A violent Vibration wracked his mind, and his vision went black.

This sense of utter depletion was worse than physical exhaustion.

’I need to head back.’

He glanced at the time.

After more than three hours of high-intensity Cultivation, he had used up nearly a third of his hundred-plus Recovery Potions.

Han Feng piloted the "Hunting Falcon," landing it smoothly on the runway.

He jumped down from the plane and walked toward the creaking wicker chair.

"Back?"

Uncle Sun lowered his newspaper, revealing a pair of cloudy eyes as his gaze lingered on Han Feng for a moment.

"Yeah."

Han Feng handed over his personal terminal.

Uncle Sun took it and deducted ten thousand Contribution Points, which included the rental fee and the "listening fee" for the Armor plate.

"You really pushed it on this flight, kid."

As Uncle Sun handed the terminal back to him, there seemed to be some other meaning hidden in his old eyes.

"Your face is pale as a sheet. Looks like you’ve seriously overdrawn your Spiritual Power."

"Just practicing some new maneuvers."

Han Feng replied vaguely.

Uncle Sun didn’t press the matter, merely jutting his chin toward the scrap heap.

"That was some accurate shooting. A clean shot right through the middle."

"If you want more target practice, I’ve got plenty of scrap. I’ll give you a twenty percent discount."

With that, he lay back down and covered his face with the newspaper, as if he’d just been talking in his sleep.

Han Feng thanked him and turned to leave.

As he walked out of the Airplane Graveyard, the cool evening wind of the Outer City on his face helped ease the spiritual vertigo.

He opened his system panel.

[Cultivation: Body Tempering Ninth Layer (920/1800)]

[Skills:]

[Sword Storage Technique (Entry Level): 12/1000]

[Rune Construction (Entry Level): 8/1000]

His Cultivation had increased by nearly three hundred points, and he had successfully reached the Entry Level for two new Skills.

These were two entirely new paths leading to the way of a true Sword Immortal.

Back in his C Level dorm, mental fatigue washed over him like a tide.

He collapsed face-first onto his bed, not even hearing his roommate, Gao Fei, greet him.

"Holy shit, were you sucked dry by a Banshee Beast or something?"

Gao Fei leaned in closer and jumped back in shock when he saw Han Feng’s colorless face.

Han Feng gave a weak wave and sat up on the bed.

He opened his personal terminal and searched directly for "Spiritual Power Recovery."

Rows of blue Potion icons popped up.

[Initial Tier Spiritual Power Recovery Potion (Calm Spirit Type)]: Instantly restores 50 points of Spiritual Power. Price: 1,000 Contribution Points.

[Initial Tier Spiritual Power Recovery Potion (Nourishing Type)]: Slowly restores 100 points of Spiritual Power while also nourishing the Divine Soul. Price: 1,500 Contribution Points.

The corner of Han Feng’s eye twitched violently.

These prices were highway robbery.

’This stuff is an absolute money pit.’

He finally understood completely.

The Skill of Rune Construction simply wasn’t meant for ordinary people.

Every practice session burned through both money and life force.

Unwilling to accept this, Han Feng picked up a metal water cup from his desk.

He wanted to see if he could still use the miraculous Rune Technique without the airplane, his "Magical Artifact."

He closed his eyes, mustered a faint stream of Qi Blood, and, mimicking the feeling from before, cautiously extended it toward the cup.

The Qi Blood extended three inches from his body.

Like a kite with its string cut, it instantly spun out of control and dissipated into the air.

He tried again.

The result was the same.

He could feel the Energy draining away, but he couldn’t give it any shape, let alone control it with any precision.

Forget drawing Runes—he couldn’t even make the Energy hold its form in the air for a single second.

’Why... could I do it in the plane?’

Han Feng sank into deep thought.

A few minutes later, a thought flashed through his mind, and he understood instantly.

It was the system!

The system had designated the fighter jet as his "Lifebound Flying Sword."

The moment he linked with the jet, his consciousness merged as one with the steel behemoth.

Human-Machine Unity wasn’t a metaphor; it was a fact!

In that state, the entire aircraft was an extension of his body.

His Spiritual Power could precisely feel every single component, which was how he was able to inscribe the intricate "Sharpness" Rune inside the cannon barrel.

But as soon as he left the plane, he reverted to his original form.

He was still just a Body Tempering Realm Martial Artist, his Spiritual Power far from the state where he could project his Divine Thought and manipulate objects out of thin air.

