To the sect, Shi Ran was the same diligent tool he had always been. He delivered his quota of perfectly refined (though slightly hollow) pills and elixirs on time, every single day. His sixty percent "success rate" earned him rare and valuable praise from Yao Guang, who saw it as the result of his own masterful teaching and Shi Ran's fear driven diligence. He was the perfect slave, performing even better than expected.
But in the solitude of his chamber, a monster was growing. Every day, he plundered the sect's resources. Every day, he consumed a fortune's worth of elixirs that were meant for the core disciples. His cultivation soared at a terrifying rate.
The third day was the turning point. For two days and two nights, he had been a tireless machine. He had plundered the essence from herbs worth a king's ransom, refined them into perfect elixirs with the system's flawless guidance and then consumed his own secret share with a methodical hunger.
The energy he had accumulated in his Apothecary Space and then funneled into his Golden Core was already a raging sea, far surpassing the limits of an Initial Stage cultivator.
He was in the middle of a delicate refinement, guiding a stream of vibrant green liquid within the cauldron's fiery heart. This was a batch of Spirit Tempering Elixirs destined for the sect.
He had already taxed the ingredients and his mind was simultaneously planning the 25% essence extraction he would perform on the finished products. The process was so automatic now that he could perform it while his true focus remained inward.
Within his Dantian, his Initial Stage Golden Core was a blazing sun, radiating a power that made his meridians hum. The vast ocean of plundered energy he had just absorbed from a self consumed elixir swirled around it, seeking entry.
Without pausing his refinement and without a single outward sign of exertion, he commanded the energy to assault the barrier to the Middle Stage. In his mind's eye, it was a floodgate opening. The accumulated power simply washed over the barrier. The barrier dissolved, melting away into the tide of superior energy.
His Golden Core pulsed once, twice and then began to spin at a higher velocity, its light growing visibly denser, its power output doubling in an instant. The spiritual energy in the room seemed to rejoice, drawn towards him.
His spiritual sense, a moment before confined to the boundaries of his refinement chamber, exploded outwards, sweeping through the entire core of the sect, brushing past unsuspecting elders and core disciples before he hastily reigned it back in.
He was a Middle Stage Golden Core expert. The entire breakthrough had been as smooth and silent as a stone sinking into a deep lake. He hadn't even broken a sweat. The elixir in his cauldron remained perfectly stable, its refinement process uninterrupted. The sheer power of it was a thrill more potent than the breakthrough itself.
This new level of power made his work even more effortless. His control over the spiritual fire became more precise. The speed of his refinement increased. The efficiency of his plunder grew. He could now extract a higher percentage of essence from ingredients without leaving any detectable trace. His operation became a well oiled machine of theft and growth.
The next four days were a blur of this relentless cycle. He became a ghost living in his own skin, his body performing the familiar motions of a slave while his soul soared through the heavens of cultivation. He delivered his daily quota of hollowed out pills to a pleased and completely oblivious Yao Guang.
He listened to his master's condescending praise and arrogant pronouncements, his face a mask of dull obedience, while internally, he was calculating the rapidly closing gap between their power.
The energy he was consuming was staggering. He was single handedly devouring a portion of the sect's resources meant to supply dozens of core disciples. Each day, the power within him swelled, his Golden Core growing from a sun to a supernova.
He crashed through the barrier to the Late Stage of the Golden Core realm on the evening of the fifth day, the breakthrough occurring as he was stirring a pot of simple medicinal porridge for his own dinner. The promotion was so casual, it felt less like a heaven defying act and more like a simple progression, like a cup filling with water until it inevitably overflowed.
His power was now immense. He could feel the almost frantic energy of his Golden Core straining against its own limits. The Peak was within reach.
On the seventh day, he prepared for the final push. He had spent the entire day refining the most valuable ingredients he had access to… the Spirit Ginseng and Starfire Herbs meant for the sect's elders.
He had been bolder this time, extracting a full 20% from every ingredient and a staggering 40% from the peak quality pills. The energy he had accumulated in his Apothecary Space was a volatile ocean of pure power.
That night, after delivering his tribute, he sealed himself within his chamber. He sat on the floor, the silence of the stone room absolute. He unleashed the entire contents of his Apothecary Space.It was a cosmic deluge.
