Li Yun's journey from presumed cripple to nascent cultivator began with a stark choice. Faced with a quest to refine a perfect-grade Bone Refining Potion, a task beyond his current skill, he instead focused on cultivating his body. He uncorked ordinary-grade Bone Refining Potions he'd previously refined and, with the newly acquired Iron Pulse Fist Art, hammered his body relentlessly. Each explosive punch of the Hammer Pulse Strike drove the potion's essence deep into his bones, forging them anew. In a single day, he burned through his meager stock and pushed his cultivation from zero to the peak of the Bone Refining Realm, a feat that would stun any ordinary martial artist. This newfound power was immediately tested. The next day, on his way to the Treasure Hall, Li Nian, the very "genius" who had fatally injured the original Li Yun, blocked his path. Li Nian, smug in his late Marrow Cleansing Realm cultivation, mocked Li Yun's worthlessness and dared him to circulate internal energy. With a cold sneer, Li Yun unleashed a pure white mist of energy, radiating the undeniable aura of a cultivator. Li Nian's face twisted in disbelief, his taunts dissolving into pale shock as Li Yun calmly strode past him, leaving behind a humiliated enemy who swore silent revenge. This public face-slapping not only validated Li Yun's new path but also cemented Li Nian as an immediate, personal antagonist, whose simmering hatred promised future conflict.

With his cultivation path now open, Li Yun turned his attention to alchemy, a skill he believed would fund his rapid ascent. Leveraging his newly awakened internal energy, he found the refining process dramatically simplified. What once took half a day for an ordinary Bone Refining Potion now took minutes, and where he previously failed repeatedly on intermediate-grade potions, he now achieved flawless success. In a single session, he churned out dozens of intermediate-grade and seven excellent-grade Bone Refining Potions, a consistency unheard of for a "junior pharmacist." The next day, he brought this astonishing haul to the Treasure Pavilion. The staff, familiar with his past meager sales, were stunned by the quality and quantity. He sold his stock for 5,000 gold coins, enough to buy hundreds of sets of ingredients for higher-level potions, and even received a goodwill storage ring. The sheer volume and quality of his sales piqued the interest of Lan Yueli, the Pavilion's Director and a Xiantian Realm expert, who suspected a hidden master behind him. That same day, Li Yun easily dispatched Zhao Li, a minor bully he'd previously scammed, using his new Boulder Crushing Fist, earning experience points and proving his physical prowess. With a month left until the Coming of Age Ceremony and a looming duel with Li Nian, Li Yun needed to push his alchemy to perfect-grade and his cultivation even higher, aware that greater challenges awaited him.

Li Yun devoted a month to mastering perfect-grade Bone Refining Potions, failing hundreds of times before finally achieving consistent success. He then consumed twenty of these flawless potions, pushing his cultivation to the early stage of the Marrow Cleansing Realm. At the Li Family's Coming of Age Ceremony, Li Yun concealed his true physique, testing as a mere third-grade fire attribute, while Li Nian, still simmering with resentment, challenged him to a duel. Despite Li Zhen's attempts to intervene, Li Yun accepted, invoking his father's legacy to force the match. Li Nian, confident in his late Marrow Cleansing cultivation, attacked with a middle-grade sword art, but Li Yun, wielding his Boulder Crushing Fist at Perfection Stage, effortlessly disarmed him in a single blow. Humiliated, Li Nian swallowed a forbidden Raging Blood Pill, sacrificing his foundation for a temporary power surge to the Body Tempering Realm and a desperate attempt to kill Li Yun. But Li Yun, unflinching, unleashed a strike that mangled Li Nian's arm, ending the fight. Li Potian, Li Nian's grandfather, a Xiantian Realm expert, then tried to kill Li Yun in a fit of rage, only to be blocked by Li Zhen and reprimanded by Patriarch Li Jinyun. This explosive series of events concluded with Li Xian, Li Nian's powerful elder brother and a Sword Hall disciple at the second level of the Body Tempering Realm, stepping forward to challenge Li Yun for a rematch in two months, raising the stakes to an entirely new, life-threatening level.

With the family competition and his duel with Li Xian two months away, Li Yun strategically entered a Treasure Pavilion auction. His primary goal: acquire Purple Flower Fruits, a key ingredient for Body Tempering Pills. He began by publicly humiliating Zhao Xiaotian, the cruel son of the Zhao family patriarch, by forcing him to overbid for a high-grade sword, leaving Zhao Xiaotian with an overpriced trophy and seething resentment. When the Purple Flower Fruits appeared, Li Yun outbid Zhen Mayo, Li Hua's treacherous former friend and now the companion of Chen Xiao, the undisputed genius of Azure Wind City's strongest family. Li Yun secured two sets of fruits for 60,000 gold coins, leveraging Lan Yueli's surprising willingness to extend him credit, which sparked city-wide rumors about his mysterious backing. Chen Xiao, infuriated by Li Yun's defiance, publicly marked him as an enemy. Later, Li Yun consigned twenty bottles of his excellent-grade Marrow Cleansing Potions to the auction, netting over 100,000 gold coins after covering his purchases. He gave one of the priceless Purple Flower Fruits to Li Hua to heal her crippled foundation, a gesture of deep care. But this auction, while financially lucrative, had significantly escalated his feuds, leaving him with powerful enemies in Zhao Xiaotian, Zhen Mayo, and most dangerously, Chen Xiao, all while his high-stakes duel with Li Xian loomed.