The room was silent after Lin Xuerou's departure, and Ye Chen remained motionless in his bed. His thoughts were a whirlpool of emotions—anger, frustration, regret. The woman he had once loved, the woman he had hoped would stand by him, had turned her back on him when he needed her the most. But now was not the time for self-pity. Now was the time to rise again.
As the door clicked shut, Ye Chen exhaled a long, steady breath. His body was weak, too weak for someone who had once been at the top of the cultivation world. His physical form in this life was just that—a body—a fragile, young body, no different from any other 18-year-old. The strength he had once possessed was now a distant memory. But that didn't matter. Not anymore.
His mind was still sharp, his senses still honed. The knowledge he carried within him was ancient, powerful, and unparalleled. A knowledge that no one in this world possessed. The power of a ten-thousand-year-old immortal.
Ye Chen looked down at his hands, the once-calloused palms now soft and unmarked by the battles of his previous life. His heart burned with determination.
"I may be weak now," he muttered under his breath, "but I know what I must do."
His eyes flashed with resolve as he sat up in bed.
Cultivation.
It was his only path forward, the only way to reclaim his strength. He had to cultivate, to awaken the power that had once flowed through his veins. And in this world, despite its lack of spiritual energy, he would find a way to cultivate once more.
He closed his eyes, and the world around him faded away. His breathing slowed, his mind clearing, and soon, he entered a deep meditative state.
The first step was always the hardest. Qi Condensation. It was the foundation of any cultivator's path, the very first stage of the cultivation process. The Qi, or spiritual energy, that was used to enhance the body, to forge the mind, to connect with the world itself.
In the modern world, the air was thick with pollutants, the spiritual energy sparse and barely noticeable to the untrained eye. The modern humans were unaware of the forces at play in their very surroundings. But Ye Chen was no ordinary man. His senses were far beyond those of any mortal, and he could feel the subtle traces of energy that lingered in the atmosphere.
Slowly, like a stream of water flowing through a dry desert, he began to draw in the thin, meager spiritual energy from the air around him. It was weak, sluggish, and the process was excruciatingly slow. But Ye Chen remained patient, the teachings of thousands of years of cultivation pushing him forward. The energy that flowed into his body was unlike the powerful currents of the cultivation world. It was thin, broken, and fragmented. But it was enough.
Minutes passed, then hours. Ye Chen's chest rose and fell with each steady breath, his concentration unwavering. His body began to react. The first signs of progress appeared as the weak spiritual energy that flowed into him began to settle within his dantian—the energy center in the lower abdomen, the foundation of any cultivator's power.
Qi Condensation.
The first stage. The stage where the spiritual energy was absorbed and condensed into a tangible force within the body.
Ye Chen's body began to feel lighter, the dull ache of weakness beginning to fade. He felt his energy reserves replenish, his mind becoming clearer. A strange warmth spread through his limbs, as if the very energy of the world itself was being drawn into him, filling his body with vitality.
Ye Chen smiled faintly, his eyes still closed in concentration. "It's working," he whispered. "This world may lack spiritual energy, but with my knowledge, I will make it mine. I will rise again."
The hours passed like minutes, and the Qi within his body slowly began to solidify, taking shape and form. Ye Chen's progress was rapid, far faster than any mortal could achieve, even in a world devoid of spiritual energy. He was drawing from his vast knowledge, from the experiences of his countless lives as an immortal. He had seen the highest peaks of cultivation, and nothing would stop him from returning to those heights.
As his Qi reached the first level of Condensation, Ye Chen opened his eyes, a smile curling on his lips. His body was still weak, but the power within him had already begun to grow, the first spark of his former strength rekindling.
"I am just beginning," he whispered, feeling the small but unmistakable flow of energy coursing through his veins