A condensed storm of multi attribute medicinal power flooded his Dantian. His Golden Core, already at the peak of the Late Stage, absorbed it with a greedy thirst. It spun faster and faster, a golden vortex that drew in all the power, compressing it, purifying it, until it reached a critical mass.
A deep hum vibrated through his entire body. His bones, his muscles and his very soul sang with the strain and the ecstasy of it. With a final internal BOOM, the last barrier within the Golden Core realm evaporated.
His Golden Core ceased to be a simple sphere of energy. It became a perfect crystalline orb, its surface smooth as polished jade, its interior a universe of condensed golden light. It radiated an aura of perfection.
He had reached the Peak of the Golden Core realm. He now stood on the same level of cultivation as his most hated enemy, Yao Guang. In a single week, he had traversed a path that took the Sect Master himself over two hundred years.
In seven days, he had crossed a chasm that took most geniuses a century to traverse. The sheer density of power in his Dantian was staggering.
His Golden Core was a condensed vortex of pure energy, crackling with a power that yearned to be unleashed. He could feel the barrier to the Nascent Soul realm, a realm that was the stuff of legends, a realm that would put him on equal footing with the ancestors of the great families.
Yet, as his power grew, he did not become arrogant. He did not grow reckless. The memory of his powerlessness, the seventeen years of humiliation and fear, were a brand on his soul that could not be erased. It was a cold stone of caution in the center of his burning desire for revenge.
He knew that reaching the Golden Core was not enough. Yao Guang was at the Peak of the Golden Core. They might be in the same realm, but the Sect Master had a deeper foundation, more powerful techniques and a host of magical treasures. More importantly, the Spirit Cauldron Sect was not just Yao Guang.
His thoughts turned to the two figures who were rarely seen, the true pillars of the sect's power: the Ancestors. Both were reclusive masters at the Middle Stage of the Nascent Soul realm.
They were the sect's ultimate deterrent, its hidden guardians. Even if he managed to kill Yao Guang, he would then have to face two beings whose power was on a completely different plane of existence. A single one of them could crush him, a Peak Golden Core expert, with nothing more than their spiritual pressure.
His plan for vengeance was total annihilation. He wanted to destroy everything Yao Guang had built. He wanted to burn the Spirit Cauldron Sect to the ground and to erase its very existence from the Myriad Rivers Domain. He wanted to salt the earth where it stood.
For that, he needed more power. Much, much more.
He had to reach the Nascent Soul realm. Not just the Initial Stage. He had to surpass the ancestors themselves. He had to reach a level of power so absolute that no one in the sect could stand against him.
His gaze fell upon the new ingredients that had been delivered for the next week's quota, neatly arranged in jade boxes on his workbench. His eyes, now accustomed to the subtle flow of spiritual energy, widened slightly.
Lying on a bed of pristine white silk were several stalks of ginseng, their roots twisted into the uncanny shape of slumbering old men. Golden light pulsed from them and the air around them was thick with an ancient aroma of pure life force.
Thousand Year Spirit Ginseng.
He recognized them instantly. This was a core component for the "Golden Soul Longevity Pill," a priceless, Tier 5 elixir that even a Grandmaster Alchemist would struggle to refine. It was a pill whose sole purpose was to nourish and stabilize the fragile Nascent Souls of the sect's highest guardians.
These were ingredients for the Ancestors.
A predatory light gleamed in Shi Ran's eyes, a light that was far older and more dangerous than his twenty two years should allow. A plan, far grander and more terrifying than simply killing Yao Guang, began to crystallize in his mind.
Yao Guang, in his arrogance, was entrusting him with the very lifeblood of the sect's ultimate protectors. The Sect Master saw him as nothing more than a pair of skilled hands, a tool whose loyalty was absolute because its spirit had been broken.
He believed that Shi Ran, the obedient slave, would pour all his effort into refining these treasures for the good of the sect, for the guardians who ensured Yao Guang's own power remained unchallenged.
How beautifully wrong he was.
Yao Guang thought he was refining pills for the sect's guardians. In truth, he was preparing the fuel for their destroyer.
Before, he had been a thief, stealing scraps and leftovers from the sect's table. Now, he was being invited to the king's treasury. He would extract every possible drop of essence for his own Apothecary Space, leaving behind just enough for the finished pills to pass a cursory inspection.
The Ancestors would consume their Longevity Pills, feeling a minor nourishment, never knowing that the true feast was happening in a secret chamber within their own sect, fueling the very man who would one day come for their souls.