Volume 4: Super-Tier Awakening & The Ancient Capital Calamity
Chapter 355
Archaeological Wisdom & The Power of Chaos
Thousands of bronze spears alongside countless venom-laced magic crossbow bolts tore through the air, plunging down from the vaulted ceiling like a heavy, death-imbued metallic rain. The grayish-golden radiance of ancient spell runes etched onto the arrowheads flared with blinding firelight, frictioning against the space to produce ear-piercing, shriek-like whistles. The atmosphere was instantly compressed to the verge of collapse, generating wave after crushing shockwave that battered the ancient flagstones beneath the archaeological team’s feet.
“Watch out! The all-out offensive array has been activated!” One of the institute’s assistants screamed until his voice cracked, his face drained of every trace of blood.
Amidst that razor-thin moment of life and death, Lin Feng stood unyielding at the very forefront. His gaze was as tranquil as an unrippled deep pool, perfectly reflecting the sky-darkening rain of lethal armaments hurtling toward the team. He did not retreat a single half-step, nor did a shred of panic flicker across his angular features. He stood as steadfast as Mount Tai towering proudly through a howling gale.
“Chaos Star Palace... Manifest!”
Lin Feng’s deep, resonant voice, imbued with absolute majesty, echoed grandly through the ancient burial hall. At that exact instant, from the deepest depths of his spiritual Dantian, a mysterious silvery-gray magic energy erupted brilliantly. This power was not blinding like the fire element nor berserk like the lightning element; instead, it carried the profound, abyssal weight of the primordial cosmos at the dawn of creation.
From the crown of Lin Feng’s head, silvery-gray magic currents surged tumultuously, condensing into a gigantic, bagua-shaped chaotic mirror that floated and slowly rotated. The mirror emanated an ethereal luster, distorting and refracting all surrounding matter as it grazed its surface.
“Chaos Order: REVERSE THE UNIVERSE!!”
Lin Feng’s hand swept outward, his incantation seal transforming into a dazzling streak of light that shot straight up into the vaulted ceiling.
“WHOOSH——!”
A dull, resounding chime akin to an ancient bronze bell echoed from antiquity. Within a radius of a hundred zhang from where Lin Feng stood, every single physical law and magical order abruptly inverted in the blink of an eye. Gravity flipped, space warped, and most crucially, the trajectory of the incoming attack force was violently wrenched by a full one hundred and eighty degrees in a bizarre display.
The thousands of bronze spears and crossbow bolts descending at wind-tearing speeds halted mid-air as if grabbed by an invisible, gargantuan hand. Immediately afterward, governed by Chaos Order, they whipped around one hundred and eighty degrees, reflecting the cold gleam of death aura before roaring back up into the sky with power amplified manifold!
“BOOM! BOOM! CRASH!!”
Earth-shattering impacts echoed across the stone walls. The ancient granite terracotta army formation had no time to comprehend what was happening before it was forced to receive the very rain of weapons it had just fired. Thousands of crossbow bolts pierced clean through the ancient stone armor, while bronze spears slammed brutally into the chests and heads of the stone figurines like tofu being skewered.
Rank after rank of stone statues exploded into tens of thousands of razor-sharp fragments that blasted in all directions. Thick stone dust blanketed a corner of the grand hall, the roars of the subterranean mechanisms entirely overwhelmed by the terrifying counter-strike might of the Chaos laws.
Standing directly behind Lin Feng, Professor Zhang Yuanming and the rest of the team stared in wide-eyed shock, jaws hanging agape without a word to utter. They had mentally prepared themselves for a battle with heavy casualties, even considering the use of defensive supreme treasures for rear-guard cover, but the scene unfolding before their eyes shattered every human limit of understanding regarding ancient magic and mechanism engineering.
“Good heavens... Reversing the universe! Is this the legendary power of the Chaos Archmage?” Zhang Yuanming trembled as he muttered, his aged hands gripping his archaeological staff so tightly that his knuckles turned chalk-white from sheer excitement.
Yet Lin Feng did not allow himself a flicker of distraction, not even for half a second. His sharp gaze pierced straight through the swirling shroud of stone dust, observing the lingering ancient scripts carved upon the shattered remnants of the terracotta soldiers.
Right at that moment, after the initial wave of shock, Professor Zhang Yuanming rapidly recovered his brilliance as a premier archaeologist. His aged eyes swept swiftly across the surrounding architectural features before he suddenly pointed forward, shouting in excited triumph:
“Lin Feng! I see it! Based on the structure of the Ancient Eight-Traces Battle Formation and the traces along the cliff walls, the core formation eye is nowhere else! It lies right beneath the central stone pedestal under the feet of the largest bronze General statue!”
Following the direction of Zhang Yuanming’s finger, piercing through the billowing dust, lay an ancient stone pedestal engraved with blood-red runes that flickered with a crimson radiance resembling the heartbeat of a demonic beast. That was the core energy source sustaining the Bagua Death Array for a millennium.
Without an extra superfluous word, Lin Feng’s legs flexed slightly. His entire body transformed into a silvery-gray streak of lightning that tore through space, lunging forward with a speed so blinding it left illusory afterimages lingering in the air.
In the blink of an eye, Lin Feng materialized directly before the formation eye’s stone pedestal. The mighty momentum erupting from his physical form coalesced into a turbulent, transparent energy vortex carrying space-shattering might.
“Void Annihilation Fist!”
“BOOM ——!”
A single punch landed squarely in the center of the stone pedestal. The surrounding space at that exact point seemed sucked into a vacuum singularity before exploding violently outward. The formation eye pedestal shattered into thousands of pieces as fine as stone powder, the blood-red runes flashing one last time before extinguishing completely in absolute silence.
Along with the collapse of the formation eye, the entire subterranean grand hall shuddered violently one final time. The gloomy red light from the stone walls flickered out in unison, yielding to encroaching stillness and darkness. The Bagua Death Array had been completely shattered, finally clearing the path ahead.
Yet before the atmosphere could even begin to relax, a fresh crisis descended.
The formation had barely dissipated when a sickening, heavy stench billowed up from the dark subterranean corridor ahead. It was not merely the ordinary scent of dampness or millennial dust, but a dense, bone-chilling death aura—a familiar, stomach-churning reek characteristic of souls eternally imprisoned and cursed within the underworld.
Lin Feng knitted his brows, stepping forward to lead the party past the narrow bend.
Right before their eyes, a magnificent yet profoundly bizarre spectacle materialized. Blocking the sole pathway leading deeper into the core layer of the ruins was a sprawling underground river. Its waters were pitch-black, as thick as liquid ink, churning swiftly in absolute silence.
Atop the surface of that river, wave after wave of silvery-gray mist rose, forming the shapes of tormented faces screaming without a sound. Anything that touched those waters—from a tiny falling pebble to a dry twig—was corroded and reduced to ash in the blink of an eye.
“This... This is...” Zhang Yuanming staggered closer to the riverbank, his voice trembling with dread as he recognized the nightmare recorded in the most forbidden ancient texts: “The Millennial Black Water River! The legendary dead zone river capable of corroding and obliterating all mortal souls and magical power!”
The churning black river roared past without a single bridge in sight, nor any ferry dock. On the opposite bank stood the colossal stone gates guarding the greatest secret of Versatile Archmage, yet how could anyone cross this all-consuming Black Water River when not a single levitation spell could be sustained for long within this heavy death-laden atmosphere?
Lin Feng stood silently by the riverbank, his razor-sharp gaze scanning the surging undercurrents of the dark waters while a challenging smirk played at the corner of his lips.