Li Tian woke to whispers.
Not the mechanical notifications from Prometheus, but something deeper—voices rising from the earth itself. In his dreams, golden fields had stretched endlessly beneath a sun that burned with spiritual fire, and every blade of grass had called his name in harmonious chorus. The vision clung to his consciousness like morning dew, refusing to fade with wakefulness.
His body felt different. Stronger. When he sat up, muscles moved with fluid precision he'd never possessed before. His senses had sharpened to an almost painful degree—he could hear his father's steady breathing from the next room, smell the faint ozone of approaching rain hours away, feel the subtle vibrations of earthworms moving through soil beneath the floorboards.
[Good morning, Host. Congratulations—assimilation successful. New abilities unlocked.]
Prometheus's voice carried an excited undertone, like a child eager to share a discovery.
[Spiritual Breath Infusion Lv.1 now available. This technique allows channeling of raw spirit energy through controlled breathing into organic or metallic matter. Would you like to review the cultivation manual?]
Li Tian padded to his window and gazed out at the ruined fields. Yesterday they had been barren wasteland, scarred by spiritual overflow and mechanical destruction. But now... something had changed. A faint luminescence clung to the soil, barely visible in the pre-dawn darkness, pulsing with the same rhythm as his heartbeat.
"Show me," he whispered.
[Step outside, Host. Let the earth feel your presence.]
The morning air was crisp against his skin as Li Tian walked barefoot across the yard. Each step sent tiny ripples of energy through the ground, and he could swear he felt the earth responding—welcoming him home. He knelt in the center of what had once been their vegetable garden, now nothing but churned dirt and withered roots.
[Place your hands on the soil. Breathe slowly—in through the nose, hold for four counts, out through the mouth. Feel the energy within you seeking connection with the world outside.]
Li Tian followed the instructions, and immediately felt something fundamental shift. His breathing deepened, became rhythmic, purposeful. With each inhalation, spiritual energy gathered in his core—not the raw, chaotic power from before, but something refined and controllable. With each exhalation, that energy flowed downward through his palms into the earth below.
The ground trembled.
Not violently, like an earthquake, but with gentle anticipation. Beneath his hands, he felt life stirring—seeds thought long dead beginning to remember their purpose, roots stretching toward nutrients that shouldn't exist, microscopic organisms awakening from winter sleep.
A single green shoot pushed through the soil between his fingers.
Li Tian's breath caught, but he didn't break the rhythm. The shoot continued growing, unfurling into a leaf, then another, then flowering in fast-forward as spiritual energy nourished its impossible growth. What emerged wasn't quite the cabbage it had been planted as—this plant glowed with soft inner light, its leaves shot through with veins of gold, radiating vitality that made the air itself taste cleaner.
Around him, the desolate field began to respond. Grass sprouted in perfect circles expanding outward from where he knelt. Insects emerged from hidden burrows, not in swarms but in orderly processions, as if drawn by some irresistible harmony. Birds landed on fence posts and watched in silent reverence.
Li Tian felt his emotions flowing into the land itself. His determination to protect this place, his growing anger at those who would destroy it, his hope for something better—all of it fed the spiritual current flowing through his hands. The earth drank it in greedily, transforming pain into growth, rage into renewal.
[Fascinating,] Prometheus murmured. [Your emotional resonance is amplifying the technique far beyond baseline parameters. The soil itself is becoming spiritually enriched. At this rate, your farm will become a natural cultivation ground within weeks.]
Li Tian opened his eyes and looked around at the impossible garden spreading in all directions. Where moments before there had been wasteland, now neat rows of spirit-touched crops glowed in the morning light. The air hummed with life force so dense he could see it shimmering like heat waves.
"This is just the beginning," he said, and his voice carried an authority he'd never possessed before. The words weren't his alone—they came from somewhere deeper, older, as if the Ancient cultivator himself spoke through Li Tian's lips.
[Congratulations, Host. Your path as a Neo-Cultivator has truly begun.]
Three hundred kilometers away, General Chen Wei stood before a wall of monitors in the highest floor of the Iron Covenant's command tower. Satellite feeds showed thermal blooms and energy readings from a dozen rural locations, but one signature blazed brighter than all the others—a spiral of golden light emanating from what intelligence reports indicated was a simple farm.
"Spiritual concentration is off the charts," his aide reported, voice tight with barely controlled fear. "The readings are similar to what we recorded during the Purge Wars, but more... focused. Controlled."
