Volume 3: Global Vanguard & The Advanced Pinnacle
Chapter 260
Simultaneous Breakthrough of Shadow and Summoning Elements to Advanced Tier (Four Star Seas Descend!)
Inside the central secret chamber of the Underworld Emperor’s tomb, the air was as dense and heavy as a thousand-year-old block of amber that had just shattered.
The residual energy remnants left after Lin Feng deciphered the ancient spatial chess game still lingered in the empty air in the form of hazy, silver-gray threads. On the polished black-stone floor, six shattered statues of undead guardians lay strewn about. Their demonic aura had been completely sucked dry by the Archaic Dragon Pendant, turning them into piles of mindless, lifeless stone powder.
At the most solemn position of the chamber, a nine-tiered black stone lotus platform stood tall, supporting a supreme worldly treasure.
That was none other than the “Nether Soul Essence”.
The crystal, as large as an adult’s fist, its surface naturally cut into hundreds of exquisite facets, was floating and slowly rotating half a foot above the lotus platform. It unceasingly radiated a mesmerizing dark purple light, pure to the extent that it didn’t contain a single speck of dust. Within the heart of the crystal, individual strands of black lightning coiled like baby dragons around a primordial soul stream, continuously contracting and expanding with every single beat:
“Thump... Thump... Thump...”
Every single time that heartbeat resonated, the surrounding space rippled with invisible shockwave rings. The air was compressed and then released, creating biting, bone-chilling gusts of wind that swept across the robes of those present. This soul coercion did not carry physical destruction, but it pressed down heavily upon the mages’ minds like an invisible Mount Tai.
“A soul-nourishing divine object of this caliber—even within the supreme treasury of the Forbidden Curse Association, a second piece might not necessarily be found.”
Lu Zhen slowly stepped forward to the edge of the granite stone steps, the Super-tier mage’s eyes fixed tightly on the dark purple crystal, his voice clearly revealing profound awe mixed with deep vigilance. The elder turned his head to look at Lin Feng, his silver eyebrows slightly furrowing:
“Lin Feng, the Nether Soul Essence has accumulated heaven and earth spiritual qi at the bottom of the Slaughter Abyss for tens of thousands of years, and has fused with the soul essences of ancient kings. The energy contained within it is both exquisitely pure and abnormally violent. Ordinary people wishing to refine it must at least establish three layers of purification magic arrays, invite three Mind-tier Archmages to guard their sea of consciousness, and break it down into tiny portions to use over many months. You... are you really going to absorb all of it right here and now?”
What Lu Zhen said was entirely correct. Directly swallowing a soul essence of this tier was no different from stuffing an extremely large barrel of gunpowder straight into the sea of consciousness. As long as a single thought deviated, the soul shockwave would instantly tear the cultivator’s mind to pieces, turning that person into a raving madman or causing their head to explode from the inside out.
Standing nearby, Ye Qingwan tightly grasped her Ice Crystal magic staff. Her eyes looked toward Lin Feng, carrying sincere and deep concern in the depths of her gaze, yet without the slightest hint of interference. She understood this teenager’s temperament too well. Once he made a decision, he undoubtedly possessed absolute confidence in his own abilities.
“The Slaughter Abyss is fluctuating abnormally; the city-wide sealing barrier outside the Ancient Capital won’t hold out for much longer.” Lin Feng calmly spoke, his tone as resolute as iron and stone: “Time waits for no one. The deeper we go into the heart of the tomb, the greater the dangers will multiply manifold. If we want to thoroughly resolve this catastrophic calamity, strengthening our power right here on the spot is the only path.”
He paused for a beat, looking straight into the eyes of Lu Zhen and Ye Qingwan:
“Elder Lu, Qingwan, I need the two of you to guard the entrance of the secret chamber. Within the next single hour, no matter what happens outside, absolutely do not allow any living soul to cross the dark bronze doors.”
Ye Qingwan nodded heavily, her soft dark hair gently swaying: “Go ahead and enter seclusion with peace of mind. As long as I am still standing, not a single ant will be able to disturb you.”
Lu Zhen looked at Lin Feng’s poised demeanor and tranquil eyes like a bottomless lake, an indescribable emotion welling up in his chest. The old man took a deep, heavy breath and nodded decisively: “Alright! Even if this old man has to risk this withered body of mine, I will ensure this secret chamber is as solid as a monolith!”
