Eight kilometers.

That's how far we made it before we couldn't run anymore.

[STAMINA: CRITICAL]

[QI RESERVES: 31% AVERAGE ACROSS TEAM]

[HUNTERS: 200 METERS AND CLOSING]

[EXTRACTION POINT: STILL 4 KILOMETERS AWAY]

[MATH IS NOT IN YOUR FAVOR]

Chen Rou spotted it first, a defensible position. An ancient stone ridge with a narrow pass, flanked by steep walls that would funnel attackers into a kill zone.

"There!" she shouted. "Defensive formation! We make our stand!"

[TACTICAL DECISION: DEFEND]

[BETTER THAN DYING WHILE RUNNING]

We scrambled into position. Zhao Fei immediately began setting up hasty formations, nothing fancy, just basic barriers and alarm arrays. Team 3's survivors took positions alongside Team 7, everyone moving with exhausted efficiency.

"Lin Tian, Yun Xia, left flank!" Chen Rou commanded. "Han Feng, Tang Bolin, right! Su Mei, Liu Yan, center support! Zhou Ming, protect Zhao Fei while he fortifies!"

Seventeen disciples against fifteen hunters.

The numbers weren't terrible. But Elder Shen was Core Formation Stage 5, leagues above anything we could handle individually.

[ELDER SHEN: CORE FORMATION STAGE 5]

[POWER COMPARISON: HE COULD KILL YOUR ENTIRE TEAM]

[EXCEPT CHEN ROU MIGHT HOLD HIM OFF]

[MIGHT]

The hunters arrived, spreading out across the ridge approach. Elder Shen walked at their center, calm, confident, radiating power that made the air itself feel heavy.

"Azure Peak disciples," he said conversationally. "And Verdant Valley survivors. How industrious. You've complicated my operation considerably."

"Your murder operation," Chen Rou replied coldly. "We have evidence. Memory jade recordings. Your confession."

Elder Shen's smile didn't falter. "Evidence only matters if someone lives to present it." He gestured casually. "Kill them. Retrieve the jade. Leave no survivors."

[NEGOTIATION: ZERO]

[COMBAT: INEVITABLE]

[PREPARE FOR EVERYTHING]

The hunters charged.

I moved into position beside Yun Xia, Serpent's Flow and Infinite Tide Scripture merging seamlessly. The first hunter, Stage 6, wielding dual sabers, engaged me with professional precision.

But I wasn't the same cultivator who'd entered the Wastes two weeks ago.

[COMBAT POWER COMPARISON:]

[TWO WEEKS AGO: STAGE 5, MINIMAL EXPERIENCE]

[NOW: STAGE 6, LEGENDARY TECHNIQUES, EXTENSIVE COMBAT EXPERIENCE]

[YOU'VE GROWN SIGNIFICANTLY]

The hunter's sabers cut toward my throat. Serpent's Flow made my dodge impossibly fluid, I seemed to phase around the blades. My counter-strike caught him off-guard, Tsunami Fang concentrated into a palm strike that sent him flying.

[ENEMY NEUTRALIZED: 1]

Beside me, Yun Xia worked in perfect synchronization. Her Flowing Water Palm redirected attacks while I exploited openings. We'd practiced this coordination hundreds of times, now it paid dividends.

[PAIRED COMBAT SYNERGY: 87%]

[YOU TWO ARE TERRIFYING TOGETHER]

Han Feng and Tang Bolin held the right flank like an immovable fortress. Stage 6 and Stage 7 working together, their raw power overwhelming the hunters who tried to breach their position.

Su Mei's staff spun in defensive patterns that protected our formation's center. Liu Yan worked behind her, healing injuries as they occurred, keeping everyone functional.

For a moment, impossibly, we were winning.

Then Elder Shen decided to stop watching.

"Enough," he said, and moved.

Core Formation speed made him a blur. One moment he was at the ridge entrance. The next, he materialized inside our formation, his hand driving toward Zhou Ming, the weakest link.

[ELDER SHEN: TARGETING WEAK POINT]

[ZHOU MING SURVIVAL: 0%]

[UNLESS—]

Chen Rou intercepted.

Her Stage 9 cultivation clashed with his Core Formation power. The impact created a shockwave that knocked nearby combatants off their feet. Azure Dragon Ascension manifested fully, her spectral dragon technique meeting Elder Shen's Crimson Flame Fist.

"Stage 9," Elder Shen observed, genuinely surprised. "Impressive for someone your age. But insufficient."

He pushed harder. Chen Rou held, but I could see the strain. Stage 9 was powerful, but Core Formation was an entirely different realm of cultivation. The gap was simply too large.

