The sun climbed higher.
Canglan City hummed with the noise of morning.
Merchants shouted. Carts rattled along uneven streets.
The smell of smoke and wet stone filled the air.
The city seemed ordinary.
But beneath its surface, nothing was normal.
Lin Xuanye moved quietly through narrow alleys.
The silk pouch with the Spiritleaf Herb swung lightly at his side.
He scanned every shadow.
Every crack in the walls.
Every abandoned rooftop.
Every stray vibration in the ground.
Two regressors remembered the future.
But many others did not.
Many others were dangerous in their ignorance.
The first target of opportunity appeared.
A low-tier cultivator trying to claim a small crystal vein.
Mid-grade, unstable, hardly worth the effort.
But Lin Xuanye's senses flared.
Every resource mattered. He could not leave it.
A subtle flicker of energy drew the young man's attention.
He froze.
Lin Xuanye stepped into the courtyard.
Silk pouch at his side.
Wind brushing the edges of his coat.
"You shouldn't be here," he said softly.
The young cultivator spun, panic in his eyes.
He tried to resist.
A thread of spiritual energy pulled the crystal cluster from his hands.
It floated into Lin Xuanye's control.
The cultivator's face drained of color.
Lin Xuanye ignored him.
Another resource secured. Another advantage stacked.
His Spiritual Density rose slightly. Fifty-five. Mid-stage peak Qi Gathering.
Across the city, the wind shifted.
Faint. Deliberate.
Han Tianyu.
Lin Xuanye's lips curved.
"You're everywhere."
He moved again.
Through alleys. Over rooftops.
Every step precise. Every breath measured.
Another pulse of spiritual energy caught his attention.
Different. Smaller. Unstable.
Someone else was here.
Hidden among the shadows, a group of three novice cultivators argued over a small abandoned vein.
Lin Xuanye smirked faintly.
Easy prey.
A flick of his fingers.
A subtle pull of energy.
The crystals floated silently into his control.
The three cultivators froze.
No words. No resistance.
Lin Xuanye stepped back.
Another resource secured. Another step toward supremacy.
He felt it then.
Above the city, wind spiraled.
Han Tianyu's aura, deliberate, testing.
He had not yet engaged. But he was always present. Always watching.
Lin Xuanye exhaled slowly.
Every action, every resource, every step mattered.
Every time Han Tianyu appeared, it reminded him: the race had only begun.
He walked toward the river.
Hidden crystals stored. Spiritleaf Herb secured. Minor enemies neutralized.
The city seemed ordinary.
But beneath its streets, everything had changed.
Then came the next opportunity.
A faint tremor of energy beneath an old warehouse.
Mid-grade spirit crystal. Early-stage vein.
Lin Xuanye's eyes narrowed.
"Not bad," he murmured.
He entered the warehouse through a side door.
Broken windows. Dust floating in sunlight.
The vein pulsed faintly.
He knelt.
Palms pressed lightly to the ground.
Energy flowed through him. Black threads extended into the crystals.
Control. Stabilization. Refinement.
The crystals responded.
Faint light shimmered along their surfaces.
Lin Xuanye smiled.
Another resource secured. Another advantage stacked.
Spiritual Density rose. Fifty-six.
Outside, wind shifted again.
Han Tianyu, invisible to the public, moved silently through the city.
Lin Xuanye's lips curved.
"You're persistent."
He continued his work.
Every resource counted.
Every step forward mattered.
Every second was an investment in the future.
Minutes passed.
He sealed the crystals in hidden compartments.
Every advantage accounted for. Every opportunity claimed.
By afternoon, Lin Xuanye emerged from the warehouse.
Sunlight striking his coat.
Silk pouch swinging lightly at his side.
Spiritual Density fifty-seven. Early peak complete.
Across the street, a figure leaned casually against a lamppost.
Han Tianyu.
Watching. Waiting. Testing.
"You move faster," Han Tianyu said quietly.
"Of course," Lin Xuanye replied.
"Then we are even… for now."
Han Tianyu straightened.
Wind whirled lightly around him.
Then he vanished into the crowd.
Lin Xuanye exhaled.
The first true day of the hidden war complete.
Resources secured. Minor threats neutralized. Rival observed.
But the Spiritual Tide was only beginning.
And the city itself was alive.
Beneath every street, in every ruined warehouse, energy pulsed.
Every pulse a potential advantage.
Lin Xuanye did not stop moving.
He had tasted the first victories.
And he wanted more.
A faint vibration under a collapsed shrine drew him in.
Low-level crystals. Early-stage. Almost invisible.
Perfect for a hidden stash.
He lowered himself through a broken wall.
Dust choked the air.
Wood groaned under his weight.
Every thread of energy flowing into the crystals.
The crystals shimmered, reacting to his presence.
Lin Xuanye's Spiritual Density climbed. Fifty-eight.
Each vein, each pulse, each hidden resource, stacked.
He crouched, refined, compressed, and stored the essence in a concealed cavity in the wall.
From the shadows, a faint rustle.
A pair of low-tier cultivators had followed him, greedy and unaware.
Lin Xuanye allowed a small leak of energy toward them.
They froze, thinking the vein responded to them.
He did not move.
Just a nudge of perception.
Fear took over.
They ran.
Another minor threat neutralized.
Another hidden victory gained.
Lin Xuanye climbed a crumbling rooftop.
From this vantage, the river, alleys, warehouses, all of it, lay before him.
The city pulsed with spiritual energy, faint and scattered.
Han Tianyu's wind threads brushed subtly against rooftops, testing, watching.
Lin Xuanye smiled faintly.
"You're always around," he murmured.
Another faint pulse appeared beneath a warehouse dock.
Early-stage mid-grade crystals.
He leapt down silently.
Energy threads spiraled into the veins.
Crystals lifted, stored, refined.
Spiritual Density fifty-nine.
Another stack of hidden advantage.
The sun dipped low, reflecting in the water.
Lin Xuanye walked the riverbank.
Crystals hidden. Herbs secured. Minor cultivators subdued or tricked.
Han Tianyu's presence lingered somewhere above.
Always observing.
Always testing.
Lin Xuanye exhaled slowly.
Every small victory counted.
Every minor gain was a step toward domination.
The race had begun.
And the city itself was now a battlefield, invisible to the public eye.
He stopped on the riverbank.
Wind brushed his coat.
Eyes scanning every alley, rooftop, and ruin.
The Spiritual Tide had not yet arrived.
But the war for resources, for supremacy, for the first moves in the hidden game, was already underway.
Lin Xuanye smiled faintly.
"The game is just starting.
And I intend to win."