Sun Yi spent a full day running diagnostics on his Sea of Consciousness. The system was stable. The new quad-core architecture was humming along efficiently.

But efficiency wasn’t enough. He needed overwhelming power.

He looked up at the five Elders guarding him. “I am initiating the third split sequence.”

“What?” Elder Jin Jue’s eyes bulged, nearly popping out of his skull. “You want to continue? Headmaster, this is madness!”

“He is right,” Elder Ye Luo chimed in, his voice trembling. “Headmaster, please reconsider. This is too dangerous.”

“You have already split your soul twice,” Elder Qin Chu argued, wiping sweat from his brow. “A third split puts you in uncharted territory. The structural integrity of your soul might not hold.”

“Headmaster,” Elder Han Yun added, his tone pleading, “your achievements already eclipse the founders of our Sect. Why gamble everything on a roll of the dice? It isn’t worth it.”

Sun Yi listened to their pleas, feeling a flicker of resignation. If he had a choice, he wouldn’t be pushing the hardware to its breaking point. He would be sipping tea and enjoying the view.

But the image of the Heavenly Saint Palace and the demon clans lurking in the shadows flashed through his mind. The conspiracy he had uncovered on Tianyuan Island was a ticking time bomb. The “Server” was rigged against humanity, and he was the only one who could see the source code.

He had to be stronger. Not just strong enough to survive, but strong enough to rewrite the rules.

Currently, his cultivation base was low. This was the only window of opportunity to maximize the Split Spirit Technique. His calculations showed a 78% probability of success for one final split.

If he succeeded, he would have eight independent processing threads. Eight minds. The multitasking capabilities would be godlike.

“Do not try to dissuade me,” Sun Yi said, his voice cutting through their protests. “I have decided. I hope you can support the administration on this.”

“But…”

Sun Yi raised a hand to silence Elder Jin Jue. “Elders, I appreciate your concern for the asset. But as I’ve stated before, I do not gamble with my life. I invest it. I have run the simulations. The probability of success is within acceptable margins.”

Seeing the steel in Sun Yi’s eyes, the five Golden Core Elders realized further debate was futile. They sighed, defeated, and returned to their positions.

“Very well,” Jin Jue muttered. “We will hold the line.”

Sun Yi closed his eyes and returned to the digital void of his mind.

Phase Three: Octa-Core Installation.

He spent three days condensing the energy. This time, four massive Soul Blades materialized above the churning waters of his Sea of Consciousness. They hung there like the swords of Damocles, emanating a frequency of pure dread.

Sun Yi took a deep breath.

“Execute.”

The four blades slammed down simultaneously.

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK.

The pain was beyond description. It wasn’t just physical; it was the sensation of being unmade. The four soul cores were cleaved in two, instantly creating eight smaller, unstable cores.

Chaos erupted.

The resulting explosion of soul fragments was a tsunami compared to the previous ripples. The debris scattered wildly, smashing against the boundaries of his mind, desperate to escape the trauma.

Alert: Containment breach imminent.

Outside, the five Elders gritted their teeth. The shockwave hitting their Divine Sense blockade was unprecedented. It felt like holding back a bursting dam.

“Hold it!” Jin Jue roared, his veins bulging. “Do not let a single fragment pass!”

Even with their Golden Core cultivation, the pressure was crushing. They poured every ounce of their power into the seal, their faces turning white from the strain.

Sun Yi had long since blacked out. Inside his mind, the eight dim, flickering cores drifted in the void, dangerously close to fading out completely.

Seven days.

It took a full week for the reboot sequence to complete. Slowly, the eight cores began to pulse with light. They spun up, generating a powerful vortex that sucked the scattered fragments back into orbit.

Stability returned.

Sun Yi’s consciousness flickered online. He inspected his internal status. Eight clusters of Divine Soul power hovered in perfect formation. Each one was a fully functional copy of his main consciousness.

Octa-Core Processor: Online.

Sun Yi opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Elder Jin Jue’s face, which was as pale as a sheet of paper.

