Innate realm

The moon hung low, its silver light filtering through the cracked window of Han Chen's bedroom. He sat cross-legged on the floor, hands resting on his knees, palms open to the night. Outside, the weeds in the neglected garden shivered—not from wind, but from the pull of something deeper.

A week prior, he'd pieced together a new cultivation method, stitching fragments of ancient immortal law into something his mortal body could bear. He called it Essence Convergence and Radiance Refining. It wasn't elegant as his best works, but it did its job.

Each night, he became a silent thief of starlight. with support of Dao rhyme, energy seeped from the cosmos into his pores, cool and liquid, like moonlight given form. The overgrown grass beneath his window paid the price. By dawn, their blades would crisp to yellow, life siphoned away.

In the stillness of the world, he recited silently, I become one with the trees, the winds, and the stars.

The weeds beneath his place trembled as cosmic energy seeped into his veins, cold and liquid, like moonlight given form. By dawn, their blades would crisp to gold, life siphoned away. A small price, he reasoned, for the pulse of power now threading his cells.

"In the stillness of the world, I become one with the trees, the winds, and the stars. Their life essence flows into me, a river of vitality, binding nature's strength to my very soul."

"The roots of all things converge within me, and I become the heart of the world's energy. When the stars whisper, I listen. Their radiance filters through the cosmos, weaving through the night like threads of ancient light. I draw it in and refine it into the essence of life."

"The sun's fury is bright but fleeting; Taiyang, its power too wild, too sharp. Yet in the night's embrace, Taiyin, the celestial energies linger, soft and pure, ready to be gathered like dew from a forgotten dawn."

"The wood spirits whisper secrets of the earth, and the moon speaks of distant worlds. I, the bridge between heaven and earth, harness both yin & yang in harmony, for my body is the vessel of the universe's breath.

With every heartbeat, I pulse with the force of life and the cosmos. My breath is the wind, my veins the rivers, my soul the stars. Boundless power is within my grasp, refined and endless."

"The radiance I emit is not of this world. It draws the stars from the sky, bringing their light to my being, transforming it into an eternal glow that dances through every atom of my existence.

The essence law of the wood, the whispers of the night sky, all converge within me as I walk the Avenue of the Eternal Path. My body, my mind, my spirit—are the conduit through which all energies pass."

"In the convergence of life, I stand eternal. In the radiance of the stars, I transcend. For as the earth gives, and the sky reflects, I become both the vessel and the flame. As the wind nourishes the seed, so too do the stars feed the soul. My path is not bound by constraints; it is guided by the eternal flow of energy, converging and refining, ever in motion, yet perfectly still."

Immortal law graced on mortal world for the first time. Profound energy movement and heavenly mechanisms happened underneath few lines of insight.

Each midnight, he became a thief of starlight. Three hours of drawing down Taiyin energy—gentle, pure—its whispers weaving through him:

By day, solar fury scorched his meridians, a wildfire honing flesh and bone. Three hours at dawn, gritting teeth as Taiyang energy seared impurities away

Sleep? A fleeting pause between cycles—a necessary concession to a body still bound by mortal limits.

His parents noticed nothing. When his mother knocked each morning, he'd snap back into the role of dutiful son, cycling the bland family cultivation technique he'd mastered as a child. But alone again, he'd resume his true work.

He'd learned to split his focus—body, realm, soul—each refinement a thread guided by slivers of his consciousness. The weeds withered. The air around him hummed with an invisible pull, Dao rhyme condensing like morning fog.

Some nights, he wondered if the neighbors would notice the garden's decay. But the plants regrew, stubborn and wild, and Han Chen's hunger was careful. Small prices for the pulse of power now threading his cells.

By the time the first birds sang, he'd retreat, the taste of starlight lingering on his soul. His parents' voices would rise from the kitchen—eggs sizzling, rice steaming—and Han Chen would smile, ordinary once more.

Progress came in percentages etched into his mind due to system support, even though he could feel it himself:

Skin refinement: 80% (resilient to blades, indifferent to frost).

Bones: 41% (leaping 9 meters unaided, landing like wind).

Organs: 10% (Qi channeled through Taichong, Shenmen, Baihui acupoints, syncing breath to Dao's rhythm).

His mind, rewired through subconscious refinement, now partitioned effortlessly. 30% of his consciousness calculating Qi flows, 40% tempering marrow, the rest parsing mortal threats. Fear? A dial turned low.

Just with no internal force, he can reach over 9m from stand still with an explosive jump, and his bones and spine can withstand such a stress with no problem. If he used martial arts to distribute the force evenly, he could reach few more meters and came to a stop in a standstill without any excessive motion.

The refinement using immortal law also meant that, it surpassed any advanced cultivation on the planet and as such, the improvement in realm shifted its dependence from qi and essence energy from food to radiance refining and essence convergence.

