Volume 1: Bo'an Awakening & The Calamity Storm
Chapter 16
The Subterranean Meditation Chamber
The crimson stains of twilight bled across the open grounds of Feng Lan Magic High School.
Behind Lin Feng, the thunderous cheers and fervent murmurs of thousands of students showed no signs of abating. The seismic shockwaves from his absolute S-Rank Star Sensing score, paired with the ferocious strike of Fire Burst that had incinerated the armored target to cinders in mere seconds, would undoubtedly continue to rock Bo’an City for days to come.
Lin Feng did not linger to bathe in their belated flattery. He understood the brutal nature of reality all too well: had he fallen short today, the only reception awaiting him would have been the venomous contempt reserved for an impoverished wretch crawling out from the slums.
His right hand tightened slightly around the antique bronze medallion bestowed upon him by Principal Qin himself. The heavy slab of metal gleamed with a muted silver plating. At its center, a chilled, teardrop-shaped sapphire was embedded, surrounded by two archaic, deeply etched characters: “Earth One.”
The exclusive privilege reserved solely for the school’s supreme prodigy: full, unrestricted cultivation rights within Subterranean Meditation Chamber Number One—the pinnacle sanctuary where the richest subterranean mana veins beneath Feng Lan High converged.
Lin Feng quickened his pace along the ancient cypress-lined path behind the library, leaving the clamor of the academic halls far behind. Before him, an ancient gray-stone watchtower loomed grand and solitary, its base blanketed in creeping emerald moss.
At the foot of the tower sat a rusted iron portcullis, bound fast by three heavy loops of iron chain. The moment footsteps approached, an emaciated elder swathed in ash-gray robes stepped slowly out from the gathering gloom. His spine was severely hunched, and his cloudy, rheumy eyes scanned Lin Feng from head to toe before he spoke in a dry, rasping rasp:
“Restricted grounds. Unaffiliated students, turn back immediately.”
Without a word, Lin Feng silently raised the antique bronze medallion.
The elder’s pupils constricted. Reaching out with a gnarled, sinewy hand, he accepted the bronze token, his trembling fingertips tracing along the intricate grooves of the engraved magical runes. When he lifted his gaze once more, an unmistakable look of astonishment flashed across his weathered face:
“The Earth One Medallion? You are that brat, Lin Feng, who shook the entire campus with that blinding light this morning?”
“This junior is indeed he,” Lin Feng replied, bowing slightly.
The elder scrutinized the youth for a long while before nodding slowly. Producing a heavy iron key, he unlocked the chains.
Clang... Rattle...
The heavy iron links struck the dry flagstones with a dull clatter. The heavy gate groaned open, revealing a yawning, ink-black abyss and a dizzyingly steep spiral staircase carved straight down into the bowels of the earth.
“Take this.” The old man handed him a bronze-framed lantern housing a pale yellow luminescence stone. “Chamber Number One is situated at the absolute lowest level, thirty meters beneath the earth, directly abutting the draconic mana vein of Cang Lei Ridge. The elemental pressure down there is extraordinarily oppressive. Ordinary students cannot endure even two hours before experiencing suffocating nausea. If you find yourself unable to withstand the strain, pull the bronze bell-rope along the rock wall and ascend at once. Do not stubbornly push your limits and permanently shatter your Sea of Consciousness.”
“Thank you for the guidance, senior.”
Raising the lantern, Lin Feng stepped onto the first stone tread and began his descent.
The lingering warmth of the daylight world vanished in an instant, replaced by a biting, glacial draft seeping from the solid granite walls. The spiral staircase burrowed deep through the bedrock of the mountain, a winding subterranean corridor with no end in sight.
Each footstep thudded rhythmically against the stone, echoing in deep, resonant thumps. As he delved deeper, the musty odor of damp subterranean earth gradually dissolved, giving way to an invigorating, pristine current of vital essence brushing gently across his skin.
Descending past more than two hundred precipitous stone steps, Lin Feng finally set foot upon the flagstones of a cavernous subterranean antechamber.
Looming before him was a colossal monolith of obsidian—a stone portal over four meters tall and three meters wide, meticulously carved from a single, seamless slab of volcanic rock. Etched high upon the archway was the numeral “1,” tinted in a deep crimson hue. At the center of the massive doors lay a circular indent, perfectly contoured to the dimensions of his bronze medallion.
