27: Chapter 27 Breakthrough, Formation Realm!

Zhang Wen dragged his exhaustion from Cultivating back home. The lights in the entryway flickered on, illuminating his sweat-drenched collar and dust-stained pant cuffs, making him sigh at the difficulty of Cultivating.

The moonlight suddenly grew dazzlingly bright. Zhang Wen stared at the crisscrossing patterns on the ceiling, and the thoughts that had entangled him for so long were combed away as if by an invisible hand.

His father's hunched back while carrying steel pipes, his mother's reddened knuckles soaked in dish soap, the ignorant laughter of children at the alley entrance... These images were no longer chaotic fragments; they were like streams converging into a great river, gathering into a calm lake in his heart.

It turned out that Cultivating didn't have to be about "this or that." Protecting his family from suffering was the responsibility on his shoulders; fighting to live with dignity was the pride in his bones; wanting to stand before the person he loved to shield her from the wind was the longing in his heart. These things were never contradictory; they twisted into a single rope, which was the strength that sustained him through his lowest points.

Zhang Wen suddenly smiled, laughing at himself for being so stubborn for so long. He sat up, and the jinglan pendant in his palm seemed to respond; the warm jade began to emit a faint white glow. This time, he didn't deliberately urge his Qi; the energy within his body started moving on its own, circulating slowly along his Meridians, smoother and denser than ever before.

The barrier of the Budding Peak was like a thin layer of ice; previously, even with all his might, he could only crack it. But now, that power mixed with responsibility, dignity, and longing gathered in his Dantian, pushing forward gently yet firmly—there was no expected sharp pain, only a soft "click," as if something had unfolded within him.

The Qi flow suddenly became thick and heavy, bringing a slight tingling itch as it traveled through his Meridians, and his whole body felt as if it had been soaked in warm water. Zhang Wen looked down at his hands; the thick calluses on his knuckles from years of boxing seemed to have softened, and the white glow of the jinglan pendant in his palm grew brighter, reflecting a clarity in his eyes.

Forming Realm.

He exhaled softly, and his breath condensed into a small cloud of white mist in the air. The wind outside the window had stopped, and the cicadas had ceased their chirping; the world was so quiet he could hear the sound of his own blood rushing, a sound filled with unprecedented certainty.

It turned out that what he lacked for the Breakthrough to the Forming Realm wasn't time, but an improvement in his state of mind—realizing that the meaning of Cultivating wasn't in some distant answer, but in every step he took beneath his feet.

...

"Ding—" A cold, mechanical voice exploded in his mind without warning, like a sharp ice pick piercing the recent silence. Zhang Wen shuddered, and the Qi that had just stabilized in the Forming Realm surged, causing the jinglan pendant in his palm to tremble.

He sat up abruptly, the clarity from the Breakthrough still lingering in his eyes, now burning bright with sudden excitement. System! He had almost forgotten about this—every time he achieved a Breakthrough in his Realm, this fellow hidden deep in his consciousness would always throw out something unexpected.

"host detected to have reached the Forming Realm, meeting the conditions for reward distribution." The System's tone was flat, yet it made Zhang Wen's heart beat like a drum. "Now issuing Breakthrough reward: SSS-grade Cultivation Technique 'Thunder Wrath: Instant Prison Kill'."

As soon as the name entered his ears, Zhang Wen felt a chill crawl up his spine. He seemed to see a purple lightning bolt tearing through the long sky in the dark night, rushing down with the power to destroy heaven and earth—

"Cultivation Technique characteristics: When advancing at extreme speed, it draws upon the thunder elements of heaven and earth, condensing a corridor of lightning a zhang long along the path, with purple lightning acting as chains to lock the enemy's retreat; when using the speed of thunder to ambush the target's vital points, all the lightning within the corridor can be drawn to explode at a single point, forming the power of the Instant Prison Kill. Note: This Cultivation Technique specializes in single-target kills, requires one's own Qi as a catalyst, and has extremely high requirements for Physical Body strength."

Before the System finished speaking, a pale blue light screen unfolded before Zhang Wen's eyes, with dense runes flowing like electricity, drilling into his mind along his line of sight. That was the circulation path of 'Thunder Wrath: Instant Prison Kill'; every node perfectly matched the Meridians that had widened after reaching the Forming Realm, as if it had been tailor-made for him.

"Additional rewards:" The System's voice paused, as if searching for something, "Thunder Extreme Shadow Pill x3—ingesting them can strengthen Physical Body intensity and reduce the risk of backlash from lightning when Cultivating 'Thunder Wrath: Instant Prison Kill'; a pair of Thunder Pattern Bracers—can store a small amount of lightning power to assist in starting the Cultivation Technique."

Zhang Wen subconsciously touched his wrists and found a pair of mysterious black bracers there, with silver lines faintly moving on the surface. They were cool to the touch, creating a strange contrast with the warmth of the jinglan pendant. He looked down at his palm, where three round Medicinal Pills lay quietly; the herbal fragrance was crisp and clean, and just one whiff made the Qi in his Dantian more active.