Chen Wei nodded slowly, his expression unchanged. Where others might see chaos or opportunity, he saw only data points to be managed. The spiritual awakening spreading across the countryside wasn't a crisis—it was a resource allocation problem. One that required precise application of force.
"Deploy Captain Xu Jin and his extraction team," he said without taking his eyes from the monitors. "Full authority to secure or neutralize the source."
"Sir, Captain Xu's methods are... aggressive. The civilian population—"
"Will comply or be removed." Chen Wei's tone carried the same emotional weight as discussing quarterly supply reports. "Cultivation power belongs to the state. Individual ownership is a luxury we can no longer afford."
He turned from the monitors to face his aide directly. "Captain Xu understands this principle better than most. Send him."
Captain Xu Jin stood six feet tall in his ceremonial crimson-and-black uniform, every line of his figure radiating controlled violence. The uniform itself was a work of art—crimson silk panels depicting falling cultivators embroidered in silver thread, black armor plates inscribed with the names of his confirmed kills. His boots were polished to mirror brightness, and his cap bore the Iron Covenant's symbol cast in genuine gold recovered from executed spiritual practitioners.
He smiled as he reviewed the mission briefing, and the expression transformed his otherwise handsome features into something predatory. Xu Jin believed in the purity of his purpose with religious fervor—cultivation power was too dangerous for individual ownership. Only through systematic extraction, refinement, and redistribution could spiritual energy serve the greater good of the state.
The peasants simply didn't understand. They clung to outdated notions of personal power, individual achievement, family traditions. Such thinking had led to the chaos of the old world, when rogue cultivators had nearly destroyed civilization with their petty wars and territorial disputes. The Iron Covenant had brought order from that chaos. Xu Jin was merely an instrument of that order.
"Prepare the Suppression Corps," he commanded his lieutenant. "Standard extraction protocols. Establish a perimeter, process the civilians, secure the asset."
"Sir, intelligence suggests the target may be a awakened cultivator. Perhaps we should—"
Xu Jin's smile widened, revealing teeth capped with silver—a personal affectation that served to remind others of his dedication to the cause. Each cap represented a cultivator he'd personally executed.
"Even better. Fresh awakening means the subject won't have developed proper defensive techniques. We'll harvest the power before it can corrupt him further."
The airship *Mandate* descended toward the rural district like a mechanical predator. Its shadow fell across farmhouses and villages, and those who looked up quickly found reasons to be elsewhere. Xu Jin stood at the craft's observation deck, watching the landscape scroll beneath him, already planning the operation's execution.
They made a brief stop at a crossroads market where his intelligence reports indicated another spiritual signature had been detected. The target was an elderly man sitting beside a tea stall, hands glowing faintly as he warmed water without flame—a minor cultivation technique, barely worth notice in the old world. In the new order, it was a capital offense.
"Citizens of the Republic," Xu Jin announced through the airship's speakers as his troops surrounded the market. "By authority of the Cultivation Seizure Division, you are required to report any individuals displaying unauthorized spiritual abilities."
The crowd froze. Children pressed against their parents' legs. Merchants suddenly found urgent business elsewhere. But the old tea seller remained seated, his weathered hands still glowing with gentle warmth.
"You there," Xu Jin called, stepping down from his transport with casual authority. "Stand and submit to power extraction."
The old man looked up with sad but unsurprised eyes. "I've been making tea this way for sixty years, young captain. It harms no one."
"It harms the state by existing outside proper channels." Xu Jin drew his sidearm—a custom weapon that fired crystallized spiritual energy, designed specifically for executing cultivators. "Your power will be refined and redistributed to serve the greater good."
"Please," a woman called from the crowd—the tea seller's daughter, judging by her features. "He's just an old man. He only wants to make tea."
Xu Jin turned his smile on her. "And he shall make tea in the state refinement facilities, where his abilities can be properly utilized." He raised the weapon. "Consider this a mercy. Real cultivation belongs to the state."
The weapon discharged with a sound like breaking crystal. The old man slumped forward, the light fading from his hands forever. Around the market, children began to cry, but their parents quickly hushed them. Xu Jin holstered his weapon with practiced ease.
"Let this serve as an example," he announced to the silent crowd. "The Iron Covenant offers prosperity and order to those who comply. Report unauthorized cultivators immediately, and be rewarded. Harbor them, and share their fate."
He returned to his airship without looking back. The tea was already growing cold.
