Chapter 11: Breaking the Limit
He had completed the first Void-Compression Step. What once felt unreachable was now real.
The sun slowly set behind the distant mountains, coloring the clouds in shades of gold and red.
He exhaled slowly. His muscles ached, but his mind remained steady.
For the first time in a while, he allowed himself to rest.
He closed his eyes, letting the mountain wind brush his face.
As dusk settled and the light faded, Mo Yuan looked at the jade slip he had yet to open, Absolute Void Strike.
His fingers brushed its smooth surface, sensing the faint tremor of Qi within.
His thoughts turned to the Singularity, the overwhelming pressure it carried, and the precise control it required.
But his body was exhausted. Every meridian and tendon cried out in protest. No matter his will, the limits of flesh and Qi could not be ignored.
He pressed the slip to his chest for a moment, letting the knowledge and potential settle into him.
"Not tonight," he said softly, his voice fading into the cool night air.
"Tonight, I need to rest. Tomorrow, I will try to learn Absolute Void Strike."
He lay back on the straw mat inside the cave and pulled the thin blanket over his shoulders.
The Mirror within his mind glimmered faintly, recording the day's events and refining his grasp of the Void-Compression Step.
There was no Qi circulation and no deliberate focus.
Soon, he sank into a deep sleep.
Outside, stars appeared, scattered like diamonds across the dark sky.
The mountain wind moved through the pines, carrying the quiet promise of another day and another trial.
Morning came with a crisp clarity.
The pale dawn light washed the cliffs in silver and gold.
Mo Yuan woke up slowly, stretching his aching muscles and feeling the hum of Qi still flowing through his body.
The night had eased some of his fatigue, but he knew the Absolute Void Strike would push him far beyond yesterday's limits.
Mo Yuan sat at the cliff's edge and lifted the jade slip.
The Mirror within his mind flared to life, golden characters spinning before his eyes. Complex energy diagrams and meridian paths flowed into his consciousness.
He studied each line with care, committing the precise movements of the technique to memory.
"Let's begin," he whispered.
Mo Yuan stood, forming a tight sword-hand with his right fingers. He drew Qi from his dantian.
His Qi normally flowed like a heavy river. Now, he forced it to compress, channeling it into a single, concentrated point.
Instead of releasing it, he compressed the Qi back into itself, forming a dense Qi sphere at his fingertips.
Thrum… Thrum…
A dull, heavy glow appeared at his fingertips, but the challenge struck immediately. His Qi, already at full density, refused to compress further.
The pressure surged violently through his meridians.
It wasn't like squeezing air into a bottle.
It was like trying to compress something already unyielding.
His fingertips darkened, then turned pale as the skin split under the strain.
[Warning: Structural integrity of index finger at 64%. Compression exceeds current meridian threshold.]
Mo Yuan gritted his teeth, sweat beading on his forehead.
'If it breaks, I'll force it to hold.' Then he forced the Qi Core a little further, ignoring the pain.
POP.
A capillary burst, sending a fine spray of blood outward.
The Qi Core collapsed instantly, the energy slamming back into his chest like a heavy hammer.
Mo Yuan staggered backward, gasping, his hand trembling uncontrollably.
"The manual assumes the user has room to compress," Mo Yuan thought, clutching his throbbing hand.
"But my Qi is already at full density. There's no space to spare. I'm not just compressing energy, it's like I'm forcing the world itself to yield."
He opened the Mirror. The golden letters flickered and changed:
[Correction: The usual compression method won't work at full Qi. Suggestion: Try guiding it forward instead of spherical compression.]
Ignoring the blood dripping from his hand, Mo Yuan lowered himself to the ground. The challenge before him was immense.
Most cultivators would see absolute Qi density as a gift, but for him, it was a wall he had to break through if he wanted to learn this technique.
He had to bend the power of his own Qi without destroying the vessel of his body.
The day passed slowly, sunlight moving from morning to afternoon, then fading toward evening.
Mo Yuan remained at the cliff. Each attempt twisted his Qi in a different way, some collapsing inward, others rebounding violently through his arm.
The high-grade meat from the night before gave him strength, and the Mirror guided him with careful calculations, slowly sharpening his understanding of the Qi Core.
As the first light of dawn touched the mountain peak, he tried once more.
This time, he abandoned the sphere.
He compressed his Qi into a sliver thin as a hair, sharp as a blade.
Then he struck.
Sshhhhk.
There was no explosion. A thin black line appeared in the air for a brief moment, a tear in the very space.
A small pine tree ten yards away fell, its trunk sliced so cleanly that the cut surface shone like polished glass.
Mo Yuan collapsed to his knees, his arm numb and his chest rising and falling with heavy breaths.
"One strike," he gasped. "But it almost cost me the arm."
The path was right. The method worked. But his body was still too weak. Absolute Qi density alone wasn't enough.
To truly master the Absolute Void Strike, he would need more than skill he would need a body tempered like iron.
Mo Yuan rested on the cliff, sweat drying on his skin as the wind flew past him.
The Absolute Void Strike was no mere technique it was a test of body, spirit, and will.
With a deep breath, he closed his eyes, letting the Qi settle in his limbs.