With those words, Lu Zhen and Ye Qingwan retreated toward the massive dark bronze gates, deploying the sturdiest defensive perimeter.
When the secret chamber doors closed, the entire realm fell into absolute silence.
Lin Feng strode onto the nine-tiered lotus platform, sitting cross-legged directly opposite the floating Nether Soul Essence.
His formidable spiritual power belonging to the Sixth Realm instantly gushed out of his glabella like rising tides, transforming into an invisible cocoon that completely enveloped the dark purple soul essence.
Under the guidance of his spiritual power, the Nether Soul Essence slowly descended, steadily floating upon the palm of Lin Feng’s right hand.
“Buzz...”
A bone-chilling sensation instantly spread from his skin straight into his meridians. That coldness was not ordinary frost; it was the chill of the soul, carrying the lingering echo of ten thousand years of solitude at the bottom of the abyssal depths.
Lin Feng did not waver in the slightest. The moment his thought stirred, the Archaic Dragon Pendant hidden before his chest suddenly burst with light!
A stream of warm, ancient, and supreme golden light gushed out from the dragon pendant, charging straight into the dark purple crystal. Under the divine, primordial suppression of the dragon Qi, the solid energy shell of the Nether Soul Essence instantly developed tiny cracks.
“SNAP!”
A crisp sound echoed within his consciousness.
The entire Nether Soul Essence shattered, transforming into a roaring torrent of dark purple light that viciously poured straight into the crown of Lin Feng’s head through the Baihui acupoint!
“BOOM!”
Lin Feng’s sea of consciousness instantly surged with violent waves!
The mental space, which had originally been vast and boundless like the universe, was suddenly flooded by this pure soul energy. That energy was so concentrated that it turned into torrents of light falling down like a torrential waterfall.
If it were an ordinary Advanced-tier mage facing this massive amount of soul energy, their sea of consciousness would surely have been torn into countless fragments. But Lin Feng’s sea of consciousness had long since been tempered by Sixth Realm spiritual power, and with the golden dragon Qi of the Archaic Dragon Pendant guarding its center, it stood as steadfast as a divine tripod amidst a raging storm.
Lin Feng immediately split his thoughts, channeling the soul torrent directly toward the two star nebulae in his body that craved energy the most.
Not the Lightning Star Sea or the Fire Star Sea—those two major star seas had already reached the Second-level Advanced realm.
His targets were the two Star Nebulae located at the periphery of his sea of consciousness, those that had long accumulated to the extreme peak of the Third-level Intermediate stage:
THE SHADOW ELEMENT AND THE SUMMONING ELEMENT!
In the southwest corner of the sea of consciousness, the pitch-black Shadow Star Nebula resembled a dark vortex, forty-nine ink-colored star-seeds spinning at a breath-taking speed. Like hungry night ravens, they beat their wings frantically, waiting for the moment of metamorphosis.
In the northeast corner, the Summoning Star Nebula bore a sparkling silver-white hue resembling the full moon. Forty-nine summoning star-seeds shone like pieces of crystal, continuously emitting spatial resonance signals with a distant realm beyond the void.
Both of these Star Nebulae had been blocked from progressing for many months by an invisible, thick, and solid barrier like an ancient city wall. That was precisely the realm barrier separating the Intermediate stage from the Advanced stage!
A barrier that millions of mages in this world would take decades, or even a lifetime, to cross if they lacked innate talent or heaven-defying fortune.
“It’s time!”
Lin Feng roared softly within his mind.
He guided the entire torrent of Nether Soul Essence—after being purified by the Archaic Dragon Pendant—splitting it into two massive river branches that surged and rushed directly into the two Star Nebulae!
“RUMBLE!”
The moment the dark purple soul liquid touched the Shadow Star Nebula and the Summoning Star Nebula, a terrifying shockwave erupted within Lin Feng’s body.
Pain!
A soul-tearing agony spread throughout his entire body. The excessively intense incoming energy caused the star-seeds to be stimulated to the extreme. They no longer moved along their normal orbits, but instead began colliding violently with one another.
The Shadow Star Nebula billowed with thick, eerie, and chilling black smoke. The Summoning Star Nebula erupted with blinding silver light, and spatial threads as sharp as razor blades slashed at every corner of the sea of consciousness. These two opposing forces—one being the deep darkness swallowing all things, the other being the infinitely open dimensional connection—acted simultaneously, creating a terrifying energy conflict within Lin Feng’s meridians!
