The absolute, crushing silence that enveloped the colossal Central Sun-Moon Arena was no longer a mere pause in noise—it was a atmosphere of pure, instinctual, and suffocating terror.
Over thirty thousand inner disciples, senior venue stewards, and elite elders sat completely frozen in their high, carved granite seats. Not a single person cheered. Not a single voice dared to whisper. Even the heavy, metallic flags of the seven main peaks hanging from the towering stone pillars seemed to stall mid-air, as if the high mountain wind itself was terrified to disturb the eerie quiet hovering over the shattered arena stage of Bracket D.
At the absolute center of the cracked, blood-stained black granite ring, the withered, grey-haired body of Lu Chen—once the third-ranked Direct Core Disciple of the Shadow Moon Peak—lay collapsed like a broken doll.
His eyes were sunken deep into his hollow sockets, his flesh shriveled against his bones, completely drained of every drop of blood, essence, and spiritual force. Beside his corpse lay a small, pristine square of white silk that Railin had casually tossed aside after wiping his pale, slender fingers.
Railin did not linger on the stage for a single second extra. With his hands comfortably tucked back into the wide sleeves of his navy-blue robes, he walked down the smooth granite steps with a measured, rhythmic, and terrifyingly calm pace.
As he crossed the threshold into the dark, stone-paved contestant waiting corridor, every single inner disciple standing in his vicinity scrambled frantically backward. They slammed their backs hard against the icy granite walls, gasping for air, desperately clearing a wide, five-pace path for him.
Their eyes were wide, bloodshot, and filled with the kind of primal horror reserved for ancient, devouring beasts recorded in prohibited scriptures.
High atop the grand spectator pavilion, the air surrounding the Shadow Moon Peak's designated seating area had completely frozen into a razor-sharp domain of pure bloodlust.
Grand Elder Shu-Lin sat entirely immobile upon her heavy ebony throne. Her slender, ringed fingers were clenched so tightly into the wooden armrests that the ancient, iron-hard timber began to groan, hair-fracturing under the sheer pressure before crumbling into fine grey dust. Her pale face was utterly devoid of color, her narrow, crimson eyes locked onto Lu Chen's shriveled corpse below with an intensity that caused the surrounding marble floor to crack like a spider's web.
Losing Gao Yuan in the first round was a minor annoyance, a sacrificial pawn to test the waters. But losing Lu Chen—a Stage Four Foundation veteran trained personally under her direct lineage for over fifteen years, funded with countless high-tier spirit pills and secret faction resources—was a devastating, catastrophic blow to the Shadow Moon Peak's political leverage inside the academy.
"Shu-Lin..."
A melodic, ice-cold voice sounded softly across the high pavilion, smooth as liquid jade yet sharp as a flying frozen blade.
Peak Master Bing Lian remained seated upon her ice-carved throne on the opposite side of the high platform. Her face was hidden behind her signature veil of translucent white frost, but her striking azure eyes shone with an unyielding, dangerous brilliance.
"The duel was conducted under the official Life-and-Death Stage Covenant, signed willingly by your direct disciple in front of thirty thousand witnesses," Bing Lian stated flatly, her voice echoing with the absolute authority of a top-tier peak cultivator. "If a single elder or hidden assassin from your Shadow Moon Peak attempts to lay a hand on Railin outside the official arena bounds, I will personally freeze the Shadow Moon Grand Sanctuary into an eternal, lifeless glacier."
Shu-Lin's jaw clenched so fiercely that a thin line of dark blood oozed from the corner of her lips. She knew Bing Lian was not bluster. Under the strict, watchful eyes of the Grand Enforcement Council Elders and the other five Peak Masters present, any illegal retaliation right now would result in her immediate arrest and lifetime imprisonment in the Black-Stone Abyss.
"Peak Master Bing Lian is truly protective of her new stray dog," Shu-Lin spat out in a low, raspy hiss, her voice shaking violently with suppressed rage. "Enjoy his fleeting victory while it lasts. The assembly is far from over... and Bracket D was merely the prelude."
Without waiting for the remaining lower matches to conclude, Shu-Lin rose abruptly from her throne. Her deep purple robes whipped around her frame like a storm cloud as she turned, transforming into a streak of violent crimson light that shot up into the high atmosphere, disappearing into the distant mountain peaks.
Meanwhile, inside the quiet, torch-lit subterranean corridors beneath the Central Arena, Railin walked at a leisurely pace toward Rest Chamber 01—the high-security meditation sanctuary reserved exclusively for the victor of the top bracket matches.
