"The heavens are really looking out for me!" he shouted at the glowing lily. "Senior Brother Zhang and his Flailing Willow Fist can go cultivate in a latrine pit! I, Lin Fan, am meant for greatness!"
He carefully picked the lily from the ground. As soon as it left the rock, the golden light grew stronger, and the bud shook as if it was about to bloom.
"System!" he ordered, his voice shaky with desire. "No time to waste! Consume it! Absorb everything!"
[Affirmative. Starting energy absorption process.]
Lin Fan held the lily in his hands while an invisible energy from the system surrounded it. The lily began to wilt quickly, its bright golden light fading as it flowed directly into him.
A rush of sun-filled energy surged through his meridians. It felt like a fiery river that could overflow. For a terrifying moment, he thought he might explode. Pain shot through him. But just as quickly, the system refined and compressed the energy, forcing it through his cultivation pathways with ruthless efficiency.
BOOM!
His spiritual core shook, and the barrier to the Fifth Layer of Qi Condensation, which he thought would take months to break, shattered like glass. The surge of energy didn't even slow down.
BOOM!
The barrier to the Sixth Layer vanished before it could even form. His meridians widened, his bones vibrated, and his Soul Seed, the essence of his cultivation, grew brighter and more solid. The amount of energy was beyond anything he could imagine. It felt like trying to fill a teacup with a waterfall.
There was still more. The lily's thousand-year reserve was a massive source of power. The system pushed it relentlessly.
BOOM!
With a powerful tremor that shook his very soul, he broke through to the Seventh Layer of Qi Condensation.
The explosive energy calmed, leaving a warm thrum that resonated from his core. He stood in the dark cave, his body faintly glowing, steam rising off his skin. He opened his hands. The Thousand-Year Sun-Swallowing Lily had vanished, reduced to a pile of lifeless dust that scattered in the gentle breeze.
Silence.
He slowly clenched his fists, feeling the immense power thrumming beneath his skin. Seventh Layer. He had jumped three entire layers in less time than it took to burn an incense stick. This was mythic. A legend. Some grandmasters would tell their disciples to scare them into behaving.
He was a monster. A genius. A chosen one who defied heaven.
The overwhelming joy of the moment was incredible. He threw his head back and laughed, a triumphant roar that echoed through the cave.
"I AM INVINCIBLE!" he shouted. "Senior Brother Zhang? I'll use him to wipe my boots! The Inner Sect disciples? Just a bunch of spoiled kids! The Sect Master? He should start preparing his abdication speech! I, Lin Fan, am the true dragon of this sect, the future ruler of this world!"
He felt a rush of excitement. He had to get out of there. He had to find someone and show them his new power. He would start with Zhang. Oh, the look on his face would be more satisfying than any spirit pill.
Still buzzing with confidence, he turned and grabbed the rope to start his climb. He pulled himself up, moving easily. It felt like he could climb the entire cliff with one hand.
"The world of cultivation is mine!" he bragged to himself as he climbed, his feet finding good footing on the rock. "And I'm the one with the pearl-shucker!"
He was about halfway up, still daydreaming about his bright future, when he heard a sudden creak. He paused and glanced up at the ancient oak tree above. It was probably just the wind.
He continued climbing.
Snap.
This sound was louder. An ugly sound. The sound of something breaking. The rope in his hands suddenly went slack for a heart-stopping inch.
His arrogance replaced by a cold spike of fear. He looked up again, eyes wide. The sturdy root he had tied the rope to, which had seemed so strong, was groaning under the strain, a crack forming in the wood.
But... but I'm the protagonist! he thought frantically. The heavens gave me a system! They gave me a thousand-year-old treasure! My rope can't break!
Then he felt something strange, or rather, a lack of something. The warm feeling of good fortune that had surrounded him since getting the system was gone. In its place was a chilling emptiness. It felt like the universe had turned its back on him.
[Warning: Host's karmic luck value has reached zero. Retribution cycle starting.]
"Retribution? What retribu…"
CRACK!
The sound was like a gunshot in the quiet night. The root snapped clean off the tree. For a surreal moment, Lin Fan hung in the air, disbelief written on his face, before gravity took over.
The world blurred into wind and rock. His victorious roar turned into a high-pitched scream. The ground rushed to meet him at astonishing speed.
His last coherent thought was a desperate plea. System! System, do something! A cushion! A feather-falling spell! A soft pile of hay! ANYTHING!
Just before impact, he saw a glint of metal at the bottom of the cliff. It was a spear, its shaft lodged deep in the earth, its tip pointing upward toward the sky. It looked like junk, something a mortal would be embarrassed to use.
And impaled on it, like a grotesque scarecrow, was a human skeleton, its ribcage shattered, its skull stuck in a permanent scream.
Lin Fan's eyes met the skeleton's empty sockets. At that moment, he understood.
The impact was a piercing end. A wild pain surged in his chest as the spear tip tore through his robes, his skin, his ribs, and his heart. The force of the fall pressed his body down the shaft, pinning him just above the long-dead skeleton.
The world began to fade, the edges of his vision turning grey and dim. The immense power of the Seventh Layer of Qi Condensation, a power he had held for less than five minutes, drained from him like water from a sieve.
System...? he pleaded in the final moments of his mind. Help... me...
Everything went quiet.
The familiar voice of the system did not respond. The interface was gone. The comforting presence in his soul had disappeared. There was only the howling wind, the pain in his chest, and the mocking grin of the skeleton beneath him.
His grand destiny had lasted just twenty minutes. The world of cultivation was indeed his oyster.
He was the pearl, and life was the shucker