The atmosphere within the Jia Nan Academy had shifted into a state of reverent paranoia. While the students were told that the "Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower" was undergoing a "planned maintenance cycle," the air of tension among the Elders was thick enough to be felt by everyone.
Xiao Chen, however, was far from the center of the storm. Following his agreement with First Elder Su Qian, he was granted access to the Forbidden Archive, a restricted section of the Academy library buried deep within a mountain of spirit-attuned stone.
The Library of Infinite Thought
The Archive was a place of eternal twilight, lit only by the faint, blue glow of "Soul Lamps" that floated in the aisles. Thousands of scrolls, some made of dragon-hide and others of ancient jade, lined the shelves.
"System," Chen whispered, his voice barely audible in the tomb-like silence. "Initiate Multi-Threaded Scanning."
[Infinite Doubling System]
16x Neural Processing: Fully Engaged.
Reading Speed: 5,000 pages per minute.
Data Synthesis: Cross-referencing "Heavenly Flame Locations" with "Ancient Sect Histories."
Note: Your 16x Soul is allowing you to see the hidden "Spirit Marks" left by the authors of these scrolls.
Chen walked through the aisles, not even stopping to pick up the scrolls. He simply walked past them, his Soul Perception "reading" the contents through the jade casings. To a normal librarian, he looked like he was taking a bored stroll. In reality, he was absorbing ten thousand years of history every ten steps.
He saw the rise and fall of the Xiao Clan ancestors. He saw the secrets of the Hall of Souls' soul-reaping arrays. And then, his feet stopped.
A scroll made of blackened, cold metal sat in a corner, labeled simply: The Ledger of the Starless Night.
The Map of the Burning Heavens
Chen reached out, and as his fingers touched the metal scroll, his 16x Soul felt a sharp, icy sting. It was a protective seal, designed to shred the mind of anyone below the Dou Zun realm.
"Break," Chen thought.
The emerald light from his golden-slit eyes flared, and the seal shattered like glass. He unrolled the scroll, and his Neural Processing immediately went into overdrive. It wasn't a ledger; it was a map of the Central Plains, but with a specific overlay of "Spatial Fractures."
"The Three Thousand Burning Flames," Chen whispered, his voice vibrating with a 16x-multiplied intensity. "It isn't in a volcano or a desert. It's drifting in the 'Starry Void' above the Pill Tower."
[System Mission Update]
Objective: Reach the Pill Tower's Star Region.
Current Status: 16x Stats are insufficient for prolonged Void survival.
Requirement: You must reach the 32x Multiplier (Dou Zun) to endure the spatial crushing of the Star Region.
"I need more than just one flame for the 32x jump," Chen mused. "I need a 'Catalyst' of equal magnitude."
The Shadow in the Academy
While Chen was deep in the archives, a different kind of meeting was happening in the Pan Gate headquarters. Xiao Yan sat at the center of the hall, surrounded by Hu Jia, Wu Hao, and the rest of the core members.
"Yan-er, your brother has been in the library for three days," Hu Jia said, her expression worried. "The Black-Corner Region is stirring. The Blood Sect and the Black Emperor Sect have formed an alliance. They are calling it the 'Anti-Academy Alliance.' They say we've stolen the 'luck' of the region because the tower stopped glowing."
Xiao Yan tightened his grip on the Heavy Xuan Ruler. "They're just looking for an excuse to loot the Academy's medicinal stores. Let them come."
"Little Yan," Yao Lao's voice echoed in his mind. "Do not be overconfident. The leader of the Black Emperor Sect, Mo Tian Xing, is a 4-Star Dou Zong. He is no weaker than your brother was before he entered that tower."
Xiao Yan looked toward the Archive mountain. "If they come, my brother will turn their 'Alliance' into a funeral procession. But I won't wait for him. Pan Gate needs to stand on its own."
The Alchemical Breakthrough
Back in the Archive, Chen had moved from history to Alchemy Formulas. With his 16x Soul, the 6th and 7th-Rank formulas that used to look like complex puzzles now looked like simple addition.
He pulled out his copper cauldron. He didn't need a quiet room; the Archive's silence was perfect.
He took out the Lotus Heart Essence he had saved from the Tager Desert and the Origin Qi of the Falling Heart Flame. He was going to refine the 'Soul-Doubling Elixir'—a legendary 7th-Rank pill that could bridge the gap between the Ancestor (Dou Zong) and the Venerate (Dou Zun) realms.
Vrooom!
The Green Wood Flame Heart roared to life, now tinged with the invisible distortion of the Falling Heart Flame. Chen's 16x-multiplied control was so precise that he was refining eighteen different herbs simultaneously.
"Refine. Purify. Fuse."
The air in the Archive began to vibrate. The Soul Lamps flickered and died as the pill began to draw in the surrounding energy. A Pill Lightning storm began to form in the sky above the library—a sign of a 7th-Rank pill being born.
But Chen didn't want the lightning to alert the world. He looked up, his golden-slit pupils piercing through the mountain's ceiling.
"8x... Void Concealment."
He reached out and literally pulled the spatial fractures he had just read about in the scroll, wrapping them around the Archive. The Pill Lightning struck, but it hit the spatial barrier and was absorbed, disappearing into the void.
Within an hour, a pill the color of a dark nebula sat in Chen's palm. It pulsed like a heartbeat.
"The bridge to 32x," Chen whispered. "But the world won't let me eat it in peace."
He looked toward the exit. His 16x Soul Perception had just felt a massive surge of hostile Qi crossing the Academy's borders. The "Anti-Academy Alliance" had arrived. And leading them was a presence that felt cold, dark, and familiar.
"The Hall of Souls," Chen's smile was sharp and predatory. "You're early. But I suppose I can use your 'Protectors' as the final ingredient for my pill."
He stood up, his 16x-powered presence causing the blackened metal scroll to disintegrate into dust. The time for reading was over. The time for the "Great Cleansing" had begun.