Peak Stage — Qi Condensation Realm!

"Voidwalker's Step..." Su Xiaobai said aloud, the name rolling off his tongue.

Yes, that was what he'd call it. Since he was going to develop this technique himself, it needed a name worthy of its uniqueness.

He was creating a method no one else could replicate.

A technique that would let him walk through the void like it was his personal playground. And if he mastered it? Forget spying or sneaking around—he could travel between dimensions.

He might even figure out a way back to White Cloud Star, back to the place where it all began.

Excitement buzzed in his chest. He was writing his own legend, step by step, and there was nothing more thrilling.

The risks? They were high—too high for most people—but the rewards? Unimaginable. Su Xiaobai was the kind of man who gambled everything, and this was a gamble he was willing to take.

His current comprehension of the "Dao of Emptiness" had brought him to the first stage, which he decided to call 'Whisper of the Void". It was the stage where he could disappear, blend into the nothingness, and leave no trace behind.

But the second stage... that's where the real fun would begin. "Flickering Shade"—the stage where he wouldn't just vanish, he'd move through the void like a shadow, slipping between cracks in reality, unseen and untouchable.

The more Su Xiaobai thought about it, the more his excitement grew. Creating a technique from scratch wasn't just a test of his abilities—it was a way to carve out his own path, a method that no one else could predict or counter.

The drawbacks were plenty, but the advantages? Unique to him. Voidwalking wasn't something you could just teach.

It was a part of him now, something that came from his own understanding of emptiness, of the space between worlds.

"If I master this, I won't just be untouchable," he murmured, eyes gleaming. "I'll be able to step between dimensions... maybe even return to my home."

And that thought—that distant, impossible dream—was enough to make Su Xiaobai grin like a madman.

That's why he was willing to risk it all. To go beyond the limits of ordinary cultivation and reach for something no one else had even considered.

The void wasn't just a tool—it was the key to everything. And Su Xiaobai was going to unlock it, one flicker at a time.

Whoosh!

A swirling gust of qi echoed through the cave as Su Xiaobai exhaled sharply, shaking off the excitement that had been buzzing in his chest.

"Alright, alright," he muttered, cracking his neck and forcing himself to calm down. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

The last thing he needed was to get so caught up in dreams of void-stepping between dimensions that he forgot about the treasure he was already sitting on—literally.

His eyes gleamed as he reached into his spatial ring and pulled out the rich spiritual water from the spiritual pond.

Swoosh!

The water appeared in front of him, swirling around his body like a gentle, shimmering typhoon.

"Time to put this to good use," he murmured. His meridians still thrummed with the icy qi from the Frostwhisper Lotus, and now, with the spiritual water at his disposal, it was time to level up.

The water's qi felt thick, rich, like it could flood his meridians if he wasn't careful.

He didn't need to rush, though. No sense in blowing himself up by forcing too much at once—again.

With the Lotus's lingering energy still coursing through him, he had the perfect foundation to slowly absorb the qi from the spiritual pond and breakthrough multiple small stages at once.

"Smooth and steady," Su Xiaobai reminded himself, his excitement tempered with a grin.

The 'Meridian Expansion Realm' was critical—no meridian, no qi flow.

And without enough capacity to store all the spiritual energy, trying to form a core would be like trying to fit a mountain into a teacup.

He had to expand and temper his meridians, preparing them to handle the monstrous flow of qi he'd need later on for the "Core Emergence Realm".

And that was still a ways off.

First, he had to push through the 'peak' of the 'Qi Condensation Realm', then expanding his meridians so they could act like rivers of qi, wide and strong enough to handle the enormous flood he was planning to unleash.

Normally, this whole process would take years, decades even—if you weren't lucky or if you didn't have the right resources.

But Su Xiaobai had a nearly unfair amount of spiritual qi at his disposal.

A smirk tugged at his lips as he watched the spiritual water swirl around him, its energy sinking into his skin, winding through his meridians like rainwater soaking into dry earth.

"Thank the heavens for Elder Bai," he chuckled to himself. "If she hadn't unblocked my meridians, this would be a nightmare."

Most cultivators had to struggle with locked or blocked meridians, fighting to force their qi through like trying to push a boulder uphill.

But Elder Bai had seen to that, opening up every path in his body so the qi could flow like a river.

And now, with all this spiritual water swirling around him, he could expand his meridians easily—smoothly, like filling an empty lake after a drought.

"Alright, no need to get greedy," he reminded himself. "I'll save half the spiritual water for later, when I'm ready to form my core."

He wasn't dumb enough to dump it all at once—he'd save the good stuff for when he was ready, for when his body had fully adjusted to the power surging through him.

With one last deep breath, Su Xiaobai settled into his lotus position, ready to absorb the qi from the pond water.

His meridians hummed, eagerly drinking in the energy. It was time to break through the Meridian Expansion Realm, step by step.

"I'm going to need it for what's coming next," he muttered with a grin. Core Emergence was still on the horizon, but with this much spiritual qi, and the foundation he was building, it wouldn't be long before he crossed that threshold.

The storm of qi swirled tighter around him, sinking into his flesh and bones, his entire body becoming a conduit for spiritual energy.

Today, it was about expanding his potential. Tomorrow?

It'd be about unleashing it.

Su Xiaobai couldn't help but smile as the qi surged through him.

"Mark my words," he sneered suddenly remembering the memories from his home, his voice low but dripping with venom.

His eyes glinted with fury before he closed them, an aura of cold resolve enveloping him. "Soon, I'll claim your heads one by one. Either I, Su Xiaobai, will stand unrivaled... or your entire Wuxia Province will cease to exist!"

_______

First Month: Reaching Peak Stage of Qi Condensation Realm

Su Xiaobai's body was bathed in the swirling energy of the 'spiritual pond' as the qi spiraled around him like a divine vortex. Inside his 'middle dantian', his 'Elemental Constellation' flickered with the vibrant energy of his four elements—lightning, wind, fire, and water—each one pulsing with elemental Qi.

He had reached the 'late stage of Qi Condensation', and the time had come to ascend to the 'Peak Stage'.

But the path was not simple—he needed to evolve his constellation into an 'Elemental Nexus', achieving perfect harmony between the chaotic forces of nature within him.