As he reached the heavy bronze doors reinforced with grade-four defensive runes, a subtle, freezing rustle of silk sounded quietly from the shadows behind him.
SWISH.
A faint mist of ice-blue frost condensed out of thin air, and Rusunam Rusu stepped lightly onto the polished stone floor. Her sharp, attractive face was visibly pale, her usually calm, calculating demeanor completely shaken by what she had just witnessed on the stage above.
"Railin," she called out, her voice noticeably hushed.
Railin stopped his footfalls, slowly turning his head to look at her over his shoulder. His pitch-black, bottomless pupils were completely undisturbed, showing not a single trace of exhaustion, mental strain, or lingering adrenaline from slaying a Stage Four veteran.
"Senior Sister Rusu," Railin acknowledged neutrally.
Rusu took two quick steps forward, her sharp eyes scanning his body from head to toe, desperately trying to detect any hidden internal qi chaotic surges, soul backlash, or physical injuries.
"You... you swallowed Lu Chen's entire Stage Four core while standing on that stage," Rusu whispered, her hands clasped tightly inside her sleeves. "His cultivation base, his blood energy, his spirit essence... you completely erased him. Railin, what kind of secret technique did Peak Master teach you? Or... is this something else?"
Railin turned his entire body around, his gaze locking onto Rusu's face with a quiet, impenetrable weight.
"He signed the Life-and-Death Covenant with the sole intent of shattering my dantian and dragging my corpse across the granite," Railin replied smoothly. "I merely accepted his offer of resources. Is there an issue with converting an enemy's hostility into my own strength?"
Rusu let out a long, quiet breath, her shoulders visibly relaxing as she realized Railin was completely lucid and unaffected by any demonic heart-devils.
"I am not questioning your actions. The Shadow Moon Peak played dirty from the very beginning, and Lu Chen deserved his fate," Rusu said, her tone softening with genuine relief. "Master Bing Lian is thoroughly impressed by your decisive ruthlessness. However... the true storm is brewing for tomorrow."
"Oh?" Railin raised a dark eyebrow slightly.
"Lu Chen was merely the third-ranked direct disciple under Shu-Lin's mountain," Rusu explained, her expression instantly turning deadly serious. "The absolute tyrant of their faction is the first-ranked direct disciple—Senior Disciple Mo Ji. He is a monster currently at the Stage Five Foundation Establishment, practicing the forbidden Abyssal Shadow Sutra. He was in secluded meditation inside the Shadow Cave, but news of Lu Chen's death has already broken his retreat. He will enter the arena tomorrow with sole intent of executing you."
Rusu reached into her spatial ring, pulling out an exquisitely carved, pale-blue jade bottle that radiated a soothing, arctic chill.
"This is a Frost-Marrow Pure Pill, a Stage Four high-grade spirit pill refined personally by Master Bing Lian," Rusu said, offering it to him. "It contains pure, unblemished ice-core essence. It will help you harmonize, flush out, and purify the volatile Stage Four energy you absorbed from Lu Chen, preventing any hidden toxic backlashes in your meridians before tomorrow's final tournament bracket."
Railin looked down at the pale-blue bottle resting in her palm.
In truth, his Ashen Devouring Technique was a primordial, supreme force that far surpassed ordinary cultivator logic. It did not merely absorb energy; it completely disintegrated, purified, and reconstructed every swallowed thread of spirit essence into pure, flawless, dark void qi. Lu Chen's Stage Four power had already been perfectly assimilated into his dantian without a single trace of residual impurity or qi conflict.
However, rejecting a high-grade gift from Peak Master Bing Lian in front of Rusu would only spark unnecessary curiosity and suspicion regarding his foundational technique.
Railin reached out, taking the cool jade bottle into his palm with a smooth motion. "Convey my sincere gratitude to Peak Master."
Rusu nodded, a faint smile gracing her lips. "Rest well today. Tomorrow morning, the remaining champions of Brackets A, B, C, and D will merge onto the Top Four Championship Arena. Every single opponent you face from this point on will be at the absolute pinnacle of the inner sect."
With a final, meaningful look, Rusu stepped backward into the swirling ice mist, her figure completely dissolving into thin air.
CLICK. THUD.
Railin pushed open the heavy bronze door of Rest Chamber 01, stepped inside, and allowed the heavy doors to lock automatically behind him.
