“System upgrading…”

  The line of text flashed once before Lu’s eyes, then vanished into utter silence.

  No rewards. No follow-up. Just… nothing. Irresponsible as ever.

  “An upgrade?”

  Lu’s brow arched. This was a first.

  He had never imagined that hitting one million strands of spiritual energy would trigger a full system overhaul.

  He frowned, wondering what the new version would even look like.

  “Fine, upgrade all you want—but couldn’t you at least hand out the high martial ascension rewards first?”

  Lu shook his head and muttered under his breath.

  The higher his Qi Refinement layer climbed, the less reliable this system seemed.

  With a thought, he checked his condition.

  Spiritual energy still responded perfectly. His combat strength had skyrocketed after the breakthrough—one casual punch now carried enough force to birth a terrifying energy storm.

  Stepping into the sixth layer with a full million strands had triggered some indescribable metamorphosis.

  Compared to before, he was leagues stronger.

  “The Preaching Platform is offline…”

  That surprised him. The platform he relied on for deductions had gone completely dark, severed from his perception.

  Still, overall, the upgrade hadn’t crippled him.

  Then his brows knitted again.

  Hum…

  Divine sense surged out like a tidal wave, crushing the void itself with its pressure.

  His consciousness had grown monstrously powerful—so much so that it could suppress even Primordial Spirit Unity experts.

  “Still no primordial spirit after reaching layer six?”

  During the origin fusion and the tribulation of rules, his brow had cracked open; his consciousness had nearly condensed into a true primordial spirit.

  Yet he had always fallen just short of that qualitative leap.

  Even now, at layer six, nothing.

  “Is it because of the upgrade?”

  Lu pondered, then relaxed. Maybe the upgrade would bring the change he needed.

  He tapped the armrest of the Thousand-Blade Chair and decided to stay put, continuing his seclusion inside the origin space.

  He observed the vortex-shaped origin swirling slowly. Now a high martial origin, its energy had become terrifyingly dense.

  Suddenly, something caught his attention.

  Threads of profound patterns wove through the vortex.

  Power that resembled the rules themselves.

  “Hm?”

  “Grand Dao intents…”

  Realization dawned.

  Qi Liuma had once explained the strict grading of high martial worlds—from Ninth Tier to First Tier—based on the number of Grand Dao intents the origin could manifest.

  “Three thousand” was just a figurative number.

  Right now, the Five Phoenixes origin was actively deriving those intents.

  One after another, brilliant and gorgeous, they streaked across the darkness like meteors.

  “Twenty-nine in total…”

  Lu chuckled.

  Not many, but not few either. Only twenty-nine people in the entire world had comprehended a Dao intent.

  “That puts us at Eighth Tier high martial.”

  A bit disappointing.

  Yet every single intent was exceptionally strong—Overlord’s even reached third-sequence.

  In terms of quality, no ordinary Eighth Tier world could compare.

  Lu didn’t dwell on the ranking.

  He retrieved the Spiritual Pressure Chessboard from his spatial ring and began placing pieces, idly constructing formations.

  Who knew how long the upgrade would take? Rushing wouldn’t help.

  Ten days passed in a flash.

  On the tenth day, as he arranged a Yin-Yang game, his mind stirred.

  A familiar line appeared.

  “System upgrade complete. View now?”

  Finally.

  Lu swept away the floating pieces with a flick of his sleeve, storing them neatly in the box.

  Only then did he leisurely inspect the new interface.

  Host: Lu

  Title: Qi Refiner (Permanent)

  Qi Refinement Layer: 6

  Spiritual Energy Reserves: 1,521,060 / 10,000,000 strands

  Primordial Spirit Power: 99 (yuan)

  Chaos Power: 29 (he)

  World Rating: Five Phoenixes Small World [High Martial]

  Mysterious Qi Refinement: (1,521,060 / 0 strands)

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Permissions: [Preaching Platform (Upgraded)], [Spiritual Energy Distribution (Upgraded)]

  Lu stared, momentarily stunned.

  The panel had changed—simplified, stripped of clutter.

  The Dao was simplest at its core.

  His title remained “Qi Refiner (Permanent)”—he was never escaping that label, and honestly, he didn’t want to.

  His goal was one hundred layers of Qi Refinement. Anything else would be boring.

  The old cultivation technique column had become a function: Mysterious Qi Refinement allowed him to manually compress and refine his existing spiritual energy, pushing its intensity far beyond the system’s previous automatic limits.

  Soul and physique stats were gone, replaced by something that made his breath catch:

  Primordial Spirit Power and Chaos Power.

  He inhaled sharply, expression turning grave.

