◎ ‘Breakthrough’ to Foundation Condensation ◎
Between five thatched huts,
Elder Li stood before Lin Shuang and the other five disciples.
He held up six sickles—one each of gold, silver, bronze, and rusty iron.
“Immortals, I have here some tools for harvesting wheat.”
“Which would you choose?”
Lin Shuang couldn’t help but laugh, stepping forward to examine them more closely.
Meng Zi couldn’t resist. He grabbed the golden sickle first—and in an instant, his face turned pale.
Fourth layer of Foundation Condensation, third layer, second layer… The spiritual energy in his dantian dropped by two entire levels!
Dao Dong, the one so disliked in Lijia Village, winced and silently picked up the rusted iron sickle—only to collapse straight into the field. His cultivation had plummeted all the way to the peak of Qi Refining!
“Immortals, I must trouble you,” Elder Li said. “These fields must be harvested within three days.”
“If the rains come, all will be soaked and ruined. We’d have to tighten our belts, and starting tonight, we won’t be able to offer meals to immortals anymore.”
Lin Shuang: “……”
[Ha! As expected.]
[…So lying around wasn’t an option after all.]
There was no other path forward for the six of them.
They had no choice but to sweat under the sun, working the fields.
Each of the sickles—gold, silver, bronze, or rusted iron—bore a tiny inscription:
—Suppress the dantian. Once fully depleted, breakthroughs come more easily.
At once, all eyes turned toward Lin Shuang.
Her expression stiffened. “Why are you all looking at me like that?”
“No wonder you’ve been suppressing your dantian every day!”
“Don’t talk nonsense. I haven’t—these are all at Qi Refining anyway.”
“……”
The sun climbed steadily.
Dripping with sweat, Meng Zi swung his golden sickle using a blade technique, struggling to sever stalks of Foundation Condensation second-layer wheat.
Mei Xin and Chen Xingchuan, armed with silver and bronze sickles, summoned sword-light and sonic string techniques to cut through first-layer wheat—also with great effort.
Dao Dong swung his sickle once—only for the rusted blade to snap.
In the end, he had to use the remaining wooden handle, channeling his spiritual energy to activate an array that could harvest wheat.
Before long, all four were soaked in sweat, their faces deathly pale.
The sudden drop in cultivation left them disoriented.
Techniques they had long mastered now felt clumsy and strained.
But when they looked around, they saw Lin Shuang and Huangfu Yuan moving through the fields with calm ease.
Huangfu Yuan, ever the frail one, didn’t seem to mind the 20% drop in cultivation.
Lin Shuang’s dantian was already only at Qi Refining Stage Three—there was nowhere lower to fall.
The two of them worked the fields with an ease and rhythm that put the others to shame.
“滴—Xiao Ai is initiating full-body scan on Foundation Condensation Layer One wheat.”
“Weak spiritual points—located and marked!”
With a flick of her sickle, Lin Shuang struck the precise red dot on the wheat stalk highlighted by Xiao Ai’s projection!
As she moved forward, her eyes flushed red.
Her Fiery Eyes, Golden Sight technique began to circulate fully.
“You’re amazing! One mu of land has 1,294 stalks of wheat. Now only 1,293 remain~”
“Wow! Just 1,292 left! Lin Shuang, you’re incredible! Look, you even harvested one at the peak of Qi Refining!”
Meng Zi and the others twitched at the corners of their brows.
It was noisy. Very noisy.
Even the blade in Huangfu Yuan’s hand paused.
He touched his forehead with his index finger.
[Xiao Ai No. 2 Backup Unit: Da Bao, you’re doing great. I see all your effort. You did it! You beat Foundation Condensation Layer Two!]
[Xiao Ai No. 2 Backup Unit: Muah~ Let’s swing that sickle another 1,192 times!]
[…Keep going. Why did you stop, Da Bao?]
Huangfu Yuan: “……”
He turned slightly and looked at Lin Shuang, who stood just five steps away.
Sweat rolled down her brow, but her eyes sparkled with focus.
As if she weren’t facing a wheat field, but a field of nectar and jade dew.
With each stalk she cut, it felt as if she were harvesting treasures from the heavens—pure joy on her face.
