“Alright, the press conference is over. Everyone, return to your workstations and standby for further patch notes,” Sun Yi announced, his voice amplified across the square. “For those of you at the Qi Refining level cap, do not attempt to brute-force a system upgrade on your own. Go to the Scripture Library, read some documentation, or work on your auxiliary skills. I promise you, I will develop a stable workaround for the Foundation Establishment bottleneck as soon as possible.”

“We believe in the Sect Leader!”

“We follow the Sect Leader’s directive!”

The crowd roared their approval, their loyalty metrics hitting an all-time high.

“Meeting adjourned. Dismissed,” Sun Yi waved them off. He then turned to his selected test group. “You eight, plus the Board of Directors—follow me. We’re going to the VIP Server Room.”

Sun Yi led the eight Qi Refining volunteers, the five Golden Core Elders, and Vice-President Er Gouzi to the primary cultivation chamber at the summit of the main peak. Located directly atop the spirit vein’s main node, the ambient energy density here was significantly higher than anywhere else—perfect for high-load operations.

The eight disciples looked around wide-eyed, sensing the rich spiritual pressure. To them, this was a holy land; to Sun Yi, it was a clean room with a dedicated power supply.

Sun Yi scanned the group, his eyes narrowing slightly as he assessed their specs. “Have any of you run a ‘Tempering Spirit’ optimization cycle recently? specifically, have you taken Tempering Spirit Pills?”

The eight volunteers exchanged glances and shook their heads. Tempering Spirit Pills were premium consumables, far outside the budget of an average disciple.

Sun Yi turned to Er Gouzi. “Changqing, go to the warehouse. Requisition the entire stock of Tempering Spirit Pills.”

“Understood, Sect Leader.” Er Gouzi nodded and turned to leave.

“Hold on,” Sun Yi stopped him, a thoughtful expression on his face. He turned to the five Elders. “Gentlemen, we are about to stress-test these disciples’ hardware to the breaking point. What is our disaster recovery plan? Check the inventory logs—what assets do we have to prevent total system failure?”

Elder Qin Chu stroked his beard, contemplating. “If we want to guarantee their survival… bring the bottle of Vitality Pills from the treasury. With the Vitality Pills acting as a lifeline, even if the breakthrough fails catastrophically, their lives should be preserved. Nothing else will suffice.”

The volunteers gasped.

“Vitality Pills? Those are heavy-duty healing artifacts used by Golden Core Grandmasters!”

“One pill costs thirty thousand contribution points! The sect is actually allocating such a massive budget for us?”

To the disciples, this was an unimaginable grace. To Sun Yi, it was simply the cost of doing business—insurance against losing his test subjects.

“Approved,” Sun Yi nodded. “Changqing, add the Vitality Pills to the requisition order.”

“Yes, boss.” Er Gouzi sprinted off.

He returned a while later with the goods. Sun Yi immediately distributed the Tempering Spirit Pills to the eight nervous volunteers.

“Listen up,” Sun Yi lectured, pacing before them like a CTO briefing his dev team. “The stability of your system upgrade depends entirely on the purity of your energy source. The cleaner your True Qi, the lower the failure rate. This software patch is the best I can do for you right now. Take these pills, run the cycle, and defragment your Dantians until your Qi is optimized to the limit.”

The eight disciples nodded solemnly. They swallowed the pills and immediately sat down to meditate, refining their energy.

This optimization phase lasted for three days.

Once their True Qi was refined to its absolute peak, Sun Yi lined them up. He produced the limited stock of Foundation Establishment Pills.

“Time for A/B testing,” Sun Yi announced. “We’re doing a blind draw. Half of you get the legacy driver—the Foundation Establishment Pill. The other half runs raw. Do not complain about the RNG; fairness is absolute.”

“Sect Leader, please rest assured. We are ready to execute the protocol,” the disciples chorused.

The lottery was conducted efficiently. Those who drew the pills exhaled in relief, clutching the precious resources like lifelines. The four who drew blanks looked pale, their morale taking a visible hit.

“Time is money,” Sun Yi checked the position of the sun. “Let’s begin the first trial. Who wants to be the primary beta tester?”

“I’ll do it!”

A young man stepped forward. Sun Yi checked his file—Han Yue. Superior-grade Spirit Root. He was in the “No Pill” control group, yet his eyes burned with determination.

