The air around Fad felt different as he sat down under the sunlight to cultivate. It wasn't just cool or still, it shimmered in a way he'd never noticed before.
Threads of energy moved across the surface of the world like invisible rivers. The wind brushed against his cheeks but felt heavier, denser, humming with potential. Even the soft rustle of leaves in the distance carried an undertone that stirred something ancient within him.
For the first time in his life, the world didn't feel distant, it felt like it was watching.
His legs folded beneath him, and his trembling hands rested over his thighs. He steadied his breath, closed his eyes and willing himself to listen, not with his ears, but with something deeper. His core.
As he did though, a dull ache stirred below his navel, where the broken dantian had long sat lifeless. His body still remembered the pain, the shame, not knowing what true cultivation felt like.
Until now.
There was a sudden tingling, like the brush of a spark just beneath his belly. Faint. Hesitant. Qi.
Not a flood. Not a stream. Just the smallest pebble of warmth, not larger than a marble nestled inside his core, forcing flash of crimson text to blink into his mind's eye:
[+7 Qi points]
His breath caught.
The Qi didn't feel like something he summoned, it felt like something that was peering into him; curious, gentle, but foreign.
His body flinched for a moment, unused to the sensation. Muscles tensed. Then relaxed, as the energy began to coil, seeking paths through veins that had never hosted it before.
It crept into his limbs slowly. The feeling was odd, not painful, but deeply unfamiliar, as though his bones were tasting lightning.
[+2 Qi points]
His skin began to shift.
Tiny pores expanded, releasing subtle traces of old fatigue. The impurities from his years of stagnation lifted from his flesh as fine black mist. His complexion, once pale and sickly, began to gain a faint bronze tint.
His hair twitched.
Every strand rose slightly, like it sensed the Qi flowing beneath the surface. Even the tiny hairs on his arms lifted and sparkled with static. The wind played through them as if trying to braid energy into his form.
His scalp prickled, and he felt the first signs of internal heat blooming outward.
Then another flash:
[+9 Qi points]
This time, the marble of Qi inside him trembled, growing slightly. From a cold stone to a warm ember.
Fad's lips parted, letting out a slow breath. The system wasn't just feeding him power, it was syncing with him. He didn't feel like he was using the system. He felt like he was the system.
Every pulse of Qi translated into colo; emotion, insight.
He saw nothing around him, yet his mind was lighting up like a constellation.
His fingers twitched involuntarily.
The Qi had reached his arms, flowing into dormant pathways. His veins pulsed faintly in ethereal blue beneath the skin. There was a rhythm to it, a heartbeat that didn't feel like his own, but one he now shared.
[+6 Qi points]
And the marble? It was no longer a marble.
It had doubled, expanding with the gravity of a newborn star.
The broken shell of his dantian had been mended, but the sensitivity remained. Every new surge of energy came with heat, slight pressure, and the overwhelming need to adjust. His ribs felt tight. His shoulders tense. But he fought the urge to stop.
His skin glowed faintly in the evening sun.
A shimmer, too subtle to call light, but enough to suggest transformation. He could feel his breath naturally syncing with the surrounding air. With each inhale, the wind shifted ever so slightly. His presence was no longer passive.
The feeling expanded downward through his legs. His feet tingled. His thighs pulsed. The dirt beneath him trembled, not from force, but from acceptance.
Nature was registering him. The world was finally recognizing the Qi signature of someone it had long ignored.
[+11 Qi points]
That single thread beneath his belly had become a swirl. A furnace.
His spine straightened. His posture naturally aligned. Muscles he hadn't used in years began adjusting, stretching, reinforcing themselves. Qi, now more familiar, moved like an eager serpent through his meridians, no longer tiptoeing, but exploring.
His mind began syncing again.
The interface appeared briefly, not with command, but invitation.
[Dantian Status: Stabilizing... ]
[Current Qi Reserve: 35 ]
[First time cultivation limit hit.]
Then, everything stopped; the rushing air, the Qi sensation, forcing Fad to finally open his eyes.
The road was still there. The sect gate in the distance. But everything looked sharper. Richer.
He saw lines in the air he hadn't noticed before. The soft shimmer of spiritual essence carried by the breeze.
And for the first time in 17 years, Fad Xu did not feel like a broken child anymore
He felt like a seed...
He didn't know how fast time passed until another text displayed.
[Daily quests completed.]
[+5 exp.]
"Three hours already?" Fad muttered while looking at the screen.
That's when it hit him, there were other ways to grow stronger besides cultivation. Qi amplified the body, but only if the body was already powerful, it can work more effectively.