Huangfu Yuan closed his eyes.
“Yuan’er, you’re amazing. You’ve grown three tails already.”
“You’re Mama’s pride…”
Once, long ago, he too had been praised.
He’d almost forgotten.
How many years had it been? So many, it seemed the memories had faded.
“Ah—”
In the midst of the unusually tall, mutated wheat, Lin Shuang stumbled.
Huangfu Yuan nearly reached out to steady her.
But she regained her balance in an instant, hoisting the half-body-length sickle onto her shoulder.
“Xiao Ai, adjust the harvesting strategy.”
“This method is not efficient enough.”
Huangfu Yuan: “……”
Meng Zi and the others: “……”
[?]
“Mark all Qi Refining wheat in green, and Foundation Condensation Layer One wheat in yellow…”
“Now, activate dual Pomodoro mode.”
“???”
Lin Shuang hefted the sickle and tapped the lion-dog talisman at her waist.
Xiao Ai chimed, “Dual Pomodoro Mode Activated: Movement Training and Attack Training. One incense stick countdown—begin!”
Lin Shuang nodded.
In an instant, she vanished.
Almost a hundred shadowy afterimages blurred through the air.
And in the wheat field she’d targeted—
The Qi Refining-level stalks began falling in waves, one after another!
“Switching Pomodoro training to: AoE attack!”
Facing three connected wheat stalks, she sliced thrice in a flash.
Even if there was a chance for a fourth strike, she wouldn’t let it pass.
Four-strike combo.
Three-strike combo.
Two-strike combo.
Only when a lone, isolated stalk appeared would she let it fall with a single, swift cut.
“Only 32 Qi Refining stalks left—amazing! We’ve increased speed by 24%!”
“Next up—Foundation Condensation Layer One—charge!”
“You’re incredible! We’re now 32% faster than before~”
Like passing stages in a game, rising from easy to hard—
Not only did Lin Shuang remain cool-headed, she avoided wasting stamina on the high-tier Foundation Condensation wheat in the beginning.
Through harvesting lower-level stalks, she gradually mastered the precise force needed for the sickle.
Her sword techniques began to merge with her sickle swings.
Her pace grew faster and faster.
When the incense burned out, she withdrew her sickle.
Landing cleanly, she stopped right in front of Huangfu Yuan with graceful poise.
“Lin Shuang has completed 1,923 high-speed movements today.”
“Speed training complete.”
“All Qi Refining and Foundation Condensation Layer One wheat harvested.”
“Solo sword technique drills: 913 times. Three-strike combos achieved: 182.”
“Congratulations, Lin Shuang!”
Meng Zi: “!”
Mei Xin: “……”
Chen Xingchuan: “……”
“So that’s it,” Meng Zi bared his teeth in a grin. “Group the wheat of similar toughness together and finish them in one go—no need to adjust your force output each time…”
This was what they called economies of scale.
The same production step, completed in batches, saves more time the greater the quantity.
Otherwise, her dantian would constantly fluctuate, having to draw different amounts of spiritual energy to match the strength of each stalk—
Highly inefficient.
Not impossible, just a pointless waste.
Lin Shuang put away her sickle and wiped the sweat pouring down her forehead.
“I’m completely spent.”
“……”
[That’s a lie. You clearly still have energy left!]
She gazed at the countless thick wheat stalks felled in the field, brow slightly furrowed.
Old Li stood at the edge, hands clasped behind his back, admiring the scenery.
“So after cutting all this, you also want me to gather it up?”
Old Li didn’t even glance at her.
She was still far from finishing her shift.
“Xiao Ai, make a note—the Water Spirit Sword technique is too one-dimensional. It defeats enemies, but can’t pick up their storage pouches. I still need a sword technique that allows me to strike and scavenge at the same time.”
Meng Zi and the others: “……”
[!]
[……]
She really could reflect on anything, anywhere!
At the edge of the spirit field, Lin Shuang finally worked in tandem with Xiao Ai to gather up all the wheat scattered across the ground and store it in the shed.
Only then did she walk over to the rest shelter, where Old Li greeted her with a smiling face and handed over a cup of spiritual tea.
She accepted it with genuine gratitude.