“Excellent initiative,” Sun Yi praised. “The rest of you, clear the floor. Observe from the perimeter.”

The room cleared, leaving Han Yue sitting alone in the center, surrounded by Sun Yi and the five Elders. Er Gouzi hovered near the door, ready to run errands.

“Name?” Sun Yi asked, though he already knew.

“Reporting to the Sect Leader, this disciple is Han Yue,” the young man replied, his voice trembling slightly despite his bravery.

Sun Yi smiled, a practiced expression of corporate benevolence. He patted Han Yue on the shoulder. “Don’t let the pressure crash your system. We are right here monitoring the process. Even without the pill, we have failsafes. Remember: Your Mission Statement is yours to write.”

Sun Yi poured a cup of tea he had brewed earlier—Bodhi Tea, excellent for mental clarity and processing speed. “Drink this. It’ll boost your CPU clock speed.”

Han Yue, overwhelmed by the Sect Leader’s personal attention, took the cup with shaking hands and downed it in one gulp.

“Initialize,” Sun Yi commanded.

Han Yue sat cross-legged and closed his eyes. Sun Yi sat behind him, placing a hand on the disciple’s shoulder. He extended his Divine Sense and a thread of his own high-purity Metal Qi, hacking into Han Yue’s internal network to monitor the data stream in real-time.

Han Yue began to circulate his cultivation technique. Vast amounts of True Qi roared through his meridians like data packets flooding a fiber optic cable. His aura climbed steadily, the energy density increasing until it hit a hard ceiling.

Warning: Maximum Capacity Reached.

Sun Yi felt it immediately. Han Yue’s True Qi had hit the firewall—the Foundation Establishment bottleneck. To upgrade the system, Han Yue had to smash through this barrier.

Impact initiated.

Han Yue grit his teeth and slammed his gathered Qi against the invisible barrier within his Dantian.

Boom.

A violent feedback loop erupted. The rebound force surged back, crashing into Han Yue’s physical tissue and rattling his soul.

Han Yue’s face went sheet-white. His body convulsed, a look of agony twisting his features.

First attempt failed. System integrity at 95%.

But Han Yue didn’t terminate the process. He gritted his teeth, re-compiled his Qi, and launched a second DDOS attack on the bottleneck.

Bang!

Another massive rebound. This time, the shockwave tore at his meridians and concussed his spirit.

Third time. Fourth time. Fifth time…

Sun Yi watched the internal telemetry with clinical detachment. Every time Han Yue rammed the bottleneck, the backlash caused micro-fractures in his “hardware” (body) and glitches in his “software” (soul).

The Elders watched nervously, unable to intervene. They could only pray the boy didn’t brick himself.

However, under the relentless brute-force attack, the bottleneck—that stubborn firewall preventing the system upgrade—began to show signs of instability. It was loosening.

On the twelfth impact, the critical moment arrived.

CRACK.

The barrier shattered.

Han Yue’s aura exploded outwards. A massive suction force erupted from his body, pulling in the surrounding ambient spiritual energy like a vacuum.

“He did it!”

The seven waiting disciples watched with envy and awe. A moment ago, Han Yue was just another max-level Qi Refining user like them. Now, he had unlocked the next tier of content. He was a Foundation Establishment cultivator. And he had done it without the pill.

Sun Yi didn’t celebrate. He was too busy recording the data.

System Upgrade in progress.

Han Yue’s body was undergoing a rapid metamorphosis. His Dantian capacity expanded exponentially. His True Qi was compressing, becoming denser and more potent. The influx of atmospheric energy was acting as a patch, repairing the damage to his body and soul, optimizing his architecture for the new power level.

As the energy vortex subsided, Han Yue opened his eyes, exhilaration written all over his face.

“Good work,” Sun Yi said calmly, handing him a Vitality Pill. “Your hardware took some damage from the stress test. Take this to repair the sectors and stabilize your build.”

“Thank you, Sect Leader!” Han Yue accepted the pill with tears in his eyes. He moved to the side to consolidate his new realm.

Sun Yi remained seated, his eyes unfocused as he processed the telemetry data.

Analysis complete.

Having personally monitored the entire brute-force process, Sun Yi now had a clear log file of what a breakthrough looked like. He replayed every spike in pressure, every moment of resistance, and every instance of structural failure. He wasn’t just watching a cultivation breakthrough; he was reverse-engineering the source code of the bottleneck itself.