The shadow phoenix's burning gaze flicked between Wei Lin and me, its massive form hovering in the air like a nightmare given wings. I could feel the weight of its spiritual pressure pressing down on us, that pseudo-Elemental Realm aura making the very air around us feel thick and oppressive.

"Ke Yin," Wei Lin called out, his voice carrying a new confidence I'd never heard before. "Mind if I take this one? I'd like to see how the tenth stage feels in actual combat."

I paused, considering his request. Under normal circumstances, I might have insisted on handling such a dangerous opponent as a team. But Wei Lin was right, after a major breakthrough, cultivators needed time to adapt to their new power levels, and combat was often the most effective way to do that.

"Go for it," I said. "Just remember, it's pseudo-Elemental Realm. Don't get overconfident."

Wei Lin's lips curved into a smile. "Overconfidence is bad for business. I'll be appropriately cautious."

I activated Verduring Step, green light carrying me back to where Lin Mei waited near the cave entrance. She looked relieved to see me retreat from the immediate danger, though her eyes remained fixed on the confrontation about to unfold.

"Is Wei Lin really strong enough to handle that thing alone?" she asked quietly.

"We're about to find out," I replied, though privately I had to admit I was curious myself. The tenth stage of Qi Condensation was theoretical for most cultivators. Seeing what it could actually accomplish in practice would be... educational.

The shadow phoenix, which had been fixated on me with that unsettling hunger, suddenly realized its preferred target had moved. Its burning eyes tracked my teleportation, and it let out a frustrated shriek that made the air itself vibrate.

Without warning, the massive creature spread its house-sized wings and launched itself toward our position, clearly intending to pursue me and ignore Wei Lin entirely.

It didn't get far.

Wei Lin moved with a speed that defied his previous cultivation level, appearing directly in the phoenix's flight path like a wall of dense spiritual energy. The collision between the pseudo-Elemental Realm creature and the newly advanced tenth-stage cultivator sent shockwaves rippling through the air.

Both combatants were forced backward by the impact.

Wei Lin skidded across the rocky ground, his feet carving furrows in the stone as he absorbed the tremendous force. The phoenix's massive form was knocked off course, its wings beating frantically to regain altitude and stability.

For a moment, the two opponents circled each other warily.

The phoenix tilted its head, those burning pits of darkness studying Wei Lin with what I could only interpret as puzzlement. This wasn't how the encounter was supposed to go. The creature had been drawn to me specifically, and this newcomer was interfering with its hunt.

The phoenix let out another ear-splitting screech, this one made my teeth ache. Where before there had been hunger and predatory anticipation, now there was rage and frustration. If it couldn't reach its preferred prey, then it would simply eliminate the obstacle standing in its way.

"Well," I murmured to Lin Mei, settling into a position where I could observe the battle while staying ready to intervene if needed, "this should be fun."

The phoenix opened its beak wide, and I felt my blood chill as I recognized the technique it was preparing. The same black fire that had effortlessly erased my vines began to gather in its throat, but this time the scale was completely different.

This wasn't a targeted stream, this was an area devastation attack.

The phoenix released its attack with a sound like reality tearing. A massive sphere of black fire, easily twenty feet in diameter, roared toward Wei Lin with enough force to level a small mountain. The flames didn't just burn, they seemed to devour the very concept of existence, leaving trails of absolute void in their wake.

Wei Lin stood perfectly still as the attack approached, his right hand extended palm-forward. For a terrifying moment, I thought he'd miscalculated, that his new power wouldn't be enough to handle such a devastating technique.

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Then the black fire reached his palm and simply... disappeared.

I watched in fascination as the death qi that comprised the phoenix's attack flowed into Wei Lin like water finding a drain. His death stall was absorbing the entire technique, processing the foreign energy with an efficiency that left me speechless.

Within seconds, the massive sphere of destructive force had been completely consumed.

"Interesting flavor," Wei Lin commented conversationally, as if he'd just sampled an exotic wine. "Very concentrated death essence, with undertones of despair and inevitability. Quite potent."

The shadow phoenix's burning eyes widened in what could only be described as shock. Its most powerful attack had been casually negated, absorbed as if it were nothing more than a mild snack.

Wei Lin raised his left hand, lightning qi crackling between his fingers. "And now it’s my turn."

