Deep in Austin’s dantian, the White Dwarf Seed reached five hundred thousand degrees.
The flood of First Epoch data had pushed it into a new state. Its dense core held steady while the thin outer layer of hydrogen and helium began continuous fusion.
The golden banner became a system screen.
His last two breakthroughs had wrecked the arena. Level 28 had fused the sand into glass. Level 32 had crushed ten thousand swords into a block and cracked the jade dais.
This one was quiet.
The inward pull of gravity and the outward push of heat found their balance. The tiny star stopped behaving like an overfilled boiler. It settled into a smooth, steady purr.
Almost all of its power remained behind the containment field. The small amount that escaped entered the study as warm golden life force.
SHUUUUUUUUUUUUUU.
Liquid sunlight spread across the sandalwood floor. The cold draft vanished. Austin’s denim smelled like clean cotton dried in the sun. The room filled with the scents of pine needles, plum blossoms, and sweet clover.
In the corner stood a white-jade planter. Its spirit orchid had been dead for twelve years, its gray roots dry and brittle.
The roots twitched.
Green shoots broke through the soil. Waxy leaves opened with soft pops. The stalk grew three feet in five seconds and produced thirty purple blossoms. Their honeyed scent filled the study.
Jiang Taixu made a choking sound.
Golden warmth passed through his patched robes. His three cracked ribs knitted together. The bleeding in his lung stopped. Even the deep chill left by eighty years in the Glacial Abyss melted away.
In his dantian, his newly formed golden coupling core absorbed the light. Its twelve points glowed amber. The ragged edges of his soul smoothed, and his new Nascent Soul realm became stable.
Jiang sat still until the warmth passed. “My ribs don’t hurt,” he said. He made a note in his probation log: Unplanned healing effect. Report it; do not treat it as permission to approach the Core.
Xiaoyao gripped the table as his own energy surged.
BOOM!
His bottleneck at Qi Gathering Stage 9 broke.
Golden life force rushed through his channels and swept away years of blockage. To his inner sight, his spirit veins now looked like clean copper lines: neatly bent, firmly supported, and properly grounded.
DING.
He entered Foundation Establishment Stage 1.
The boy hugged his ledger and wept. “Master... my spirit veins are plumbed and grounded! The current is clean!”
Under the table, Pug rolled onto his back and exposed his belly. All three faces wore sleepy grins. Golden flecks shone on his black scales as his paws chased dream sausages.
The wave passed through the palace walls and spread across Canglan.
Midnight became a midsummer dawn.
Ten thousand barren plum trees, dry peach groves, and still lotus ponds burst into bloom. Pink and white petals swirled through the cobbled streets.
On the city walls, old arrow scars faded from the guards’ skin. Aching hips and crooked fingers healed. Mortals stepped onto their balconies in nightclothes and stared at the sky.
In caves ten miles away, ancient hermits opened their eyes as fresh life force filled their withered bodies.
Austin stood and stretched.
CRACK-POP-CRACK.
He yawned hard enough to rattle the teacups.
Level 35 felt solid. His boots rested on the floor like a foundation set in bedrock. Regular floors would crack under him. He needed eight-thousand-PSI concrete just to stand.
He opened his status screen.
A dry, satisfied grin crossed his face.
“Phase One cleared. Thirty-five levels of hand tools and foundation work. No more beginner tips every time I pick up a plane. Time to scale the factory.”
He checked the remote report from Sunset Peak.
Underground Floor 2: Machine Foundation Cure Complete.
No Shrinkage Cracks. Slump: 3.5 inches. Anchor Grid Ready for the 50-Ton Press.
Before leaving for Canglan, he and Tie Kuang had spent two long shifts pouring seventy-five yards of special concrete for the machinery pads. They had worked the mix into every corner, leveled the surface, and kept it under wet burlap with gentle steam heat. Days of controlled curing had done the work of weeks.
Austin nodded.
“No heat cracks. Tie Kuang kept the temperature steady. We can mount the press as soon as we get home.”
He looked at his blue pipe wrench.
“Three floors roughed in. Level thirty-five opens automated controls, heavy presses, better furnaces, and real ductwork. We can finally replace the hand-cranked ore winch with a proper hoist.”
Then he looked at the glowing First Epoch core.
“And Vault Zero-Four is mapped. We take the master key west, open the front door, and start salvaging.”
Before he could close the screen, shouting filled the hall.
BANG!
The double doors flew open and struck the walls hard enough to pull out the latch screws.
Governor Zhao, Grandmaster Ouyang, and twelve breathless councilmen stumbled into the study. Their topknots were crooked, and their silk robes were soaked with sweat. They looked both terrified and overjoyed.
Four ministers followed, carrying two three-foot tablets of solid royal gold above their heads like sacred altars.