The calendar on the wall was marked in blood. Six days.
Six days until the Shift cooled down. Six days until he could move his sanctuary.
Wei Wuxu sat in the center of his dilapidated woodshed, legs crossed in the lotus position. He wasn't meditating to gain enlightenment. He was meditating to keep his heart from exploding.
The air outside the shed was heavy, filled with the thick, vibrant Qi of the Azure Cloud Sect. To a normal disciple, this air was sweet nectar. To Wuxu, it was like breathing liquid mercury.
He popped a low-grade Essence Pill into his mouth. The medicinal energy dissolved, rushing through his withered meridians. He didn't guide the energy to his Dantian to build a foundation; he guided it to his skin, his bones, his lungs.
Reinforce, he commanded silently.
The energy wove itself into his flesh, acting as a spiritual lattice. The crushing pressure of the world eased slightly. His breathing slowed.
This was his cultivation. He was at the 3rd Layer of Qi Condensation, yet he had the combat prowess of a mortal toddler. If a gust of wind hit him too hard, he would bruise. But this 3rd Layer was his Anchor. It was the only reason he could stand up and walk outside without his internal organs failing under the "Atmospheric Pressure" of Heaven.
He opened his eyes. They were cold, devoid of the fire that burned in the eyes of the ambitious.
"One hour," he whispered, checking the sun's position through the cracks in the wood. "They will be here in one hour."
He looked at the floorboards beneath him. To the naked eye, there was nothing there. But Wuxu knew.
centered exactly on the knot of the central plank was his Domain. A sphere with a radius of exactly 3 Chi (1 meter).
Currently, he was sitting inside it. Here, he felt light. Here, he didn't need the Essence Pill. Here, he was God.
But he couldn't stay here. If he hid in his turtle shell, he would starve, or they would simply burn the shed down with him inside. The Domain offered invincibility, not immortality against fire from the outside.
He had to lure them in.
Wuxu stood up and stepped out of the 3-Chi radius.
BAM.
The weight of the world slammed into him. His knees buckled. His breath hitched. It felt as if gravity had tripled. This was Heaven's Suppression.
He gritted his teeth, forcing his Anchored body to straighten. He grabbed a broom and began to sweep the floor, looking every bit the pathetic, crippled servant the sect believed him to be.
The trap was set. The location was fixed. Now, he just needed the rats.