  The upgrade had finally evolved his consciousness into a true primordial spirit.

  That was expected.

  What shocked him was the Chaos Power entry.

  “Is this the Chaos I think it is?”

  His expression turned odd.

  He had once used chaos force to forge the Heaven-Covering Sword—its quality and destructive might had far surpassed origin power.

  “29 he… exactly the same as the twenty-nine Dao intents. Coincidence?”

  Lu narrowed his eyes.

  One derived Dao intent, one unit of chaos power?

  Leaning back in the chair, he fell into thought.

  The appearance of chaos power shocked him more than anything else.

  All the old bloodline entries—ancient demon, immortal, etc.—had vanished.

  Not truly gone; they had fully assimilated into his body.

  He could feel it—his physique had transformed.

  A single drop of blood could collapse the void.

  His gaze shifted to the world rating.

  Five Phoenixes Small World [High Martial]!

  His lips curved upward uncontrollably.

  From low martial to high martial—what a surreal journey.

  Pride and accomplishment swelled in his chest.

  “We really did it…”

  He shook his head with a wistful smile.

  The weak little world of yesterday was now the sole high martial realm in all of Nihility Heaven.

  The [Missions] tab was completely gone—only the upgraded Preaching Platform and Spiritual Energy Distribution remained.

  Lu didn’t check the permissions yet.

  Though many old features like the Myriad Law Furnace had disappeared from the main panel, he could still sense and summon them at will.

  He waited.

  After a long moment, the prompt he had been craving finally arrived.

  “From the ground rises a tower ten thousand zhang tall. Congratulations, Host, on reaching Qi Refinement Layer Six. Keep striving—life never stops, neither does Qi Refinement.”

  “Rewards: Phoenix Feather Sword ×1 (Final), Phoenix Feather Sword Soul ×1, Random Divine Medicine Seed ×1, Indestructible Demon Body (Fragment) ×1, Token ×1.”

  Lu’s breathing quickened.

  At last.

  His eyes narrowed as he scanned the list.

  The final Phoenix Feather Sword—complete with a dramatic “(Final)” tag, like the grand finale of a novel.

  Then the sword soul.

  A random divine medicine seed—upgraded from the old random plant seeds.

  Divine medicine!

  Even the previous heavenly chrysanthemums had just been fancy weeds. This was on another level entirely.

  The next two made his eyes shine.

  Indestructible Demon Body (Fragment).

  Even with this new piece, it still wasn’t complete.

  And finally—the mysterious token.

  With a thought, it appeared in his palm.

  Plain rough iron, ancient and rusted, bearing no markings or aura he could detect.

  He played with it for a while, then stored it away.

  Buzz…

  He fused the new demon body fragment.

  Demonic energy erupted like a tidal wave. The Thousand-Blade Chair exploded into silver shards.

  Lu stood.

  Uncontrollable demonic qi poured out, turning his white robes pitch black—as though they devoured light itself. He became a walking void, exuding terrifying pressure.

  “So strong…”

  He exhaled sharply.

  The raw physical power coursing through him was intoxicating. One punch could shatter a world.

  He could barely rein in the demonic qi. Force it down, and the demon body’s strength plummeted.

  The Indestructible Demon Body demanded freedom—it refused to be caged.

  The surging qi even tinged his eyes crimson, birthing an urge to destroy everything.

  “Return.”

  He raised a hand and slowly clenched his fist.

  Clang, clang, clang!

  Silver blades tainted with demonic qi danced wildly, then reassembled behind him into the Thousand-Blade Chair.

  Lu sat—every inch of the motion laborious.

  The moment he was seated, the demonic qi subsided.

  Before, he could stand and move freely.

  Now, if he stood, the demonic qi would spiral out of control, maddening anything it touched.

  Seated, he was an immortal in white.

  Standing, a demon in black.

  He shook his head with a wry smile.

  “This is literally ‘sit like a sage, stand like a devil.’”

  Even this incomplete version was tyrannical beyond reason.

  A sudden inspiration struck.

  “Now that we’re high martial… maybe I can start creating special physiques.”

  Saintly physiques, rainbow divine bodies, overlord physiques…

  The possibilities made him grin.

  With a flick of his fingers, the original eight Phoenix Feather Swords shot out, weaving crimson fire across the sky, scorching the void.

  He flicked again.

  The ninth and final sword streaked forth and fused with its siblings.

  BOOM!

  The resulting shockwave nearly cracked the origin space.

  Incredible presence!

  Then—a proud, disdainful cry echoed in his mind, lofty and aloof.

  Lu frowned.

  “Phoenix Feather Sword Soul?”

  In his soul space, he saw her—no physical form, yet her aura filled the entire realm.

