Night covered Canglan City like a veil of ink.
The old river district had long since declined. Most of the shipping warehouses stood abandoned, their metal doors rusted, their windows cracked, their concrete walls covered in graffiti from bored teenagers who had no idea that spiritual energy now seeped beneath their feet.
A cold wind moved across the river.
Lin Xuanye stood at the edge of the warehouse compound and closed his eyes.
The world grew quiet.
He circulated the Nine Nether Samsara Sutra slowly.
Spiritual threads extended from his senses and sank into the earth.
There it is.
Beneath Warehouse Seven.
Twenty meters underground.
A mid grade spirit crystal vein in early formation.
In his previous life, Han Tianyu discovered this place by accident during a Bureau mission. By the time Lin Xuanye learned of it, most of the energy had already been harvested.
This time would be different.
He stepped forward and approached the locked warehouse door.
A cheap iron chain secured it.
He did not break it.
Instead, he walked along the side wall and found a cracked ventilation opening near ground level.
Spiritual energy condensed at his fingertips.
He pressed his palm lightly against the concrete.
Vibration.
A controlled burst of internal force traveled inward.
The weakened concrete split silently.
He widened the opening enough to slip inside.
The warehouse interior was dark.
Moonlight entered through broken skylights above.
Dust floated in the air.
Wooden crates lay stacked along the walls, long emptied of their former cargo.
Lin Xuanye walked to the center of the floor.
Then he knelt.
He placed his palm flat against the concrete.
The ground was cold.
But beneath it, something was awakening.
He closed his eyes again and focused.
Spiritual energy beneath the earth pulsed irregularly.
It had not fully stabilized.
If harvested carelessly, the entire vein could collapse.
He began forming hand seals slowly.
The Nine Nether Sutra specialized in stability and control.
Black threads of refined spiritual energy flowed from his meridians into the ground like roots extending downward.
Minutes passed.
Sweat formed on his forehead.
Controlling an immature spirit vein required precision.
His current cultivation was only at the early Qi Gathering Realm.
If he pushed too hard, backlash would injure him.
Patience.
Gradually, the chaotic spiritual flow beneath the warehouse began to calm.
The pulse became rhythmic.
Steady.
Cooperative.
Lin Xuanye opened his eyes.
Now.
He formed a final seal and pressed both palms into the floor.
The concrete fractured in a circular pattern.
Not explosively.
Controlled.
A hole opened just wide enough for him to descend.
He dropped into darkness.
Twenty meters below, faint light shimmered.
Clusters of translucent crystals protruded from the surrounding rock like frozen lightning.
Mid grade spirit crystals.
Pure.
Dense.
Untouched.
The air here was thick with energy.
Even breathing felt heavy.
Lin Xuanye stepped forward and exhaled slowly.
In his previous life, he had stood here filled with regret.
Now he felt only clarity.
He did not begin mining immediately.
Instead, he walked around the cavern carefully, inspecting the structure.
The vein was still young.
If harvested recklessly, it would exhaust itself within days.
If nurtured, it could supply him for months.
He sat cross legged in the center of the cavern.
Then he began circulating his cultivation method at full speed.
The crystals responded.
Faint strands of energy detached from their surfaces and flowed toward him like mist drawn by gravity.
He did not absorb greedily.
He refined.
Compressed.
Stabilized.
Hours passed.
Above ground, the city slept.
Below ground, Lin Xuanye's aura thickened.
His Spiritual Density rose steadily.
Forty one.
Forty three.
Forty six.
A soft crack echoed inside his body.
His meridians widened slightly.
He had stepped into mid stage Qi Gathering.
But something else happened.
As he continued refining energy, he sensed a disturbance at the edge of his perception.
A ripple.
Very faint.
Not from the crystals.
From above.
Someone was standing on the warehouse floor.
Lin Xuanye's eyes opened slowly.
He stopped absorbing immediately and concealed his aura.
Silence filled the cavern.
He extended a thin thread of spiritual sense upward through the crack in the ceiling.
A presence stood directly above the opening he created.
Calm.
Controlled.
Wind attribute.
Spiritual Density approximately fifty.
Higher than public records.
Lin Xuanye's expression did not change.
Han Tianyu.
You came quickly.
Footsteps moved across the warehouse floor.
Unhurried.
As if the visitor was simply inspecting the area.
Then silence.
A faint breeze circulated above.
Testing.
Searching.
Lin Xuanye slowed his breathing until it was nearly imperceptible.
He used the Nine Nether concealment technique to suppress his presence entirely.
Minutes passed.
Then he felt it.
A thin current of wind spiraled downward through microscopic cracks in the concrete.
Searching the underground space.
Precise.
Deliberate.
This was not coincidence.
This was investigation.
Lin Xuanye allowed a trace of unstable energy to leak from the far side of the cavern.
A deliberate misdirection.
The wind current shifted immediately toward that false signal.
A small section of rock collapsed with a dull sound.
Above, footsteps moved toward the noise.
Silence again.
After a long moment, the presence retreated.
The wind dispersed.
Footsteps faded.
Lin Xuanye waited five full minutes before relaxing slightly.
He looked upward into darkness.
So you truly remember.
In the previous life, Han Tianyu had never displayed this level of caution so early.
Only someone who knew the importance of this location would come personally at night.
Two regressors.
The thought settled firmly now.
But there was a difference.
Han Tianyu's aura carried impatience.
It felt like someone trying to confirm something.
Lin Xuanye lowered his gaze to the crystals around him.
Very well.
If you want this vein, you will have to fight for it.
He resumed cultivation.
But this time, he accelerated the absorption slightly.
Not enough to destabilize the structure.
Just enough to secure the core of the vein.
At dawn, he stood up.
His Spiritual Density had reached fifty two.
Early peak Qi Gathering.
In one night.
He carved a hidden chamber within the cavern wall and sealed several clusters of crystals inside for later use.
Then he restored the ceiling opening as much as possible using controlled energy and debris.
When he finally emerged from the warehouse, pale morning light touched the river.
The city was waking.
Lin Xuanye stepped onto the sidewalk calmly.
Across the street, leaning casually against a lamppost, stood Han Tianyu.
As if he had been waiting.
Their eyes met across the empty road.
Neither smiled.
"Strange place to visit at sunrise," Han Tianyu said.
"Fresh air," Lin Xuanye replied.
A faint gust of wind circled Han Tianyu's feet.
His aura was stronger than last night.
Spiritual Density fifty three.
He also advanced.
Of course you did.
"You feel different," Han Tianyu said quietly.
"So do you."
For a moment, the world seemed to narrow to just the two of them.
No pedestrians.
No traffic.
Only still air and unspoken knowledge.
Then Han Tianyu smiled faintly.
"Things are moving faster than expected."
"Yes," Lin Xuanye said.
"They are."
Neither elaborated.
Neither needed to.
The Spiritual Tide had not even fully erupted across the world.
And already, the race had begun in secret beneath the surface of Canglan City.
Two men who remembered the future.
Two men determined to stand at the peak.
Only one would succeed.
Han Tianyu straightened.
"See you at the top."
Lin Xuanye's gaze remained steady.
"We will see who arrives first."
Han Tianyu turned and walked away.
Wind followed him like a loyal servant.
Lin Xuanye watched until he disappeared around the corner.
Then he exhaled slowly.
The game had changed.
It was no longer survival.
It was competition between two timelines.
And from this moment forward, every resource, every opportunity, every second would matter.
Canglan City had become a battlefield long before anyone else realized it.