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Hours bled into a day in the accelerated time. He fell countless times, washed back to the bottom, only to grit his teeth and start again. He learned to synchronize his breathing with the rhythm of the waterfall, to find moments of stillness within the chaos.

But the thousand steps were simply too arduous to complete the higher he climbed. His body, even through a simulation, became bruised and broken. The relentless pressure was designed not just to temper, but to break. By step 300, his progress slowed to a crawl. By step 400, every step felt like a new tearing of muscle and grinding of bone. He started wondering if the Premium Cultivation Room had truly materialized this challenge because it all felt real. The objective felt less like tempering and more like self-destruction.

He collapsed on step 412. The torrent hammered his back like a huge sledgehammer made of the densest of ores, it made his consciousness flicker.

He understood that at his current level, relying on physical strength and the breathing technique alone wasn't enough. There had to be something he was missing.

"Rely only on your physical strength and the Silent Stream Breathing Technique to circulate and endure."

Taihao's instructions echoed in his mind. Circulate and endure. He had been focusing on enduring, on gritting his teeth and pushing through the pain. But what about circulating? He had been using the breathing technique to calm his mind and absorb a dense amount of energy, but perhaps its true purpose in this trial was different.

As the water washed him back down to the rocky base for what felt like the hundredth time, he didn't immediately stand. He lay there, letting the waterfall crash over him, and focused not on resisting it, but on understanding it.

The [Silent Stream Breathing Technique] was about emulating a serene, flowing river. The [Vein of the Silent Stream] was about creating that river within his meridians.

But this waterfall… this was a river at its most violent and powerful. How could a silent stream contend with a raging torrent?

Then, the core principle of his sutra resurfaced. The [Everflowing Serenity Sutra]. It was enhancing his mental fortitude and achieving tranquility amidst chaos. To cultivate his mind and prevent inner demons from surfacing.

In that moment of clarity, lying broken at the bottom of a waterfall of pain, he finally understood. He wasn't supposed to fight the waterfall. He was supposed to meld with it.

He sat up, crossed his legs, and closed his eyes, ignoring the punishing impacts.

He activated the [Silent Stream Breathing Technique], but this time, he didn't use it to reinforce his body by absorbing more spiritual energy. Instead, he visualized the flow.

He imagined his own meridians, his core cultivation technique, the [Vein of the Silent Stream], not as a separate river, but as a tributary merging with the colossal waterfall.

He let the external, violent spiritual energy flow passively into him, not fighting it, but guiding it with the calm, steady rhythm of his breathing.

His body became like an open channel. The energy that had been shredding his muscles was now being distributed and circulated through his meridians in a controlled, powerful loop and then expelled.

It was excruciatingly painful, like trying to direct a flood with a garden hose.

His meridians and energy channels screamed, threatening to rupture. But the [Everflowing Serenity Sutra] held his mind steady, allowing him to maintain focus, to find the serenity in the flow, no matter how destructive.

Slowly and painstakingly, he stood up. He took the first step back onto the staircase, and this time, the impact felt different. It was still immense, but it was no longer a purely destructive force. It was a current he was now a part of.

He began to ascend again. Step 413. Step 414. Each step was still a struggle, but now it was a manageable one.

He was no longer just a rock being battered by a wave. He became a smaller but more resilient current flowing within the larger one.

His body started acting as a tempering forge for the energy passing through it, prompting it to transform rapidly.

His skin took on a faint, silvery sheen. His bones became denser, resonating with a low quivering. His muscles that were constantly being torn and healed by the guided spiritual energy grew leaner, yet packed with an explosive and resilient power.

The simulation's clock continued to tick. A day turned into two, then three. He passed step 500, then 800.

His movements became smoother as though he wasn't climbing increasingly difficult steps underneath the waterfall but gliding upwards, ignoring the overwhelming pressure.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of roaring water and searing pain, he pulled himself onto the final, thousandth step. He stood atop the waterfall, the silver torrent parted around him as if acknowledging his mastery.

He looked down at his own body. It was scarred but radiating a powerful vitality he had never felt before. A quiet strength that came not from resistance, but from harmony.

