sect will now move from 'Curiosity' to 'Hostility.' I need to find a way to turn their greed into a catalyst for my next stage.
Stage Three: The Mercury-Mirror Skin.