The bronze blade wielded by the third elder whistled through the vacuum, weaving a complex geometric tapestry of cold metallic reflections. It wasn't a strike meant to draw blood from Lin Fengâs skin; it was a psychological anchor, a series of relentless feints designed to force him into a desperate evasive movement that would drain the oxygen from his lungs and deplete his internal reserves.
"You've run out of sky, brat!" the third elder yelled, his linen robes snapping violently as he lunged forward, the heavy bronze point tracking toward Lin Fengâs left ocular cavity.
Lin Feng stood at the absolute center of the intersecting halogen beams, his eyelids slipping shut as he completely tuned out the visual distortion of the swordplay.
The ancestral array had effectively transformed the granite basement into an energetic desert. The ambient pressure was dropping by the millisecond, forcing the capillaries in an ordinary mortal's lungs to rupture from the sudden vacuum. But to Lin Feng, who had navigated the suffocating, oxygen-starved caverns of the abyssal rifts for a decade, a artificial vacuum was a simplistic barrier.
A traditional suppression formation,
Lin Feng analyzed, his pulse maintaining a flat, sluggish sixty beats per minute.
They think an independent cultivator's internal engine requires a constant intake of environmental currents to maintain structural pressure. They don't know that the core technique of the Nine Heaven Circulation Scroll allows the Dantian to become entirely self-contained.
Deep within his lower abdomen, the core of pure sapphire Qi he had forged from the construction site's seed flared like a small, compressed star. It didn't expand outward; instead, it began to draw inward, compressing its own density to generate a localized internal equilibrium.
At the same time, Lin Feng focused his internal awareness on the remaining white jade tucked securely into his backpack.
He didn't touch it with his hands. He didn't need to. The energetic bond he had established with the Mount Tai mineral matrix during his breakthrough in the cellar was an absolute cord. He triggered a localized collapse of the crystal structure within his pack.
âThe void is a curtain, the marrow is the anchor, let the internal channels ignite without the sky.â
A muffled, crystalline
snap
echoed from inside his utility bag.
A dense, hyper-concentrated stream of raw, pre-awakening Qi exploded directly into his spine, bypassing his lungs and digestive tract entirely. It was an internal injection of pure geological fuel. Like liquid nitrogen hitting a raging furnace, the incoming energy violently detonated against his
Dantian
, sending a staggering wave of heat ripping through his meridians.
Mortal Flesh RefinementâStage 9 Peak Integration.
Lin Fengâs eyes snapped open. The vacant look in his pupils was gone, replaced by a blinding, terrifying golden luminescence that filled the entire concrete cavern, completely drowning out the white glare of the halogen floodlights.
"What?!" the third elder gasped, his bronze blade frozen an inch from Lin Feng's forehead as an invisible, crushing wall of raw physical density radiated outward from the youth's skin.
"Your vacuum is too small," Lin Feng whispered.
He didn't execute a complex martial sequence. He simply took a short step forward, his chest expanding slightly as his newly integrated internal Qi settled into an unshakeable baseline.
The kinetic displacement caused by his single step generated a sudden, violent back-draft of atmospheric pressure that completely broke the equilibrium of the
Dual Solstice Array
. The invisible dome of vacuum dropped over the room shattered like a cracked glass pane, the rushing ambient air returning to the basement with the thunderous, deafening report of a sonic boom.
BOOM.
The third elder was caught entirely off guard by the explosive return of the air pressure. His footing slipped across the smooth granite blocks, his bronze sword wavering from its perfect trajectory.
Lin Fengâs right hand shot out from his side like a striking viper. His bare fingers bypassed the guard of the sword, wrapping around the ancient bronze blade with an effortless, crushing grip.
Snap.
The solid, reinforced bronze swordâan antique artifact that had survived centuries of martial testingâshattered into three separate fragments under the sheer squeezing force of Lin Feng's bare palm. Before the pieces could touch the stone floor, Lin Feng executed a fluid, low-profile palm strike directly into the third elder's shoulder joint.
Thump.
The compact kinetic force traveled through the elder's linen robes, completely dislocating his collarbone and severing the neural pathways to his right flank. The old man let out a strangled, bloody gasp, his frame spinning through the air before crashing into the industrial water heaters, where he slid down into a limp, motionless heap.
"Third brother!"
The lead elder screamed, his rasping voice cracking with a sudden, overwhelming terror. He stood near the sealed spiritual well, his long fingers desperately tracing a secondary blood seal across the triangular iron talisman. The ancient cinnabar carvings on the metal surface began to smoke, glowing with a dangerous, unstable violet light as he prepared to trigger the absolute self-destruct mechanism to collapse the cavern.
"If our clan cannot hold this node, you will be buried beneath five hundred tons of mountain stone, brat!" the old man roared, his eyes wild with ancestral fanaticism.
"I told you before, old man," Lin Feng said, his frame blurring across the concrete floorboards with a velocity that defied optical tracking. "You monkeys talk too much about ownership."
Lin Feng appeared directly in front of the lead elder, his porcelain-smooth hand grabbing the old manâs wrist before his thumb could touch the final cinnabar node on the talisman.
Crunch.
The bones in the lead elder's wrist were instantly compressed into microscopic powder, the sudden drop in physical leverage causing the iron talisman to slip from his limp fingers. Lin Feng caught the ancient artifact mid-air with his left hand, his internal Qi smoothly flooding through the metal matrix to completely neutralize the unstable cinnabar script. The violet glow vanished, returning the talisman to a harmless, cold piece of scrap iron.
Lin Feng tossed the ruined talisman into the dark drainage trench. He didn't deliver a secondary strike to the lead elder; he simply released his grip, letting the old man sink onto his knees in the mud, his wrinkled face twisted in a mixture of excruciating pain and uncomprehending defeat.
The basement cavern fell perfectly silent once more, save for the steady, mechanical hum of the undisturbed boilers.
Lin Feng turned away from the broken elders, his gaze locking onto the massive multi-ton steel slab sealing the ancient spiritual well at the absolute center of the room. The thick iron chains wrapped around the mechanism were still vibrating faintly from the residual array energy.
He walked over to the seal, his bare feet stopping at the edge of the granite ring. He could feel it through the soles of his shoesâthe immense, pressurized ocean of ancient, pristine spiritual energy trapped beneath the bedrock, pushing against the steel plate like a living creature trying to breach its cage.
The foundation is clear. The variables are liquidated,
Lin Feng thought, a cold, unsatisfied grin forming on his lips as he slung his backpack onto the floor.
The corporate empires are still fighting each other in the streets of the city, completely oblivious to the fact that their dragon head has been thoroughly severed.
He bent his waist, his bare hands gripping the heavy steel frame of the multi-ton seal.
The countdown to the Great Awakening was still ticking, but the first true path toward the undefeated apex of New Huaxia was right beneath his palms.