btth: crafting even heaven

The moment Tianzun re-entered the crafting realm, he closed his eyes and exhaled a thread of golden Dou Qi, letting it disperse through the room like incense. The forge flickered in acknowledgment. Celestial formations hummed quietly around him, their etched scripts glowing faintly in response to his presence. Yet none of this mattered today—not the pills, not the cultivation or simulations.

He had made his decision.

"Ling Yuan," he called into the void.

The familiar ripple in reality answered him, and the void shimmered until a robed figure with long silver hair emerged from the ether, arms folded, eyes dispassionate.

"You're ready then," Ling Yuan said, his tone calm yet weighty, like distant thunder in a sealed cavern.

Tianzun nodded once. "Suppress it. As much as you can. I don't want a single crack in the foundation."

Ling Yuan tilted his head. "You're rejecting the natural flow of the breakthrough?"

"I'm not rejecting it," Tianzun said, walking to the center of the cultivation node, the space glowing around him. "I'm controlling it."

The older man's lips curled slightly. "Good. Let us begin."

He raised a single finger, and Tianzun suddenly felt the weight of a mountain pressing on his Dou Qi. His dantian flared with pressure, then steadied as something invisible looped and bound it tightly—calm, precise, surgical.

> "So this is the strength of someone beyond Dou Sheng… he can rewrite your insides with a thought."

And yet, Tianzun did not flinch. His body welcomed the suppression.

---

📊 [Cultivation Update Panel]

> 🔥 Flame Integration Level: 1.42% 🧬 Suppressed Cultivation: Dou Zhe – 1 Star 💢 Unlocked Potential (Unreleased): Peak Dou Huang 🧠 Mental Domain: Active Reinforcement

His eyes widened slightly at the readout.

> "So I was right. If left alone, I would've torn into Dou Huang without even condensing a true foundation."

> "If I wasn't careful, I'd have become a hollow powerhouse. Fragile. Loud. Predictable."

He chuckled under his breath. "Thank you, old ghost."

Ling Yuan raised a brow. "Ghost?"

Tianzun grinned. "You're always floating around, judging me, whispering lessons in the dark. If that isn't a ghost, I don't know what is."

Ling Yuan chuckled—a dry, thunderous sound. "I'll take that as affection."

"Don't. It's efficiency."

The older man's gaze sharpened. "Very well. From now on, your training begins under my eye. Not just cultivation—pressure combat, formation combat, resource conditioning, counter-manipulation."

Tianzun didn't blink. "All of it."

Ling Yuan stepped forward. "You want to master your techniques?"

"Not master. Perfect."

"Then we begin now."

---

🌀 [Technique Mastery Interface]

> 💥 Exploding Pulse Spiral — 94% Mastery 🔥 Vein Split Pulse — 87% Mastery 🔁 Remaining Anomalies: Burn-back echo & directional offset ⚙️ Refinement Pending: Dynamic Combat Integration

Hours bled into days.

Ling Yuan pushed Tianzun to his limits—and then beyond. In simulated space, against phantom beasts, mirrored opponents, even spatial mazes designed to test instinctive Dou Qi usage, Tianzun trained relentlessly. He corrected every frame. Memorized every recoil. Tuned every backlash.

He failed. Often.

But he did not break.

"Again."

"Again."

"Again."

His voice was a mantra. Each motion, a line of scripture.

Until one day, the phantom collapsed under a perfect Spiral Strike—silent, explosive, and utterly invisible.

Then came Vein Split—threading a flying arrow midair, piercing the core of a simulated flying beast in mid-maneuver.

> "Perfect form," Ling Yuan finally said.

Tianzun didn't smile. He simply nodded, wiped sweat from his brow, and opened his hand.

Inside it hovered a transparent fragment of compressed Dou Qi, shaped like a blade of glass.

---

🗂️ [Time Mapping Panel – Sync Check]

> 🕒 Time Since Flame Seed Consumption: 27 days 🌌 Realm Time Acceleration: x5 📆 Real World Time Passed: 5.4 days 👣 Target Milestone: Dou Shi – Within 12 Realm Days (~2.4 Real Days)

Tianzun walked toward the soul-lake at the center of the realm, its waters rippling gently. In his soul form, he sat beside it, eyes closed.

> "It's almost time."

He lifted a single palm.

Within it flickered a miniature sun—the Seed of the Emperor Flame.

Its heat did not burn. It whispered.

> "Power beyond fire. Beyond rank. Beyond the rules of this world."

> "What will I become, when this binds to my soul?"

He inhaled slowly and allowed the flame to dissolve into his spectral palm.

The moment it touched his soul-core, everything shifted.

His mind became a pillar of fire. His thoughts turned to ash and reformed as stars. His body… was no longer a body.

The crafting realm shook as though alive, adjusting itself instinctively to the fire now anchored in its center.

The seed did not just bond—it grafted itself into him. A vein of light ran through every inch of his internal world.

He smiled through the fire.

> "Now… it's mine."

---

⛩️ [Crafting Realm Adjustment Complete]

> 🟠 Flame Resonance: 100% 🔥 Emperor Flame Bound to Soul: Confirmed 🧬 Soul Temperature: Stable ⚖️ Cultivation Surge Detected: Dou Zhe 7-Star → Locked at 1-Star

---

Hours later, Tianzun stood again on the training floor. His motions were looser now. Stronger. Each breath summoned fire without effort.

Ling Yuan watched silently.

"You've changed," he finally said.

Tianzun looked down at his palm. A flicker of flame danced there, waiting for his will.

"No," he whispered. "I've been unveiled."

---

⏳ Time Skip — Real World: Day 39 Since Flame Seed Fusion

Tianzun stood at the courtyard, dressed plainly once again. The sun was warm. Birds circled lazily above the Xiao Clan estate.

Yoru walked to his side, adjusting the gloves on her hands. Her aura was sharper now. Faster. Smarter.

"It's today, isn't it?" she asked.

Tianzun didn't answer immediately. He watched the courtyard gate.

> "Yes," he said at last. "The butterfly is coming."

> "And I've got a fire for her to dance around."

End of Chapter 15