Stepping forward, Lin Feng held his breath and slotted the antique bronze token firmly into the stone recess.
Clack!
The internal gears meshed together with absolute precision. In an instant, countless runic channels across the obsidian expanse blazed to life! A brilliant sapphire luminescence cascaded through the stone veins like the phosphorescent blood of a slumbering behemoth roaring awake.
Rumble... Rumble... Rumble...
The bedrock trembled faintly beneath his soles. The thousand-pound stone doors parted slowly to either side.
A cool, refreshing wave of invisible pressure—resembling the purest alpine spring water—instantly surged forth, washing over Lin Feng’s face!
It bore none of the suffocating heaviness the gatekeeper had warned of. Instead, every single pore across Lin Feng’s body expanded simultaneously in a wave of sheer, intoxicating bliss. The very air was viscous, saturated with an astonishing concentration of pure, unadulterated elemental mana!
Lin Feng crossed the threshold. Behind him, the colossal stone portal sealed shut with a low, reverberating boom, isolating the chamber completely from the outside world.
The room was octagonal in shape, spanning roughly fifty paces across. Its stone walls and vaulted ceiling were studded with tens of thousands of miniature Star Sensing Stones, glimmering like an artificial galaxy suspended within the subterranean gloom.
In the eight corners of the chamber stood eight stone pillars inscribed with ancient magical formation matrices. Operating in silence, they continuously channeled the primordial earth essence from the deepest fissures of Cang Lei Ridge, compressing it tightly within the confines of the room.
A Primary Mana Gathering Array!
Across the polished flagstones, the hyper-dense elemental mana coalesced into floating ribbons of pale cerulean mist, hovering two feet above the ground like a veil of ethereal smoke. With every breath he drew, Lin Feng could distinctly feel the individual mana particles traveling down his trachea and seeping straight into his meridians, filling his entire body with a soothing, tingling warmth.
A mana density three times that of the surface!
At the dead center of the chamber rested a dais crafted from pitch-black Glacial Dark Jade—a rare mineral renowned for anchoring the soul, purifying mental distractions, and attuning the mind to heaven and earth’s spiritual currents.
Lin Feng shed his cloth shoes and stepped barefoot onto the smooth stone surface. A bone-chilling cold rushed up through the soles of his feet straight to the crown of his head, instantaneously purging any lingering remnants of exhaustion.
He sat cross-legged, his spine erect as a javelin planted in a frozen mountain pass, resting his palms loosely upon his knees in the five-points-toward-heaven posture.
Closing his eyes, his breathing grew measured, profound, and still. His divine consciousness sank deep within.
The boundless void of his Sea of Consciousness unfolded in primordial darkness.
To his left, the Fire Stardust burned like a glowing hearth, embers flickering with radiant heat. Seven scarlet Star Cores circled in obedient harmony, locked within a seamless, closed circuit—the Fire Star Path. Following the release of Fire Burst earlier that morning, roughly thirty percent of its mana reserves had been depleted, leaving its fiery glow somewhat subdued.
To his right, buried in the deepest, most secluded corner of the void, lay Lin Feng’s ultimate life-and-death secret: the Lightning Stardust! Seven dim, violet-black Star Cores hovered motionless amidst the emptiness, tiny arcs of static lightning wrapping around them like a brood of coiled, slumbering thunder serpents.
Under normal circumstances, restoring that thirty percent of expended fire mana would require Lin Feng to sit in continuous meditation throughout the entire night in his cramped attic on South Street.
Yet, the instant his spiritual senses made contact with the ambient mist of mana enveloping his physical form...
Thump-thump!
A heavy, violent thrum abruptly echoed from his chest!
It was not the biological rhythm of his mortal heart, but the awakening pulse of the coiled-dragon relic resting flush against his skin—the Primordial Dragon Pendant!
Sizzle... Sizzle...
The black jade pendant, habitually cold as glacial ice, suddenly turned scalding hot! An intense wave of heat, akin to a red-hot branding iron, pressed against his sternum, sinking deep into the marrow of his ribs.
