The Moonshadow Abyss was deathly quiet.
Li Fan stood at its edge, breath fogging in the cold air. The cavern around him shimmered with bluish light, glowing softly from spirit moss and underground crystals.
Before him was a black lake — perfectly still. No ripples. No wind. Water that had not seen sunlight in a thousand years.
> "This is it."
He stepped in.
The water was like knives, slicing his skin, shocking his muscles. But he walked forward, chest deep, then submerged entirely.
Silence.
Then the Third Cauldron flared.
> "Begin Third Tempering: Water Cauldron — Muscle Rebirth."
His body seized. Tendons snapped. Muscles twisted. He screamed beneath the surface, bubbles rising like blood.
But he didn't swim up.
He let himself sink.
Images rushed into his mind — memories of pain, shame, humiliation. The crowd laughing as he bled. The years of being called trash.
He let them burn.
Muscles tore apart. Regrew. Tore again. Each layer rebuilding itself stronger, denser, more elastic. His body began to shine faintly beneath the water, surrounded by ghostly blue light.
After what felt like hours, he floated to the surface.
His skin was pale. His body emaciated. But beneath it… lay power.
True, coiled strength.
He had completed the Third Cauldron.
And above, the skies roared.
Thunder echoed — distant, but not natural. The sky remembered his name now.
From the Fourth Cauldron onward… Heaven would resist.
> "Let it."