The bolt that erupted from his palm was brilliant blue-white, so intense it left afterimages burned into my vision. Unlike the wild, uncontrolled fire qi he'd used in an earlier battle, this technique was precise, refined, devastating in its focused power.

The lightning struck the phoenix dead center in its chest, and the creature's screech of pain was unlike anything I'd heard before.

The attack punched completely through its shadowy form, leaving a gaping hole where its heart would be. Wisps of dark essence bled from the wound like spiritual blood, and the phoenix's flight became erratic as it struggled to maintain cohesion.

But Wei Lin wasn't finished.

Before the phoenix could recover, he vanished in a burst of lightning qi and rematerialized directly in front of the wounded creature, moving faster than I'd ever seen him move before.

The phoenix tried to react, bringing one massive wing around in a desperate swipe, but Wei Lin was already moving. With a casual gesture that belied the incredible precision required, he extended a wind qi-infused hand and drew it across the phoenix's neck in a single, fluid motion.

For a heartbeat, nothing seemed to happen.

Then the phoenix's head began to slide sideways, cleanly severed from its body. Both halves of the creature plummeted toward the ground, massive wings folding as the death essence that animated them began to dissipate.

I expected the phoenix to begin regenerating, as most death-essence creatures could. Many beings native to death realms could reassemble themselves from even the smallest fragments as long as sufficient death qi was available. And returning from death seemed appropriate for a phoenix.

But Wei Lin anticipated this.

As the phoenix's body struck the ground with an earth-shaking impact, he placed both hands on its remains and activated his Black Market stall. Dark tendrils of energy flowed from his palms, not attacking the creature but drawing something essential from it.

The death essence that had animated the pseudo-Elemental Realm phoenix was systematically drained away, flowing into Wei Lin's cultivation base like water into a sponge. Within moments, what had been a terrifying creature of shadow and flame was reduced to nothing more than ordinary ash that scattered in the wind.

I stared at the empty space where the phoenix had fallen, genuinely impressed despite myself. "That was... incredibly efficient," I admitted.

"The tenth stage is quite something," Wei Lin replied, walking back toward us with that new confidence still radiating from his spiritual pressure. "The additional stall provides options I didn't have before. Being able to absorb death essence directly instead of having to convert it through other energy types makes a huge difference."

"I could see that," I smiled. “It was an impressive performance.”

And I really meant it.

If I'd fought that phoenix myself, it would have been a much more drawn-out affair. My Primordial Woods Arts were effective, but they worked best through attrition and tactical positioning. Wei Lin had simply overpowered the creature through raw spiritual superiority and perfect technique application.

The competitive part of me wanted to point out to myself that I could probably have achieved a similar result using both my suns and the full power of my runes, but even then, I knew it wouldn't have looked as effortless as what Wei Lin had just accomplished.

My friend had truly come a long way.

"How do you feel?" Lin Mei asked as Wei Lin rejoined us. "Any side effects from the breakthrough?"

"Surprisingly stable," Wei Lin replied, flexing his fingers as if testing his control. "The death stall integrated more smoothly than I expected. Usually, adding a new element to the marketplace requires days of adjustment, but death essence seems to... mesh well with the existing structure."

"That's probably because you'd been absorbing ambient death qi for hours before the breakthrough," I suggested. "Your spiritual pathways were already adapted to processing it."

"True," Wei Lin nodded. "Though I suspect there's more to it than that. Death essence operates on different principles than elemental qi. It's more fundamental, in a way. Like it touches the base layer of how energy works."

"You made it look easy," Lin Mei added, her voice carrying a note of awe. "I could barely follow your movements at the end there."

I nodded, understanding her amazement.

It made perfect sense that Lin Mei, as a sixth-stage cultivator, could barely track Wei Lin's movements. The tenth stage was practically mythical in her eyes, most cultivators never even attempted to reach it, let alone succeeded.

But what struck me was that even I, with my ninth-stage cultivation and enhanced perception, had found Wei Lin's speed abnormally fast.

If I hadn't known better, if I wasn't familiar with his Merchant's Path cultivation method, I would have assumed he specialized in speed techniques rather than energy conversion and absorption. The way he'd moved at the end there, appearing in front of the phoenix in that flash of lightning-enhanced movement, had been genuinely impressive even by my standards.

Before we could discuss the battle further, something in the sky caught our attention.

The crimson number had changed again: 10.