[Module 1: Physical Conditioning - Complete]

[Physical Vessel Resilience – +300%]

[Stamina & Recovery Rate – +250%]

[Silent Stream Breathing Technique – 3rd Layer]

[Current Progress: 80%]

[Vein of the Silent Stream – 2nd Layer]

[Current Progress: 50%]

[Spiritual Roots: High-grade (0%)]

[Everflowing Serenity Sutra – 1st Layer]

[Current Progress: 50%]

[New Ability Unlocked: Stillwater Body - Passively reduces physical impact and allows for the absorption of ambient kinetic energy to replenish stamina.]

[Assessment: Ideal State Achieved. Proceeding to Module 2.]

The world dissolved into white light once more. When his vision returned, he was standing in the center of the white room, but his physical gains from the simulation felt real, etched into his very being. The exhaustion was profound, but so was the sense of accomplishment.

Reading the panels before him, he couldn't help but find it a little intriguing. While he did experience some kind of transformation during that module, to find his progress had leaped up that much. Even his spiritual roots leveled up from intermediate to high grade.

But before he could properly check on his body or celebrate his gains, a new holographic display appeared before him.

[Module 2: Combat Comprehension - The Flowing Spear]

[Objective: Master the synergy between the Starflow Meditation Manual, the Starlit Dragon Spear and the Crimson Flow Phantom Steps. Achieve the Ideal State for your self-created spear techniques.]

[Simulation Environment: The Starless Void]

[Time Acceleration: 20x]

He had no idea how long he had spent in the first module, but the environment shifted again. This time to a vast, empty blackness dotted with distant, pinprick stars.

The [Starlit Dragon Spear] materialized in his hand as if roaring to go berserk upon sensing the change in him.

The first module tested his ability to endure and harmonize with an overwhelming external force. This module, he sensed, would test his ability to project his own internal force.

"Is that really the case?" Lin Mo muttered to himself as he waited for the simulated environment to change again.

[Objective: Defeat the Starlight Phantoms. Each phantom is a manifestation of pure starlight qi. They possess no physical form and can only be damaged by techniques infused with your own starlight qi. Conventional physical strikes will be ineffective.]

As the message faded, his surroundings began to distort as dozens of humanoid figures made of swirling, condensed starlight coalesced around him.

They moved like puppets on a string as they positioned themselves to surround him, ready to pounce on him at any moment. Their forms, like what was mentioned, were like a humanoid phantom, shifting and flowing like liquid light.

Soon enough, one of them dashed forward, its hand morphing into a sharp, starlight blade that it thrust towards Lin Mo's chest.

He reacted instinctively, bringing his spear up to parry.

Clang!

Except there was no clang. The phantom's blade passed through his spear as if it were smoke. Its form momentarily became distorted before reforming.

The strike continued, and Lin Mo was forced to use his movement technique to dodge at the last second, a trickle of cold sweat running down his back.

"Ineffective physical strikes, huh?" Lin Mo muttered, gripping his spear tighter.

Right. Why didn't he quickly use his starlight qi? It was a dumb mistake.

This test was to check his qi manipulation mastery. He had to infuse every strike and block with starlight qi from his dantian's four nodes. A test of precision, efficiency, and control.

"Let's try it again."

He took a deep breath, recalling the feeling of the waterfall. He didn't resist the pressure of the phantoms' advance.

He began to move as his movement technique once again created a crimson phantom to confuse 'phantoms' before channeling his starlight qi into his spear, letting it coil around the tip. "[Starcoil Thrust]!"

He lunged, his spear tracing a spiraling path. This time, when it met a phantom's attack, a brilliant flash erupted. The phantom shrieked a soundless scream as its starlight form was disrupted, a visible chunk of its essence dissipating.

It worked.

A fierce grin spread across Lin Mo's face. The phantoms were the perfect sparring partners. They were relentless, incorporeal and they're forcing him to focus solely on the purity and application of his techniques. The old man truly knows what he needs to achieve that 'ideal state'.