Volume 4: Super-Tier Awakening & The Ancient Capital Calamity
Chapter 303
Entering the Star Palace Holy Pond
The dragon-jade stone gates closed behind him, completely cutting off the howling gales and ferocious beast cries outside the Kunlun cliff face. Before Lin Feng lay a magnificent subterranean world, chillingly quiet yet brimming with heavenly energy so dense it condensed into a silvery-white mist hovering just above the ground.
From his vantage point, a serpentine basalt stone staircase wound its way down into the deepest abyss of the earth, numbering precisely nine hundred and ninety-nine steps. Each step was carved with archaic runes; whenever his boots pressed down, those runes flared with a faint, ethereal azure glow like the rhythmic breathing of a living entity.
Without a moment of hesitation, Lin Feng steadied his mind and stepped downward.
The deeper he descended, the more bizarrely the ambient temperature shifted. At some strides, a scorching, lava-like heat wave blasted against his face, baking every inch of skin; yet just a step later, the bone-piercing chill of ten-thousand-year glacial ice enveloped him, frosting his eyebrows with delicate, razor-thin ice crystals. This was the primordial convergence of the two most fundamental primal energies of heaven and earth, gathering right here within this Kunlun subterranean vortex.
The nine hundred and ninety-nine steps finally came to an end. Lin Feng stood firm upon a flat stone slab, lifting his gaze. The sight before him was enough to shock even his battle-hardened soul.
It was an underground lake so vast its shores were out of sight, stretching endlessly within the mountain’s heart. Most wondrously, the lake was divided into two distinct halves that fused together seamlessly, forming a massive natural Taiji diagram.
The left half of the lake was a roaring sea of crimson fire-magma spirit liquid, blood-red and boiling fiercely. Miniature waves of fire constantly lashed against the stone walls, venting plumes of crimson mist carrying a terrifying heat capable of melting heavy metals. The right half, by contrast, was a region of deep indigo mystic-ice spirit liquid, so bone-chillingly cold that the surrounding air condensed into frozen droplets, radiating an eerie, tranquil radiance.
Right at the intersecting boundary between these two extreme yin and yang forces, the lake water neither evaporated nor canceled each other out; instead, it swirled into a colossal vortex. From within that whirlpool, tens of thousands of wondrous light motes shot into the air: dark purple lightning arcs crisscrossed like spiderwebs, howling gales carrying spatial fragments shrieked with gloomy resonance, and countless warm, divine light particles hovered like giant fireflies dancing to the heartbeat of heaven and earth.
At the very center of the lake, where the collision of yin and yang qi was most violent, floated a massive, monolithic Bagua Dragon-Pattern stone platform suspended roughly thirty feet above the water surface. The platform was carved with intricate coiling dragons; every single scale was inlaid with glowing jade, as if poised to soar straight up into the nine heavens.
“This must be... the legendary Star Palace Holy Pond!”
Lin Feng murmured, his voice echoing in the empty space with deep, resonant tones. He drew a deep breath, feeling the boundless, pure energy flooding his chest, causing the six great Star Seas within his body to suddenly rumble in response to a primordial summons.
Waste no more time—his legs compressed with explosive force, and his figure shot into the air like an arrow tearing through the wind, clearing a distance of a hundred zhang to land gracefully right upon the center of the Bagua Dragon-Pattern platform.
The instant his boots touched the platform’s surface, an invisible pressure from all eight directions slammed down upon Lin Feng’s shoulders, weighing down like a thousand jun. Unfazed, he waved his hand to cast aside his outer robe, tattered from endless battles, revealing an upper body sculpted with rugged, chiseled muscles that harbored the explosive might of a dual-cultivating physical and magical archmage.
Lin Feng sat cross-legged, his palms upturned on his knees, his fingers forming intricate spell seals. He slowly closed his eyes, plunging his entire consciousness into the realm of the unconscious as he initiated the deepest meditative state of his life.
In his right palm, Lin Feng flipped his hand and retrieved an item. It was the Primordial Divine Stone—a rhombus-shaped gem sparkling with a ceaselessly revolving quinquepartite luster, containing the genesis blueprint of the universe. The moment the divine stone appeared, the ambient temperature and magnetic field around the platform shifted violently.
From within Lin Feng’s chest, the Primordial Dragon Pendant suddenly began to glow brilliantly, radiating a warm thermal energy that intertwined with the light of the Primordial Divine Stone. The two treasures resonated with each other, generating a special vibrational frequency that transmitted straight into his bloodstream, diffusing to every single nerve fiber.
BOOM!
Lin Feng’s spiritual domain shook violently, as though an atomic bomb had just detonated deep inside his cerebrum. His vast mental space instantly blazed with dazzling brilliance.
The six great Star Seas—comprising the indigo Lightning Star Sea, the crimson Flame Star Sea, the silvery-white Space Star Sea, the eerie grey Chaos Star Sea, the ink-black Shadow Star Sea, and the nature-green Summoning Star Sea—flared into light simultaneously, spinning at an unprecedented, frantic velocity.
Millions of stellar particles inside each Star Sea collided with one another, generating blinding flashes of mental lightning. The howling roar of tempests, the crackling explosions of thunder, the echoing roars of dragon souls... all rolled together into a deafening symphony of energy inside his head.
Lin Feng knitted his brows, large beads of sweat pouring from his forehead, streaming down his cheeks before splashing onto the cold stone slab. Manipulating six great Star Seas simultaneously to absorb this god-tier energy was no different than using a mortal vessel to bind a natural disaster. The agonizing, tearing pressure radiating outward from his spiritual domain into his entire meridian network caused his body to begin trembling violently.
Yet he did not panic. His mind remained as steadfast as a boulder amidst a raging tempest; he clenched his teeth, channeled his mental cultivation technique with all his might, and forced the six great Star Seas to obey his iron will.
At that exact moment, a terrifying catastrophe struck!
Every drop of spirit liquid within the Star Palace Holy Pond—including both the crimson sea of flames and the bone-chilling mystic ice current—abruptly halted its motion for a single heartbeat, then simultaneously erupted, boiling furiously ten times more intensely than before!
Colossal pillars of lava and glacial frost shot skyward, piercing the cavern’s vaulted ceiling, creating a colorful, radiant rain of energy that showered down upon the Bagua platform.
From deep within the Kunlun ley lines at the bottom of the lake, an ancient, heavy, and supremely sacred pressure surged forth like a subterranean river of the cosmos, pouring in a single unbroken stream straight from the crown of Lin Feng’s head downward!
Gulp...
The blood within Lin Feng’s body churned in reverse, his chest contracting violently. An agonizing pain that felt like his soul was being ripped apart erupted savagely, as if ten thousand invisible needles were stabbing through every muscle fiber and cerebral cell. This terrifying pressure was not merely forcing him to absorb the energy; it was compelling his six great Star Seas to instantly shatter their current bottlenecks and vault into a completely brand-new realm right at this very moment!
The atmosphere surrounding the platform twisted into visible rings of concentrated energy. Lin Feng jerked his head upward, his eyes wide open, two sharp beams of golden light flashing within his pupils like swords piercing the void as he unleashed a long, piercing roar that echoed throughout the deepest abyss of the earth!