The air in the practice room was thick with the scent of cheap floor wax and the metallic tang of a dying air conditioner.

On the floor, the body of twenty-year-old Lin Xiao lay cold. Her heart, weakened by a congenital defect and pushed to the brink by an eighteen-hour rehearsal, had finally given out. In the silence of the room, she was a failed trainee—a "talentless" girl who had been cast aside by her prestigious medical family and mocked by the public.

Then, the sky over the city turned a bruised, electric purple.

A bolt of silent, invisible lightning struck the roof of the Star-Reach Entertainment building. It didn't burn the wires; it bypassed the physical world entirely, seeking a vessel.

The Alchemy Saint, Lin Xiao, had been at the pinnacle of the Ninth Tribulation in the Heavenly Realm when her cauldron exploded. She had expected the void. Instead, she felt... cramp.

Her eyes snapped open.

The First "Cultivation" Crisis

Lin Xiao sat up, her long hair spilling over her shoulders like silk. She looked at her hands—frail, pale, and trembling.

"This body..." she whispered, her voice rasping. "The meridians are clogged with... is this fried chicken grease? And the heart... the 'Gate of Life' is practically rusted shut."

She closed her eyes, instinctively reaching for the vast ocean of Qi she once commanded. She found a puddle. A tiny, shallow puddle of spiritual energy.

"Disastrous," she sighed. "I have survived three millennia of war only to be reincarnated as a malnourished dandelion."

The Intruder

The door to the practice room slammed open. A man in a tailored suit—Assistant Yan Chao—rushed in, his eyes glued to a tablet.

"Lin Xiao! Why aren't you at the makeup chair? The CEO has been looking at the live-stream metrics for ten minutes. You’re currently the #1 most searched person on the 'Failure' boards! If you don't show up for the final evaluation, your contract is—"

Yan Chao stopped.

Lin Xiao was looking at him. Her eyes didn't have the usual look of a desperate, teary-eyed trainee. They were deep, ancient, and unnervingly calm.

"Junior," Lin Xiao said, her voice cool. "Your 'Liver Fire' is rising. You have been awake for three sun-cycles. If you do not consume a cooling decoction, you will lose your hair by autumn."

Yan Chao blinked. "My... my hair? Did you just call me 'Junior'? I’m thirty! And I’m the Chief Assistant to Lu Chen!"

"Lu Chen?" Lin Xiao stood up, her movements fluid and hauntingly graceful. "Is he the Sect Leader of this... Star-Reach?"

"He's the CEO! And he's waiting! Move!"

## The CEO's Office: A Meeting of Two Worlds

Lu Chen sat behind a desk made of obsidian-glass. He was a man of cold lines and sharp logic. To him, the world was a series of graphs. Currently, the graph for 'Lin Xiao' was a flat line heading toward zero.

The door opened. Lin Xiao walked in.

She didn't bow. She didn't cry. She walked to the center of the room and sniffed the air.

"This room has good 'Feng Shui'," she noted, looking at a decorative fountain. "But the placement of that metal sculpture is cutting off the energy flow. It is why you have a headache every day at 4 PM."

Lu Chen paused, his pen hovering over a termination contract. He did have a headache every day at 4 PM.

"Lin Xiao," Lu Chen said, his voice like velvet-covered ice. "I don't care about your new 'fortune teller' persona. Your performance yesterday was a disaster. You fainted on stage. The sponsors are calling you 'The Fainting Idol'."

Lin Xiao leaned over his desk. Her face was inches from his. He could smell something strange—not the heavy perfume of other trainees, but the scent of mountain herbs and fresh rain.

"I fainted because the heart in this vessel was broken," she said simply. "I have fixed it. Now, tell me... this 'Idol' path. If I reach the top, will the world become quiet?"

Lu Chen stared into her eyes. For a split second, he felt a strange vibration in the air—like a hum of electricity.

"If you reach the top," Lu Chen said, strangely compelled to answer, "the whole world will listen to you. But quiet? No. It will be the loudest noise you’ve ever heard."

Lin Xiao frowned. "Then I shall have to cultivate the world until it learns to be silent."

## The "Netizen" Explosion (The First Post)

While they spoke, a video was uploaded to a popular forum by a staff member who had filmed her walking down the hallway.

Topic: Is Lin Xiao... okay? Check this video.

User: K-Pop-Detective: "Look at her walk! She’s not even touching the ground fully. It’s like she’s gliding. And what is she wearing? A ripped hoodie, but she looks like she’s wearing a royal robe."

User: Hater_No_1: "She probably just had surgery during the three hours she was 'missing.' Typical."