“Thank you, Grandpa Li. If it weren’t for your task of harvesting the wheat, I wouldn’t have realized the biggest flaw in my sword technique.”
“When facing enemies, having to clean up the battlefield afterward is just too inefficient.”
“!”
[……]
[As expected of the Junior Sister who casually attracts Enlightenment Aura.]
[Hard to tell if she’s flattering a training dummy or speaking in earnest.]
But the next moment, a burst of hearty laughter rang out from the projection.
“Immortal, you flatter this old man too much.”
“I know nothing of immortal cultivation… But I have heard our ancestors say that a hundred years ago, our Lijia Village once safeguarded a sword technique as powerful as a dragon drawing water.”
[!]
Lin Shuang’s eyelid twitched.
Then Old Li let out a sudden “ah!” as if remembering something. Clasping his hands together, he looked excitedly behind her.
“Immortal Lin, could it be—are these the pages that fell into the wheat you just gathered?”
Lin Shuang turned, following his theatrical expression.
And saw—
The bundles of thick wheat she had gathered and tied had changed.
《Dragon Draws Water Sword》 – Page 1
《Dragon Draws Water Sword》 – Page 23
《Dragon Draws Water Sword》 – Page 6
…Page 9
…Page 6 again
…
“This is possible?”
Meng Zi couldn’t believe it—his whole face lit up.
“Then are there any knife techniques too?”
Old Li’s eyes darted and he looked back toward the wheat field. “Ah? What was that, immortal? Speak up! You said there’s still lots of wheat left to harvest? Yes, yes, indeed!”
Meng Zi: “……”
[Pfft—my spiritual tea.]
Soon, even Huangfu Yuan, weak as he often was, silently became the second to finish.
He stood before Old Li and coughed up blood. “If this broken body of mine can contribute, even a little, to next year’s food stores for Lijia Village… I could die without regrets.”
Old Li’s eyes gleamed.
Huangfu Yuan coughed again, swaying slightly. “If there’s anything else I can do, please speak, Old Li. I’ve gained some insights into a sword technique while harvesting. I’d very much like to test it further.”
Old Li’s expression shifted, then suddenly turned deeply moved.
“I just remembered—there’s a sword cultivator’s notebook around here. If you want it, you can dig around the field a bit.”
With that, Huangfu Yuan turned back.
And saw dozens of pages fluttering across the field they had just cleared.
Meng Zi and the others clenched their jaws, redoubling their harvesting efforts.
All previous complaints and discouragement vanished.
They bent their heads and got to work!
[Tsk. Lin Shuang turned the entire situation around in an instant, and morale soared.]
[Even Dao Dong, who had been treated unfairly by the village, now had fighting spirit.]
[Can’t wait to see her performance in the Inner Sect Trials. Junior Sister, lead the Inner Sect to greatness.]
[……]
“No wonder she’s the Senior Sister.”
Zhao Keran, moved, also turned toward the two elders in green and pink robes.
“Elders, I’ve finished all the cleaning tasks.”
“May I proceed to the lower levels of Zhenchuan for further training?”
What!?
All the cleaning is done?
The green-robed elder, Duan Wufang, straightened his back in shock and looked around at the sparkling-clean rest caverns of Level 6000.
Elder Li Min in pink was more used to this by now. She nodded and tossed Zhao a jade token.
“Everyone below Level 3000 is absent. Do as you wish.”
Zhao Keran immediately bowed with reverence.
She had to work hard too.
Senior Sister constantly pointed out her shortcomings—and kept correcting them.
Senior Brother Zhou Xuanwu had gone into seclusion.
What excuse did she have to be idle?
Zhao Keran swiftly set down the four brooms in her hands and the four cloths under her feet.
She formed a hand seal and departed.
The disciples on Level 6000 looked at each other in confusion.
In a corner, Bai Yu let out a quiet sigh and called his teammates to step into the teleportation array.
And as for Lin Shuang, the one receiving all the praise—
She had already entered her rest period.
Not that she didn’t want to keep pushing herself.
Her dantian simply wouldn’t allow it.
“Heh, Junior Sister’s one-incense time limit is up.”
Huangfu Yuan patted the dust from his clothes and followed her into the village chief’s thatched hut.
