The next morning, Su Bai stood at the edge of Clear Cloud Peak and prepared for his first official business trip.

It was time to fulfill his promise to the Sect Elders: visiting one peak a day. And most importantly, it was time to secure his daily Sign-In reward at a brand new location.

The Radiant Sky Sect was massively spread out across the mountain range. While Clear Cloud Peak was relatively small and isolated, Verdant Peak was a sprawling, massive hub of activity across a wide valley.

Usually, walking down thousands of stone steps and trekking across the vast sect without a flying sword would be a tedious, exhausting waste of energy. But today, Su Bai practically skipped down the steps.

He wasn’t the least bit tired. In fact, he felt like he could sprint a marathon, audit five years of corporate tax returns, and then do a 360-degree lap around the entire Radiant Sky Sect without blinking.

He glanced down at his right wrist, where a thick, cold iron bracelet was securely fastened beneath his wide sleeve.

The Wraith-Slumber Manacle.

The artifact constantly injected a highly potent curse into his spiritual sea. It was designed to simulate the paralyzing lethargy of a rotting corpse. But thanks to his Reversal Body, that curse was instantly flipped.

Still...

To Su Bai, the commute was terribly inefficient. Six years ago, when he was in the Foundation Establishment realm, he could fly on his sword. It was the cultivation equivalent of a sleek, high-end company car. Now he had been demoted to walking.

Su Bai sighed as he power-walked across the valley floor. "I really need to get my company car back."

By the time he finally arrived at the base of Verdant Peak, he let out a breathless sigh of relief.

The moment the guarding disciples at the grand array saw him, they instantly parted like the Red Sea.

"Greetings, Senior Brother Su!" they chorused respectfully. They didn’t even ask for his token. They immediately unsealed the access array. It seemed Elder Qin had put his name at the very top of the VIP guest list.

As Su Bai walked up the vibrant paths of Verdant Peak, he noticed a massive crowd of disciples gathering along the edges of the courtyards.

They were staring at him with a strange mix of profound admiration and deep, tragic worry.

"Look at Senior Brother Su’s complexion," a female disciple whispered to her friend. "He looks so pale. He must have suffered terrible internal injuries protecting Clear Cloud Peak from that demonic beast yesterday..."

"And yet he still walked all the way here to guide us in the Dao," a male disciple wiped a tear from his eye, deeply moved. "He is clearly conserving his fractured Qi, but he endured the long journey just to fulfill his promise to our Elders! Such boundless righteousness! We must not let his efforts be in vain!"

Su Bai, who was naturally pale and just heavily caffeinated by a cursed bracelet, caught fragments of their whispers. He wisely decided to keep his mouth shut.

He kept his face emotionless and offered them a slight, dignified nod, which only made the crowd swoon harder.

Soon, Elder Qin arrived with a welcoming committee of Verdant Peak management.

"Martial Nephew Su! You honor Verdant Peak with your presence!" Elder Qin laughed warmly. He stepped forward to clasp Su Bai’s shoulder. "Come, come! We have prepared our finest spiritual tea for you in the main pavilion!"

Su Bai offered a flawless corporate smile. "Thank you for having me, Elder Qin. Your peak is as vibrant as always."

While the elders happily exchanged pleasantries and guided him through the beautiful gardens, Su Bai’s mind was entirely focused on the floating blue interface that only he could see.

’System,’ Su Bai commanded mentally. ’Sign in at Verdant Peak.’

[Ding! Signed in at Verdant Peak.]

[Reward: One ’Dao-Severing Mortal Dust Pill’ has been deposited into your system inventory.]

Su Bai’s eyes gleamed. Verdant Peak was famous for its healing arts and boundless life energy. He expected that the System would hand him a terrifying, localized ecological disaster.

He eagerly pulled up the item description.

[Item: Dao-Severing Mortal Dust Pill]

[Use: A taboo poison once used by ancient demonic sects to cripple righteous geniuses. Forcibly shatters the ceiling of the user’s Dantian, causing all accumulated Qi to leak out infinitely. It permanently prevents the user from ever condensing a Foundation, locking them in an endless, broken loop of Qi Refining until they wither into a mortal.]

Su Bai stared at the floating blue text. it’s a terrifying execution pill. A literal poison designed to permanently destroy a cultivator’s future and sever their connection to the Dao.

And Su Bai... was absolutely thrilled.

’Wait a minute,’ Su Bai’s brain rapidly processed the data. ’If the intended effect is to shatter the Dantian’s ceiling to leak Qi and permanently PREVENT Foundation Establishment...’

His Reversal Body would do the exact opposite!

Instead of shattering the ceiling to leak Qi, the pill would aggressively seal and compress it. Instead of locking him in a broken loop to prevent Foundation Establishment, it would forcefully push his Dantian to perfectly condense his gaseous Qi into a solid Foundation!

’This is it!’ Su Bai’s heart pounded with excitement. ’This isn’t an execution pill. This is a fast-track promotion! If I take this, I’ll completely bypass the bottleneck of the 9th Stage of Qi Refining and shoot straight back into Foundation Establishment! I can finally get my company car back!’

He was practically giddy. It was the ultimate system exploit. He had found a massive bug in the matrix, and he was going to ride it all the way to middle management.

However, his mind quickly tapped the brakes.

He was currently only at the 6th Stage of Qi Refining. His gaseous Qi wasn’t dense enough yet. If he took the pill now, the extreme compression force meant to condense a Foundation might just crush his half-empty Dantian like an empty soda can.

’I need to reach the 9th Stage first,’ he concluded.

"Martial Nephew Su?"

Elder Qin’s voice broke through his internal celebration. Su Bai blinked, returning to reality.

He found that they had stopped walking. Elder Qin, the other Verdant Peak elders, and a massive crowd of disciples were all staring at him. Elder Qin was looking at Su Bai’s slightly twitching expression with deep concern.

"Is something wrong?" Elder Qin asked gently. "Did the long walk tax your meridians? Are you feeling unwell?"

Su Bai looked at Elder Qin. He looked at the hundreds of bright, innocent, adoring disciples who were already treating him like a tragic saint just for walking up a flight of stairs.

"No, Elder Qin," Su Bai said softly. He let out a weary sigh to cover up his giddiness. "Everything is perfectly fine. I was just contemplating... the profound joy of shattering one’s own limits."

Elder Qin’s eyes instantly widened. The old man misinterpreted the sigh flawlessly. He stroked his gray beard.

"Profound," Elder Qin whispered. He exchanged a shocked, deeply moved look with the other elders.

The crippled genius, despite his pale complexion and invisible burdens, was still thinking about defying the heavens and shattering his limits.

"Truly profound."