The wind howled through the narrow mountain pass, flinging snow across the worn path like ghost-white blades. Li Xuan pressed forward, each step a test of will. His injuries slowed him, but he did not stop. The pain reminded him he was still alive.
Hours passed. The Majestic Li estate disappeared behind the hills.
By dusk, he found a hidden cave beneath a frozen waterfall—just as he remembered from old servant tales, whispered when he was a child. It would serve. He had no clan, no allies, no shelter but stone and silence.
He cleared the space, placed the bamboo scroll gifted by the system on the cave floor, and sat cross-legged. Cold stone beneath. Ice-laced air around. His heart beat calm.
He closed his eyes, unsure if the tales were true, unsure if he would wake whole.
But he had nothing left to lose.
Then, he let go.
[Entering Meditation…]
The world dimmed.
His breath slowed. His heartbeat steadied. In the blackness of closed eyes, light bloomed.
He sat beneath a massive tree—not the plum of his clan outer grounds, but a golden-rooted giant reaching into endless sky. Its bark shimmered with runes too old to be read. Its leaves rustled without wind.
At its base sat a version of himself—still, whole.
[Welcome to the Meditation State.]
[Qi Flow Visualization: unlocked.]
[Scanning internal meridians… complete.]
[Dantian: status – shattered.]
[Initiating Spiritual Root Dantian Reconstruction.]
[Estimated Completion: 1 hour.]
He watched, entranced, as a swirling core of green light began forming where his dantian had once been. It looked different—less like the traditional rotating qi sea, and more like a budding seed, pulsing with primal rhythm.
Vines of light extended from it, repairing torn pathways and reconnecting severed meridians. Slowly, methodically, the spiritual foundation of his new cultivation began to take shape.
[Reconstruction accelerated… 62%… 89%… 100%.]
[Your Spiritual Root Dantian has been fully formed.]
A quiet explosion pulsed within him—no noise, no pain—just clarity. He gasped as a wave of warm qi filled him, not chaotic, but deeply ordered. This was not the brute force cultivation he'd once practiced. This was something deeper. Older.
Ancient, even—like the tree that sheltered him in that still world of thought and soul.
[You have regained the ability to cultivate.]
[Unique Trait Gained: Soul-Grown Core – immune to standard detection and qi poisoning.]
Li Xuan felt reborn.
Qi flowed through him again—slower, gentler, but cleaner than ever before. His breath was lighter. The chill no longer bit at his bones. Even the air seemed to part around him.
He looked at his hand. His skin glowed faintly, as if the root within was radiating through the flesh.
[You have received: 1 Mystery Seed.]
[New Feature Unlocked: Qi Pulse Scan – detect lifeforms within 50 meters.]
[System Tip: With your Spiritual Root Dantian active, you may now begin foundational cultivation.]
A low smile touched his lips.
Even in the frigid stillness, Li Xuan felt heat blossom within. A warmth, unlike fire—this was spiritual, vibrant, and alive. It coursed through his ruined body like spring's first stream through cracked earth.
He clenched his fists, the hollow in his abdomen where his dantian used to be a mocking void. Now, it pulsed. It breathed.
[Innate root: Detected – Grade: Unknown]
[Activating Cultivation Path: Body Refinement – Stage 1]
Li Xuan inhaled—and for the first time in several hours, Qi flowed into him.
It was faint. Rough. Like pulling broken glass through his veins. But it was his.
He grits his teeth and endures. Every breath, every cycle, was a forging. His flesh trembled. His muscles spasmed. The cave filled with a low hum as the spiritual energy of the mountain converged upon him.
Time lost meaning.
He moved through the first three stages in days, his body drinking in the raw qi like parched earth. His bones hardened. His organs strengthened. The weakness that once defined him faded like mist.
On the fourth day, a rush of energy surged through his limbs—so sudden it cracked the stone beneath him. He was now in Body Refinement Stage 4.
[Vitality Index: +32%]
[Strength Output: +40%]
He rose to his feet, body light, movements clean and sharp.
But the system wasn't done.
[Hidden Trait Detected: Root of Return – Passive Awakening Triggered.]
[You possess a dormant potential beyond the mortal flesh. Prepare for resonance.]
"What does that mean?" Li Xuan asked aloud.
No answer came. Only a distant tremor in his blood.
He resumed cultivation.
Stage 5 brought pain—searing, twisting agony as his bones compressed and reformed. His spine cracked as if breaking and rebuilding anew. Yet he endured, unflinching.
Stage 6, 7, 8…
Each level demanded more—of qi, of willpower, of endurance. His blood burned with qi. His breath steamed even in the cave's chill. His eyes gleamed faintly in the dark.
When he broke into the 9th stage, a deep boom echoed from his body. Like a bell rung in heaven.
He stood still, bathed in sweat, shirt in tatters, and skin glowing faintly. He had reached the pinnacle of body refinement, the limit of most mortals.
Yet—
[System Notification: You are on the verge of a forbidden realm.]
[Body Refinement – Stage 10: Nirvana Tempering]
[Warning: This stage appears once every century in a peerless genius. Risk of failure: 92%]
Li Xuan's eyes narrowed. "Do I have a choice?"
[You do. But Heaven does not forget.]
He clenched his fists.
No one had saved him when his dantian was shattered. He had been forgotten, No one knows if he is alive or dead since he left the clan outer grounds
But he would make heaven remember his name.
He sat once more. And he reached for the 10th stage.
He had been cast out, his cultivation destroyed, his dantian shattered. But now, he had risen with new, stronger spiritual roots and a dantian that no one in the sects or clans possessed.
A faint shift of snow outside the cave broke the silence.
He didn't flinch.
They would come to understand:
Heaven does not forget.
And neither does the root.
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