Location: Hidden Void Chamber – Two Weeks Later
The plum blossoms had begun to fall.
It was the heart of spring in the Qin Estate, and while outer disciples sparred and the elders convened over annual tributes, Qin Huaian had vanished from sight. Officially, he was resting after "minor health issues."
Unofficially, he had entered a period of isolation training—deep beneath the ancestral grounds, under the watchful eye of Qin Fengyuan.
The Hollow Pulse had been stabilized.
Now, it was time to take the next step.
---
☯️ Void Realm 2: Still Flame — Already Achieved
Huaian had learned to endure silence, physical starvation, and isolation. He could remain awake for days, neither sleeping nor eating, sustained only by Void Flame meditation.
But to reach the third realm, he had to go further than silence.
He had to create new meridians—not from qi, but from void essence.
This realm had a name:
🔗 Void Realm 3: Phantom Root
> "When the world robs your path, grow roots in the spaces it forgot."
---
🌑 The Trial of Phantom Root Begins
Inside the underground chamber, Fengyuan prepared a forbidden ritual circle using rare elements—Obsidian Lotus Nectar, Soul-Clearing Sand, and powdered bones from a long-dead cultivator who once failed this trial.
"You must craft new meridians where none exist," the old patriarch said grimly. "Normal cultivators circulate qi through dantian to body. But you… must let void circulate through absence."
Huaian lay in the center of the formation. Around him floated 9 spiritual needles made of ghostsilver.
Fengyuan raised his hand.
> "Ready?"
"…Yes."
The needles pierced into his back, neck, chest, and limbs all at once.
Huaian's body seized.
Pain tore through him—not of nerves, but of soul. His spirit sea twisted. His bones cracked. And then…
Silence.
All color faded.
All sound disappeared.
He entered a space between thought and breath.
---
🌌 Spiritual Vision
In the void of his soul, Huaian saw it—a tree made of shadow and light, with roots that moved like rivers. The Phantom Root Tree, said to exist only in those rare cultivators who broke the laws of heaven.
Each root was a potential meridian, but none had formed.
Yet.
"I… will… build them myself," Huaian whispered into the dark.
He reached inward and forced his will to shape the roots.
Each pulse of his Void Flame began guiding a new channel.
One root.
Then another.
Then a third—
All made of Void Essence.
---
Back in the physical realm, Fengyuan watched with awe as dark, translucent meridian lines appeared across Huaian's body like glowing veins—none visible to the eye unless looked at with spiritual sight.
They weren't qi conduits.
They were phantom veins, invisible, intangible, but perfectly efficient at channeling Void power.
When the ritual ended, Huaian gasped and sat up, his body drenched in cold sweat but somehow… lighter.
His eyes opened—shimmering faintly with purple-silver light.
> "I… can feel everything."
---
📜 Breakthrough Achieved:
Void Realm 3 – Phantom Root (Early Stage)
Can now circulate Void Essence through phantom meridians, bypassing the need for physical qi flow.
Body remains unassuming—spiritual detection sees him as a non-cultivator.
Gains ability: Phantom Thread Pulse — can send invisible energy threads into enemies to disrupt their qi.
---
Later that night, Huaian returned to the surface under disguise.
There, near the pond under the moonlight, Qin Xiaoxiao waited. She held a spirit-fruit in one hand and a wooden sword in the other.
"You disappeared again," she said, frowning.
"I was training."
She looked him over, sensing something—but again, nothing. He felt like an ordinary boy.
Yet she knew better.
"You're changing, Huaian. And I don't like not knowing what you're becoming."
Huaian looked down.
Then gently said, "When the world turned its back on me… you didn't. So I promise you—someday, I'll tell you everything."
She hesitated.
Then smiled, setting the fruit down and nudging his shoulder.
> "Then I'll wait. Just don't marry someone else before you do."
He froze.
She laughed and ran off into the night.
And under the plum tree, Qin Huaian—Void-blooded, meridianless, abandoned by heaven—smiled faintly.
> "Xiaoxiao… you'll always be part of my path."