With the successful installation of the auxiliary Dantians in Zhang Yuan’s group, Sun Yi had gathered enough telemetry data to diagnose the failure in the Elders’ attempts.

“So, according to the Headmaster, the hardware upgrade must be performed early in one’s development cycle,” Elder Ye Luo said, shaking his head with a bitter smile. “This old man has missed the optimal window.”

Sun Yi waved his hand, dismissing the gloom. “Don’t worry about the legacy architecture. The Seven Star Tower delivered a massive shipment of body-tempering patches—Tier-2 and Tier-3 resources. I want you to use them. Do not worry about the burn rate. Just get your physical specs up to Tier-3 as fast as possible.”

“As for migrating to the Five Elements Art… your cultivation bases are too high. Refactoring your entire code base now would cause significant downtime. We will wait until the Ancestor returns before attempting a system-wide overhaul for you.”

Sun Yi turned to the logistics manager.

“Elder Han Yun, schedule an event. Ten days from now, Central Square. I am launching a marketing campaign. Zhang Yuan’s team will publicly challenge the Sect’s early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators. Attendance is mandatory for all users—I mean, disciples.”

Elder Han Yun blinked. “The challenge… is confirmed? Have Zhang Yuan and the others fully initialized their new Dantians?”

“The installation is complete,” Sun Yi nodded. “I’ve given them a ten-day sprint to familiarize themselves with the new power output and the sword subroutines. That should be sufficient.”

Elder Jin Jue leaned forward, his brows furrowed. “Headmaster, forgive this old man’s confusion. Why arrange such a public conflict? Is it wise to pit disciples against each other?”

The other Elders looked equally puzzled.

Sun Yi offered a faint, calculated smile. “It’s simple. The market penetration of the Five Elements Art is sluggish. Why? because the user testimonials are weak. Right now, I am the only success story, and the disciples view me as an outlier—a dev with admin privileges.”

“They don’t believe the software works for them. But if Zhang Yuan—a standard user—can dominate a Foundation Establishment elite? That is social proof.”

Sun Yi’s eyes gleamed. “The power of a live demo is infinite. Once they see the results, we won’t have to push the update. They will be begging to download it.”

The Elders exchanged glances. Social proof? Live demo? The terms were alien, but the logic was sound. If a Qi Refining disciple could beat a Foundation Establishment senior, the Sect would go mad.

“I understand,” Elder Han Yun said, standing up. “I will arrange the venue immediately.”

“I will return to the gym,” Elder Jin Jue said, rising as well. “With these resources, this old man should reach the Tier-3 threshold in three or four days.”

“Good. Elder Ye Luo, stay behind. The rest of you, get to work. Store the extracted Mi Luo Beast essence in my inventory; ping me when you are ready for the operation.”

“Understood.”

The group dispersed, leaving only the white-haired Elder Ye Luo.

“Headmaster,” Ye Luo asked, “shall we continue researching the formation architecture?”

Sun Yi shook his head. He opened his right palm.

A flash of light revealed a palm-sized piece of jade, its surface etched with complex sealing scripts. Trapped inside the jade was a flicker of pale purple fire.

Elder Ye Luo’s eyes narrowed instantly. “The Purple Extreme Berserk Flame? Headmaster, surely you do not intend to integrate this?”

He recognized the item from the inventory list. It was a Spirit Flame—a rare and coveted treasure for any alchemist or artifact refiner. But this specific flame had a reputation.

“This flame is notoriously unstable,” Ye Luo warned, his voice grave. “It is violent and rejects control. Many masters have tried to tame it, only to suffer severe backlash. That is why the Seven Star Tower sold it to us so cheaply—it is a liability.”

“I know,” Sun Yi said, looking at the violet flicker. “High risk, high reward. Its chaotic nature is a feature, not a bug.”

“I intend to run a compatibility test. Even if the integration fails, the data gathered will be valuable experience.” Sun Yi glanced at the elder. “Besides, with a Golden Core expert like you on standby, the safety protocols should hold.”