Externally, Lin Feng’s body began to tremble slightly.
His skin alternately turned the deep black of night and emitted sparkling silver radiance. Cold sweat poured out like rain, soaking his military-ranked cloak embroidered with dragon patterns. Every single bulging blue vein on his forehead stood out clearly, twitching with every beat of his heart.
This was precisely the “Compression” phase!
The greater the pressure and the deeper the compression, the more earth-shattering the power achieved upon eruption would be.
Lin Feng clenched his teeth tightly, the fishy sweetness of blood oozing from the corner of his lips, but his consciousness remained terrifyingly lucid. He did not attempt to extinguish that conflict; instead, using his Sixth Realm spiritual power, he tightly compressed the two energy sources together, forcing them to absorb the Nether Soul Essence down to the very last drop!
Under that merciless compulsion, the forty-nine Shadow star-seeds and forty-nine Summoning star-seeds began to undergo abnormal transformations.
Having fed to their fill on the ancient soul energy, the volume of each individual star-seed began to swell twofold, threefold! The light emitted by them grew so dazzling that it eclipsed an entire corner of the sea of consciousness.
When the expansion reached its absolute limit:
“SNAP... CRACK!”
A miraculous phenomenon unfolded within Lin Feng’s mind.
The very first Shadow star-seed... cracked open!
It did not vanish at all; instead, it split into seven smaller star-seeds, yet every single smaller seed possessed a magical energy density manifold greater than the original!
One splitting into seven!
The magical cell division phenomenon that shook ancient and modern times!
Following that, like an unstoppable chain reaction:
The second seed... the third seed... the tenth seed... all forty-nine Shadow star-seeds simultaneously split in a frenzy!
At the same time, on the side of the Summoning Star Nebula, the silver moonlight also burst into countless shimmering specks of light. The forty-nine summoning star-seeds were no less inferior, frantically cloning themselves under the tempering of the golden dragon Qi and top-grade soul essence!
The number of star-seeds skyrocketed at a dizzying speed:
Fifty... one hundred... two hundred... three hundred...
Forty-nine times seven...
THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY-THREE!
Three hundred and forty-three pitch-black Shadow star-seeds!
Three hundred and forty-three silver-white Summoning star-seeds!
A massive number of star-seeds far exceeding the capacity of an ordinary Intermediate Star Nebula! The cramped Star Nebula space was now no different from a tiny iron cage forced to imprison two enraged ancient behemoths.
They roared, they clawed, they frantically charged straight at the invisible realm barrier enveloping the outside!
“ACCUMULATION IS SUFFICIENT...”
Lin Feng’s closed eyes twitched slightly, an overwhelming, tyrannical aura surging from his chest:
“BREAK FOR ME!”
As his thought dropped, all three hundred and forty-three Shadow star-seeds combined into an unrivaled, sharp dark drill, while the three hundred and forty-three Summoning star-seeds transformed into a gigantic silver void war-hammer, simultaneously smashing straight into the Advanced realm barrier!
“BOOM!”
“BOOM!”
Two earth-shattering explosions resounded from the deepest recesses of Lin Feng’s soul!
That sound resembled a primordial thunderclap splitting the chaotic night, like a spiritual awakening bell startling an era that had long since withered away!
The thousand-year-old solid realm barrier of the Shadow Element... COLLAPSED!
The inviolable realm barrier of the Summoning Element... EXPLODED!
Thousands of shattered starlight fragments scattered across the sea of consciousness, only to be instantly swallowed by the huge energy vortex, transforming into nourishment feeding the sublimation of life!
No more shackles could bind him!
The Shadow Star Nebula expanded wildly, its area expanding tenfold, twentyfold, fiftyfold! Endless darkness stretched out into the distance, transforming into a deep night ocean with no visible shores. The three hundred and forty-three Shadow star-seeds, like a flock of regal night-yaksha ravens, flew freely amidst the dark ocean, ready to connect into the most complex and destructive Star Maps and Star Constellations!
That was no longer a Star Nebula.
THAT WAS THE SHADOW STAR SEA!
At the same time, the Summoning Star Nebula also underwent a heaven-shaking transformation!
The silvery moonlight sea surged turbulently, blasting open the doors of deep, unexplored dimensional realms. The three hundred and forty-three summoning star-seeds drifted like stars across an endless galaxy, radiating absolute sovereign dominance over all living creatures and myriad beasts!
THAT WAS THE SUMMONING STAR SEA!
