That night, the central hall of the Moon Lotus Pavilion was filled. Disciples gathered shoulder to shoulder, elders sat in solemn rows, and Yinxue, Ziyue, and Shuyue stood at Haotian's side. The Frost Jade Tree's glow filtered in through the open ceiling, its pale light falling across Haotian as he stepped forward.
His golden eyes swept across them, steady, calm. "Listen well. Sect Master Lin Xiangyin has made her decision. The bathhouse will be expanded — not to serve seven hundred and fifty, but over two thousand. Elders, disciples, even she herself will enter its waters. That alone will reshape their sect."
Gasps rippled through the crowd, voices murmuring at the scale of the idea.
Haotian raised a hand, silencing them. "But that is only the beginning. The Eternal Yin Orchid Sect will not remain as it is. I will modify its foundation, its veins, its formations — just as I did with the Zhenlong household. I will make it so every disciple within these walls has the chance to cultivate a Ten Elemental Body Physique."
The hall fell into stunned silence.
Finally, one elder's voice broke through, shaky. "Ten… Ten Elemental Body? For an entire sect? Is that even possible?"
Another whispered, eyes wide, "Even one person with such a body would be considered blessed by the heavens. For all of us…?"
Dozens of gazes turned to Haotian, doubt and hope warring in their faces.
Haotian's lips curved faintly, his tone certain. "Possible? I had already created the design when I was six years old."
Shock rippled through the crowd.
He stepped closer, his aura pulsing gently, wrapping them in golden warmth. "I have tested it. The Zhenlong household — every member, every soldier — already bears this physique. Their strength has risen beyond mortal limits. And in time, it will be the same here. It will take effort. It will take discipline. But when it is complete… the Eternal Yin Orchid Sect will be untouchable."
The hall stirred again. Some disciples gasped in awe, some clutched each other's hands with trembling excitement. Elders exchanged looks of disbelief that turned slowly into fierce, hungry resolve.
Shuyue's eyes shone brightly as she grinned. "You see? Senior Brother never says anything he can't do."
Ziyue nodded sharply, her voice cutting through. "If he says we can reach it, then it will be done."
Even Yinxue, her face calm as frost, let a rare smile slip. "In time, we will all stand unshaken."
The disciples bowed low, their voices trembling with conviction.
"Senior Brother… we'll follow you!""We'll endure anything!""Ten Elemental Body Physique — we'll reach it!"
Haotian stood tall, golden light flickering across his eyes. "Then steel yourselves. This is no dream. This is the future we'll carve together."
The Frost Jade Tree glowed brighter overhead, its leaves shimmering like stars. The Moon Lotus Pavilion's resolve burned hotter than ever before.
Night fell. The Moon Lotus Pavilion slept in peace, the Frost Jade Tree glowing faintly over their courtyards.
But within Haotian's sea of consciousness, peace did not exist.
The golden battlefield stretched endless, its ground scarred by countless strikes. Alter stood there like an unyielding wall, his aura heavy, his expression merciless. "Up again, brat. You've mastered the Eleventh, survived the Twelfth. Tonight—" his golden eyes burned, "—you take the Thirteenth."
Haotian's chest rose and fell heavily, sweat dripping from his brow, blood already seeping from his arms. "Thirteenth…" He straightened, forcing his trembling body into stance.
Alter barked like a commander drilling a soldier. "Voidlock Spiral!"
His body blurred, spinning into a vicious roundhouse kick. The air warped into a spiraling vortex, crushing the battlefield ground, locking it in place. "It is not only attack. It is control. Once struck, the target cannot move. They are trapped, crushed by the vortex, bound to die in the follow-up."
Haotian's eyes flared with golden light. He stepped forward, his body snapping into motion. His leg whipped out, chi surging — a spiral tore into the air.
CRACK!
The vortex half-formed, then collapsed. His bones screamed. His leg shattered at the shin, the force reverberating through his spine. He crashed to one knee, blood spraying from his lips.
"Again."
Haotian's head snapped up, teeth gritted. "…Tch." He pushed himself upright, bones knitting only halfway. He spun again. The spiral vortex roared higher, locking the battlefield's air in place for a moment—then tore his hip out of socket.
CRUNCH! He collapsed, coughing blood.
"Again!" Alter's voice was unyielding, slicing into him like a whip.
Haotian staggered up, his body half-regrown by the Undying Dragon Body Sutra, golden light flaring in his veins. He spun again — harder, faster. The spiral exploded outward, crushing the air into a vortex. This time it held, locking the space around it, the battlefield trembling under its pull.