Lin Shuang raised an eyebrow, eyeing his ghostly pale profile and the waist-length ink-black hair.
“Senior Brother, aren’t you also only able to rise heroically once per day? Tsk tsk.”
“……”
“……”
“When did you figure it out?”
Huangfu Yuan sat at the tea table with a faint smile. Since no one else was present, he didn’t even bother calling her Junior Sister anymore.
Ever since losing his protection, his ancient demon bloodline had become a coveted prize among human cultivators.
As a child, six of his nine tails had been severed.
What remained was merely a false Nine-Tails.
Each time he unleashed his power, it was as if reliving the pain of losing those tails all over again.
At most, he could only erupt with Divine Refinement power once per day.
Any more, and the old wounds would reopen—his very life on the line. No sixth-rank pill could help him then.
Lin Shuang shook her head, unwilling to answer such a simple question.
Childish.
No one could escape the analysis of her 108 layers of divine sense.
“You came in here to break through to Foundation Condensation?”
Huangfu Yuan leisurely poured himself a cup of spiritual tea at the table.
“A body at the Qi Refining stage, when pushed to its limit, can only emulate Foundation Condensation for one incense’s time.”
“Any longer, and the dantian suffers damage.”
Lin Shuang held a damp cloth to her sun-reddened face, saying nothing.
High-intensity fat-burning workouts were best done every other day.
Too often, and the dantian would ache with fatigue, unable to recover by the next day.
Back in the Outer Sect, when she was slacking—ahem, lying low like a hidden dragon—every-other-day training had been enough.
But now, in Zhenchuan, that rhythm was no longer sufficient.
Lin Shuang looked inward at her 98 currently exhausted dantian.
The big, flirtatious fox was right—
Only when all hundred dantian merged into one would she truly attain Foundation Condensation, able to unleash its power at will.
Otherwise… she’d be forced to rest after just one incense.
Lin Shuang opened her eyes. “Mm. I’m going to break through to Foundation Condensation.”
Huangfu Yuan’s lips twitched slightly.
Only demon cultivators, blessed by their bloodlines, could break through as smoothly and painlessly as this—not like human cultivators, who had to endure agony.
She really did resemble a little demon.
“I’ll stand guard for you.”
Huangfu Yuan smiled, drawing his longsword and setting it on the tea table.
“I’d like to try winning first place in the Inner Sect tournament alongside Junior Sister.”
Lin Shuang closed her eyes, sitting cross-legged on the jade bed.
“Being too fixated on results isn’t good, Senior Brother.”
“When you don’t meet your goals, it’s easy to be disappointed. And disappointment just wastes time on needless sorrow.”
“I’ll just casually take first place in the Outer Sect arena battle… and then first in the Inner Sect battle too.”
Huangfu Yuan: “……”
Because her goals were layered like arrows loosed at many targets, even failing at one didn’t matter.
I completed three things—so what if I fail the fourth?
Her mental resilience was formidable, on par with someone at the Divine Refinement stage.
She quickly affixed a one-way mirror talisman to herself.
Inside the talisman’s internal world, the background wallpaper was set to mimic the interior of Outer Sect Cabin No. 99.
In this familiar study environment, she could enter an immersive cultivation state more quickly.
Her mental focus would also sharpen, just as it did in her usual routine.
Lin Shuang glanced at the virtual “background.”
Satisfied, she closed her eyes.
White noise automatically began to play through her ear talisman, completely blocking out Meng Zi’s shouting, Dao Dong’s groans, and all other external disturbances.
“I’ll leave it to you then, Senior Brother.”
She calmed her mind and began to examine her dantian with inner sight.
Her divine consciousness circulated rapidly, analyzing.
Based on the large volume of data she had recently gathered about Foundation Condensation cultivators in Zhenchuan—
—roughly one hundred dantians at Qi Refining Stage Three equaled a single dantian at Foundation Condensation Stage Three.
Lin Shuang smiled.
If her calculations were correct, once all one hundred dantians fused, she would instantly leap from peak Qi Refining Stage Three to something near peak Foundation Condensation Stage Three.
That would save her ten breakthrough stages.
Add to that the two gifts of spiritual energy she had received, and she might even jump straight into Foundation Condensation Stage Four.
