He exchanged a glance with Yue Lin.
It was a fish.
"If fish can survive in it," she said, finishing the thought, "the water's probably safe."
Riven nodded. "Let's hope they're smarter than we are."
She smirked faintly, but didn't disagree.
They filled their flasks fully this time, drinking carefully. The water was cold, but smooth and clean. Strangely light in the mouth. No obvious side effects followed.
Relieved — if only slightly — they turned their attention back to the fallen stag.
They didn't have spices. No real cooking tools either.
But the meat was surprisingly easy to prepare. The hide peeled away cleanly with Yue Lin's dagger, and the meat underneath had a faint marbling pattern, almost like veins of silver through deep red. No strange smells. No strange reactions.
It was soft when cooked, roasted over a small fire they built from dry bone-bark gathered from nearby trees. Yue Lin had lit it by smashing some stones or so together. Riven wasn't sure how it worked.
The first bite was weird — chewy and hot, with a slightly metallic aftertaste — but not unpleasant.
They ate in silence. Slowly. Conservatively.
It wasn't a feast.
But it wasn't rations, either.
When they were done, they carefully brought what remained with them as they began walking — following the path of the river upstream, staying close to the bank.
The island stretched in every direction, but the river gave them something constant. Something real to follow.
The longer they followed the more alive the island seemed.
From the quiet at the borders when they just arrived to the wildlife sounds of a common forest.
Albeit it really wasn't all that common.
Eventually the landscape shifted.
The bone-trees grew less frequent. The stone beneath their feet became darker, cracked in uneven patterns — jagged, like cooled magma. Eventually, the land started to rise. Cliffs began forming to one side, and the river cut a thin, winding path alongside the stone.
And that's when they saw it.
A cave.
Half-concealed by angled rock and moss that didn't seem entirely natural. The entrance was narrow, no more than two people wide — but it opened into something larger beyond. Shelter.
Yue Lin stepped in first, blade drawn. She scanned the inside — then nodded.
"Empty."
"Good."
They set the half eaten stag inside first, tucking it near the driest part of the wall. The air inside was cool, but not freezing. With a fire, it'd be livable.
A real place to stay.
Finally.
Yue Lin stretched once, then turned to him. "So… what do we do now?"
Riven didn't answer right away. He stepped to the mouth of the cave, looking out toward the river.
Then he exhaled.
"I'd like to cultivate," he said. "I think I can break through soon."
She blinked. Then nodded slowly. "I'll stay and keep watch then."
"Thanks." He smiled slightly, even though he knew she couldn't leave anyway with the chain binding them.
He sat down, cross-legged on the stone.
This whole scenario was way different from what he'd expected.
He had just wanted to complete a quest, earn money and eventually find a map to get back home.
Now he was stuck in some random experts trial, barely scrapping by.
And he had a feeling it wouldn't get easier.
The first beast they'd met was already a Greater Feral, even if it was a weaker one.
If this continued they'd soon be outclassed.
He needed to get stronger.
Money wasn't even in the equation anymore.
Without being alive, how would he have a chance to return home afterall.
He closed his eyes.
If there was one good thing about this place, it was the qi here was dense.
He concentrated, absorbing large amounts.
The ambient qi stirred immediately, responding to his pull. Threads of pale blue and faint green seeped into his body, drawn through his pores, guided along familiar meridian paths. The sensation was cold but steady — like inhaling winter air straight into his veins.
Deep in his lower abdomen, his dantian stirred.
At the Late Inner Essence Realm, his dantian was as big as an open hand — a small, glowing reservoir of swirling qi, blue and green twisting together in a slow current.
Now, as he drew more in, the boundary stretched again.
Not dramatically.
But noticeably.
The reservoir swelled — … to something nearly the size of a small melon. Full. Round. Pressurized.
Qi continued to pour in.
Until it stopped.
Not because the environment lacked qi.
But because he had reached the limit.
The boundary around his dantian no longer stretched.
He couldn't absorb anymore.
He reached what he knew he'd reach anytime now.
The peak of the Inner Essence Realm.
The only way to improve now, was to climb into the next realm.
And that's exactly what he was planning to do.
If the Inner Essence Realm was about gathering qi, then the Inner Condensation Realm was about compressing the gathered qi into a more pure and tight form.
He shifted his focus inward.
The qi inside his dantian was not clean. Not truly.
It was murky — blue and green, yes, but clouded. Tiny motes of foreign energy, remnants of environmental interference, fragments not fully aligned with the Codex's goal.
To condense it, he had to refine it.
But there was a danger.