  Sensing his gaze, she radiated arrogance.

  “Lowly sword master…”

  A clear, slightly childish voice rang out.

  Lu, seated calmly, tilted his head.

  Lowly?

  Smack!

  He slapped both armrests and slowly stood.

  Demonic qi detonated like a nuclear blast.

  “Daddy Sword Master!”

  The freshly awakened sword soul instantly changed her tune.

  Zero integrity.

  “Enter the sword.”

  Lu sat again, demonic qi vanishing.

  The nine swords merged into one. The soul poured inside.

  The phoenix-eye ornament on the hilt blazed with blinding light.

  [Phoenix Feather Sword (Complete): Lower Heaven-Tier Spiritual Treasure. Limitless might. Can breathe True Phoenix Flame capable of incinerating all things.]

  Lu glanced at the description, still annoyed about the “lowly” comment.

  “Only Lower Heaven-Tier, and you’re already this cocky?”

  Phoenix Feather Sword: “…”

  It didn’t dare speak.

  This sword master was a little scary.

  With a flick, the sword split back into nine blades and merged into the Thousand-Blade Chair.

  The sword soul quietly settled into the wheelchair.

  Phoenix Feather Sword: “…”

  I’m the soul of a Heaven-Tier sword, not a damn wheelchair accessory!

  But she didn’t dare protest.

  She said nothing at all.

  …

  Outside Nihility Heaven.

  A sonic boom tore through the void.

  Several figures arrived atop surging energy, gazing into the emptiness.

  They saw the massive cauldron floating within, crushing space itself with its presence.

  “Eighteen mighty ones from various high martial worlds… all sealed inside that cauldron?”

  “The Myriad Pattern Cauldron—Emperor Hao’s weapon. Even an array-formed imitation wields supreme power.”

  A black-robed figure chuckled lightly.

  Beside him stood the pale-faced expert whose flesh Qi Liuma had devoured, eyes filled with wariness.

  “Qi Liuma is at the end of his rope. The moment the array breaks, he dies. As his prized disciple, you know this formation best. Breaking it… is up to you.”

  The black-robed figure remained silent.

  Nearby, a beautifully dressed woman in palace robes stared coldly.

  “My children are trapped inside that newborn high martial world. A measly new Ninth Tier dares imprison my bloodline? This world will pay.”

  The pale man glanced at her fearfully, then flattered, “With the Holy Lord’s wife herself here, a mere newborn high martial realm is doomed. It hasn’t even been registered in the High Martial Records yet—do whatever you wish, Madam.”

  The woman’s gorgeous face twisted with killing intent as she snorted.

  A Seventh Tier high martial sacred ground’s Holy Lord’s wife—though not the Holy Lord himself, her presence alone was horrifying.

  Even peak Qi Liuma, without all Nine Secret Words united, would have been no match.

  This world… was finished.

  The only downside: there would be less origin to go around.

  “Master Zuo Xu, begin,” the woman said coldly to the black-robed man. “You are an array master under my Black-White Sacred Ground. I trust you know where your duty lies.”

  Her palace robes fluttered. A black-and-white gem on her slender neck radiated thick yin-yang qi.

  She stepped into Nihility Heaven.

  BOOM!

  The gem shielded her from the rules. She shot forward like a streak of light and appeared before the cauldron.

  Cold laughter escaped her lips.

  Her aura exploded. The pendant blazed brighter.

  Primordial spirit pressure surged skyward.

  With one step, she actually crossed over the cauldron itself.

  Pfft!

  Her face paled; her elegant bun came undone.

  “Well played, Qi Liuma…”

  Forcing her way past the formation had wounded her—and even lightly damaged her primordial spirit.

  She glanced back once at the cauldron, then stepped across the void and appeared outside the Five Phoenixes continent.

  BOOM!

  Terrifying pressure descended.

  The entire world trembled.

  On the blood-colored battlefield, Jiang Li in silver armor snapped his head up, battle intent blazing like fire.

  “The enemy… has come!”

  Meanwhile, the pale man led the black-robed Zuo Xu to the front of the cauldron.

  Truthfully, he didn’t want to break the array—once freed, those eighteen mighty ones would claim most of the origin.

  But without breaking it, he couldn’t bypass Qi Liuma’s formation.

  And without bypassing it, he couldn’t touch the newborn high martial origin.

  So despite his reluctance, he had dragged Qi Liuma’s own disciple here.

  Array patterns swirled around Zuo Xu.

  He lifted a hand and pulled back his hood, revealing a handsome face.

  He looked at the withered old man seated atop the cauldron and smiled faintly.

  “Long time no see, Master.”