The scent of ash still lingered in the air, carried by sea winds that had lost their fury. Qingye City was scarred, but standing. Clean-up teams moved through the ruined streets, cultivators patched up crumbling formations, and healers tended to the injured.
Yet far from the bustling reconstruction, in the secluded courtyard of his parents' home, Lin Ho sat cross-legged in silence.
He had washed the blood from his hands.
But the memory of the battlefield lingered.
> "I could barely save anyone… But if I had arrived even a few minutes later—"
"No. I won't hesitate again."
He exhaled deeply, settling his mind.
The Chaos Bloodline pulsed in his core. Since awakening, it had granted him absurd regeneration, strength beyond Bone Tempering, and a subtle clarity of mind during danger.
But he hadn't yet touched its true power.
As the sun dipped low into twilight, he opened his spiritual sea and focused inward.
A single point of golden-black light shimmered in the center of his dantian. Unlike ordinary spiritual cores, this one was chaotic — rotating, folding, and distorting space slightly around it. It looked alive.
Then, from the depths of that core, information surged into his mind — not words, but direct knowledge.
> [Chaos Origin Manual – First Layer: Primal Breath]
The technique didn't use fixed meridian paths or common elemental channels. Instead, it moved energy in spirals, disrupting traditional Qi flow to break limits. It adapted, devoured, refined — converting any spiritual energy into raw Chaotic Essence.
> "I can absorb any form of energy... and refine it my way."
He began.
Inhale.
The air trembled. From the nearby formation stone, strands of spiritual energy poured into him — but rather than flowing smoothly, they twisted and collided, crashing like storm waves inside his meridians.
Lin Ho gritted his teeth.
> "So this is Chaos… it doesn't destroy, it refines through conflict!"
His bones buzzed with energy. Pressure built in his core. Then—BOOM.
He exhaled.
The spiritual sea expanded again.
Breakthrough!
> [Meridian Forging – Early Stage]
Already his meridians, reshaped by chaotic energy, had become broader and more elastic than normal cultivators. His body trembled from the raw power.
> "It's not violent… but each breakthrough carries weight. No shortcuts, only transformation."
Outside the courtyard, birds scattered as thunder cracked from a clear sky. In the heavens above, faint storm clouds gathered—but they passed, as if testing him.
---
That night, under the stars, Lin Ho sat quietly with closed eyes.
> "This path… no one can guide me on it. But I will walk it to the end."
Somewhere deep in the world, ancient existences stirred slightly — subtle fluctuations in time, cause, and fate.
They had felt the breath of Chaos.
And one whispered in the dark:
> "Impossible... That bloodline should be extinct."