User: MysterySeeker: "Guys, look at the background of the video. The dying plants in the hallway... did they just sprout new leaves as she walked past them??"

Lin Xiao looked at the "Smart Phone" Yan Chao handed her. On the screen, thousands of tiny hearts were floating up.

"What is this?" she asked.

"Those are likes, Lin Xiao," Yan Chao sighed. "People like you."

Lin Xiao touched the screen. She felt a tiny, microscopic spark of Faith Power enter her fingertip. Her eyes widened.

"This 'Internet'..." she realized, a small, dangerous smile appearing on her face. "It is not a tool. It is a World-Scale Spirit-Gathering Array. If I can conquer this... I won't just ascend. I'll own the Heavens."

"CEO Lu," she said, turning back to the stunned man. "I will stay. But I need a room, a large cauldron, and a high-speed Wi-Fi connection. We have work to do."

🫧🪸🫧🪸🫧🪸🫧🪸🫧🪸🫧🪸🫧🪸🫧🪸

Lu Chen stared at the girl in front of him. In his five years as CEO of Star-Reach, he had dealt with temperamental divas, rebellious rockers, and trainees who thought they were "chosen ones." But Lin Xiao was different. She wasn't arrogant; she was... indifferent.

"A cauldron?" Lu Chen repeated, his voice flat. "This is an entertainment agency, not a medieval forge."

"A large, heavy-bottomed pot will suffice for now," Lin Xiao conceded, waving a hand dismissively. "The quality of the metal in this era is remarkably pure, even if your 'ovens' are primitive."

Yan Chao leaned in, whispering to Lu Chen. "Sir, the doctors said she had a cardiac episode. Maybe the oxygen deprivation caused... you know... a spiritual delusion?"

Lin Xiao’s eyes darted to Yan Chao. "Junior, if I were delusional, I wouldn't be able to tell that the coffee you drank ten minutes ago was burnt and that your left shoe is pinching your toe because of a misaligned bone."

Yan Chao jumped back, looking down at his foot. "How did she—"

"Enough," Lu Chen interrupted. He looked at the termination contract on his desk, then back at Lin Xiao. The "Fainting Idol" scandal was a nightmare, but the video of her walking down the hall was already trending. The metrics were spiking in a way that defied logic.

"I’ll give you one week," Lu Chen said, sliding the contract into a drawer. "One week to prove you’re not a liability. You’ll move back into the AETHER dorms tonight. If you cause one more scandal, you’re out."

"Scandal?" Lin Xiao tilted her head. "I do not seek conflict. I only seek the Dao. And a decent set of herbs."

## The AETHER Dorms: A Cold Reception

The AETHER dorm was a cramped, neon-lit apartment that smelled of hairspray and citrus-scented diet shakes. When Lin Xiao walked in, the air turned cold.

Three girls were sitting in the living room, staring at their phones.

Zaria (The Visual) looked up, her eyes narrowing. "Oh. You’re back. We thought you were finally going home to your rich family to be a 'failure' in private."

Nyx (The Rapper) didn't even look up. "The hashtags #LinXiaoFaints and #GlassIdol are still top ten. You’re dragging our debut score into the dirt."

Mika (The Vocalist) looked worried but stayed quiet, nibbling on a piece of celery.

Lin Xiao ignored the venom. She walked to the center of the room, closed her eyes, and frowned. "The energy in this room is stagnant. There is a leak in the... 'bathroom'? It is draining the wealth-luck of this dwelling."

"It’s a leaky faucet, Xiao. Get over yourself," Zaria snapped, standing up. "And stay out of my way. We have a live-stream 'Practice Room' check-in in an hour. Try not to die on camera again."

## The First "Alchemy"

While the other girls were busy applying waterproof mascara, Lin Xiao retreated to the kitchen. She found a large stainless steel soup pot—the closest thing to a cauldron she could find.

She pulled a handful of "herbs" from her pockets—actually weeds and specific leaves she had plucked from the Star-Reach garden on her way out.

"In this world, Qi is thin, but the 'Electric' energy is abundant," she mused.

She plugged in the induction stove. Instead of using a flame, she placed her hand on the glass surface. She began to channel the tiny puddle of Qi in her heart, merging it with the high-frequency vibrations of the electricity.

The result: The pot didn't just boil. It began to hum. A faint, silver mist began to curl out from under the lid.

The "Face-Slap" at the Sink

Zaria walked into the kitchen to get water. "What is that smell? Are you cooking... dirt?"