The surface of the pitch-black jade ignited with an ethereal, ink-black sheen. The ancient carvings of the Primordial Black Dragon etched upon its face seemed to resurrect; each dragon scale subtly flared outward, and within the hollow depths of its carved eye sockets, two deep crimson flames roared to life!
ROAAAR——!
A primordial draconic roar, ancient and sovereign, detonated directly within Lin Feng’s mind!
The Primordial Dragon Pendant was undergoing a violent metamorphosis!
It resembled a ravenous primeval beast, starved for ten thousand years in a barren wasteland, suddenly stumbling upon a sacred nectar lake! The pendant’s gravitational suction fully revealed its true form: a celestial black hole capable of devouring heaven and earth!
Whoosh... Whoosh... Whoosh...
Within the sealed stone chamber, a violent tempest whipped into frenzy!
The pale blue ribbons of mana mist hovering over the floor churned erratically, sweeping inward to form a towering funnel-shaped cyclone! And the very epicenter of this raging vortex was Lin Feng’s chest!
The surging current of elemental power—already three times denser than the outer world—was ravenously inhaled by the Primordial Dragon Pendant, transforming into tens of thousands of radiant silver-blue silk threads that poured relentlessly into the black jade.
An ordinary mage meditating in this chamber could only passively absorb mana filtering through their skin pores; if their meridians could not withstand the compressive burden, they would suffer excruciating pain and violent swelling.
But Lin Feng was different!
The Primordial Dragon Pendant was the ultimate engine of filtration and refinement. Every coarse particle of ambient mana that passed through the jade was instantly pulverized, stripped of all impurities, and refined into glistening drops of golden spiritual nectar that sparkled like stardust.
That absolutely pure spiritual nectar cascaded straight into Lin Feng’s Sea of Consciousness like a catastrophic torrential deluge tearing through a breached dam!
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
Within the dark celestial void, Lin Feng watched in awe as a boundless downpour of golden spiritual nectar hammered down!
This miraculous shower thoroughly drenched both Stardust realms!
To the left, the Fire Stardust flared in exultant celebration! Bathed in the soothing spiritual nectar, the seven crimson Star Cores ignited with blinding brilliance. Their physical volume visibly swelled, becoming smooth, glossy, and radiant as top-grade scarlet jade pearls. The thirty percent of depleted mana from the morning’s battle was completely replenished within a few dozen breaths!
Nor did the influx cease there. The river of pristine mana continued to surge relentlessly, washing away the surrounding darkness. The domain of the Fire Stardust, originally spanning barely thirty feet across, began to rapidly expand: forty feet... fifty feet... until it crossed the sixty-foot threshold!
To the right, the Lightning Stardust refused to be outdone!
The seven violet-black Star Cores were like bottomless abyssal maws, greedily devouring every single drop of spiritual nectar. With each radiant drop consumed, the streaks of violet-black lightning coiling around the star cores grew sharper, denser, unleashing ear-piercing crackles of pure, destructive thunder!
Three times the ambient mana density of the Subterranean Chamber.
Amplified by the double-speed refinement efficiency of the Primordial Dragon Pendant.
Lin Feng’s cultivation speed, recovery rate, and spiritual sea nurturing were currently proceeding at six times the pace of any ordinary mage!
A single day seated upon this Glacial Dark Jade dais yielded the equivalent of an entire month of bitter cultivation in an ordinary classroom!
Lin Feng surrendered himself to the intoxicating sensation of rapid progression. His mental fortitude ascended to unprecedented heights, his meridians growing supple, resilient, and utterly unimpeded.
Deep within the earth, the boundary between day and night ceased to exist. Lin Feng cast aside every stray thought, focusing his entire consciousness on steering the cascading torrents of mana to nourish his twin celestial domains.
One hour... three hours... six hours passed in the blink of an eye.
The Fire Stardust expanded to the absolute apex of the Primary Tier 1 realm! Saturated to bursting with elemental power, the seven crimson Star Cores orbited their celestial tracks at blistering speed, weaving a brilliant scarlet meteor trail across the inner cosmos.
Yet, right at the fateful juncture where the accumulation reached its absolute saturation point...
BOOM——!
A deafening crack of thunder detonated without warning in the dead center of Lin Feng’s soul!
