The heavy doors swung open with a groan that sounded deafening in the silence. Jin Hao froze, his heart hammering against his ribs as he waited for a shout, or for a guard to come running.
Nothing. The night remained still.
"Heavenly Dao," Jin Hao whispered, looking up at the stars with a twisted expression of piety. "You really are apologizing, aren't you? First the demon ring, then the scare with the gourd... you realized you pushed me too far. You realized the protagonist needs a break. You guided me here. You cleared the path."
He slipped inside and pushed the doors shut behind him.
The warehouse was smelling of dry earth, cured leather, and the metallic tang of ore. Moonlight filtered in through high windows, illuminating rows upon rows of stacked crates, barrels, and sacks.
He walked to the nearest crate and pried the lid open. It was filled with Spirit-Grain, a low-level staple food for cultivators. Each grain contained a tiny speck of Qi.
"Rice," he scoffed. "They feed this to the servants."
He plunged his hand into the grain.
"Devour."
The blue light erupted. The entire contents of the crate dissolved instantly. The light swirled up his arm and slammed into his chest.
[Devouring Complete. Cultivation increased.]
He moved to the next crate. Star-Moss. A common herb used for basic healing salves.
"Devour."
[Devouring Complete.]
He moved faster now, a manic energy seizing him. He ran down the aisles, his hands brushing against crates, barrels, and racks.
Crate of Low-Grade Spirit Stones.
"Devour."
Barrel of Spirit-Beast Blood.
"Devour."
Stack of Refined Iron Ingots.
"Devour."
Bundle of Midnight Grass.
"Devour."
He was a black hole. He didn't care about quality. If the system tagged it as having energy, he devoured it.
The sensation was indescribable. It was like being constantly hooked up to a lightning bolt of pleasure. With every item he consumed, the energy in his Dantian swelled.
"More!" he laughed, the sound echoing in the empty warehouse. "More! It's not enough! I need more!"
He found a section dedicated to rejected artifacts like swords with hairline cracks, shields with flawed formations. Trash to the Jin Family.
"Devour! Devour! Devour!"
The metal dissolved. The wood vanished. The leather disintegrated.
The energy inside him was reaching a critical mass. The Fifth Layer of Qi Condensation felt like a distant memory.
BOOM.
Sixth Layer.
He moved deeper into the warehouse, finding the section for "unidentified ores." These were rocks the family miners had found but couldn't identify, tossed here to be sorted later.
Jin Hao grabbed a fist-sized rock that pulsed with a faint heat.
"Devour."
A blast of fire-attribute energy roared into him.
BOOM.
Seventh Layer.
"You wanted to make me a businessman?" he shouted at the ceiling, his voice thick with hysteria. "You wanted me to count your coins? I'll eat your coins! I'll eat your inventory! I'll eat this whole damn estate!"
He reached the back of the warehouse. There were several sealed jars. The system scan showed them glowing with a bright green light.
[Item Identified: Concentrated Spirit-Sap. Used for mass-producing Tier 1 healing pills.]
There were fifty jars. It was a fortune.
He didn't even hesitate. He placed both hands on the stack of jars. The blue light flared illuminating the warehouse in a ghostly glow.
"MINE!" he screamed.
A tidal wave of energy crashed into his Dantian. It was too much. It was an ocean trying to fit into a cup. His meridians stretch to their breaking point. His skin turned red, steam rising from his pores as his body struggled to contain the influx.
BOOM.
Eighth Layer.
BOOM.
Ninth Layer.
BOOM.
Tenth Layer. Peak of Qi Condensation.
He fell to his knees, gasping for breath. His body felt like it was on fire. He was bursting. He had reached the limit of what a mortal body could hold.
But there was still energy left. The residual energy from the hundreds of crates he had consumed was looking for a place to go.
It hit the barrier. The great wall that separated the mortal from the cultivator. The barrier to the Foundation Establishment Realm.
For most people, this barrier was a mountain. It required Foundation Establishment Pills, months of meditation, and lucky insights to cross. Failure meant death or crippling injury.
"System!" he wheezed. "Break it! Use it all! Push me through!"
[Command Acknowledged. Initiating Realm Breakthrough Protocol. Compressing Qi...]
The swirling gas of Qi in his Dantian began to spin. Faster. Faster. It was a cyclone of power. The pressure was agonizing. He felt like his stomach was being crushed in a vice. He curled into a ball on the floor of the empty warehouse.
"Pain is weakness leaving the body!" he shrieked, reciting a line from a novel he loved. "I am the dragon! I am the sovereign!"
The gas compressed. It grew denser. It grew heavier. And then, under the brute force of the stolen energy, the first drop of liquid Qi formed.
It was a drop of golden rain in a storm.
Then another.
And another.
The barrier shattered with a sound like a thunderclap that only he could hear.
A shockwave of spiritual pressure exploded from his body, blowing the dust off the floor in a perfect circle around him.
The pain vanished instantly.
In its place was a feeling of power so profound that Jin Hao wept.
He stood up. His body felt recreated. His bones were like iron. His blood flowed like mercury. He could feel the world around him with his spirit. He extended his Spiritual Sense, and it swept out of the warehouse, covering the entire district.
He looked inward. In his Dantian, a small pool of golden liquid swirled lazily.
Foundation Establishment.
He looked at his hands. They were trembling with the aftershocks of ecstasy.
"I did it," he whispered. "I'm a Foundation Establishment expert."
He looked around the warehouse. It was completely clean. He had devoured the Jin Family's liquidity in a single night.
He clenched his fist, feeling the liquid Qi surge in response.
"Arya Chen," he said, his voice dropping to a low growl. "You were dancing tonight. You were showing off your cultivation, your woman, and your power. You think you're the genius of the generation?"
He walked towards the door, his silhouette elongated by the moonlight.
"I went from Third Layer Qi Condensation to Foundation Establishment in one night. ONE. NIGHT."
He activated the system map again, looking at the blinking lights of the remaining treasures in the estate. The purple lights of the Patriarch's hall no longer looked impossible. They just looked like the next course.
"System," he said, a greedy smile cutting across his face. "Where's the next meal?"
[Scanning...]