[CHEN ROU VS ELDER SHEN]

[POWER DIFFERENCE: SIGNIFICANT]

[SHE CAN'T WIN]

[BUT SHE CAN HOLD HIM]

"Focus on the hunters!" Chen Rou shouted, trading blows with Elder Shen. "I'll handle him!"

[STRATEGY: ELIMINATE THE HUNTERS]

[ELDER SHEN ALONE IS DANGEROUS BUT MANAGEABLE]

[ELDER SHEN + 14 HUNTERS = DEATH]

We redoubled our efforts. The hunters were skilled, professional, but they weren't prepared for seventeen coordinated disciples fighting with desperate determination.

I engaged two simultaneously, Stage 6 and Stage 7. The Stage 7 was faster, stronger, more experienced. Under normal circumstances, he'd have destroyed me.

But these weren't normal circumstances.

Serpent's Flow made my movements unpredictable. Infinite Tide Scripture's flowing redirections frustrated his attacks. And Yun Xia covered my openings perfectly, her defensive techniques creating the split-second advantages I needed.

My sword found the Stage 6 hunter's throat. He fell.

[ENEMY NEUTRALIZED: 2]

The Stage 7 hunter's expression shifted from confident to worried. He called for backup.

"Team 3!" Jin Wei's voice rang out. "Combined assault pattern gamma!"

Team 3's seven survivors moved as one unit, their coordinated attack overwhelming three hunters simultaneously. They weren't as skilled as Team 7, but they had numbers and desperation.

[HUNTERS REMAINING: 9]

[MOMENTUM: SHIFTING]

Han Feng's laugh boomed across the battlefield. "That's right! Run, you cowards!"

But Elder Shen's expression remained calm. Too calm.

"Interesting," he said, deflecting one of Chen Rou's strikes casually. "But ultimately futile. Time to end this charade."

His Qi erupted.

Crimson flames exploded across the battlefield, not aimed at any specific target, but spreading indiscriminately. Disciples and hunters alike scrambled to avoid the inferno.

[AREA ATTACK: INDISCRIMINATE]

[HE'S WILLING TO KILL HIS OWN PEOPLE]

[THAT'S... ACTUALLY CRAZY]

"Barrier!" Zhao Fei's formations activated, creating shields that protected our side. The hunters weren't so lucky, three of Elder Shen's own people died in the flames.

"Acceptable losses," Elder Shen said without emotion.

[ELDER SHEN: ABSOLUTE PSYCHOPATH]

[NOTED]

Chen Rou used the distraction. Her Azure Dragon technique gathered power, more than I'd seen her use before. The spectral dragon grew, solidified, became almost real.

"Azure Dragon: Heavenly Judgment!"

The technique struck Elder Shen with devastating force. For the first time, he actually stumbled, his Crimson Flame defense cracking.

[CRITICAL HIT]

[ELDER SHEN HEALTH: 94% → 73%]

[HE'S HURT]

But the technique had cost Chen Rou. She staggered, Qi reserves clearly depleted. Tang Bolin moved to support her, but that left our right flank exposed.

A hunter broke through, Stage 7, targeting Liu Yan.

"No!" Su Mei intercepted, her staff blocking the strike. But the force sent her flying, crashing into the ridge wall.

[SU MEI: INJURED]

[FORMATION: COMPROMISED]

The battle was turning. We'd killed six hunters, but Elder Shen was still operational and we were exhausted. Our formation was cracking.

"Fall back to secondary position!" Chen Rou ordered, blood dripping from a cut on her forehead. "Fighting withdrawal!"

We retreated deeper into the pass, step by step, maintaining defensive cohesion. The hunters pressed forward, smelling victory.

That's when I felt it, a familiar sensation. The Qi Condensation Gem Chen Rou had given me after the serpent guardian, still in my spatial pouch.

And my cultivation, stressed to its absolute limit by continuous combat, was hitting a bottleneck.

[ALERT: BREAKTHROUGH OPPORTUNITY]

[QI REFINING STAGE 6 → STAGE 7]

[TIMING: TERRIBLE]

[BUT POWER INCREASE: SIGNIFICANT]

[YOUR CHOICE, BOSS]

Breaking through mid-combat was suicidal. The process required concentration, control, stability, none of which existed in a desperate battle.

But we were losing. Chen Rou was exhausted. Our formation was breaking. In minutes, we'd be overwhelmed.

Stage 7 might be the difference between survival and death.

"Yun Xia," I said quickly. "Cover me. Two minutes."

Her eyes widened. "Now? Are you insane?"

"Probably. But we need a miracle." I pulled out the Qi Condensation Gem. "This is it."

