Thick clouds smothered the sky above the Imperial City, turning the world dim and heavy. From time to time, lightning dragons tore through the gloom—silver serpents writhing across the heavens—each strike illuminating rooftops, palace walls, and distant mountain ridges for a fleeting heartbeat before the darkness reclaimed everything.

Inside the Phoenix and Dragon Dojo, that same flickering light slipped through the windows, painting the room in alternating shadows and brilliance.

Li Mei sat in the center of the dojo hall, cross-legged on a simple mat, her slender back perfectly straight. Her chest rose and fell in slow, measured breaths. With each inhale, faint threads of qi swirled around her like drifting stardust; with each exhale, the air trembled slightly, as if her presence alone disturbed the natural rhythm of the world.

She was calm. Too calm.

The quiet before a storm.

Everyone in the dojo stood in complete silence, as though even the sound of breathing might disturb her breakthrough. Wang Chen leaned against a wooden pillar, arms folded, face unreadable—but the faint crease between his brows revealed his focus. Lin Huang stood closest to Li Mei, his entire body tense, his spiritual sense stretched thin like a drawn bowstring. If even a hint of danger surfaced, he would move instantly.

"Martial Aunt is about to break through…"

Zhao Yunfei whispered, her small mouth forming a perfect O of awe.

She was no longer the frightened, lost girl from before. Last night, Lin Huang had spent hours teaching her everything he could about cultivation—realms, foundations, energies, the importance of talent and temperament. She absorbed it all like a sponge, her blindfolded eyes glowing faintly as though she could see the very laws of the world.

Foundation Building…

The first true wall in a cultivator's journey.

The realm that determined how far one could eventually climb.

And Li Mei wasn't simply crossing that wall—she was aiming to sprint past it.

"Master said Martial Aunt is using a mysterious treasure above Nascent Soul grade," Zhao Yunfei murmured again, voice soft with reverence. "With it, she'll be able to build a hundred-meter spiritual space… a perfect foundation."

Lin Huang, who stood a few steps away, couldn't stop his lips from twitching.

This girl's memory is terrifying.

He had explained these things once—just once—and Zhao Yunfei repeated them word for word. Whether or not her cultivation path would be smooth, her comprehension was undeniably monstrous.

He swallowed a sigh and refocused.

The dojo felt eerily empty without the Fang sisters. After returning to their home the previous night, they had yet to come back, leaving the atmosphere quieter than usual. Outside, thunder rolled again, shaking the tiles as though the heavens themselves were holding their breath for Li Mei.

The room felt suspended between two worlds—silence and storm, mortality and ascension.

"A perfect grade foundation…" Wang Chen echoed Zhao Yunfei's words, the corner of his lips lifting in amusement.

Perfect grade? For an ordinary prodigy maybe.

For Li Mei?

Wang Chen inwardly scoffed—affectionately—because the idea was adorable.

Zhao Yunfei's understanding wasn't wrong, not at all. In the current world, a perfect foundation of a hundred meters was already enough to crown someone a future powerhouse. But Li Mei wasn't just "talented." She was a regressor from the Upper Realm, carrying protagonist-level fortune that bent the universe around her. If all she aimed for was a perfect foundation, then there would've been no need for this entire ordeal… no need to hunt down the Nine-Petaled Soul Calming Flame… no need to stake her life on a breakthrough under such pressure.

Li Mei wasn't aiming for perfect.

She was aiming for something the world barely had the vocabulary to describe.

Before the Garden of Eternity, Wang Chen himself would've shared the common belief that perfect grade was the peak. But now? His own spiritual sea was a kilometer long. He had seen with his own eyes what lay beyond "theoretical limits." If he could achieve that, then someone like Li Mei—someone blessed by fate itself—would obviously have her own outrageous path waiting.

As he sorted through his thoughts, the sky above the Phoenix and Dragon Dojo suddenly darkened even further.

Clouds thickened unnaturally fast, each one swollen with spiritual electricity. Bolts of lightning writhed inside them like enraged serpents, the air vibrating with pressure so heavy it made even seasoned cultivators swallow uneasily.

Wang Chen lifted his gaze, a frown carving itself across his face.

Strange.

Very strange.

With Li Mei's level of fortune, the heavens should be gentle toward her. A bit of thunder, a show of formality… not this violent churning of destruction gathering overhead.

"Strange," he muttered silently, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "With Li Mei's fortune she's practically the darling of this world. So why does her tribulation cloud look like it wants to commit murder?"

He probed for a clue—fate, energy fluctuation, karmic disturbance. Nothing explained the anomaly.

Eventually he gave up.

If Wang Chen couldn't explain something after thinking for ten whole seconds, then it was obviously another one of this world's mysterious nonsense. He mentally tossed the problem into the ever-growing pile labeled "??? – Things to Understand Later."

He exhaled and focused back on Li Mei.

Thunder rolled again, and the sky split open with luminous cracks.

Her breakthrough was about to begin—and the heavens, apparently, wanted to make sure the entire continent knew.

Li Mei's gaze remained indifferent, almost serene, as she lifted her head toward the tribulation cloud brewing above. The mass of churning darkness stretched for three full kilometers, its oppressive aura thick enough to crush ordinary cultivators to their knees. Streaks of lightning wove through it like veins of molten silver, each pulse radiating the unmistakable might of a Golden Core Realm heavenly punishment.

"It seems the world thinks highly of me this time… huh."

Her voice was soft, almost mocking.

Though centuries had passed since her last life, the memory of her first Foundation Building breakthrough remained painfully clear. Back then, the tribulation cloud had been modest—barely a few hundred meters long, more bark than bite. But this… this was a calamity crafted with care, layered with killing intent, as if the heavens themselves wished to personally test the limits of her fate.

Yet Li Mei didn't flinch. There was no fear in her heart. Only purpose.

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