He also visited central parks and the forest in suburbs to extract life force which improved his qi refinement further. Which also meant he can pierce through the gang qi shield generated by martial masters like a paper since assistance of law and rules of dao in cultivation is incomparable to mortal training technique refinement.

The abandoned villa's oak trees loomed under a moonless sky as Han Chen settled onto a gnarled branch, his fingers brushing bark still damp with evening dew. At the precipice of Transform Jin, he sensed the bottleneck—a wall of imperfection in this realm's fractured martial path.

From description of martial master realm in this world through dark net forums and sources of high martial techniques he bought using Cryptocurrency, [ yeah, he made some hacking and bug bounty reward money] with his understanding he noticed that, the transformation to master is imperfect. Only solution he could come up with is there is a hidden realm in between.

For weeks, he'd cycled between suppression and refinement, his meridians scrubbed raw by the Meridian Washing Chapter. Tonight, the stars aligned—literally. Weather reports promised clarity; the cosmos hummed with unclaimed energy. He reached the abandoned villa again.

He closed his eyes, releasing the restraints on his aura. Dao rhythm pulsed outward, a 50-meter sphere where grass blades bowed and crickets silenced mid-chirp.

"In the silence of the void, I hear the pulse of Tao…"

The ancient verses coiled through his mind as he siphoned vitality from a 30-meter oak. Its leaves browned at the edges, life essence funneling into his core. Cosmic energy followed—threads of starlight braiding with stolen vitality, forging a self-sustaining cycle.

"In the silence of the void, I hear the pulse of Tao. My Qi no longer fights but flows, merging with the rhythm of the cosmos."

"Transform intent into clarity, and clarity into harmony. Let every movement resonate with the great Dao, erasing the boundaries between self and the world."

"The barriers of the body dissolve; the meridians widen, the Qi condenses, refining itself into purity unmatched by the mortal form."

"The breath of heaven and earth, in my case the essence converged becomes mine, each inhale drawing the essence of life, each exhale expelling chaos and impurity."

"The flame of my spirit ignites the eternal cycle. My Qi refines endlessly, no longer depleting but self-regenerating like the rivers that flow to the sea."

"My mind settles like a mountain, my will sharpens like a blade. Intent no longer guides Qi, but Qi obeys thought, merging as one."

"In stillness, I create; in motion, I destroy. The balance of Yin and Yang within me births the infinite."

"Each meridian sings with vitality; the body becomes a vessel of the heavens, uniting essence, energy, and spirit."

"The stars above, the earth below—I am the axis, the bridge between the celestial and mortal realms."

"With this step, I ascend beyond limits. My Qi becomes boundless, my body a conduit of the eternal Dao, and my existence harmonized with the infinite."

Fourteen hours later, dawn bled into the horizon. Han Chen's eyes snapped open. Han Chen sat motionless beneath the gnarled oak all the while, its life essence draining into him like sap from a tapped tree. The process was slow, deliberate. His Qi refinement efficiency sharpened with each passing hour, harmonizing his essence and spirit with the Dao. By the time the oak's bark curled brown and brittle, he'd achieved a self-sustaining energy cycle—a subtle aura radiating from him, invisible but palpable.

The transformation was visceral. His spine crackled as it lengthened, muscles reknitting into cords of iron beneath skin that shed impurities like charcoal dust. Imperfections - scars, blemishes, even the faint asymmetry of his face—had vanished. His hair, once ordinary, now gleamed with a subtle sheen. When he stood, the oak's branch snapped—not from weight, but from the intent of his unrestrained aura. A sparrow mid-flight stalled, wings locked, and plummeted.

Thud.

"Sorry, little guy," Han Chen murmured, cradling the dazed bird. A wisp of Innate Qi seeped from his palm, mending fractured bones. The sparrow chirped, disoriented but alive, before darting into the gloom.

His perception in intent sight and eye technique changed completely. Previously representing the emotional response now acts in a line extending from the target to him. He perceived this from the bird he just healed. Its body is full of blue tints in his view, indicating to him of vulnerable spots and they were most in the region where it was injured.

Similarly, looking around he found faint red hues lingering around the walls of the building nearby. After a little thought process, he found that red hue spots line along areas which have reinforcement from behind. His brain already calculates interference along the telekinetic perception and displays these spots within his view.

This was the Innate Realm, a state he'd theorized after scouring dark net forums and decrypting high-level martial manuals bought with cryptocurrency. A secret in this modern martial arts world. The barriers to this realm were twofold: the lack of natural Qi in the modern world and the near-impossibility of comprehending the laws of heaven and earth without guidance from the Dao. Han Chen, with his immortal consciousness and Dao resonance, had bridged the gap.