And considering her perfected cultivation techniques and sharpened divine sense—defeating someone at Stage Six wouldn’t be a dream.
“I didn’t expect the day of breakthrough to come so soon.”
She counted on her fingers. “If I step from Qi Refining into Foundation Condensation in one go, it’ll definitely draw attention.”
“If I were still in the Outer Sect, I’d have to explain things to Senior Brother Xu Rui and the Transmission Hall masters.”
“But right now…” Lin Shuang’s eyes sparkled with confidence. “I’m in the Elder Guidance Layer of Zhenchuan.”
“My breakthrough was guided by Little Red.”
“I’ve had the benefit of time formations, the exclusive training grounds of Lijia Village, repeated challenges from Foundation Condensation seniors, rewards from the Level 6000 Elders, and the pressure of representing the sect in upcoming battles…”
“With all these intense pressures and fortunate encounters, my continuous breakthroughs from Qi Refining to Foundation Condensation will make perfect sense to others.”
“And I even have a witness—”
Lin Shuang’s gaze grew heated as she turned it toward the outside of the one-way mirror talisman, where she knew Huangfu Yuan was waiting.
“He witnessed my breakthrough. If anyone has doubts, they can ask him.”
Delighted, Lin Shuang beamed.
I really am brilliant.
Coming to the Inner Sect had definitely been the right decision!
With that, she cheerfully formed a hand seal, completely absorbing the gift of spiritual energy locked between her brows.
All 108 strands of her divine sense surged forward like bandits, violently dragging surrounding spiritual energy into her body.
Within the time it took to drink a cup of tea—
The 99th dantian was formed.
At the tea table, Huangfu Yuan lowered his gaze to the swirling tea in his cup.
His phoenix eyes, blank a moment before, slowly widened as he turned toward the 108 spiritual vortexes now swirling around Lin Shuang.
She sat with her eyes closed and a graceful smile, calm and at ease.
Having drained herself entirely in the wheat field earlier, her body now absorbed energy like parched earth.
…
The 100th dantian formed.
Excited, Lin Shuang rubbed her hands together and temporarily deactivated it.
In order, she called upon her two veteran dantians—the left and right ones nestled in her lower abdomen, numbered 1 and 2.
She slowly began guiding them into fusion.
She had begun this experiment nine years ago, failing many times in her efforts to cultivate multiple dantians.
It had taken years to familiarize herself with and train each one individually.
And now, at last—it was time to merge them!
She opened her experimental journal, unable to hide her excitement.
[Dantian Experiment #923]
Weather: Clear. Step One: Fusion begins.
With her divine sense, she gently nudged Dantian No. 1 and No. 2 toward each other.
Szzzt—
In an instant, the two spiritual cores, both spinning with the Haoran Technique, clashed at their edges.
It was like metal colliding—spiritual sparks scattered like fire.
“!”
“?”
“Hiss!”
Lin Shuang frowned. Her circulation of the minor heavenly cycle was abruptly interrupted, and she clutched her aching lower abdomen.
It hurt.
Wait.
Her breathing grew shallow. Cold sweat beaded down her nape.
Why did fusion hurt?
Fighting back tears at the corners of her eyes, she switched from the Haoran Technique to the gentler Water Spirit Technique.
From left and right, she slowly eased the two dantians together once more.
Pfft!
Again they clashed—sparks flared, pain like tearing surged through her!
Damn.
Lin Shuang’s face turned pale from the pain.
No way.
“Stay calm.”
“Don’t jump to conclusions. Something must be off.”
She remained composed, sending her divine sense into each dantian to communicate with them patiently.
The body had memory.
Dantians had temperament too.
They couldn’t be forced—only reasoned with.
But as she gently pressed her hand against her abdomen, she opened her eyes with a helpless smile.
“What do you mean? No. 1, you’ve gotten used to working just one shift every few months?”
“You don’t want to merge? You don’t want to work every day?”
“……”
Lin Shuang was dumbfounded.
This was bad.
Huangfu Yuan, sipping spiritual tea while scanning the Directory of the Twelve Sects’ Elders in his storage pouch, sensed something and looked up.
He saw Lin Shuang, sitting atop the spirit jade bed, drenched in sweat and gritting her teeth in agony.
