Chapter 25 – Seclusion and Rebirth

Harry woke up with pain spread throughout his entire body. His first breath was rough and difficult, as if his lungs were coated in dust and stone."Ugh... where... where am I?" he muttered, his voice echoing faintly in the darkness.

When he opened his eyes, he saw nothing. The darkness was absolute. He tried to stand up, but his body felt like lead. Groaning in pain, he leaned against a damp wall and sat, resting his back against it.

"That was... one hell of an explosion," he whispered to himself. "If I'm alive, that means... at least it worked."

Harry groped at his chest and felt the pendant still hanging from its chain. The glow that used to warn him of danger had ceased.

"No light... maybe I'm safe for now," he said, more to convince himself than out of certainty.

Despite the pain, he sat in a lotus position and began to cultivate. The moment his cultivation started, an unpleasant sensation ran through his body. The Qi in the place was dense, heavy... and tainted. A polluted Qi, full of impurities and malice.

Harry grimaced."What the hell is this...? I can't absorb this..."

He was about to give up when the pendant on his chest began to glow softly. To his surprise, the light started to purify the surrounding Qi, transforming the dense energy into pure Qi that naturally flowed into his body.

"So... that's one of the pendant's functions? Not as useless as it looked..." he said, fascinated.

He soon realized the reason there was so much Qi in that place. It was where the demonic rats had lived... and died. Over time, their bodies and essence had saturated the area, forming a vortex of polluted energy — now being purified by the pendant and absorbed by him.

Unknowingly, Harry entered a deep state of cultivation.

If Long Hai were there, he would've recognized it instantly: the seclusion of a cultivator. A state in which the cultivator disconnects from the physical world, immersed solely in Qi and their own evolution. In this state, hunger, pain, and time lose all meaning — Qi alone sustains the cultivator's body.

Harry's body began to change.

His cultivation advanced voraciously, guided by the abundant energy. He surpassed the Third Layer of the Qi Refinement Realm. At that stage, the body expels for the first time the impurities accumulated from mortal life. But since Harry was severely injured, this purification was even more intense.

Black sludge began to seep from his pores as his bones, muscles, and tendons were rebuilt — stronger and more refined.

But it didn't stop there.

The Qi, transformed into pure energy, swirled around his dantian like a cyclone. Harry broke through to the next level. As Long Hai had taught him through memories, the Fourth Layer of the Qi Refinement Realm was a milestone: the meridians expand, Qi flow doubles, and the Divine Sense may awaken.

No one knows how much time passed, but Harry finally emerged from seclusion. He felt renewed, powerful, with a light body and clear mind. But the first thing he thought was:

"What a disgusting smell..." he groaned, wrinkling his nose.

Even in the sewer, the stench coming from himself was unbearable. The dark, viscous layer covering his skin revealed how filthy he had been.

"I seriously need a bath..."

He took off his torn shirt and scrubbed his body with it, trying to remove as much of the sludge as possible. Now, even in the dark, he could see faintly — his eyes had evolved with cultivation.

He sat once more in the lotus position. With a clearer mind, he reviewed the knowledge of the Third and Fourth Layers of Qi Refinement.

"So... this is it. I'm at the intermediate level now..."

The memories passed down by Long Hai flowed naturally through his mind. He visualized the process to awaken the Divine Sense and, by applying the technique, his awareness expanded. In a radius of one meter, he could see everything around him as if in third person.

"Incredible... I can see the stones, the cracks, even the wall's moisture..." he said, amazed.

But the Qi consumption was intense. After a few seconds, he ended the technique and began to restore his energy.

He stood up carefully. His body was no longer the same — it was firm, stable, resilient.

He made a gesture with his fingers and conjured a small fireball, no bigger than a fingernail — just enough to light the way.

"Time to find out where I am... and get out of here," he murmured, stepping forward with caution.

Harry's journey into the unknown began anew — now, as a true cultivator.