"I am refining a 'Skin-Cleansing Essence'," Lin Xiao said without looking up. "You should have some. The 'Solar' energy in your body is blocked by that thick layer of synthetic mud you call 'Foundation'."

"Excuse me?!" Zaria reached for the pot lid. "This is a shared kitchen, you can't just—"

Sizzle.

As Zaria’s hand neared the silver mist, a tiny spark of static electricity jumped. She gasped, stumbling back. But as the mist touched her face, she froze.

The redness around her nose disappeared. The dark circles under her eyes, a result of three hours of sleep, vanished instantly. Her skin looked as if it had been filtered by a professional editor.

"What... what did you do?" Zaria stammered, touching her cheek.

"I removed the impurities," Lin Xiao said, finally lifting the lid. Inside was a single, shimmering drop of clear liquid. "Now, out. I need to prepare for the 'Live-Stream'. If I am to be an 'Idol', I suppose I should look the part."

## The Live-Stream: The World Awakes

An hour later, the "AETHER Practice Room" stream went live on Star-Gram.

The Goal: Show the fans that the group was working hard.

The Reality: The fans were only there to mock Lin Xiao.

[Live Chat]

User_99: "Is the Fainting Queen there?"

Anti-Aether: "Look at her in the back. She’s probably going to fall over if the music is too loud."

Fan_Girl: "Wait... look at Lin Xiao's face."

The camera panned to Lin Xiao. She wasn't wearing a drop of makeup. She was wearing a simple white oversized t-shirt.

Her skin was glowing—not with oil, but with a literal, soft radiance. Her eyes, usually dull and tired in the old Lin Xiao, were now like two cold stars.

She didn't dance with the frantic, desperate energy of the others. She moved with Cloud-Step Footwork. Every movement was precise, minimal, and dangerously elegant.

The Metrics: 100k viewers...

500k viewers...

1 Million.

[Live Chat]

User_99: "UHHH... is she floating???"

Dance_Master: "Look at her feet. She’s moving between the beats of the music. This isn't K-Pop, this is... what is this?!"

CEO_Lu_Official: [Donates 10,000 Star-Gems] "Focus on the choreography."

Lu Chen, watching from his office, gripped his phone so hard the screen cracked.

"Yan Chao," he barked.

"Yes, sir?"

"Call the marketing team. Cancel the 'Fainting Idol' damage control. We’re re-branding."

"To what, sir?"

Lu Chen watched Lin Xiao on the screen. She had just looked directly into the camera, and for a second, a billion viewers felt like she was looking into their very souls.

"The Goddess of the New Era," Lu Chen whispered. "And get her a better pot."

🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸🧸

The live-stream didn't just end; it crashed.

The surge of traffic from "The Gliding Idol" clip was so intense that the Star-Reach servers experienced a literal meltdown. But for Lin Xiao, the real explosion was happening inside her chest.

Every "like," every "fire" emoji, and every wide-eyed reaction from a teenager in their bedroom was a thread of golden light. It filtered through the smartphone, traveled through the air, and settled into her dantian.

"The 'Faith of the Masses'..." she thought, feeling her stagnant Qi begin to swirl. "In the Heavenly Realm, we fought for thousands of years to build temples for this kind of power. Here, I just have to... 'post'?"

The Dorm Room Confrontation

The moment the camera turned off, the silence in the practice room was deafening. Zaria, Nyx, and Mika were staring at Lin Xiao as if she had grown a second head—one that was inexplicably more beautiful than the first.

"Lin Xiao," Nyx said, her voice dropping its usual sharp edge. "What was that? That wasn't the choreography. You were... moving before the beat."

"I was moving with the rhythm of the air," Lin Xiao replied, wiping a non-existent bead of sweat from her forehead. "The music is just a suggestion. The atmosphere is the truth."

"The 'atmosphere' is going to get us sued for breaking the internet," Zaria muttered, though she was secretly checking her own reflection in the mirror, still stunned by the "Skin-Cleansing Essence."

Suddenly, the dorm door flew open. Manager Wang, a man whose blood was 70% caffeine and 30% anxiety, burst in.

"PACK YOUR BAGS!" he screamed, waving his phone.

"Are we fired?" Mika whimpered, clutching her celery.

"Fired?! You’re 'Trending'!" Wang lunged at Lin Xiao, trying to grab her shoulders, but she stepped back instinctively, causing him to stumble. "Lin Xiao! Gucci just called. A skincare brand called 'Lumiere' wants to know what foundation you were wearing. I told them you were wearing 'The Glow of Star-Reach,' but they didn't buy it!"

Lin Xiao looked at him. "I told the CEO. I need a larger pot. And herbs. The garden outside is... insufficient."