"Good." Alter's tone was cold approval. "But not good enough. Again!"
Haotian roared, his body tearing apart as he repeated the strike over and over, each time his regeneration failing to keep pace, his skin splitting, bones snapping, his vision going red. By the tenth attempt he collapsed entirely, blood pooling beneath him, his body twitching violently.
"Enough," Alter finally said, his voice quieter but no less sharp. He crouched, his eyes boring into Haotian's. "You're breaking. But you're learning. Don't ever think of resting until every strike becomes instinct."
Haotian's breath came ragged, his body mangled — but his lips curved into a grin despite it all. "…Then tomorrow… we push for the Fourteenth."
Alter's smirk mirrored his own. "Mad brat. That's the spirit."
The morning sun crept over the Eternal Yin Orchid Sect, spilling soft light across the Frost Jade Tree. The courtyards filled with murmurs as disciples bustled to their tasks, but whispers carried louder than footsteps.
"Have you noticed? Senior Brother always looks tired in the mornings.""Yes… but he's always smiling.""Yesterday I saw blood on his sleeve. He tried to hide it, but…""Even injured, he still comes to guide us."
Moon Lotus disciples spoke with quiet pride, while Orchid disciples watched with disbelief, some stealing glances as Haotian passed. To them, the sight of a man in their sect was already rare — but one who bled for his disciples and still carried himself like steel was beyond comprehension.
Haotian walked among them calmly, his golden eyes steady, his voice composed as he directed workers at the bathhouse.
"Shift the western wall three paces — the chi veins will converge better there.""These herbs — not just frost ginseng, but fire marrow grass as well. Balance yin with yang, it will temper their meridians.""This formation line should extend in nine cycles, not seven. Otherwise, the resonance will fracture."
Disciples scrambled to keep up, taking notes and making adjustments. Even the Orchid formation masters found themselves falling silent, listening in grudging respect as Haotian explained every line of the design.
By noon, he took a brief pause, walking the shaded paths where the three sisters found him.
"Senior Brother," Shuyue called brightly, jogging up beside him, her eyes shining. "You're pushing too hard again, aren't you?"
Haotian smiled faintly. "That's what you always say."
Ziyue folded her arms, her sharp gaze softening just slightly. "She's right. At least take a meal with us."
Yinxue lingered last, her frost veil shimmering. She did not scold him, only gave a long look that spoke louder than words. Haotian chuckled quietly, nodding. "Fine. I'll rest — for one meal."
The three sisters exchanged small smiles. Even brief moments with him felt like stolen treasures.
Afterwards, Haotian made his way up the grand stair to the Orchid Sect's library. Violet-robed disciples bowed as he entered, their eyes following him in hushed awe. Within the towering shelves of jade-carved texts, he moved deliberately, pulling tomes from the Sovereign section.
His fingers brushed the pages, his golden pupils flickering as he invoked his ability. Glyphs lifted from the parchment like threads of light, dissolving into the depths of his Golden Text Library within. Page by page, volume by volume, he absorbed them all — manuals, treatises, divine commentaries on the higher realms.
His expression remained calm, but in his eyes burned purpose. Every word here will fuel their rise.
That night, as the sect settled into silence, Haotian once again closed his eyes in meditation. His body stilled… and in an instant, he was pulled into the golden battlefield of his sea of consciousness.
Alter stood waiting, arms folded, the drill sergeant's glare never softening.
"No excuses. The Fourteenth Strike tonight. Move."
Haotian straightened, blood still faintly staining his robes in reality, but here his will surged.
By day, he carried a sect on his shoulders. By night, he shattered himself against Alter's merciless training.
And so the cycle continued.
The morning began as any other, disciples working diligently across the mountain peak. Herbs were planted in neat terraces, chi lines drawn into soil, flag posts glowing as Haotian's designs came to life. But suddenly, a golden surge split the air.
Every head turned.
Above the Frost Jade Tree, Haotian hovered in his celestial armor, his aura a blazing sun. His voice carried across the mountain.
"Demon God Killing Martial Arts — Thirteen Strike Combo!"
He moved.
The first four strikes boomed out like thunder — Fist of Ruin, Heaven-Piercer Step, Void Fang Rend, Bloodlash Howl. The air trembled. Disciples gasped at the sheer weight.
But when he unleashed the Fifth Strike — Soulbreaker Dive — the world cracked.
The sky above the sect ruptured like glass, shards of space fracturing outward before knitting back together. A collective scream rose from the disciples as qi scattered wildly.
And he wasn't finished.