SIMULTANEOUS BREAKTHROUGH TO THE ADVANCED TIER!
At this sacred moment, Lin Feng’s entire sea of consciousness shook to the point of subverting the universe of his mind.
Look at the mental space of this nineteen-year-old teenager:
Right in the center, a dark purple LIGHTNING STAR SEA churned with thunderous tsunamis, Nirvanic Lightning bolts tearing through the void, steadfastly reigning at the SECOND-LEVEL ADVANCED REALM!
Beside it, a brilliant golden FIRE STAR SEA burned with Archaic Dragon Flames, scorching the space around it, its blazing momentum soaring to the heavens, likewise reigning at the SECOND-LEVEL ADVANCED REALM!
Below, a gloomy pitch-black SHADOW STAR SEA, tranquil as a ten-thousand-fathom abyss yet concealing fatal murderous intent, majestically descended at the FIRST-LEVEL ADVANCED REALM!
Above, a mystical silver-white SUMMONING STAR SEA, shimmering like an endless galaxy connecting myriad dimensions, proudly took its place at the FIRST-LEVEL ADVANCED REALM!
And that was not all!
Revolving around those four majestic Star Seas, two Peak Intermediate Star Nebulae still radiated the silver light of the Spatial Element and the mysterious ash-gray light of the Chaos Element, acting as two loyal guardian satellites!
THE FOUR GREAT ADVANCED STAR SEAS!
An insane miracle, an unprecedented living myth throughout thousands of years of human magic history!
Any Advanced-tier mage in this world possessing a single Star Sea alone was enough to dominate a region and be considered a pillar of the nation. Those who awakened two Advanced elements were already rare geniuses encountered once in a century.
And Lin Feng... possessed FOUR ADVANCED STAR SEAS simultaneously!
The total amount of magic energy stored within his body at this moment had exceeded all ordinary theoretical limits. Even compared to Super-tier archmages who had just initially stepped into the supreme realm, Lin Feng’s composite magic energy was absolutely not inferior by even half a fraction!
“ROOOOAR!”
Suddenly, from deep within the newly formed Summoning Star Nebula, a soul-tearing roar echoed into reality!
That was the roar of the Nether Prison Taotie Battle Wolf!
As the soul-contracted battle beast bound to Lin Feng’s life, when its master shattered the realm shackles and stepped onto the peak of the Four Star Seas, the purest feedback energy from the Summoning Star Sea and the Archaic Dragon Pendant poured like a roaring torrent straight into the contract space!
Inside the independent summoning space, the massive twenty-meter-long body of the Taotie Battle Wolf King bathed in a sea of golden light and silver moonlight.
The pitch-black lightning-scaled armor on its body began to undergo drastic mutation. Thick obsidian stone scales fell off, replaced by dark, purple-gleaming dragon scales as sturdy as ancient divine iron. Atop the wolf king’s head, a curved blood-ruby dragon horn slowly emerged, carrying absolute sovereign coercion.
Its four lightning-wrapped claws dug deep into the void, its muscles bulging massively as its body stretched to nearly thirty meters long!
Its ferocious, brutal aura continuously escalated:
Peak Commander... Half-Step Monarch...
And stepping right up to the threshold of a TRUE MONARCH!
With just one more opportunity, one more bloody battle for tempering, this ancient battle beast would officially transform into a true Monarch-tier behemoth, rampaging across the land without any match!
Outside the secret chamber.
“BOOM... BOOM... CRASH!”
The entire massive Underworld Emperor’s Palace suddenly shook violently. The huge black stone pillars supporting the dome began to crack, and stone dust cascaded down from above.
At the bottom of the Slaughter Abyss, the once-calm Yellow Springs Nether Water river suddenly surged and roared, the millennial-lingering death Qi completely blown away by an invisible force field!
“What happened?!”
Lu Zhen, standing guard before the bronze gates, had his expression change abruptly. The sandalwood staff in his hand trembled violently, and the star-seeds within his Super-tier Star Sea were suddenly suppressed to the point of stagnating in their circulation!
That was the elemental suppression resonance phenomenon that only occurred when confronting a vastly superior force!
Ye Qingwan also stepped back half a pace, her beautiful eyes widening as she stared fixedly at the tens-of-thousands-of-jins heavy bronze doors before her.
From the gaps of the doors, four brilliant radiances with completely distinct hues were frantically erupting outward:
The purple color of destructive lightning!