The terrifying shockwave slammed like a colossal sledgehammer directly against his spiritual core, causing the youth’s physical body atop the jade dais to convulse violently!
Gorged relentlessly on the boundless spiritual nectar of the Dragon Pendant for hours on end, the Lightning Stardust—a primordial beast long slumbering in the dark—had fully awakened its ferocious, predatory nature!
It was no longer content to remain dormant in the quiet shadows!
Crack! Zap! KABOOM!
The seven violet-black Star Cores suddenly unleashed violent bolts of lightning thick as a man’s wrist! This lightning was an ominous, pitch-black violet, suffocating with deathly chill and the tyrannical, destructive bloodlust of a true primeval dragon!
The Star Cores howled with ravenous frenzy, and the violet-black Star Path chaining them together drew taut as an arched bowstring, primed to unleash an apocalyptic arrow of destruction!
They were overflowing! The violent thunder energy packed inside had completely surpassed the containment threshold of the Primary Tier 1 realm!
A ruthless, bloodthirsty impulse surged straight into Lin Feng’s cerebral cortex: Unleash it! Obliterate! Crush everything to dust!
“Damn it...”
Lin Feng gritted his teeth so hard that blood seeped through the cracks. The veins across his temples pulsed and throbbed furiously. Cold sweat poured down his brow like rain, hissing into steam the moment it dripped onto the chilled surface of the jade dais.
Beneath the youth’s skin, branching arcs of crackling violet-black lightning began to spontaneously rupture outward! They danced with sharp snaps across his forearms, crawled along the back of his hands, and flared across his cheekbones. His jet-black hair stood completely on end. The entire perimeter surrounding the jade dais was consumed by a warped, volatile electrostatic field, filling the room with the pungent, acrid reek of scorched ozone!
His Lightning Element was attempting to force an involuntary spell release!
His primary-tier spell, “Lightning Strike: Electric Shackle,” already possessed a terrifyingly mutated destructive potency. Now compressed to the absolute breaking point, it was no different from a barrel of magical gunpowder on the verge of detonating!
But this was Feng Lan High’s Subterranean Meditation Chamber! Every stone wall was embedded with sensory nodes linked directly to the Primary Mana Gathering Array!
If a single blast of this violet-black lightning were unleashed and struck the chamber walls, the subterranean security alarms would shriek with deafening fury. The hunched gatekeeper and Principal Qin himself would materialize in the chamber within a handful of breaths!
If that happened, his absolute secret of Innate Dual Elements and his mutated, apocalyptic Lightning Element would be stripped bare before the eyes of the entire world!
In a ruthless world where the strong devoured the weak, an impoverished youth without a noble clan’s backing who exposed such heaven-defying talent would not be met with glory and praise. Instead, he would face immediate confinement, enslavement, or even dissection upon the experimentation slabs of shadowy underground cabals!
“Shut up! Suppress it for me!”
Lin Feng issued a low, guttural snarl from the depths of his throat, his eyes shot through with crimson capillaries.
Marshaling the entirety of his razor-sharp mental strength, he forged it into a colossal invisible hand, ruthlessly clamping down upon the thrashing Lightning Star Path inside his Sea of Consciousness.
Yet the ferocious violet lightning was like a rabid demonic dragon, viciously tearing and snapping at his mental grip. With every violent collision, Lin Feng’s chest hitched painfully, and a trickle of bright crimson blood leaked from the corner of his lips!
Forcibly suppressing a spell on the verge of detonation was the cardinal taboo of all mages. At best, it ruptured the caster’s meridians; at worst, it permanently shattered their Sea of Consciousness, rendering them a crippled invalid for the rest of their days!
Internally, the berserk lightning tore through his meridians, threatening to blast through his physical flesh!
Externally, the runic stone walls waited on a hair trigger to register the slightest cataclysmic vibration!
Pressed flush against his chest, the black jade Primordial Dragon Pendant suddenly began to vibrate with violent frenzy, emitting an ear-piercing drone as though preparing to make a breathless, life-or-death gamble...
Lin Feng’s eyes snapped open—his pupils now entirely consumed by an ominous, lethal shade of violet-black! How could he extinguish this raging tempest of lightning without tearing himself apart?!