He frowned and approached, sensing the energy inside her.
His expression immediately turned strange.
What on earth?
Her insides were like a grand assembly of the Hundred Demon Clans—chaotic spiritual energy colliding everywhere.
“What do I do? How am I supposed to convince a hundred lazy, unmotivated workers to show up every day?”
As he leaned in, he could hear her pale lips whispering in frustration.
Huangfu Yuan: “……”
On the 6000th level of the rest pavilion, the pink-robed and green-robed elders each stood on opposite sides of the jade counter.
Like water from separate wells, they stayed out of each other’s business.
And seemed to mutually dislike one another.
But both now stared at the projected image with a strange look.
Inside the village chief’s thatched hut, the consumption of spiritual energy had sharply increased.
Lin Shuang and Huangfu Yuan had entered and not come out for nearly two hours.
Huangfu Yuan was understandable—but Lin Shuang? As an Outer Sect disciple, didn’t she usually get fidgety after one incense’s time?
Wasn’t she always like that at the Wanjuan Library—choosing one technique, then needing to go for a walk, chat, snack, or brush her hair…
“Looks like she’s breaking through,” said Duan Wufang, nodding. Her usually short temper softened her face into something unexpectedly docile.
“When she entered Zhenchuan, she was at Qi Refining Stage Three. It didn’t seem like a case of concealed cultivation—Zhenchuan’s spirit-testing stele didn’t detect anything beyond that.”
Li Min didn’t retort for once. Her expression was odd.
It was a Qi Refining dantian…
But she had eleven of them. No—probably more.
Only with a hundred Qi Refining dantians could one rival a Foundation Condensation Stage Three.
Who had taught her to mess with her dantian like this?
And now—what exactly was she trying to do?
Li Min shook her head. She had never seen this kind of cultivation method before.
[Outer Sect Transmission Hall Instructor Li Dao Wei: I don’t know either. She ranks low. During morning lectures, she’s always within the first three arrivals.]
“……”
Even her own instructor, Li Dao Wei, had no idea.
Currently, the only ones on duty in Zhenchuan were herself, Little Green, and that guy on the 9000th level.
Their personal master, Elder Tan, was far too busy managing affairs in the Twelve Sects Alliance. He likely didn’t even have time to send an avatar down to Zhenchuan.
A trace of helplessness flashed across Li Min’s face.
“Let’s hope nothing goes wrong.”
Inside the village chief’s thatched hut—
Wrapped in an outer robe, Lin Shuang leaned listlessly against the spirit stone platform.
Though the spiritual energy in her body was slowly recovering atop the jade bed, her expression remained sluggish. Her sea of consciousness was exhausted—her 108 strands of divine sense just wanted to sleep.
Huangfu Yuan set down his teacup. “Do you know? Cultivators only reach the ability to form a second clone after entering the Nascent Void Realm.”
Clones at that level possess both divine sense and nascent soul.
“Nascent Void enables clones. Integration enables tribulation.”
Lin Shuang clenched her right hand and knocked her palm.
“So if I train several dantians to the Tribulation stage, I’m good, right?”
Huangfu Yuan’s mouth twitched.
In the Nine-Tailed Fox lineage, each new tail, once formed, equaled the strength of a Qi Refining cultivator.
As their lifespan increased, each tail had to be cultivated individually.
Only when all nine reached the Tribulation stage could they unify—nine returning to one—to transcend fate and ascend as immortals.
But she was a human cultivator…
Huangfu Yuan looked at her with an expression more complicated than ever.
Lin Shuang, on the other hand, was having a moment of enlightenment. “Ah, I see now. Normally they refuse to merge, but under the life-or-death pressure of a heavenly tribulation, it’s either die—or merge.”
“Heavenly tribulations might work.” Light flickered in her eyes again. “So I just need to cultivate them individually to the Tribulation stage, and wait for the lightning to come.”
Huangfu Yuan let out a quiet heh. “You said earlier you had ninety-seven of you.”
Lin Shuang: “Now it’s a hundred.”
His ink-dark pupils dimmed for a moment.
‘Yuan’er, the power of the Nine-Tails is something earned through difficult bloodline breakthroughs.’