"SSS-grade..." he muttered to himself, his fingertips tracing the thunder patterns on the bracers, the certainty from his Breakthrough adding a touch of fervor. Protect his family, fight to live with dignity, protect Diminutive for Ding Siyi... With this Cultivation Technique, if he encountered those hidden dangers in the future, he would probably be able to stand much firmer.

The moonlight outside the window had brightened again, shining into his eyes and reflecting a light full of eagerness.

When Zhang Wen pushed open the iron door to the rooftop, the evening breeze rolled up the noise from the night market below, mixed with the oily smoke of grilled skewers and the shouts of distant vendors, clattering against the railing. He sidestepped a bedsheet hanging on a wire—it was one Neighbor Wang had hung out in the evening, still carrying the faint scent of laundry detergent, flapping loudly in the wind like a half-rolled flag.

Walking to the center of the rooftop and standing still, he slowly closed his eyes. The surrounding noise suddenly seemed to be put on slow motion; the clamor of the night market faded into a blurred background sound, leaving only his steady breathing and the frequency of the Qi pulsating in his chest gradually merging.

"Hmm, the range of perception has expanded quite a bit compared to before." A low sigh escaped his throat as his fingertips unconsciously rubbed the Thunder Pattern Bracers on his wrists. Just now at the alley entrance downstairs, he could even "hear" the faint sound of the clock gears jamming in Grandma Li's house on the third floor, and could "smell" the faint fragrance of the jasmine blooming secretly on the fifth-floor windowsill—these details, which were impossible to capture in the Initial Blooming Realm, now adorned his Domain of perception like stars. The range was three times what it had been before, and even the airflow from the night heron flapping its wings on the opposite rooftop could send ripples through his web of Qi.

He tried to calm his mind and touch the power within him that was completely different from before.

If the Qi of the Initial Blooming Realm was a lake enclosed by a dam, then although the water channels were connected, it always carried a certain stagnation. The Qi at that time was like freshly melted spring water; it looked abundant, but underneath hid unmelted ice shards. It was always a bit jerky when circulating, and every time he used his full force, it was like trying to stir up the silt at the bottom of the lake, murky and laborious. He remembered the last time he had to force his Qi to catch a billboard slipping from scaffolding; it felt like his Meridians had been filled with sand, and it hurt so much he couldn't lift his arm for days.

But the Qi of the Forming Realm was a rushing river.

The Qi in his Dantian was no longer a stagnant pool of water, but had turned into a surging current, flowing unimpeded along his widened Meridians. He could clearly "see" the trajectory of the Qi traveling between his blood vessels and bones—when it flowed past his wrists, it carried the coolness of the Thunder Pattern Bracers; when it flowed past his heart, it pressed against the warmth of the jinglan pendant; he could even feel the subtle cracks where the Qi washed over old injuries being gently smoothed out. This power no longer needed to be deliberately guided, but seemed to have a life of its own, rising and falling naturally with his breathing. With every breath, new Qi flowed in, abundant yet not impulsive, like a river flowing across the land, with an invincible potential energy hidden in its stability.

Zhang Wen slowly raised his hand, palm facing up. In the Initial Blooming Realm, he needed to concentrate and hold his breath to gather Qi, like scooping water from a lake with a ladle, which was time-consuming and laborious, and the gathered ball of Qi was very flimsy and easily dispersed when encountering a tough opponent. But now, with just a slight movement of his mind, the Qi in his Dantian surged to his fingertips like floodwater from an opened sluice, condensing into a glowing white ball of light in his palm. There were no Impurities in the light ball; it possessed the warmth of jade, yet one could faintly feel the power circulating within, like a whirlpool hidden deep in a river—seemingly calm, but actually harboring the power to destroy dams and break banks.

He flicked his finger, and the ball of light shot through the air, hitting an old cardboard box in the corner of the rooftop. There was no expected explosive sound, only a soft "puff," and the box silently turned into powder from the inside, along with the withered leaves at the bottom of the box, which were shaken into scattered dust.

Zhang Wen opened his eyes, the halo of the distant streetlights reflecting in his eyes, carrying a touch of realization. The Qi of the Initial Blooming Realm was "storage," while the Qi of the Forming Realm was "flow"—the former was the stability of guarding a piece of land, while the latter was the potential energy surging forward. This was not just an increase in power, but a qualitative change in the control of Qi.

The evening breeze suddenly turned cold, making the back of his neck feel chilly. Zhang Wen subconsciously touched the jinglan pendant, the warmth of the jade passing through his clothes, reminding him of what Diminutive for Ding Siyi had said: "Cultivating is like sailing a boat; when the water is shallow, you fear hitting reefs, but when the water is deep, you realize how wide the world is."

He looked at the myriad lights gradually lighting up in the distance and suddenly smiled. He seemed to know more clearly than ever before where this river-like Qi should be used.