That's why he vanished into the forest's shadow. His secret pulsed beneath the surface, quiet, dangerous, his alone.
Let them believe he was weak. Let them laugh.
When the time came, they'd choke on their regret.
The forest deepened as Fad walked farther from the road, thick branches casting shadows on mossy stones and quiet patches of grass.
The air here was cooler, wrapped in an earthy stillness that made every breath feel clean. Tree roots twisted around the ground like ancient veins, and sunlight filtered through in golden strips, illuminating a small clearing surrounded by three wide-trunked trees.
Fad stopped, squinting at the soft patch of grass nestled beneath them.
"I think this would work," he muttered.
The clearing was shaded, firm underfoot, quiet, exactly what he needed. This wasn't about meditation anymore. It was about movement, grit, and force. He brought up the system interface, double-checking the requirements.
[A path to strength quest (daily)]
{1. Push-ups: 0/100}
{2. Squats: 0/100}
{3. Curl-ups: 0/100}
{4. Run: 0/10KM}
It looked simple. But simplicity had never meant ease.
He dropped to the ground and positioned himself for the first push-up. Arms shoulder-width apart, palms pressed against the earth. He lowered his chest, then pushed, halfway. His arms trembled. His body was too light, and at the same time, heavy with unused weight. He gritted his teeth and pressed again.
One.
By the time he reached ten, sweat poured down his forehead like rainfall. His elbows begged for mercy. His shoulders burned.
[Push-ups: 10/100]
Fad groaned and dropped onto his side, panting hard. "I feel like my bones hate me."
But he didn't stop.
He pushed through the pain, each rep breaking through another layer of fatigue. At fifty, his shirt stuck to his back. His breath was ragged. A distant hawk cried overhead, but Fad didn't hear it. He was too focused.
Sixty.
Seventy.
Ninety.
His arms were jelly. His chest screamed. But the system pinged again.
[Push-ups: 100/100]
He collapsed and rolled onto his back, eyes squinting against the fading sunlight.
After a few minutes, he forced himself to stand. His legs shook. Squats were next.
He spread his feet and lowered his hips slowly. The first few felt deceptively easy but by thirty, his thighs were trembling again.
[Squats: 30/100]
His legs hadn't been trained to handle stress. Years of weakness had eroded their strength. He could barely balance by the time he passed sixty. Every squat felt like lifting a boulder from beneath him. His knees crackled. His breathing turned animalistic.
And yet—
[Squats: 100/100]
He nearly collapsed again but forced himself to sit instead. Curl-ups.
Fad lay flat on the ground, crossed his arms over his chest, and curled upward.
Three reps in, his stomach cramped.
"You've got to be kidding me..."
His core had never been worked. Each curl-up was like squeezing rusted gears into motion. At fifty, his abs twitched uncontrollably. He kept going. Even when his spine stung and neck strained, he forced himself up—one curl at a time.
The forest buzzed with quiet approval. Somewhere distant, a breeze pushed through the trees, sending a swirl of fallen leaves over his soaked body.
[Curl-ups: 100/100]
He blinked the sweat from his eyes. His body was beaten. Shaken. But more alive than it had ever felt. He looked at the screen again as it materialized before him, glowing softly with crimson letters:
[A path to strength quest (daily)]
{1. Push-ups: 100/100}
{2. Squats: 100/100}
{3. Curl-ups: 100/100}
{4. Run: 0/10KM}
"One more to go," he muttered while after taking some quick breath. The words weren't empty, they were a vow. His training had only just begun, and he wished to complete them before the end of the day.
But just as he readied himself to finish the last part of it.
"Help!" He heard a girl scream coming from the side, forcing Fad's heart to skip a beat.
The cry sliced through the trees like a blade.
Fad Xu froze mid-step, every muscle tensed, his breath catching as leaves rustled beyond the clearing. It wasn't just panic in the girl's voice—it was sheer terror. Not staged. Not playful. Real.
He glanced toward the source instinctively, eyes narrowing. Somewhere deeper in the forest, something stirred. Branches snapped. A distant thud reverberated through the ground.
The system responded instantly.
[Emergency Proximity Alert Triggered]
[Threat Detected: Distance: 300m]
[Optional Quest Available: Intervene or Ignore]
{Reward: Unknown}
Fad's fingers curled into fists. His Qi, still swirling fresh beneath his skin, pulsed like a drum. He wasn't ready, not fully. But every part of him knew one truth:
The old Fad Xu would've stayed hidden. This one… didn't have that luxury.
He turned toward the scream, jaw clenched.
"Guess the run starts now," he muttered, then sprinted into the trees, the quest screen vanishing behind him in a flicker of crimson light.