‘Others only have to cultivate once to reach the Tribulation stage, but we have to do it nine times…’
‘The Nine-Tail Path requires immense patience.’
Cultivating the nine tails was no easy feat—but compared to having a hundred…
He looked at Lin Shuang again, conflicted.
Suddenly, cultivating nine separate tails didn’t seem so hard after all.
Huangfu Yuan sat down, his expression unreadable.
A strange sense of joy began to rise from the very tips of his nine hidden tails.
So the heavens weren’t unfair to ancient bloodlines after all.
If something is hard, there will always be someone dealing with something harder.
A rare, inexplicable delight bubbled in his heart.
Huangfu Yuan pressed a hand to his forehead, trying to suppress the quivering of his tail tips.
“You’re smiling, aren’t you, Senior Brother?”
“…Yes.”
“……”
Lin Shuang stared accusingly at the big demon whose fur-lined cloak was visibly trembling from laughter. She could hardly believe it.
No humanity whatsoever.
“Back to the point, Junior Sister—what do you plan to do?”
Huangfu Yuan was laughing so hard his scroll shook in his hands.
His laughter could no longer be held back.
“Let’s not even get into whether the heavenly tribulation will help you merge. If you don’t solve this, every time you want to break through, you’ll have to do it a hundred times.”
“Your early-stage cultivation time will be a hundred times that of others. And it could all be for nothing—you may not even ascend in the end.”
“……”
To break through from Qi Refining Stage Three to Four—she would need to repeat the process a hundred times.
Because she had a hundred dantians.
Lin Shuang’s soul rejected that thought on the spot.
Absolutely not. That went against her entire goal of saving time on breakthroughs!
Huangfu Yuan closed his eyes and considered for three breaths.
“I can do it,” he offered. “I’ll smash ninety-nine of your dantians right now. With your talent, starting over won’t slow you down.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be swift. It won’t hurt.”
Lin Shuang: “……”
She still had time to salvage this.
She dove immediately into the one-way mirror talisman.
The real issue wasn’t that the dantians couldn’t fuse—it was that they didn’t want to work every day.
In truth, that wasn’t a problem. She could just keep adding more dantians. A thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand… eventually, one would reach Tribulation.
But the reason she had managed to control a hundred dantians so far was because of her 108 strands of divine sense.
If she tried to manage a hundred thousand Qi Refining dantians, even 108 divine senses wouldn’t be enough.
That was pure fantasy—asking for self-destruction.
Lin Shuang frowned.
She could only maintain dantian count within the limit of 108. That was the maximum her divine sense could handle.
But since Dantians 1–100 refused to merge, and cultivating each to the Tribulation stage separately would take too long—
That was precisely what Huangfu Yuan had warned her about: the hundred-fold time consumption.
Lin Shuang took a deep breath.
She was truly stuck.
No wonder no one else cultivated like this.
Mystery solved.
With a strange look on her face, she turned inward to gaze upon her stubborn, uncooperative dantians.
“Honestly, you’re just avoiding the reality of going to school or work every day.”
“Too spoiled.”
“Sigh… fine, I’ll give in.”
“No one has to work daily. I promise.”
To save time during breakthroughs, the dantians could temporarily fuse. To keep their mood stable, they could separate again during normal days.
She closed her eyes.
Shaping the edges of her hundred small, round dantians into jagged gear-like rims—
After one incense of crafting, they locked into one another to form a 10-by-10 sphere.
Once the gears clicked into place, a stable Foundation Condensation Stage Three aura emerged.
Then, as Lin Shuang opened her eyes, the sphere dissolved back into a hundred small, round dantians.
Forming a hand seal, she recombined them into one.
She nodded with her eyes closed and resumed absorbing spiritual energy.
In an instant, the spherical dantian reached peak Foundation Condensation Stage Three. One breath later, it overflowed—
And she stepped into Foundation Condensation Stage Four.
A collective breakthrough.
No need for a hundred separate ones.
She opened her eyes with a smile. The sphere split again into a hundred Qi Refining Stage Four dantians, each having ascended one level.
They could resume rotating shifts.
Perfect—separate or unified.
Modular Dantians—just like Building Block Dantians.
