The name Lin Fan in the Azure Cloud Sect was synonymous with failure. At twenty-two, an age when peers were solidifying their Foundation, Lin Fan remained fixed at the peak of Qi Gathering Stage 10. His cultivation was stalled, not by laziness, but by a congenital flaw: a Brittle Spiritual Foundation that rejected refined spiritual energy. It meant no proper core could ever form. He was "Coreless Trash."
His humiliation was most bitter when it intersected with his quiet, impossible hope: Su Meng.
She was the Sect's "Jade Maiden," possessed of the legendary Nine Yin Spirit Veins, destined for power Lin Fan couldn't even dream of. She was kind, and her fleeting, polite nods were the only things that kept him sweeping the dirt near the Outer Gates, fulfilling his despised duty.
That day, the dream turned to ash.
Gong Lei, a robust Foundation Establishment Stage 3 genius and the son of a powerful Elder, cornered Lin Fan. Gong Lei, possessive of Su Meng and arrogant in his strength, didn't bother with threats. He only snapped Lin Fan's cleaning broom in half and whispered a lethal promise: "If you ever look her way again, I'll snap your neck faster than this kindling."
Lin Fan could only tremble, his entire body unable to muster the Spiritual Qi for defiance. His humiliation was absolute.
The Cave of Catastrophe
Lin Fan retreated to his isolated, flimsy shack near the Sunken Sea Secret Realm entrance. He sank into a futile meditation, trying to force his useless Qi to condense, driven by a despairing fury.
He never heard the door open.
Gong Lei didn't waste words. "You didn't listen, trash."
A concentrated blast of Foundation Establishment Qi struck Lin Fan's chest. It was designed to shatter his brittle meridians instantly. Lin Fan didn't scream; he simply reacted. His body, in a desperate, animalistic bid for survival, coiled and flew backward, shattering the shack's weak wall.
He tumbled down a sharp, rocky embankment, the intense pain of his ravaged core momentarily overridden by sheer momentum. He was moments from certain death, his life draining onto the desolate stones, when he slipped into a dark, narrow opening—a forgotten crevice leading to a small, hidden cave.
He landed hard, coughing blood, his life slipping away. He pressed his hand against the cold stone floor and felt something smooth and intensely cold: a piece of jade.
As his trembling fingers closed around the ancient Jade Pendant, the world shattered.
The Insight Engine
The pendant didn't emit light; it imploded inward, directly into Lin Fan's consciousness. His existing, useless Cultivation Guide System screamed a warning before being violently overwritten.
Lin Fan felt ten thousand years of cold, absolute knowledge flood his mind—the legacy of a forgotten peak master, now serving as his guide. His shattered body was instantly reconstructed by a powerful, invisible energy.
[System Alert: Legacy Integration Complete. The Insight Engine has been Activated.]
[Fatal Damage Repaired. Foundation Rebuilding...]
[Lin Fan advances from Qi Gathering Stage 10 to Foundation Establishment Stage 1! Foundation: Perfected.]
[Core Ability: Dao Residuum Trace Unlocked.]
Lin Fan stood up, the world feeling different. The pain was gone, replaced by a crystalline stability. He was Foundation Establishment Stage 1, but with a perfect, unbreakable core and the structural insight of a Golden Core master.
He immediately focused the Insight Engine outward.
[Target: Surrounding Environment. Analyzing Residual Imprints...]
[Imprint Found: 'Desperate Defense Array' - Failed Barrier Technique (Early Foundation Establishment).]
[Imprint Found: 'Gong Lei's Rending Palm' - Freshly executed attack, Intent of Malice and Qi Signature clear.]
The Shattering Void Cut
A sound of shifting rock came from the crevice above. Gong Lei, still searching for the corpse, peered down.
"Pathetic," Gong Lei spat, seeing Lin Fan standing, still alive, but assuming he was crippled and finished. He prepared to fire a second, clean strike to obliterate the evidence.
Lin Fan smiled—a knowing, chilling expression. He no longer felt fear, only cold calculation. Gong Lei was strong, but now, he was predictable.
[Insight Engine: Analyzing Enemy Technique Flaws...]
[Target: Gong Lei (Foundation Establishment Stage 3). Technique: Azure Cloud Rending Palm (Flaw Rate: 68%).]
Lin Fan didn't use a powerful technique; he used his old, despised one: Flowing Stream Three Cuts.
1. First Cut (The Feint): A weak, slow slash. Gong Lei moved to counter, exactly as his technique dictated.
2. Second Cut (The Shift): A flicker of speed and precision, exploiting the 68% flaw and shattering Gong Lei's mental certainty.
3. Third Cut (The Intent): Lin Fan channeled the raw, killing intent from the nearby Sunken Sea Secret Realm—the residual Shattering Void Intent of a fallen master—and overlaid it onto his blade.
The attack wasn't high in power, but it was perfect in quality. The blade struck nothing physical, yet Gong Lei shrieked. The concentrated Nascent Soul Intent copied by the Dao Residuum Trace bypassed his defensive Qi and slammed directly into his Core.
Gong Lei collapsed instantly, his newly fractured Foundation Core dissolving into worthless vapor. His cultivation—his status, his power, his arrogance—was gone. He was crippled, a husk left writhing on the cold stone.
Lin Fan stepped over the fallen rival, collecting his storage pouch.
"The wind of the Dao can't blow this trash away, Gong Lei," Lin Fan whispered, echoing the bully's words. "But the trace of the Dao can shatter your core."
He was no longer Coreless Trash. He was a perfect Foundation Establishment genius with the ultimate secret. He had survived, won his first battle, and retrieved resources. Now, he needed to find the Azure Sovereign's Pocket Dimension to secure the next phase of his ascension. The true journey had begun.