“Elder Jin Jue?” Sun Yi blinked, his vision clearing. “Status report? Why do you look like you’ve been drained dry?”

“Headmaster…” Jin Jue let out a weak laugh. “You truly have no idea what happened after the split?”

Sun Yi shook his head. “System went into sleep mode during the update.”

Elder Ye Luo, looking equally haggard, spoke up. “That third split was the absolute limit. The five of us combined barely managed to contain the blowout. Your Sea of Consciousness was a chaotic storm.”

“Fortunately, the reboot was successful,” Qin Chu sighed, wiping sweat from his forehead. “If it had taken any longer, the containment field would have failed.”

“Headmaster!” Elder Li Tai leaned forward, eyes shining with excitement despite his fatigue. “Did it work? How does the eight-soul architecture feel?”

“Yes, Headmaster!” Jin Jue’s exhaustion was replaced by curiosity. “You have achieved what no ancestor dared to attempt. Eight souls… what is it like?”

Sun Yi rubbed his temples, testing the new hardware. “It’s… distinct. I’m still running calibration tests, but the throughput is incredible. My cognitive processing speed has increased exponentially. True Qi control feels effortless, almost automated.”

“I can run eight parallel thought processes without lag,” he noted with a satisfied smirk. “Multitasking is now a native feature.”

” marvelous!” Elder Han Yun exclaimed, trembling with emotion. “You are undoubtedly the greatest genius in Qingyun Sect history! To split the soul three times and survive… it is a miracle.”

“The ancestors who succeeded with a single split were already powerhouses,” Qin Chu mused. “But the Headmaster has split his soul three times and installed five Dantians. The potential is terrifying.”

“We must redouble our efforts,” Qin Chu added, clenching his fist. “Or the Headmaster will leave us in the dust before he even reaches Golden Core.”

Elder Li Tai looked at Sun Yi with anticipation. “Headmaster, are you ready for the Ascension?”

The room went silent. All eyes fixed on Sun Yi. They had accepted his theory regarding the ‘Heavenly Punishment Force.’ Sun Yi was now at the Grand Perfection of Qi Refining. His body was a fortress, his soul was an eight-core supercomputer, and his energy system was fully upgraded.

He was the prototype for the new “Trinity Cultivation” method.

“Rest assured,” Sun Yi said, his voice calm and confident. “A minor version update like Foundation Establishment is easily handled.”

He stood up, eyes flashing with cold determination. “I will wait a few days to stabilize the new software. Then, I will execute the upgrade.”

“And I’m going to make it a public event. I will break through in front of the entire sect.”

“Without a Foundation Establishment Pill.”

The Elders gasped.

“I will set the benchmark,” Sun Yi declared. “I will show the disciples that the ‘impossible’ is just a limitation of their outdated operating system.”

“Headmaster… are you certain?” Jin Jue asked, a trace of worry lingering. “Skipping the catalyst is risky.”

“I don’t rely on luck. I rely on data,” Sun Yi replied. “The decision is made. You have all worked hard. Go recharge your batteries. I need to run some final integration tests.”

“Understood,” the Elders bowed. “We will take our leave.”

Sun Yi watched them exit the chamber. Once the stone doors sealed shut, he sat back down and closed his eyes.

System Check: Soul Array.

With a thought, the eight independent souls merged into one massive entity.

Merge complete.

The sensation was overwhelming. The unified soul was dense, powerful, and vastly different from before.

However, Sun Yi felt a strange sensation—a deep, gnawing hunger emanating from his soul.

Analysis: Resource deficit.

He realized the issue immediately. The eight split souls were currently compressed versions of the original. They had the potential to grow back to full size, but they lacked the fuel.

If he could source enough soul-nourishing treasures to restore each of the eight fragments to their original capacity…

Sun Yi did the math.

Total Soul Power = Original Capacity x 8.

That kind of mental horsepower would be monstrous. It broke the scaling logic of the cultivation world entirely.

“I think I might have broken the game balance,” Sun Yi muttered to himself, a dry smile touching his lips.