The Sixth. The Seventh. The Eighth. Each blow tore deeper, space rippling like water under a hammer. When the Ninth Strike hit, reality itself shuddered, black fissures crawling like veins across the heavens.
By the Tenth, even time seemed to hitch — disciples blinking as moments stuttered, the sound of reality itself groaning like an ancient beast.
Then came the Thirteenth — Voidlock Spiral.
The vortex of force erupted, and all at once space, time, and reality screamed. The sky above the sect bent inwards, collapsed, then snapped back into place with a roar that shook the entire mountain.
Disciples dropped to their knees. Elders clutched their robes, pale and trembling. The Orchid disciples, who had once scoffed at Moon Lotus' eccentricities, now stared with wide, horrified eyes.
From the Eternal Pavilion, Lin Xiangyin herself rushed out, sovereign qi blazing, only to stop dead in midair as she witnessed the impossible.
Her violet eyes widened in raw shock. "…What… what is that?"
The cracks in reality stitched themselves closed, but the memory of them lingered in the mind like scars. Her heart pounded in her chest, her composure shredded.
"Even Sovereigns…" she whispered, breathless, "…even Sovereigns cannot do this. To tear space, to rupture time, to… shatter reality itself—" She gripped her sleeve tightly, her knuckles pale. "…This is power beyond realms."
Haotian landed lightly, his body steaming, golden eyes calm as though he hadn't just broken the world. Disciples stared at him in reverence and fear, unable to reconcile his calm demeanor with the devastation they had just witnessed.
"Back to work," he said simply, as if nothing had happened.
The disciples returned to their tasks, shaken but now burning with awe-fueled determination. Under Haotian's guidance, the remodeling progressed at astonishing speed.
Herbal Fields: terraces of frost ginseng, thunder lotus leaves, fire marrow grass, and other rare herbs were planted. Their blended energies infused the soil, weaving subtle elemental resonance into the mountain itself.
Formations: glowing lines spread across courtyards, wrapping pavilions and stairways in shimmering latticework. New cycles of yin and yang flowed visibly through the peak, humming like a living heartbeat.
Bathhouse Expansion: foundations were widened, reinforced with jade beams. Water veins were redirected, and additional flag posts with concealment arrays were raised. Already, disciples whispered in excitement, imagining the completed sanctum holding not hundreds, but thousands.
When the first test groups entered the remodeled areas, their astonishment was immediate.
One Orchid disciple gasped, kneeling in a herbal field. "The air itself… every breath is like drinking an elixir."
Another stepped into a courtyard glowing with Haotian's new formations, and her aura flared instantly, her cultivation stabilizing as if a block had been removed from her chest.
Moon Lotus disciples exchanged proud glances, their voices soft but full of pride. "This is only the beginning. Senior Brother hasn't even added the final treasures yet."
High above, Xiangyin stood silently, her violet eyes lingering on Haotian as he walked calmly among them, checking herbs, adjusting sigils, giving quiet corrections. The image of the sky tearing under his fists burned in her mind, a terrifying reminder.
This man… this boy… She pressed a hand against her chest. No wonder Yuying entrusted him. If he can do this here, then my sect's future may surpass even Emperors.
The mountain peak bustled with activity — disciples planting herbs, carving formation lines, and inscribing sigils under Haotian's earlier instructions. The Frost Jade Tree glowed faintly, its roots nourishing the newly prepared fields.
But then golden light surged upward, drawing every eye.
Haotian rose into the heavens, his robes billowing in the wind. His body was bare of armor, his golden pupils blazing with calm determination. When he stopped, he hovered so high above the sect that he seemed a lone star against the daylight.
Disciples below shaded their eyes, murmuring.
"What's he doing up there?""Senior Brother's going to train again…"
Suddenly, his voice thundered across the skies, clear and unyielding.
"Demon God Killing Martial Arts — Thirteen Strike Combo!"
Then he moved.
The first four strikes tore through the air, booming like celestial drums. Fist of Ruin cracked the heavens, Heaven-Piercer Step shattered the wind, Void Fang Rend split the horizon, and Bloodlash Howl echoed like thunder.
When his body spun into the Fifth Strike — Soulbreaker Dive, the sky ruptured.
Above the sect, the blue dome of the heavens fractured like shattered glass, shards of space spiraling outward before stitching themselves back together. Disciples screamed, clinging to each other as qi storms whipped across the mountain.
But Haotian pressed on.
The Sixth. The Seventh. The Eighth. Each blow ripped deeper, space itself groaning under the weight.
The Ninth Strike unleashed cracks that spread like spiderwebs across the sky, their edges glowing white-hot as though reality itself bled light.