’Divine Thought... the Divine Containment Realm...’

Han Feng recalled the description of the power hierarchy. That was the distant Tier Four.

He scratched his head, and his frustration quickly vanished.

He had always been a practical person.

’If I can’t practice on a daily basis, then I’ll practice in the sky.’

You can’t become a master overnight, but every flight was a step forward.

Having come to this realization, Han Feng felt much more at ease.

The most important thing now was to raise his Cultivation to the Body Tempering Tenth Layer as quickly as possible!

...

Meanwhile, in a lab in Design Building Three, the air was thick enough to be cut with a knife.

Three days had passed since Han Feng had diagnosed the problem.

Lin Xue had been leading the entire project team, working around the clock.

They had formulated what they believed to be a near-perfect solution to the "multi-point harmonic conflict" problem.

"Engineer Lin, this is the seventh revised proposal!"

A researcher with heavy dark circles under his eyes pointed to the incredibly complex Rune Array diagram on the holographic screen, his voice hoarse but filled with excitement.

"While preserving the main structure, we’ve reconfigured the internal Runes of the T-45 Coupler!"

"And we’ve added three miniature flow-stabilizing arrays!"

"According to hundreds of simulations, this should theoretically and perfectly counteract the energy repulsion generated during high-G maneuvers!"

The lab was littered with empty nutritional supplement bottles, and everyone looked haggard.

But their eyes shone with the pride and confidence of top-tier academics.

Lin Xue carefully checked every piece of data. After confirming there were no errors, she gave a firm nod.

"Implement the modifications immediately! Once complete, arrange for a test Pilot to conduct a live flight test!"

"Yes, ma’am!"

The team sprang into action.

A young researcher quietly asked a colleague beside him.

"Why isn’t Engineer Lin asking Advisor Han to fly it? Isn’t he the steadiest pilot?"

The more senior researcher shook his head and lowered his voice.

"It’s not the same."

"Advisor Han is the ’God’ who finds the problems. We are the ’mortals’ who solve them."

"Our solution has to allow any qualified Pilot to produce perfect flight data. The honor of our design institute is at stake."

Realization dawned on the young researcher.

It was a matter of academic pride.

They had to prove that the wisdom of mortals could solve a problem pointed out by a God.

The refit was completed quickly.

Half a day later, an elite test Pilot from the academy’s flight division, piloting the modified "Night Falcon," soared into the clouds.

In the lab, everyone held their breath, their eyes glued to the data monitoring screen.

Just then, the lab door slid open silently.

Chen Kai entered carrying a tray with several steaming cups of coffee, a look of feigned concern on his face.

"Engineer Lin, everyone’s worked so hard. Have some coffee to wake you up."

He glanced around the room, his eyes landing on the main screen as he asked nonchalantly.

"So, how’s it going? Is the post-modification test flight running smoothly?"

Lin Xue didn’t turn around. Her eyes remained fixed on the screen as she gave a cold reply.

"We’re in the middle of testing."

"Hey, no need to be so tense."

Chen Kai’s tone was exceptionally "sincere."

"I heard you’ve all been working nonstop for three days and have already come up with a seventh proposal. That’s truly remarkable."

"The project is important, but you have to take care of yourselves."

His words caused several of the Core Members on Lin Xue’s team to frown.

’The mole.’

Lin Xue knew exactly what he was, but she didn’t let on.

At that very moment!

Without any warning, the data stream on the monitoring screen began to fluctuate wildly!

"BEEP—BEEP—WARNING! WARNING!"

"Overload peak at 15.2 G! High-frequency resonance detected in the airframe!"

"Energy loss rate has spiked to seventeen percent!"

"Test Pilot reports! The airframe is shaking violently! Requesting to abort the test!"

The piercing alarms struck everyone’s heart like a heavy hammer!

Lin Xue’s face went white as she immediately slammed the comms button.

"Abort the test! Return to base immediately!"

Any lingering optimism and pride in the lab vanished in an instant.

Everyone was stunned, their faces etched with disbelief.

They had failed.

Although the overload threshold for the resonance had been raised from 11 G to 15 G, which was a huge improvement...

The problem still remained!

"How could this be..."

One researcher tore at his hair in frustration, his eyes bloodshot.

"The theoretical data was perfect! Why?! Why is it still failing in a live flight?!"