Once even a fraction of qi had been purified — truly purified — it changed.
Refined qi did not tolerate impurity.
If he absorbed raw environmental qi directly into the dantian after starting condensation, it would clash violently with the purified portion. Turbulence. Instability. Possible internal damage.
That was why cultivators filled their dantian first.
Only when it was completely full did they begin refinement.
It was easier that way.
Safer.
And far more efficient.
Riven steadied his breathing.
Then he began.
He guided the qi out of the dantian and into the a cyclic route through his body described in the Codex.
The path was not one used during normal cultivation.
It was narrower.
Sharper.
The qi was forced upward from the dantian, along a tight spiral behind the navel, splitting briefly toward the kidneys, then rising along the spine before curving forward across the sternum and descending again.
The first pass burned.
Not painfully — but intensely.
Like pushing coarse sand through silk tubing.
The qi that returned to the dantian was… different.
Slightly clearer.
Slightly denser.
And slightly less in volume.
Impurities had been stripped away.
He swallowed.
One cycle.
With this he could in theory be considered an Inner Condensation cultivator.
Albeit the very weakest one.
He began a second cycle.
This time the strain was worse.
The qi resisted being forced through the narrow meridian routes again. His meridians trembled faintly under the pressure. Sweat formed along his brow.
The qi returned again.
Clearer.
Less murky now.
The blue was deeper. The green more defined.
But the total mass had shrunk.
Refinement was subtraction.
He continued.
Third cycle.
His breathing grew uneven.
Fourth cycle.
The qi inside his dantian was now visibly smaller — no longer filling it completely. What had once pressed against the boundary now floated like a heavy mist within a larger empty space.
But it was dense.
Thicker.
He could feel the difference.
Fifth cycle.
He gritted his teeth and forced it through.
When the qi returned this time, something changed.
The swirling stopped.
The energy did not disperse evenly.
Instead — it gathered.
The refined qi pulled inward on itself, as if gravity had formed at its center.
Riven's breath hitched.
Inside his dantian, the purified qi compressed — folding inward, tighter and tighter — until it formed something like a droplet.
Not liquid.
Not solid.
But condensed.
A small bead of deep blue-green energy hovered at the center of his dantian.
It was no larger than a pebble.
But the pressure radiating from it was immense compared to before.
He stared at it inwardly, breath slow, posture steady.
This was the beginning.
With five full purification cycles, the qi had condensed successfully. According to the Frozen Gale Codex, if your qi was compressed between one and eleven times, you'd be considered to be in the Inner Condensation Realm.
With a five-cycle compression, Riven had fully stepped into the realm of Inner Condensation.
That alone was rare — most cultivators barely managed three on their first breakthrough.
He exhaled softly, his breath slightly frosty.
That was enough for now.
He was exhausted.
Each cycle had taken more focus than the last, draining him not just mentally but physically. His meridians felt tender — not damaged, but worn and stretched thin.
Still, the results were immediate.
Even with just this first condensed shard of qi, he could already feel the difference.
It had weight now. Density. Purpose.
He guided a sliver of it along his arm, testing its flow — and was genuinely shocked by the power it carried.
Compared to his old qi, this was nearly twice as strong.
He could now use less to achieve the same effect — or use the same amount for a drastically stronger result.
And that was just with five cycles.
If he continued refining more, he guessed he could easily double his total strength.
And if he pushed beyond that — reached the Middle or even Late stages of Inner Condensation — he might be three or four times stronger than before.
A small smile tugged at his lips.
For the first time in a while, the path ahead felt… bright.
But he wouldn't rush it.
He could have attempted to push his current qi through more purification cycles right now.
But that wasn't the smart path.
Instead, he planned to absorb more qi from the environment, slowly — guide it through five cycles of refinement, and then merge it into his dantian.
Once he'd filled it again with this condensed, purified qi…
Then, and only then, would he start refining further — pushing past five cycles into six, seven, or more.
That would be the most stable, most efficient method.
If his eyes weren't closed, they'd probably be sparkling by now.
Because now he truly understood something.
If he became strong enough — really strong — then money wouldn't be a problem anymore.
If he'd been this strong back in the Scorpion Nest, he could have cleared it alone.
He wouldn't have needed to take risks or worry about resources.
Wouldn't have needed to run from the Greater Feral Gale Scorpion.
It would have run from him.
If he could reach higher realms…
How could he possibly fail to earn enough for a map?
How could he not find a way home?
He clenched his fists lightly.
I just need to get stronger.
Strong enough to—
A sharp sound snapped him out of his thoughts.
He looked up abruptly, cheeks flushed slightly.