The breakthrough from Elementary Profound to Spirit Profound did not happen quietly.

Yun Che sat in the lotus position at the center of the bear's cave, surrounded by the bones of the previous tenant, as profound energy swirled around him in a visible vortex. The Sky Poison Pearl glowed in his chest like a second heart, pumping refined spiritual power through his newborn meridians with the force of a tidal wave.

The barrier between realms appeared before his inner eye — a wall of compressed light, dense and unyielding. Most cultivators spent months or years chipping away at this barrier, gradually wearing it down through steady cultivation. Yun Che had neither months nor years.

He struck it with everything he had.

The impact sent a shockwave through the cave, cracking the walls and scattering bones across the floor. A fissure appeared in the barrier — thin, nearly invisible, but real. He struck again. And again. His meridians screamed in protest. Blood dripped from his nose. His vision blurred.

And still he struck.

On the seventh strike, the barrier shattered.

Spirit Profound energy flooded into him in a torrent, denser and brighter than anything he'd ever felt as a prince. The cave around him dissolved into white light. For one perfect moment, Yun Che felt his body, mind, and spirit align — the three elements of cultivation finally working in harmony after three years of crippled agony.

He opened his eyes. The white light faded. The cave walls were covered in a web of fresh cracks from the energy discharge. A small mountain of dust had accumulated on the floor.

He raised his hand, and a spear of pale blue energy formed in his palm — crude, barely shaped, but undeniably his. He had his profound energy back.

Now he could begin the real work: learning the Evil God's Profound Veins, the secret cultivation technique his mother had sealed within the Sky Poison Pearl, and the key to surpassing every cultivator in the Profound Handle.