Seated in absolute silence, Jun Li felt time grow vague over the endless cycles of circulation and refinement.

  At first, she had spared herself some glances towards the incense from time to time, anxious at exceeding the time limit set by her master.

  Although after many hours of monotonous Cultivation, she had slowly transitioned into a meditative state, completely unaware of her surroundings, and focused only on the simple task before her.

  In time, as Jun Li’s Cultivation approached the limits of her stage, a change began to manifest inside her Dantian, and what was once a simple mass of Internal Qi slowly began to take a more complex and defined form.

  Jun Li felt all her perception sink slowly into her Dantian, overcome with a strange sense of unraveling.

  Within a moment, the world seemed to melt away, and suddenly feeling an immense sense of pressure, Jun Li opened her eyes.

  Stretching out infinitely before her was a vast, turbulent ocean. Above, winds howled through the gentle rain, falling from a starless sky, illuminated only by an eerie haze that lingered far above.

  Taken aback by the sight, Jun Li only now felt that her own position had changed; she was now on a rocky shoreline, only a few meters from the water, and shaded from the rain by an arching cliffside above her.

  Despite the surprise, Jun Li didn’t feel at all confused. Understanding what she was looking at was instinctual.

  Looking again at the world around her, Jun Li felt how transient and dreamlike it felt, the surroundings slowly shifting and reshaping, even the stones to her side changed, appearing in different, eclectic formations each time she looked away from them.

  ‘I must be getting close to the Crimson Palace stage, if my Dantian is beginning to take such a defined form…’

  Reclining back onto the damp stones of her half-formed internal world, Jun Li let out a sigh. “I broke through to the Peak Qi Condensation stage…”

  She held a hand up and clenched it, feeling her own strength. “…I didn’t even feel myself approaching a bottleneck until I broke it… I guess those pills really are potent.”

  Jun Li felt at peace in this inner world. Although the slowly shifting and morphing landscape would be a nauseating and disorienting sight under normal conditions, as it had come from her own self, Jun Li experienced none of the unease one normally might.

  For a moment, she relaxed against the stones, listening to the wind and rain flowing over the ocean and the rocky embankment she rested on.

  After a moment, however, she heard something unusually dissonant. A steady flow of drips and drops somewhere nearby, ringing out with unnatural clarity.

  Following the sound, Jun Li sat up and leaned over to investigate.

  A few paces away, a flow of liquid steadily dripped from the overhanging cliff above, gently impacting a wide stone below.

  Reaching out a hand, Jun Li grasped a few drops in her palm and drew them closer.

  In her palm, the drops of what were now clearly blood felt abnormally heavy to Jun Li.

  Somewhat baffled at the sight, which so clearly contrasted the world around it, Jun Li attempted to wipe the blood from her hands.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Yet, she only succeeded in spreading the few drops that had landed on her hand, smearing the blood impossibly thick over the stones, as though it had begun to pour out from her palm.

  The blood that splattered across the ground felt abnormal; it was more vivid and 'real' than anything else in this internal world, as if it wasn't an abstraction of Internal Qi, but true, tangible blood.

  Seeing the blood stand out so starkly against the vague and transient stones, Jun Li felt severe nausea and a creeping sense of panic.

  Suddenly opening her eyes again, Jun Li found herself in the real world, seated just as she was when she began her Cultivation.

  Somewhat disoriented, Jun Li looked up to the Incense burner and found that it had seemingly long since gone out.

  Quickly standing up, Jun Li felt a sudden anxiety, realizing she had completely lost track of time.

  Gathering her things from the floor, she quickly opened the door and stepped out into the Director’s office.

  Seated as usual behind his desk, Zhu Enlai, the branch Director, looked up to Jun Li. “Oh!”

  Though obviously surprised, the Director expressed some delight at seeing Jun Li. “I didn’t expect you to be intact; you’ve been in there for a lot longer than it takes for the Incense I gave you to burn out.”

  Hearing this, Jun Li grew more anxious about the time. “Sorry for making you worry, Master Zhu! I lost track of time… uh, what time is it now?”

  Generally uninterested in tracking the hours, the Director had to think for a moment. “Hmm, given that people started bothering me about six hours ago… it’s probably almost noon?”

  As the Director spoke, Jun Li scanned around the room, quickly looking for her companion.

  Finding Little Yun nestled between some of the Director’s clutter, Jun Li picked them up and placed them in her collar. “Thank you! I really need to go now!”

  Before the Director could get in a word, Jun Li quickly turned and rushed out of his office. Letting out a sigh, the Director turned to the Seclusion Room Jun Li had been staying in.

  'Impressive… even if it took so long, she managed to tame the Medicinal Essence inside that crude pill and make it her own, and seemingly without any lasting damage…'

  Nodding his head, the Director internally approved of Jun Li, now believing her talents legitimately extended beyond her alchemical knowledge. “It seems you’ve got what it takes for me to call you my disciple in front of my peers without dying of embarrassment.”

  His expression growing more severe, the Director muttered to himself. “…I need to get back out into the Jianghu soon, being posted out in this backwater much longer won't do me any good…”

  …

  Outside, Jun Li was dashing through the city streets on the way back to the Glass Cloud Sect as fast as possible.

  Watching the buildings fly past her vision by the dozen, Jun Li was thrilled by the speed and lightness she felt.

  Weightlessly hopping off the ground, Jun Li eagerly misjudged her output and sent her body soaring skyward.

  Hurtling through the air a few meters off the ground, Jun Li took in the sight of the world spinning around her without any stress or panic.

  To her, it felt as though she had all the time in the world to react before reaching the ground.

  Holding her hat down on her head, Jun Li reached out a hand and lightly tapped off the approaching ground, setting herself upright before landing feet-first and sliding softly down the street for a moment.

  Looking herself over, Jun Li felt better than ever, with no trace of any lingering injury or fatigue.

  Having reached the peak of the Qi Condensation stage, the power Jun Li felt was incomparable to her previous self; even brushing up against the border of the Crimson Palace stage was enough to set her on an entirely different level than before.

  Once again, the results of her own Cultivation thrilled Jun Li, and she looked at the world around her with fresh eyes. Jun Li sighed with a wide smile. “I’m really getting there…”

  Clenching her hands, Jun Li eagerly felt her own strength. “The power to change my place in the world, the power to uplift my family…”

  Remembering that her duel was fast approaching, Jun Li quickly looked in the direction of the Sect and leapt straight up onto a nearby rooftop.

  Clattering onto the tiles, Jun Li found her footing and made her own path to the Sect, leaping from rooftop to rooftop with hops and bounds.

  “Yang Chen…” Jun Li grinned, remembering her opponent, his expression, his bearing, and his eyes. "You're no Ren Liwei…"