Following the miraculous, if destructive, success of his "Alchemical Contempt," Lin Qi had become both the most revered and the most feared individual in the Whispering Willow Sect. Sect Master Wu, terrified of what genius disaster Lin Qi might create next, gave him the one task that seemed purely solitary and safe: Guarding the West Mountain Pass.
The West Mountain Pass was an old, crumbling fortification miles from the main sect. It was considered the easiest, most peaceful assignment—except for one thing: a barely visible, highly unstable Spatial Seam that sometimes manifested near the crumbling defensive wall. This seam was a rift to the void, capable of swallowing anything that touched it, from a pebble to a peak-level cultivator.
Wu briefed Lin Qi gravely. "Disciple Lin Qi, this pass is vital. You must patrol the wall diligently and remain focused. The dangers are subtle, but real."
Wu, of course, did not mention the Spatial Seam, fearing that if he warned Lin Qi, the 'hidden master' might perceive the warning as a challenge and deliberately jump into the void.
Lin Qi arrived at the lonely pass, bringing only his patched wooden bucket (for water), his basilisk companion Fluffikins (who was napping nearby), and a small paper bag containing a freshly baked sweet potato.
The Appearance of the Anomaly
Lin Qi sat down on the crumbling stone wall. It was a beautiful, quiet day. He unwrapped the sweet potato and savored the steam.
Suddenly, just ten feet from the wall, the air shivered. A tear in the fabric of space appeared—a vertical, shimmering line of absolute blackness, roughly three feet long. This was the highly unstable Spatial Seam, manifesting early and dangerously close to the pass. It pulsed with chaotic, devastating energy.
Any item or person passing near it would be instantly pulled into the infinite, crushing void.
Lin Qi paused, noticing the shimmering line. He frowned.
"Oh," he muttered to himself. "That's odd. The air looks cracked right there."
He stood up, holding his half-eaten sweet potato. He wasn't thinking about the void; he was thinking that the crack in the air was perfectly positioned between him and his snoozing pet Basilisk, Fluffikins.
"If Fluffikins wakes up, he won't be able to see me," Lin Qi decided, worrying about the Basilisk's feelings.
He needed to eliminate the crack so Fluffikins could see him enjoying his snack.
The Accidental Void Seal
Lin Qi, completely misunderstanding the nature of the spatial rift, approached it with the intent of merely touching it to see if it was a trick of the light.
He was about to reach out when he realized his hand was sticky from the sweet potato. He pulled his hand back, annoyed.
He needed something disposable to touch the crack. He glanced down at the old, patched wooden bucket he was carrying—the very same bucket he used to collect elixir-water.
"Perfect," Lin Qi said. "This is old anyway."
Lin Qi swung the wooden bucket casually and smacked the base of the shimmering Spatial Seam.
The sealed Core of Infinite Density instantly reacted to the potential loss of the bucket (which was, technically, a tool of the Grand-Emperor, however crude). It emitted an unconscious, catastrophic pulse of the original G-EVS power—the "Cosmic Unification Dao"—designed to instantly seal any existential anomaly.
The wooden bucket didn't break. Instead, it acted as a temporary conduit for the terrifying sealing power.
W-H-U-M-P!
The three-foot-long, realm-shattering Spatial Seam instantly crumpled in on itself, shrinking violently until it was nothing but a tiny, invisible spiritual knot the size of a grain of rice, which was now perfectly embedded into the bottom of Lin Qi's patched wooden bucket.
Lin Qi withdrew the bucket, completely unharmed. The air was clear.
"Aha! Just a trick of the light," Lin Qi concluded, satisfied. He gave the bottom of the bucket a curious tap and sat back down to finish his sweet potato.
The Terror of the True Masters
Miles away, the Sect's two highest-ranking Elders—who had been secretly monitoring the spatial rift with extreme anxiety—suddenly felt the chaotic energy vanish.
"The Seam! It closed!" cried Elder Zhi.
"No," whispered Elder Fang, his face pale. "It was sealed! Instantly! By a single, crude object! The force required to stabilize a Seam of that magnitude is beyond the Immortal Realm!"
They rushed to the pass, arriving moments later. They found Lin Qi relaxing on the wall, the now-harmless wooden bucket beside him, occasionally feeding a scrap of sweet potato to his Basilisk.
The Elders immediately focused on the bucket. They could sense the immense, stabilized spiritual knot—the sealed void—at its base.
"The 'Seam-Sealing Conduit Technique'!" Elder Zhi choked out, collapsing to his knees. "He deliberately used a disposable, common object to act as the permanent anchor for the void! He has mastered the art of reducing infinite chaos to controllable form!"
Elder Fang added, his voice filled with reverence: "And he is using the sealed void—the greatest source of instability—to carry water! The ultimate mastery of effortless contempt!"
Sect Master Wu arrived soon after, alerted by the Elders' frantic messages. He stared at the bucket and Lin Qi's blissfully ignorant face.
Wu scratched a final, desperate maxim into the crumbling stone wall:
> "If you see a crack in reality, do not send a divine artifact to fix it. Send a common utensil, for true power lies in the contemptuous repurposing of the mundane."
>
Lin Qi was henceforth forbidden from throwing away his "Void-Sealing Water Conduit Bucket," which became the sect's most powerful, yet inconspicuous, divine artifact.