The village near Li Tian's farm had never seen an Iron Covenant airship before. The massive craft descended from the afternoon sky like a mechanical storm cloud, its engines thrumming with barely contained power. Shadow fell across the market square, the school, the small temple where villagers still whispered prayers to ancestral spirits.
Xu Jin emerged from the craft's boarding ramp with theatrical precision, his crimson uniform brilliant against the rural backdrop. Behind him came two dozen soldiers in black body armor, their weapons held ready but not quite threatening. Yet.
The villagers gathered in the square—partly from curiosity, mostly from fear. They'd heard rumors of what happened in the cities, of cultivators vanishing in the night, of families torn apart by spiritual extraction protocols. But such things had always seemed distant, unreal. Now terror wore a uniform and stood smiling in their midst.
"Citizens," Xu Jin's voice carried easily across the square, amplified by built-in speakers in his armor. "I am Captain Xu Jin of the Cultivation Seizure Division. This region has been flagged for unauthorized spiritual activity."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd. Several villagers glanced nervously toward the direction of Li Tian's farm, where strange lights had been seen for days.
"All individuals possessing cultivation abilities must report for extraction and processing within the hour," Xu Jin continued, his smile never wavering. "This is not negotiable. This is not optional. This is the law."
An elderly village leader stepped forward, his voice shaking but determined. "Captain, we are simple farmers. We know nothing of cultivation or spiritual powers. Surely there has been some mistake."
Xu Jin studied the man like a scientist examining an interesting specimen. "Satellite readings indicate spiritual energy signatures consistent with active cultivation practice. Someone in this region has awakened to power beyond their authority to wield." His smile shifted, becoming something hungrier. "I find it helpful to begin with public examples."
He gestured, and two soldiers seized the village leader despite his protests. The crowd surged forward instinctively, then stopped as weapons swung in their direction.
"This man harbors cultivators," Xu Jin announced to the square. "His compliance would have been rewarded. His deception will be punished."
"Please," the leader gasped as the soldiers forced him to his knees. "I don't know what you're talking about. Please, I have grandchildren."
"So do the families of those killed by rogue cultivators," Xu Jin replied, drawing his specialized weapon. "Your sacrifice serves the greater good."
That was when Li Tian stepped into the square.
He moved with the fluid confidence of someone who had found his purpose, and the air around him shimmered with barely contained spiritual energy. His work clothes were simple—dirt-stained jeans and a cotton shirt—but power radiates from him in visible waves. Birds perched on nearby rooftops, drawn by the harmony of his presence. The very ground seemed to pulse in rhythm with his heartbeat.
"Let him go," Li Tian said, and his voice carried the authority of growing earth and flowing water.
Xu Jin's smile became genuinely delighted. "And here we have our unauthorized asset." He holstered his weapon and studied Li Tian with professional interest. "You're younger than I expected. Fresh awakening, I'd guess. Barely begun to understand what you're playing with."
Li Tian took another step forward. The spiritual energy around him intensified, and several villagers gasped as flowers bloomed spontaneously in the cracks between cobblestones. "I said let him go."
"Or what?" Xu Jin's laugh was genuinely amused. "You'll make more flowers grow? How terrifying." He gestured to his soldiers. "Secure the asset. Standard extraction protocols."
The soldiers moved forward with practiced coordination, energy-dampening restraints ready. But Li Tian didn't retreat. Behind him, his farm glowed like a beacon on the hillside—acres of impossible crops radiating spiritual light, proof of what determination and power could accomplish when working in harmony.
[Warning: Host's life is at risk. Multiple armed hostiles detected. Would you like to unlock Emergency Defense Protocol: Ember Root?]
Prometheus's voice carried urgent excitement, as if it had been waiting for this moment.
Li Tian felt the system's offer like a doorway opening in his mind—power beyond his current understanding, techniques that could turn the ground itself into his ally. But accepting would change him further, push him deeper into conflict with the world order these soldiers represented.
He looked at the village leader still kneeling between guards, at the frightened faces of people who had never asked for any of this, at Xu Jin's confident smirk. His choice crystallized with perfect clarity.
They want my land? My power? My life? Then they'll have to choke on the roots of rebellion.
"Yes," he said, both to Prometheus and to the larger question the moment demanded.
The earth beneath the square began to tremble, and Li Tian's eyes blazed with golden fire as ancient power stirred in answer to his call.
Xu Jin's smile faltered for the first time as spiritual energy thick enough to taste rolled across the village like incoming storm. This was going to be more interesting than he'd expected.