Ye Luo sighed, seeing the determination in his Headmaster’s eyes. He knew better than to argue. “Very well. But please, Headmaster, proceed with extreme caution. If the energy spikes, sever the connection immediately.”

Sun Yi nodded. “Initiating protocol.”

He bit his tongue, forcing out a drop of essence blood onto the jade seal. At the same time, he cycled his True Qi, wrapping the artifact and pulling it into his Dantian.

System Alert: Foreign energy signature detected.

Inside his Dantian, Sun Yi’s True Qi condensed into a protective sphere of ‘True Fire’, enveloping the jade. With a mental command, he shattered the seal.

CRACK.

The jade casing dissolved.

Warning: Thermal runaway.

The moment the seal broke, the tiny wisp of pale purple fire exploded with the fury of a dormant volcano.

BOOM!

A terrifying heatwave detonated inside his Dantian.

It wasn’t just hot; it was aggressive. The flame lashed out like a trapped beast, slamming against the walls of his energy center. The intensity dwarfed Sun Yi’s own True Fire. It was like trying to contain a nuclear reaction inside a cardboard box.

Sun Yi gritted his teeth, sweat instantly beading on his forehead. Stabilizers failing. This thing is feral.

He poured more True Qi into the mix, trying to wrap the purple flame and refine it using standard protocols.

It didn’t work.

The Purple Extreme Berserk Flame was slippery. It dodged his energy, burned through his containment fields, and continued to riot. It refused to be formatted.

Sun Yi burned through his Qi bar at an alarming rate. Within minutes, his reserves were nearly depleted, yet the flame hadn’t been refined by even 1%.

Incompatible software, Sun Yi realized. Standard drivers aren’t working.

He now understood why the previous owners had dumped this asset. It was too much trouble for the ROI.

“Abort,” Sun Yi decided. “Ejecting the core.”

He prepared to expel the flame from his body. But his main Dantian was running on fumes. He didn’t have enough hydraulic pressure to push it out.

Rerouting power from secondary systems.

Sun Yi mentally accessed the Fire Gate—the heart Dantian.

“Fire Gate, online. Transfer energy to Main.”

A stream of pure, elemental Fire Qi surged from his heart towards his lower abdomen. Sun Yi shaped this specific red energy into a net, attempting to drag the purple flame out.

But the moment the Fire Gate’s energy touched the Purple Extreme Berserk Flame…

System Glitch?

The violent purple flame suddenly stopped struggling. It didn’t attack the new energy; it ate it.

Like a starving shark sensing blood, the purple flame latched onto the pure Fire Qi from the heart. It devoured the energy in a gulp.

Update Complete.

The purple flame pulsed. Its color deepened, becoming more vibrant. Its aura grew stronger.

And then, it moved.

Ignoring Sun Yi’s commands, the flame shot upward, riding the energy stream back to the source. It bypassed the main Dantian entirely and rocketed toward his heart.

“What the—” Sun Yi started to panic. If this thing detonated in his heart, it was game over.

But he didn’t stop it. He hesitated.

Why? Because the moment the flame ate his Fire Gate energy, a connection formed. A ping. A successful handshake.

Device Paired.

The flame didn’t feel hostile anymore. It felt… hungry. And it felt right.

Sun Yi watched in his internal vision as the Purple Extreme Berserk Flame dove into his Heart Dantian.

It didn’t explode. It settled in.

Like a wanderer returning home, or a plugin finding its native socket, the flame curled up inside the Fire Gate. It began to automatically siphon the pure Fire Qi stored there, refining itself without Sun Yi having to lift a finger.

Auto-installation in progress…

As it feasted on the high-purity fuel of the Fire Gate, the connection between Sun Yi and the flame deepened rapidly. It wasn’t fighting him; it was syncing with him.

Sun Yi sat there, stunned.

I was trying to run a native app in a virtual machine… he realized. It just needed to be installed in the correct drive.