“When did you download the Wind Thunder Step?” Elder Jin Jue stared at Sun Yi, his eyes wide. As a veteran user, he knew the system requirements for that technique. It was strictly gated for Foundation Establishment hardware.

Sun Yi, running on Qi Refining OS, had somehow executed it. Not only that, his physical output was absurd—that punch could have shattered the defensive firewall of an early Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Sun Yi turned to Li Yu and the other failed test subjects. They were staring at him, stunned.

“My hardware specs can handle the Heavenly Punishment Force,” Sun Yi explained calmly. “The bottleneck is just a durability check. My body passed. My soul passed. Now, we just need to upgrade your components to do the same.”

“Once I secure the patch for soul strengthening, low-grade Spirit Roots won’t be a liability. You won’t need the Foundation Establishment Pill. You’ll just tank the upgrade damage like I did.”

Sun Yi’s gaze swept over them. “So don’t delete your accounts just yet. I’m building a new progression path for you.”

Li Yu clenched his fist, tears welling in his eyes. The CEO had just flexed his personal power not to boast, but to prove the concept. “Thank you, Sect Leader! I won’t give up. I’ll focus on auxiliary skills until the patch is ready!”

The others nodded, their morale restored.

“Dismissed,” Sun Yi waved them off. “Keep what you saw confidential. If anyone asks, tell them the Sect Leader has a roadmap and to standby for updates.”

“Understood!”

The disciples carried the unconscious Zhang Yuan out, leaving Sun Yi alone with the Board of Directors.

“Sect Leader, you’re a genius,” Elder Qin Chu marveled. “Bypassing the level restriction on a movement skill… incredible.”

Elder Ye Luo chuckled. “Oh, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”

The other Elders looked at Ye Luo. “Spill it, Ye Luo. What else is he hiding?”

Ye Luo looked at Sun Yi for permission. Sun Yi nodded. “Go ahead. We’re all core staff here. Just keep it off the public forums.”

“The Sect Leader,” Ye Luo announced proudly, “has successfully architected a Dual-Core System. He opened a second Dantian. And he has the blueprints to do it again.”

“WHAT?” The Elders gasped in unison.

“A second Dantian? Elder Feng Luo bricked his entire cultivation trying that!” Elder Han Yun exclaimed. “He was a Golden Core genius! How did a Qi Refining junior pull it off?”

“Because I helped him design the architecture,” Ye Luo bragged. “It’s stable. It works.”

“Show us!” Elder Jin Jue demanded.

Sun Yi smirked. “Observe.”

He activated the Gold Gate. The Red Gold Sword shot out, hovering above his head and radiating blinding golden light.

“Rank 2, Grade 5 artifact!” Qin Chu identified it immediately. “He’s running high-level gear on low-level specs!”

Sun Yi channeled his Gold Gate’s True Qi into the blade. The sword hummed with power, transforming into a golden dragon construct.

Slash.

The dragon slammed into the reinforced wall of the cultivation chamber. The entire room shook violently, and a deep gash appeared in the stone—stone designed to withstand Golden Core attacks.

“That DPS…” Elder Jin Jue swallowed hard. “That’s higher than a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. Sect Leader… you are terrifying.”

The Elders looked at Sun Yi with newfound respect. He wasn’t just a manager; he was a powerhouse.

“Sect Leader, can we install this upgrade?” Elder Han Yun asked eagerly.

Sun Yi shook his head. “It requires a specific catalyst found in the Mi Luo Beast. We only had one unit in stock, and I used it. Until we source more, the Dual-Core architecture is proprietary to me.”

The Elders looked disappointed but understanding.

“Focus, gentlemen,” Sun Yi brought the meeting back to order. “The Dual-Core system is a luxury. Our priority is the Foundation Establishment problem.”

“My physical durability comes from ‘Blood Spirit Fruit’ and ‘Thunder Spirit Grass’. Those are rare drops, not scalable for mass production. However, I’ve tasked Patriarch Qingxuan with acquiring body refining manuals. Once we have the software, we can train the disciples’ bodies to withstand the backlash.”

“That leaves the soul. The ‘Heavenly Soul Liquid’ is the key.”

Elder Qin Chu frowned. “Sect Leader, Heavenly Soul Liquid is a legendary resource. It’s spawn-camped by major sects, extremely rare, and decays instantly if taken out of a ‘Soul Gathering Place’. It’s not a viable mass-market solution.”

“Correct,” Sun Yi nodded. “That’s why we’re not just going to find it. We’re going to manufacture it.”

The Elders stared at him like he was insane.

“My goal isn’t just to loot a resource node,” Sun Yi explained, his eyes gleaming with ambition. “It’s to reverse-engineer the node itself. If we understand the environmental conditions that spawn Heavenly Soul Liquid, we can build our own Soul Gathering Place. We will control the means of production.”

“You think it’s impossible? That’s what they said about the Dual-Core System. That’s what they said about breaking through without pills.”

Sun Yi stood up, radiating confidence. “We don’t follow the meta. We change it.”