The brilliant golden color of divine fire!
The deep pitch-black color of sovereign darkness!
And the shimmering silver-white color of a sky full of stars!
The four lights intertwined and twisted together, forming a gigantic four-colored magical pillar of light that pierced straight through the palace roof, puncturing the black stone vault at the bottom of the Slaughter Abyss and shooting straight up into the boundless sky!
“Four-colored magic light... Four complete Star Sea fluctuations?!”
Lu Zhen stared with wide eyes, his white beard trembling violently, his voice stuttering as if he no longer believed his own senses:
“Impossible... Absolutely impossible! Lightning element, Fire element... plus the Shadow element and Summoning element?! Four Advanced Star Seas manifesting simultaneously within a single body?!”
The enforcement elder who had experienced a hundred years of turbulent trials in the Forbidden Curse Association, having witnessed countless soaring talents across the four seas and five continents, found his mind completely blank at this moment.
A teenager of only nineteen years old!
Holding the Four Great Advanced Star Seas!
This was no longer within the realm of a “genius” or a “monster”. This was a heaven-defying existence, a living, one-of-a-kind miracle since magic was first born upon this land of Shenzhou!
“CREAK... BOOM!”
At that exact moment, the heavy dark bronze gates slowly swung wide open.
A figure leisurely stepped out from amidst the four-colored magical mist.
Lin Feng wore a black cloak embroidered with golden double-dragon patterns. His handsome, chiseled face and dark hair gently fluttered in the swirling kinetic energy around his body.
His eyes were as deep as two cosmic black holes. Within his left pupil, dark purple lightning and golden flames lingered; within his right pupil, eerie darkness and silver moonlight cycled unceasingly.
With just a casual glance from him, the surrounding space automatically distorted, rippling with invisible shockwave waves. The coercion radiating from his body at this moment—even to Lu Zhen, a renowned Super-tier mage—made his chest feel suffocated, his legs instinctively wanting to take a step back!
“Lin Feng... You... You broke through?” Lu Zhen swallowed a dry, bitter mouthful of saliva, asking in a hoarse voice.
Lin Feng looked at his own hands, gently clenching them into fists.
“SNAP!”
A small explosion sounded in the palm of his hand, space distorting into a pitch-black vacuum sphere. The sensation of magical energy dozens of times more abundant surging through every meridian filled both his body and soul with ultimate exhilaration.
“Both Shadow and Summoning have stepped into the Advanced tier.” Lin Feng smiled faintly, his deep voice warming: “Sorry to have kept you two waiting.”
Ye Qingwan stepped forward, a radiant smile blooming on her lips like early winter snow blossoms: “Congratulations. Now, even facing the world’s top powerhouses, you are fully qualified to trample them beneath your feet.”
Before the smile on Lin Feng’s lips could fade, his gaze suddenly sharpened.
He snapped his head around, looking straight toward the entrance of the Slaughter Abyss ravine, where the bluestone stone bridge connected to the outside world.
At the same time, Lu Zhen started as he sensed something, his expression instantly changing drastically: “There’s trouble! The external spatial barrier was just violently torn open!”
“Whoosh... WHOOSH...”
From the distant, eternal darkness at the bottom of the abyss, another unusual, fishy death Qi mixed with a heavy stench of fresh blood and gloomy demonic energy suddenly swept over.
In the pitch-black darkness, figures clad in pristine white cloaks embroidered with a black crescent moon on their chests slowly emerged. They moved without making a sound, like ghosts gliding across the ground, holding dripping, ink-black iron sickles with chain hooks.
Leading those white-robed figures was a lean figure clad in a magnificent white brocade robe embroidered with golden threads, wearing a stark white skull mask on his face.
The White-robed Pontiff of the Underworld Divine Church — Ming Sha!
A shrill, icy voice like metal scratching against stone echoed throughout the abyssal bottom, carrying extreme madness and bloodlust:
“Hahaha... You foolish Forbidden Curse Association! Did you think coming here was to seal the Slaughter Abyss? No... One hundred thousand lives in the Ancient Capital today will be the finest sacrifice to awaken our great God!”
As Ming Sha finished speaking, his withered hand raised a black crystal skull high, beginning to unleash the forbidden spell of blood-sacrificing and destroying a city!
Lin Feng stood upon the towering stone steps, looking down at the white-robed cultists below, the corners of his lips curling into a bone-chilling, cold arc.
The four Star Seas within his body suddenly roared in unison!