Three years in the Void-Pit had turned the world into a series of biological schematics for Li Wei. By the dawn of **Year 4**, the transition from a child to a "Surgical Tool" was nearly complete.
The warmth of the sun was no longer a memory; it was a discarded hypothesis. In this subterranean hell, life was measured by the rhythmic hum of the **Celestial Silk** under his skin and the steady, icy drip of glacial water—a sound that mimicked the ticking of a clock counting down to someone's inevitable dissection.
-----
Li Wei was now eleven. His frame was lean, his muscles dense and optimized for explosive bursts of speed. Every movement he made was a calculated displacement of weight. He no longer walked; he glided, his **Motor Neurons** firing with a speed that bypassed human limits.
"Target identified," Li Wei whispered, his voice as flat as a scalpel's edge.
His **Anatomical Sovereign** domain expanded—a 50-meter radius where the world turned into a semi-transparent blueprint. He could feel the vibration of the air, the thermal signatures of the rocks, and the erratic pulse of the beast ahead.
In front of him stood a **Frost-Ape**, a Stage 2 Spirit Beast. To a normal cultivator, it was a monster of brute strength. To Li Wei, it was a collection of 206 bones, 600 muscles, and a complex network of vulnerable meridians.
Beside him, Xiao Chen waited. She was no longer the crying girl from the Common Ward. Mo Ran had turned her into the "Bait-Variable." Her skin was etched with silver runes—**Qi-conductive grafts**—that allowed her to move at blinding speeds, but at the cost of her internal organs' stability.
"Wei... it's looking through me," Xiao Chen hissed. Her **Heart Rate** spiked to 142 BPM. To Li Wei's domain, her fear was a chemical scent—a mix of cortisol and adrenaline.
"Ignore the gaze. Fear is a neuro-chemical inefficiency," Li Wei commanded. "The Ape's center of gravity is shifted 3 degrees to the left. Its **Patella** is under maximum tension. When it lunges, the ligament will be at its breaking point."
The Ape charged, crushing the permafrost. Xiao Chen moved—a blur of silver light—weaving through the Ape's reach. She wasn't fighting; she was distracting the beast's **Primary Visual Cortex**.
As the Ape planted its left foot to swing, Li Wei moved.
He didn't use Qi in the traditional sense. He used the **Celestial Silk** to override his muscles. He slid beneath the Ape's reach. He saw the **Patellar Ligament** stretch, the fibers straining.
*Slash.*
He didn't just cut; he performed a **Transverse Tenotomy** with his star-iron scalpel.
The Ape's knee gave way. The sound of the ligament snapping was like a whip-crack. The beast collapsed, its momentum shattering its femur against the stone. Li Wei vaulted onto its back and drove a needle into the **Medulla Oblongata**.
Instant termination.
*Internal Log:* Efficiency improved by 12%. Emotional interference from subject 'Xiao Chen' remains the only uncontrolled variable.
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By **Year 5**, the "Common Ward" had become a tomb for everyone except Li Wei and Xiao Chen. Mo Ran's lessons had moved from the "Art of Killing" to the "Art of Preservation."
"A butcher destroys the specimen," Mo Ran had told them, his eyes gleaming with a dark, intellectual hunger. "A surgeon keeps the specimen on the threshold of death, for that is where the soul's secrets are visible."
Li Wei and Xiao Chen were forced to spend 18 hours a day in the lab. They were becoming part of each other's biological routine.
One evening, Xiao Chen collapsed. Her grafts were glowing a dull, sickly violet—a sign of **Qi-Rejection**.
"Wei... do you ever feel like we're already dead?" she whispered, her eyes sunken. "Like we're just... moving corpses?"
Li Wei was sharpening a bone-saw. He didn't turn around. He looked at her through his domain. He saw her **Left Ventricle** struggling against the pressure of the runes.
"Death is a permanent cessation of all metabolic activity," Li Wei replied. "Your **Oxygen Saturation** is 92%. Your heart is pumping at 58 BPM. You are, by every medical definition, alive."
"That's not what I meant," she whispered, leaning her head against his shoulder.
Li Wei felt the contact. His **Celestial Silk** sent a signal to his brain—a thermal detection of 37.2°C. A normal human boy would have felt comfort. Li Wei only felt a minor disruption in his center of gravity.
"You are losing heat," he said. But he didn't move away.
He allowed her to stay there. Not out of affection, but because his logic told him that a stable "Bait-Variable" performed 15% better in the field if it felt 'secure.' He was maintaining his equipment.
-----
Mo Ran watched them from the upper gallery. He saw the way Xiao Chen clung to the boy. He saw the way Li Wei stood like a statue of ice, tolerating the touch.
"Perfect," Mo Ran murmured. "The silk has replaced his nerves, but the soul is stubborn. He thinks he is being logical. He doesn't realize he is building a bond that will be his undoing."
Mo Ran stepped into the light. The smell of formaldehyde and old blood followed him like a cloak.
"Year 5 is over," Mo Ran announced. "You have mastered the beast. Now, you must master the mirror."
He threw a scroll made of human skin at Li Wei's feet. It was a guide to **Live Mapping**.
"For the next year, you will not hunt beasts. You will hunt each other's weaknesses," Mo Ran said, a twisted smile curling his lips.
"You will map every nerve, every vein, and every secret in your partner's body. You will perform 'Surface Incisions' on each other daily. By the time I am done, Li Wei, you will know the inside of Xiao Chen better than you know your own name."
Li Wei picked up the scroll. He looked at Xiao Chen. She was trembling.
Li Wei's heart remained silent. A cold, mechanical pump in a world of ice.
*Objective:* Complete anatomical mapping of Subject 'Xiao Chen.'
"Understood, Master," Li Wei said.
**Target Count: 3,000.**
**Current Status: Entering the "Internal Mapping" Phase.**
***