The Tenth Strike came, and time stuttered. Disciples blinked in confusion as their own movements lagged, their voices echoing a moment too late. Even Xiangyin, watching from her pavilion, felt her qi stagger.
Then came the final spiral.
"Thirteenth Strike — Voidlock Spiral!"
Haotian spun midair, his leg cutting through the heavens. A vortex howled into existence, crushing everything in its pull. Space, time, and reality collapsed inward, as though the world itself was being strangled.
The peak below shook violently. The Frost Jade Tree's leaves quivered as though in fear.
Disciples screamed, dropping to their knees. Elders struggled to breathe under the crushing weight of the strike.
From the Eternal Pavilion, Lin Xiangyin burst into the sky, her sovereign qi blazing as she rushed forward. But she stopped short, her violet eyes widening in raw horror.
Her voice trembled, barely a whisper. "…What is that…?"
The cracks in reality sealed themselves with a deafening roar, leaving the sky pristine once more. But the memory — the sight of reality itself breaking — seared itself into every heart.
Xiangyin's body shook despite her power, her composure shattered. "Even Sovereigns…" she whispered, stunned. "…Even Sovereigns cannot destroy space, time, and reality like this. This is… beyond realms."
Haotian descended calmly, golden light flickering faintly around him, his robes torn and bloodied from the strain. But his expression was steady, his gaze serene, as though nothing at all had happened.
"Back to work," he said simply.
And the disciples obeyed, their awe and fear forever burned into memory.
Night fell over the Eternal Yin Orchid Sect. Disciples slept in peace, the Frost Jade Tree shimmering faintly under the moonlight.
But in Haotian's inner world, peace did not exist.
The golden battlefield stretched endless, marked by scars from a thousand broken strikes. Alter stood there, tall, unyielding, his eyes sharp as blades.
"Tonight," Alter said coldly, "we begin the Fourteenth. Celestial Vein Rupture."
Haotian's breath came steady, but his body already trembled faintly from the wounds of the previous night. "This one… targets the chi channels?"
Alter nodded. He raised his hand, his aura blazing, then drove his fist upward in a savage uppercut. Space around his arm cracked like a mirror. "It doesn't just break flesh. It ruptures the veins of cultivation itself. With this strike, the enemy's chi channels collapse. Their power dies before they can even use it. Do it right, and even a Sovereign will become a mortal before your eyes."
Haotian swallowed the blood in his mouth, eyes narrowing. "Then let's begin."
He stepped forward, aura igniting. His muscles screamed, his bones already brittle from the previous night's training, but he forced himself into stance. Golden light surged through him, compressing into his right arm.
BOOM!
His fist snapped upward. For a brief instant, his chi condensed into a spear of golden light that tore skyward — and his own veins detonated.
"Gahhh!" Haotian's scream tore through the battlefield as golden blood sprayed from his arm. His channels ripped apart under the force, every meridian in his body screaming. He collapsed to one knee, clutching his chest.
"Again." Alter's voice was iron, merciless.
Haotian spat blood into the dirt, forcing himself upright. His chest heaved, his arm trembling violently as his Undying Dragon Body Sutra strained to stitch the ruptured veins together.
He struck again.
CRACK!
The ground split apart as his fist rose, a surge of golden light tearing free. For a fleeting second, the strike resonated properly — reality itself shivered, the battlefield air locking as though every vein of existence was under attack.
Then his own body imploded again. His chest caved, his meridians shredded, blood spraying from his eyes and ears. He collapsed, choking.
Alter's voice roared. "You think your enemies will stop just because your veins tore!? Up again!"
Haotian's lips peeled back into a bloody grin. "…Damn… drill sergeant."
He staggered up once more, his body twitching, golden veins flickering across his skin like cracks in porcelain. His fist rose again, slower but steadier. This time, when he struck, the battlefield itself froze — the flow of chi in the very air halting for an instant.
Alter's eyes gleamed with approval. "That's it. That's the beginning. Again!"
Haotian roared, driving his body past its limits. His veins burst, his flesh split, his bones fractured, but still he swung, again and again, until he collapsed in a pool of his own blood, unable to move.
Finally, Alter crouched beside him, his voice a low growl. "This is only the Fourteenth. You still have four more to go. If you falter here, you'll die when the abyss opens."
Haotian's lips curved faintly, blood running down his chin. "…Then I'll just keep getting back up… until I can tear a god apart."
Alter smirked. "Good. Tomorrow, you'll rupture the heavens themselves."
The battlefield faded, and Haotian's mangled body twitched in reality, golden veins still glowing faintly under his skin as he gasped for air.