The Silver Breakthrough and Beyond.
My realm began climbing, breaking through fifth-level Bronze easily ~ the refined soul force I'd been suppressing finally released. After a day stabilizing and refining excess elixir intake, soul force jumped from 600 to 1000. Silver soul level, achieved.
The transformation started immediately. His body strengthened dramatically as soul force reinforced meridians, but the changes didn't stop there.
Something profound happened. His masculine form began shifting ~ transcending gender boundaries entirely. The change flowed seamlessly, male essence retracting as if it had never existed. Even biological waste passages vanished, his physiology now perfectly refining food through soul force alone, leaving no impurities. Should adjustment ever be needed, his body would respond instantly, maintaining perfect balance.
But with the sudden withdrawal of his male root, yang qi ~ which had always dominated ~ surged uncontrolled. Fiery energy clashed with unbalanced yin qi, causing intense heat. His perfected body responded instinctively, forming a new root meridian inside to stabilize yang-yin equilibrium, cooling the inner fire and calming the storm.
When he shifted to female form, the transformation was breathtaking. Skin shimmered like moonlight, flawless and smooth. Ethereal features surpassed any goddess, eyes sparkling with wisdom and mystery. Full, soft lips curved naturally into a gentle smile.
Hair began growing longer, cascading like silken threads, framing her delicate face. It adjusted to her form ~ thick, lustrous, accentuating graceful curves and newfound softness. Her perfectly proportioned body was a living masterpiece, every detail sculpted by heaven and earth's laws.
Standing there, radiating power and beauty equally, her presence was captivating. Neither man nor woman, yet both ~ a being of perfection transcending all limits.
Well... this is something. I only feel joy, no embarrassment. My mind's becoming more rational too. But I'll keep the male appearance outside while getting used to this.
With a thought, he changed back. His body preferred balanced yin-yang qi, so the new meridian remained alongside the older yang meridian, shifting appearance more masculine.
This meant updating his cultivation scripture to accommodate new qi channels.
Two months passed. The Library of Heaven's Path revealed flaws in qi channels and soul force transmission. Through trial and error, his body formed new pathways facilitating seamless transitions without qi conflicts. The cultivation scripture updated with his meridian pathway understanding.
His soul realm turned azure from cyan. His body absorbed soul force and aura like a sponge through passive cultivation.
His Orchid Academy application got approved. Three months until start.
The elders worried ~ couldn't hide cultivation base from academic staff during admission where soul realm and rank would be published. He assured them it was handled. After sorting business ideas and family affairs reports, he made transferring duties easier for his replacement.
Then he visited the Inscription Guild at city center. Long overdue. Run by Snow Wind Family's Xue Yin, a peak Silver-ranked spiritualist. The guild was relatively empty, though people enchanted weapons ~ crude work he could judge at a glance. Sacred Family had several inscriptions, buyers paying premiums for such enchantments. More like talismans really.
Many free books awaited, but first ~ seeing the masters' section ~ he headed to the restricted area, feigning ignorance since no guard watched the door. Sliding fingers over book covers, he worked quickly until a guard came shouting for him to leave.
He apologized after getting scolded, claiming entry was absolutely unintentional. Meanwhile, he'd used the time copying information from books as memory fragments, absorbing them using creation power to conceptualize them. Mental exhaustion hit ~ over 2700 books, 1100 untranslated. After obtaining memories, he absorbed them while having the Library of Heaven's Path compile everything.
Back in the beginners' section, he read introduction to inscriptions while handling headaches from information overload. They faded within minutes. From inscription masters' experiences and rule books, his already flawless "inscription for dummies" became "flawless inscription for normies" ~ more advanced. Many inscriptions for conducting soul force rituals, sealing soul realms, even soul shackle techniques.
The fine was 100 demon spirit coins ~ lenient since he was a child with good looks and mature behavior. For commoners, 100 coins meant impossible debt and difficult situations. For an aristocratic child, no problem. He apologized to Xue Yin and left.
Silver ranks followed at a distance, confirming he had no third-party dealings. Meanwhile, he lamented those protagonists and villains who, getting chances in other worlds, acted like main characters announcing arrogance and treating others like idiots. Plot armor intentionally lowered others' intelligence, but he had no such thing. Look at these people's vigilance.
Back home, he read compiled inscription books and missed materials. Even with perfect memory, he read them multiple times ~ somehow addictive. Inscription materials were available in markets ~ pens for carving soul force effectively onto subjects. A transforming inscription with concealing runes, carved on his arms' underside, sealed overflowing soul force to mild levels of someone not yet reaching Green Bronze soul realm. He fixed the seal at 70 soul force.
For soul realm sealing, a rune was placed over his soul form figure using his mind with help from flawless sealing ritual obtained through the Library of Heaven's Path. This effectively sealed actual soul depth, attaching a small spherical cloud compared to green soul realm depth to the main one. Hand seals connected to mind seals. Now he could mobilize only 70 soul force. Since sealing didn't involve biological characteristics beyond soul conduits, his adaptive body barely responded. Physical force measuring stayed under his control ~ no other precautions needed.
A month was spent maintaining pretense, meeting friends and relatives, showing elders the sealing results. When they asked about his true cultivation base, he revealed third Bronze rank ~ appropriate for someone a year or two from reveal. After saying goodbye to everyone, including servants ~ he'd always maintained a "cool guy to talk to" attitude, making life peaceful ~ he boarded the horse-drawn cart to the academy.