The Imperial Library was silent, save for the dry, anxious breathing of Elder Long Wei. The ancient powerhouse knelt before the infant master, his loyalty absolute, his decades of stagnation now replaced by the terror of servitude. Lin Tian, having defeated him in a conceptual war, was now the sole beneficiary of his unique expertise.
Lin Tian began channeling the command, pushing his tiny body to its limit to control the Elder's Soul Transformation Peak power. I require maximum resource flow. Utilize the Earth Spirit Dragon Vein to its threshold. Conceal the siphon from the Imperial Court. Failure is not permitted.
Elder Long Wei was terrified. Siphoning the Earth Spirit Dragon Vein was an act of high treason against the realm's spiritual stability, a crime punishable by total annihilation. But the absolute command of the Heaven-Shaking Daoist over his soul left him no choice.
"Master," Long Wei whispered, his voice resonating with power. "I require the precise anti-formation schematics. The Vein has layers of protective wards—I will rupture my own core if I attempt a direct brute-force siphon."
Their weakness is my knowledge. Lin Tian focused his Observer's Eye onto the Vein's protective wards.
[Observer's Eye Activated. Target: Earth Spirit Dragon Vein Protective Matrix. Flaw: Redundancy Overlap (5th and 7th Layers). Solution: Reverse Flow Resonance Protocol.]
Lin Tian instantly projected the complex, flawless reverse-flow schematics directly into Long Wei's mind.
Elder Long Wei gasped, reeling from the sudden influx of divine knowledge. The schematics were perfect—a method to bypass the core wards without triggering the Vein's natural defense mechanism. He immediately began the execution, flying to the Vein's main convergence point deep beneath the palace. He didn't break the wards; he persuaded them, tricking them into reversing their protective flow.
The Earth Spirit Dragon Vein began to surge. A torrent of pure, liquid Mortal Qi—the consolidated spiritual wealth of the entire capital—was violently pulled upwards. The energy flow was silent, directed entirely toward Lin Tian's chambers in the Imperial Library.
The spiritual density in the library immediately soared, reaching levels that should only exist in the higher tiers of the Cloud Heavens. The ancient stone of the library walls began to groan, unable to contain the overwhelming spiritual concentration.
Lin Tian sat in the center of the surge, initiating his cultivation. He was no longer gathering spiritual fragments; he was drinking the essence of the entire kingdom.
The sheer volume of energy posed a risk. Lin Tian, stable at the Divine Golden Core realm, began using the energy to accelerate his cultivation toward Soul Transformation Stage 4. The Omni-Talent worked furiously, filtering and integrating the massive torrent.
[Cultivation Status: Soul Transformation Stage 2 (Initial) Achieved. Progress: 1%.]
The breakthrough was instant and absolute, but the external consequences were severe. Every minor Spiritual Herb Garden in the Imperial Palace withered and died, drained of all energy. The aura of the capital, once vibrant, became thin and weak.
Long Wei returned, pale and trembling, having successfully completed the massive siphon. "Master, the flow is secured. But the Emperor will notice the spiritual vacuum immediately. The other nobles will demand an investigation."
Lin Tian smiled, satisfied with the massive power-up. He knew the next move was securing the political narrative.
"Rest, Elder," Lin Tian transmitted. "Your martial service is complete. The political chaos is already planned. We will blame the contamination on Grandmaster Wei. Your role is now to defend the Imperial Isolation Chambers."
Lin Tian had successfully acquired the immense spiritual capital needed to justify his sudden power spike and launch the final political attack. He was fully prepared to convert Grandmaster Wei into his second, equally essential puppet.