The morning air was sharp with the stink of burning asphalt and blood, a bitter haze that clung to Lin Xuan's lungs. He stood atop the crumbled roof of a half-collapsed building, arms folded, watching the horizon. Far off, beyond the shattered city skyline, the monstrous shadow he had seen at dawn still loomed — a gargantuan beast, lumbering through the ruins like a moving mountain. Smaller predators trailed in its wake, feasting on the remnants of civilization.
A wave of fear rippled through the survivors below as they caught sight of it. A young man in a torn jacket staggered up to the roof, face pale.
"L-Lin Xuan… we have to move. The military broadcast said there's a shelter twenty kilometers from here. If that thing comes closer, we're all—"
Lin Xuan turned, his gaze cutting the man off more effectively than any words. "You can go," he said, his voice calm, measured. "But it will reach that shelter before you do. These beasts move faster than you think."
The man faltered, swallowing hard. "Then… then what do we do?"
Lin Xuan's eyes drifted back to the horizon. He had spent the night immersed in the Primordial Ascension Codex, drawing on the faint but inexhaustible strands of energy suffusing this world. His meridians, once clogged and narrow, had widened perceptibly. The foundation of his new cultivation was weak, yes — but it was stable. He could feel strength flowing through his limbs now, a shadow of his former power but enough to carve through the lizard-beasts that prowled the streets.
"We move underground," Lin Xuan finally said. "Find the old subway lines, head east. Fewer beasts belowground, and the Primordial Qi is… denser there."
The man blinked. "Primordial… what?"
Lin Xuan didn't answer. He was already leaping down from the roof, landing lightly on the cracked pavement. The group of survivors — twenty-three souls, all told — huddled together in the street, their faces hollow with exhaustion and fear. Lin Xuan studied them in silence for a long moment. None of them had the bearing of warriors. In his former life, these would have been mortals barely worthy of notice.
And yet, in this ruined world, they were all that remained of humanity's spark.
"We move now," Lin Xuan said. His tone brooked no argument. "Stay quiet. Stay close."
---
The tunnels stank of mildew and rust, the air thick with the must of abandonment. Their flickering flashlights cast uneasy shadows on graffiti-stained walls as they picked their way through the darkness. Rats scurried into cracks, and the occasional drip of water echoed like distant footsteps.
Lin Xuan walked at the front, his senses spread wide. The thin threads of Primordial Qi were thicker here, coiling like mist around the forgotten bones of the subway system. He drew in a breath, cycling the Primordial Ascension Codex, and felt the energy settle into his dantian, feeding the slow, relentless strengthening of his body.
A faint vibration tickled the edge of his awareness. He raised a hand, halting the group.
"Something's ahead," he murmured.
A rumble answered him — low, guttural, the sound of claws on concrete. The survivors stiffened, panic threatening to break them. Lin Xuan's lips curved in a faint, predatory smile.
"Stay here."
He stepped into the darkness, the sound of his footfalls swallowed by the oppressive silence. The rumbling grew louder, resolving into the heavy panting of something large and hungry. Lin Xuan's fingers brushed the cold steel of a discarded length of pipe, lifting it with casual ease.
The beast burst from the shadows — a hulking, six-limbed predator with glistening fangs and armored scales. Its eyes blazed red as it lunged, claws extended. Lin Xuan met its charge head-on, his pipe whipping up in a silver arc. The impact shattered the makeshift weapon, but the force of the blow crushed the creature's skull, momentum carrying its twitching body past him.
Lin Xuan exhaled slowly, letting the threads of Primordial Qi return to stillness within him. His strength was growing, but slowly. Too slowly.
He knelt by the creature's corpse, pressing his palm to its cooling hide. Faint traces of Primordial Qi clung to the beast's flesh, a chaotic echo of the world's own energy. Lin Xuan absorbed it, the Codex's ancient runes flaring faintly within him. His meridians ached as the alien essence burned away impurities.
A murmur of awe rippled through the survivors as Lin Xuan returned, his silhouette framed by the still-twitching corpse. He ignored their stares.
"Move. The path is clear."
---
They traveled for hours, threading deeper into the labyrinth of tunnels. At last, they emerged into an abandoned maintenance hub, its walls lined with rusting machinery. Lin Xuan called a halt, his own mind elsewhere. The Primordial Qi here was even denser, flowing around him like invisible fog.
He sat cross-legged on the cold concrete, forming the hand seals of the Codex. Power stirred, coiling through his body in slow, deliberate circuits. Each breath drew more of the world's energy into him, refining it, compressing it, until his dantian thrummed with restrained strength.
Sweat trickled down his spine. His muscles spasmed, tendons creaking under the strain of transformation. The process was agonizingly slow — his mortal flesh a fragile vessel for the Codex's ancient power.
Pathetic, he thought, the word edged with bitter amusement. But even a withered seed can grow into a mighty tree.
---
A sudden flare of hostile intent jolted him from his meditation. His eyes snapped open, catching the glint of steel — a man, one of the survivors, creeping toward him with a scavenged knife raised high.
Lin Xuan moved without thought. His hand shot up, seizing the man's wrist in an iron grip. A twist, a sharp cry of pain, and the knife clattered to the ground. Lin Xuan rose, his gaze cold and utterly without mercy.
"Why?"
The man's face twisted with desperation. "You… you're not human. You're a monster! You killed those things like they were nothing, and that… that light—"
Lin Xuan tightened his grip until bone cracked. "You mistake strength for monstrosity. Remember this: in this new world, strength is all that separates survival from extinction."
With a flick of his wrist, he hurled the man across the room, where he crumpled, groaning. The others stared, wide-eyed and silent.
Lin Xuan's gaze swept over them, impassive. "If any of you cannot accept this, leave now. You will not survive on your own, but that is not my concern."
No one moved.
"Good," Lin Xuan said simply, turning away. He picked up the knife, weighing it in his hand, then slipped it into his belt.
"We move again at first light."
---
That night, Lin Xuan climbed a rusting maintenance ladder to a surface access hatch. The city stretched out before him, a graveyard of steel and fire. He could feel the pulse of Primordial Qi stronger now, like a river winding through the bones of the earth.
He closed his eyes, the Codex's patterns unfolding within his mind. With each breath, power gathered, his dantian swelling like a storm about to break. He was still far from the strength of his previous life, but his foundation was solidifying.
Soon, he thought, this fragile vessel would be tempered enough to bear the true weight of his Heavenbreaker Dao.
And beneath it all, deeper than even the Primordial Qi, that ancient, slumbering heartbeat still pulsed, steady and inexorable.
Lin Xuan smiled, a slow, cold curve of lips.
This world thinks itself cursed. But for me, it is the perfect crucible.
---
End of Chapter 2.