"Pot? Herbs? Whatever! Lu Chen wants you in the car. Now! We have an emergency photoshoot for 'Vogue.' They want the 'No-Makeup Goddess' look."

## The CEO’s Observation

In the back of the black luxury sedan, Lin Xiao sat opposite Lu Chen. He was staring at her with the intensity of a scientist looking at a new element.

"You're not Lin Xiao," he said suddenly.

Lin Xiao didn't flinch. She adjusted her sleeves. "I am the soul that inhabits this body. The previous tenant was... weary. She left. I stayed."

Lu Chen narrowed his eyes. He was a man who believed in balance sheets and logic. But the feeling of electricity in the air whenever she spoke was undeniable.

"Whoever you are," Lu Chen leaned forward, "you’ve just increased this company’s valuation by 12% in two hours. But fame is a double-edged sword. Your family—the Lin Group—is furious. They think you’re using 'cheap tricks' to embarrass them."

"Cheap tricks?" Lin Xiao’s eyes flashed with a hint of ancient pride. "If I used my actual 'tricks', your city would be floating in the clouds by sunset."

Lu Chen felt a chill go down his spine. He pulled out a small velvet box. "Since you like 'artifacts', wear this for the shoot. It’s a 19th-century emerald brooch. It’s supposed to be lucky."

Lin Xiao took the box. She didn't look at the emerald. She felt the stone.

"A Spirit-Stone shard?" she realized. It was low-grade, but it was the first piece of concentrated energy she’d seen in this world.

Without a word, she traced a "Luck-Gathering Rune" on the surface of the gem with her fingernail.

"It's a bit dull," she remarked, pinning it to her white shirt.

The moment the pin clicked, the emerald, which had been a dark, cloudy green, suddenly flared with a brilliant, vivid light. It looked like it was glowing from within.

Lu Chen’s jaw tightened. "That... that wasn't supposed to happen."

## The "Brother" Enters (Ch. 5: The Police Captain)

The photoshoot at the park was interrupted by the arrival of three black SUVs with police sirens.

A man stepped out, tall and imposing in a tactical police vest. This was Lin Jian, Lin Xiao’s older brother and the Captain of the Special Tasks Unit.

"Lin Xiao!" he barked, his voice echoing across the park. "Enough of this circus. The Patriarch has ordered you to come home. You’re clearly having a mental breakdown."

Lin Jian walked toward her, his hand resting on his belt. He was used to his "weak" sister crying or hiding.

Lin Xiao stood her ground. She looked at her brother—a man who lived by the sword (or the gun). She saw the dark clouds of "Death Qi" lingering on his shoulders from his recent cases.

"Brother," she said, her voice echoing with a strange power. "You have been chasing a shadow for three weeks. The killer you seek is not in the city. He is hiding near the 'North Water'. If you go there tonight, you will catch him. If you stay here to bother me, he will kill again."

Lin Jian froze. "How did you... that’s classified information."

"Your 'information' comes from papers," Lin Xiao said, stepping closer and flicking a piece of lint off his vest. As she did, she secretly transferred a sliver of the emerald’s luck to him. "Mine comes from the Dao. Now, go. And tell the 'Patriarch' that I am busy refining the world. I don't have time for dinner."

Lin Jian stared at his sister. She looked like her, but she felt like a mountain. He found himself turning around and walking back to his car before he even realized he was doing it.

## The Assistant’s Crisis

Back at the office, Yan Chao was looking at a monitor, sweating.

"Sir," he called out to Lu Chen. "We have a problem. The rival agency, Nebula Corp, just released a statement. They’re claiming Lin Xiao is using 'Illegal Neural-AI Filters' to fake her appearance in the live-stream. They’ve launched a hashtag: #CancelTheAIIdol."

Lu Chen looked at Lin Xiao, who was currently trying to figure out how a vending machine worked.

"Let them talk," Lu Chen said, a smirk playing on his lips. "Yan Chao, set up a 'Reality Variety Show' invite. We’ll send AETHER to the 'Ghost-Mist Mountains' for a survival special. Let’s see them call her a 'filter' when she’s standing in the middle of a wilderness without a camera crew."

Lin Xiao turned around, holding a can of soda she had accidentally crushed with her bare hands. "Survival? In a mountain? Finally... some peace and quiet."

Lu Chen smiled. He didn't know yet that he wasn't sending a girl to a mountain; he was sending a Saint back to her natural habitat.

⭐🌟⭐🌟⭐🌟⭐🌟⭐🌟⭐🌟⭐🌟⭐🌟