Cultivation Conversion Estimation:
100 Qi Refining Stage N dantians = 1 Foundation Condensation Stage N dantian = 1 spherical dantian
From this, we estimate: 1 Divine Refinement Stage N = 100 Foundation Condensation Stage N dantians
“Hmm. I can feel it—forming the spherical dantian improved their coordination.”
“My fat-burning endurance, originally just one incense, now lasts nearly half a day.”
One dantian working alone would protest. But in a sphere, seeing the other 99 also working made them all equally miserable—and thus resigned.
Their tolerance for overtime increased!
Lin Shuang nodded in satisfaction.
Now, for half the day, she could maintain true Foundation Condensation strength.
She closed her eyes and absorbed the last of the spiritual energy at her brow.
Her cultivation broke through to late Foundation Condensation Stage Five—
Enough to clear this level.
For the future: a hundred Foundation Condensation dantians, Divine Refinement dantians… onward to Tribulation.
A millennium of lifespan—should be achievable.
In that moment, the massive spherical dantian gleamed brilliantly in her lower abdomen.
Lin Shuang smiled and removed the one-way mirror talisman.
Huangfu Yuan’s phoenix eyes glimmered red as he looked over. His expression was incredibly complex.
The hundred light points in her abdomen had merged into one.
Her entire body now radiated peak Foundation Condensation Stage Four power.
But in a single breath, she let it disperse again—back to being a mere Qi Refining Stage Four weakling.
Huangfu Yuan: “……”
He opened his eyes and looked again.
Strange. Looked again—
Even stranger.
If she could merge all 100 dantians into a sphere and simultaneously elevate them all from Qi Refining Stage Three to Four—
Then what about his nine tails?
Huangfu Yuan fell into deep thought.
That night, Lin Shuang finally finished her cultivation and broke through to Foundation Condensation Stage Five.
When she removed the mirror talisman and got up for water, she froze.
There, beside the spirit stone table, bathed in the dim candlelight—
Was a bizarre figure weaving nine thick, glowing silver strands of long fur into a braided rope.
“…!”
Lin Shuang’s lashes trembled.
I did not teach him that.
“Junior Sister, you’re smiling.”
“…Yes.”
“……”
“Senior Brother, if you’re weaving nine into one, would you like me to teach you a simple fishtail braid technique?”
“!”
Zhao Sect Leader’s Journal, Entry 46:
“It wasn’t the dantians being stubborn—Senior Sister’s own Dao heart resisted merging. Maintaining a hundred dantians allowed her to practice swordplay, talismans, and cultivation techniques at 100x speed. Why would she give that up so early, just after reaching Foundation Condensation? As expected of Senior Sister—guided by fate, she chose the fastest cultivation path. To refine all hundred to the Tribulation stage will be the fastest and strongest route of all.”
—Lin Shuang, a hundred years later: …
—Meng Zi, a hundred years later: She could merge into Foundation Condensation or split into Qi Refining anytime. She could sustain Foundation Condensation strength for half the day. Got it.
—Zhao Keran, a hundred years later: As expected of Senior Brother Meng—he never miscalculates when making change!
—Meng Zi, a hundred years later: …But later, her hundred Tribulation bodies and Senior Brother Huangfu… what they did at night was just—(this line is spattered with blood)
—Disciples, a hundred years later: …
From the Great Demon Cultivation Manual:
“By the time of Demon King Huangfu, the Nine-Tailed Foxes developed the ‘Fishtail Braid Nine-Tail Cultivation Method.’ Under this technique, all nine tails were woven tightly together—even the demon king himself could no longer tell which tail was which… and thus they cultivated as one.”
“This innovation, it’s said, was inspired by Immortal Lin.”
“Eventually, the method spread to tentacle-rich aquatic species. For a time, the seas were peaceful.”
When they wanted to fight:
“Wait, I need to untangle my tentacles first! Argh—they’re knotted! Curses!”
Ah.
When the head is crooked, the rest of the body follows.
Ahem.
Anyway, the seas stayed calm for quite some time—
Even the rowdiest brutes toned down.
After all, once your tentacle braids get tangled, it’s such a pain to fix.
Author’s Note:
See you tomorrow~ Muah muah muah 💋