The subterranean concrete basement of the abandoned textile factory felt colder than a morgue. Outside, the high-speed rail station firefight was dominating the afternoon news cycles, with local media outlets frantically reporting on an "unprecedented armed clash between rival private security details."
Lin Feng sat cross-legged on the damp floorboards at the absolute center of the cellar, completely detached from the electronic chaos of the outside world.
Resting on his knees were the remaining two high-grade spiritual stones from Mount Tai. The dense, trapped sapphire Qi inside them hummed aggressively, sending visible ripples of frosty blue vapor crawling across his lap. The temperature in the basement plummeted so sharply that thin sheets of crystalline frost began to branch across the concrete walls like skeletal fingers.
The corporate empires are tearing themselves apart over an empty stage,
Lin Feng thought, his breathing flat, rhythmic, and heavy.
Zhao Kun will blame the Bai family for the vault breach; Bai Qingxi will assume the Zhao Group is trying to cover up a monumental geological discovery. By the time their corporate legal networks call a truce, the second phase of my foundation will be absolute.
He extended both hands, his bare palms pressing firmly against the rough, cloudy surfaces of the stones.
The inner engine of the
Nine Heaven Circulation Scroll
flared within his lower abdomen. The initial core of Qi he had consolidated from the excavation pit's seed spun like a violent vortex, creating a massive, localized spiritual vacuum within his energetic pathways.
āThe marrow turns to jade, the blood returns to the sea, the mortal shell shatters to release the divine.ā
CRACK. CRACK.
Both spiritual stones fractured simultaneously. Two blinding, serpentine torrents of raw, concentrated sapphire light burst through the mineral husks, wrapping around Lin Fengās forearms like living bands of plasma before boring straight through his skin.
The sheer volume of incoming energy was a hundred times more violent than the first stone. It felt as though two columns of pressurized hydraulic fluid were being pumped directly into his primary meridians. The veins across his neck and temples bulged into thick, indigo cords, pulsing frantically under the immense structural stress.
An ordinary martial artist attempting to absorb two high-grade stones simultaneously would have seen their spiritual pathways torn to ribbons within fractions of a second, causing their chest cavity to implode from the volatile, compressed pressure.
But Lin Fengās energetic anatomy was flawless. His channels were pristine, flexible, and completely scoured of calcified mortal impurities.
He didn't fight the pain. He weaponized it.
Using the agonizing pressure as a sledgehammer, Lin Feng guided the raging sapphire torrent down into his skeletal matrix. The kinetic feedback from his bones sounded like a continuous, muffled drumroll echoing inside the concrete cellar. His bone marrow violently vibrated, purging the last microscopic remnants of mortal cellular decay from his system, compressing his skeletal density until his framework possessed the shock-absorbing resilience of military-grade composite alloys.
Mortal Flesh RefinementāStage 6!
Stage 7!
Stage 8!
The expansion tore through his bottlenecks with the unstoppable momentum of a tidal wave. The excess spiritual energy overflowed from his bones, flooding outward into his muscle fibers and connective tissues. His tendons tightened and recoiled like high-tensile carbon-fiber cables, his skin flashing with a profound, pearlescent luster before settling back into the deceptive appearance of ordinary, soft mortal flesh.
By 5:30 PM, the two stones dissolved into twin mounds of lifeless, powdery gray ash. Lin Feng opened his eyes.
The dark cellar was instantly illuminated by a brief, terrifying golden flash in his pupils. He stood up slowly, his movements completely devoid of natural friction or weight. His senses had expanded to an existential degreeāhe could clearly hear the distinct patter of raindrops hitting a rusted iron sheet three blocks away; he could feel the faint, rhythmic tremors of the subway lines running deep beneath the city grid.
Mortal Flesh RefinementāStage 9. The Absolute Peak.
Lin Feng looked down at his right hand. He didn't feel bulky or heavy. Instead, he felt terrifyingly light, as if his physical container was merely a thin veil holding back a massive, pressurized ocean of kinetic violence.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cheap smartphone, booting up a secondary, clean browser instance on the decentralized network. The
Brocade Carp Network
was practically melting under the volume of data being uploaded by local informants.
Thread: [LATEST] Bai Family Conglomerate deploys automated drone surveillance over the southern hills! Martial law implemented around the Zhao Ancestral Estate!
Thread: Total lockdown of Jiangnan's financial districts. Corporate stocks for both giants are in a freefall.
Thread: Who is 'Xuanwu'? Internal rumors suggest a legendary hacker or independent Grandmaster is orchestrating the entire conflict.
Lin Feng ignored the public threads, clicking directly on a newly arrived encrypted ping from an unverified routing node. It was an automated data packet from the Jade Pavilion's private logistics sub-routine, containing an urgent, text-only transmission from Bai Qingxi.
The Jade Pavilion: "Zhao Kun has bypassed the municipal council entirely. He has activated the Zhao familyās private 'Iron Guard' vanguardāa detachment of twelve heavily modified, chemically enhanced combatants. They aren't looking for the cloner anymore, Xuanwu. They are moving to purge the regional antique markets on Phoenix Street to eliminate anyone who ever interacted with our digital signature."
The text box scrolled down, the typing speed indicating absolute, cold panic on the other end.
The Jade Pavilion: "My grandfather has ordered a full corporate retreat from the West District mud pit to reinforce our primary medical research facilities. We can no longer cover your trail. Zhao Kun's enforcers will reach Phoenix Street by 8:00 PM tonight. Every shop owner, every innocent merchant who stood in that courtyard last night is on their liquidation list. You claimed you protect the assets, but your distraction is about to paint the alleys in blood."
Lin Feng stared at the glowing screen, his face entirely unreadable in the dim cellar light. A cold, dangerous smile slowly formed on his lips.
A mishap,
he calculated, his eyes reflecting the dark, turbulent future he had returned to rewrite.
Zhao Kun is an old hound. When he loses a digital scent, he defaults to a scorched-earth policy. He thinks that by slaughtering the lower-tier merchants of Phoenix Street, he can force the hidden mole to break cover.
He dropped the phone into his backpack, pulling the hood of his black sweatshirt over his head.
"You want to draw out the vanguard by slaughtering the weak?" Lin Feng whispered, his voice echoing through the dark concrete room with a dense, terrifying vibration. "Then I will give you the vanguard. But you didn't bring a big enough cage, Director Zhao."
He stepped out of the cellar, his shadow instantly blending into the rainy evening fog. The corporate giants believed they were the ones holding the blades, but the undefeated apex of modern Huaxia was already on his way to the execution grounds.