NOVEL WEB Chapter 21: The Heavens Took Notice
Lan opened his eyes as he exhaled, rising from the polished wood floor with a slow, careful breath. His bones cracked, not from pain, but change—like a structure realigning itself to bear new weight.
The world felt heavier. Denser. The air seemed to ripple against his skin, as if reality itself recognized the new thing he had achieved.
He glanced toward the tall window.
Afternoon light crept through the silk curtains, golden and languid, staining the dark floors in quiet streaks. It told him enough: he didn't have long.
The banquet was soon.
Lan dismissed the system notifications hovering at the edge of his vision. New learnable techniques—all blinking with faint gold or blood-red glows, waiting to be explored.
However he had no time to learn them.
There was something far more urgent.
A final window pulsed in front of him. The lettering was cold and absolute:
[Heavenly Tribulation Inevitable.]
[Accept it now?]
He exhaled again, slower this time.
Troubling.
In normal cultivation paths, reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm didn't warrant a Tribulation. That only came later—usually at the Core Formation stage, when cultivators attempted to condense spiritual laws into a singular truth. That was when Heaven usually took notice.
But his path was far from normal.
Lan flicked a hand, and more data spread across his field of vision.
In Standard Cultivation Systems:
—Foundation Establishment marks the moment a cultivator stops being an apprentice and begins truly shaping the world.
It came with many benefits: Passive qi absorption, independent of breath techniques.
Formation of a Core or Pillar, stabilizing internal energy cycles.
Dramatically increased qi storage (10–20x).
Elemental awakening—one's core begins to resonate with fire, wind, water, shadow, or earth.
Physical enhancement—qi begins reinforcing flesh, bone, and nerves.
Spirit arts and techniques begin manifesting with range and destructive force.
But for Lan, things had deviated violently.
Instead of forming a core of refined qi, his Void Dantian had mutated, creating something entirely different.
A Black Foundation.
It was not solid or elemental. It was more like a phantom—a rotating void of fragmented laws and consumed truths. It pulsed now at the center of his being like an open eye that never blinked.
It was alive and It hungered.
Lan closed his own eyes, briefly attuning himself to the new structure. It pulled in qi passively, yes—but not just ordinary energy. It absorbed dark qi from the air, and more disturbingly, drew subtle power from emotion, lies, and fear.
He could already feel it resonating faintly with the maids outside his chamber. Their anxieties. Their awe. The thing inside him whispered to it all.
More warnings scrolled across the interface.
[Danger: Dark Qi Feedback Loop Possible.]
[Caution: Qi Overchanneling May Rupture Internal Pathways.]
[Resonance Control Required to Stabilize Future Cultivation.]
He sighed, rubbing his temple.
"And now," he muttered, "Heaven's attention."
Another panel blinked open.
---
[Heavenly Tribulation Probability: 100%]
[Cause: Black Foundation – Severed Variant]
[You may choose to face the Tribulation anytime in the next 24 hours.]
[Failure to choose will result in automatic initiation at hour 25.]
---
He stared at the countdown timer ticking slowly in the corner of the alert.
It gave him the illusion of choice. Nothing more.
And yet it was enough.
Lan closed the interface.
He had never faced a Tribulation at this low a realm. In his former life, by the time he walked this path, he was already a being of terrifying might. He had faced storms that leveled continents. But this?
This was an unknown. A storm seeded by a resistance planted too early.
Still—he was not afraid.
Just…inconvenienced.
He couldn't face it here. His guest room wouldn't survive it. The walls would burn, the wards would shatter, and every eye in the empire would turn to him. And the one thing Lan could not afford was unneccesary attention—not yet.
He was still hunting blind. Still unsure who among the empire's titans walked as enemies.
As his thoughts spiraled, a sharp knock cut through the quiet.
Three soft raps—then silence.
Lan turned toward the door.
He stepped forward, still barefoot, he unlatched the door and opened it.
There, standing in a semi-circle, were four young women—each more elegant than the last. Their hair done in careful braids, eyes lowered in practiced grace.
Soft robes the color of moonligt wrapped their figures, held by jade pins and silver sashes. Their presence carried a scent of rosewater.
The tallest among them bowed slightly, then spoke.
"We are here to prepare the prince for the banquet."
Lan blinked.
He stood there for a long breath, then stepped aside.
"…Then come in i guess."
The chamber transformed instantly.
They moved like dancers across the room—some heading for the wardrobe, others for the vanity, others laying out garments that looked to expensive to be real.
Lan watched with faint bemusement as the room was taken over like a captured city.
Warm towels were brought. His robes were removed. A fine basin of perfumed water was placed at his feet. Lan obeyed silently as they directed him to sit on a low stool by the dressing mirror.
One of the girls, soft-spoken but stern, took a cloth and gently wiped down his arms and shoulders.
Another ran a comb through his damp hair, parting it neatly and tying it with a gold thread.
No one commented on the markings that traced faintly along his left arm—where the Dark Qi had settled most aggressively.
Lan sat there, quiet and distant, letting the transformation take place around him.
His mind, however, was far from still.
He would need to find a place—soon—where the skies could rage without consequence.
A place where Heaven could scream and he could scream back. For now, though, he let himself slip into the rhythm of the moment.
He had survived breaking the sequence law, now it was time to survive something far more dangerous:
A room full of nobles and wolves.
And among them, he would smile like a sheep.
Because that was the game.