"Lin Tian—"

"Trust me."

[RELATIONSHIP BOND: TRUST]

[SHE DOESN'T LIKE IT]

[BUT SHE TRUSTS YOU]

Yun Xia's expression hardened. "Two minutes. Not a second longer." She moved to cover my position, her Flowing Water Palm creating a defensive perimeter.

I sat, closed my eyes, and activated the gem.

[BREAKTHROUGH INITIATED]

[QI CONDENSATION GEM: ACTIVE]

[STABILIZING PROCESS...]

[ESTIMATED TIME: 90 SECONDS]

[DANGER: MAXIMUM]

[INTERRUPTION WILL CAUSE CULTIVATION DEVIATION]

[DON'T GET HIT]

The world faded. My consciousness turned inward, feeling the Qi surge toward the Stage 7 bottleneck. The gem's power stabilized the chaotic energy, guiding it through proper channels.

Vaguely, I heard combat around me. Yun Xia's voice shouting. Steel clashing. Someone screaming.

But I couldn't stop now. Interrupting would cripple my cultivation permanently.

[BREAKTHROUGH PROGRESS: 47%...]

Sixty seconds.

[BREAKTHROUGH PROGRESS: 68%...]

Forty seconds.

A massive impact nearby. Yun Xia cried out—pain or effort, I couldn't tell.

Keep going. Trust her. Trust the team.

[BREAKTHROUGH PROGRESS: 89%...]

Twenty seconds.

"Lin Tian's breaking through!" Someone shouted. "Protect him!"

The entire team shifted, forming a protective shell around my position. I felt their determination, their desperation, their refusal to let me die.

[BREAKTHROUGH PROGRESS: 99%...]

[FINAL PUSH...]

[COMPLETE!]

The bottleneck shattered.

Power flooded through my body, Stage 7 Qi reserves, denser and more refined than ever before. My meridians expanded. My dantian solidified. Every cell in my body upgraded simultaneously.

[BREAKTHROUGH ACHIEVED!]

[QI REFINING STAGE 7 - COMPLETE!]

[COMBAT POWER: DRAMATICALLY INCREASED]

[BOSS, YOU'RE ACTUALLY SCARY NOW]

I opened my eyes.

The battlefield had deteriorated. Chen Rou was on one knee, exhausted. Su Mei was injured. Half our team showed wounds. Elder Shen stood victorious, preparing a final technique.

"Time to die, children," he said.

I stood up.

Elder Shen's eyes widened as he felt my new cultivation level. "Stage 7? Impossible. Mid-combat breakthrough—"

"Surprise," I said.

Serpent's Flow and Infinite Tide Scripture merged through my Stage 7 cultivation. The combination created something new, something the system immediately recognized.

[TECHNIQUE FUSION DETECTED]

[SERPENT TIDE STRIKE - IMPROVISED TECHNIQUE]

[POWER LEVEL: EXTREME FOR YOUR STAGE]

I attacked.

Not a normal attack. Everything I had, Stage 7 Qi, legendary techniques, combat experience, desperation, compressed into a single strike.

The world seemed to slow. Elder Shen raised his defenses, Crimson Flame surging.

My strike crashed through them.

[CRITICAL HIT]

[ELDER SHEN: 73% → 31%]

[HE'S ACTUALLY REELING]

Elder Shen flew backward, blood streaming from his mouth. His expression showed genuine shock.

"Stage 7... with technique mastery..." He coughed blood. "What are you?"

"Tired of your bullshit," I replied.

The remaining hunters stared in horror. Their invincible leader, wounded by a disciple barely two weeks into the expedition.

"Retreat!" one hunter screamed.

They ran.

Elder Shen struggled to stand, his Core Formation cultivation keeping him alive but clearly unable to continue fighting. He looked at us, seventeen exhausted, wounded disciples who refused to die.

"This isn't over," he said.

Then he vanished in a burst of flame, escape technique.

[ELDER SHEN: ESCAPED]

[HUNTERS: ROUTED]

[BATTLE: VICTORY]

[CASUALTIES: MIRACULOUSLY ZERO]

We stood in stunned silence.

Then Yun Xia punched my shoulder. Hard.

"Two minutes, you said! That was at least three!"

"But I—"

"Stage 7. You're Stage 7." She was crying and laughing simultaneously. "You insane, beautiful idiot."

Chen Rou approached, limping. "We need to move. Elder Shen will recover and hunt us. The extraction point is four kilometers. Can everyone walk?"

[TEAM STATUS: BATTERED BUT MOBILE]

[MORALE: SURPRISINGLY HIGH]

[SURVIVAL PROBABILITY: 72%]

We limped toward safety.

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