The chamber was silent and vast, carved directly out of ancient spirit-repelling granite. At the center of the room, a thick, white-jade meditation mat sat atop a glowing array circle designed to draw pure, subterranean spirit energy from the mountain veins.
The moment the isolation array sealed the chamber from all external sound and spiritual scanning, Railin walked over to the white-jade mat and sat down cross-legged.
He casually placed the unopened bottle of Frost-Marrow Pure Pills onto the floor beside him, crossed his hands over his lap, and closed his eyes.
BOOM—!
The second his consciousness dived into his inner world, his lower dantian erupted into a majestic, roaring sea of dark, pitch-black void energy!
The Stage Four Foundation Core devoured from Lu Chen—combined with the residual Stage Three essence from Gao Yuan—had generated an unbelievable, staggering ocean of raw spirit energy inside his body. The pitch-black void vortex within his lower dantian was currently spinning at triple its normal velocity, its immense gravitational pull expanding his internal meridian channels to their absolute physical limit!
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Inside his body, the thick, heavy barrier separating Stage Two and Stage Three of the Foundation Establishment realm was hair-fracturing under the relentless, crushing tide of compressed void qi!
"Not enough," Railin whispered softly into the quiet stone room, his voice calm, cold, and utterly devoid of hesitation. "Stage Two is sufficient to obliterate Stage Four veterans through surprise soul attacks... but to devour Stage Five monstrosities like Mo Ji in front of the entire academy without revealing my true primordial form, I require absolute physical weight."
He raised his pale hands, forming a swift, intricate, and ancient hand seal!
The Ashen Devouring Technique—Second Tier Compression!
HUUUUUUUU—!
The massive pitch-black void vortex in his lower dantian flared violently, abruptly reversing its rotational axis! The boundless, oceanic reserve of spirit energy extracted from Lu Chen was forcibly squeezed, compressed, and refined down into a single, crystal-like droplet of dark obsidian void essence!
BOOM—!
An invisible, violent shockwave erupted within Railin's body!
The internal breakthrough barrier shattered like fragile porcelain under an iron hammer!
Railin's spiritual foundation, though heavily suppressed and masked by his void aura, surged smoothly past the threshold, officially breaking through to the Third Level of Foundation Establishment!
His meridian channels instantly expanded by forty percent, their internal walls transforming into a translucent, dark-jade texture capable of withstanding catastrophic pressure. Deep within his upper dantian, his three Soul-Piercing Needles condensed further, shrinking by half in physical size while transforming into solid, pitch-black spiritual artifacts capable of piercing straight through the soul defenses of Stage Five practitioners!
Railin slowly opened his eyes. A brief, terrifying flash of pure, bottomless void light flickered across his dark pupils before fading back into neutral, pitch-black calm.
He raised his hand, looking at his slender, pale fingers.
"Stage Three Foundation..." Railin murmured softly, a dark, slow, and predatory smile curving his lips in the dim chamber. "Let us see if the champions of the academy have enough substance to feed my core tomorrow.
As the deep violet hues of twilight blanketed the central peaks of the Sun-Moon Academy, the silent subterranean meditation chamber remained submerged in absolute stillness. Inside, the ambient temperature dropped steadily, not from the natural chill of the mountain air, but from the quiet, absolute vacuum radiating from Railin's newly stabilized Stage Three foundation.
Railin sat motionless atop the white-jade mat, his hands resting lightly on his knees. Every breath he exhaled carried a faint, grey wispy vapor that dissolved into nothingness the moment it touched the air. Deep within his body, the newly expanded meridian channels burned with a dark, subtle warmth. The pure void qi flowed through his system like liquid iron, heavy, dense, and completely under his absolute control.
Unlike ordinary cultivators who required days of quiet consolidation, high-tier stabilization pills, and constant meridian warmth after breaking through a minor realm, Railin's primordial void core had already locked his Stage Three cultivation into place. The massive energy devoured from Lu Chen had not only shattered the breakthrough wall, but had also thoroughly saturated his new realm to its absolute limit.
Slowly opening his eyes, Railin flicked his wrist.
A sharp, metallic hum echoed in the quiet room as the spatial storage pouch hanging from Lu Chen's waist—which Railin had subtly stripped from the corpse before stepping off the stage—materialized in his palm.
Lu Chen was a direct core disciple under Grand Elder Shu-Lin's lineage, funded with decades of high-tier resources, faction spoils, and private bounties. His personal spatial pouch was reinforced with a high-grade Stage Four mental imprint designed to explode if breached by unauthorized hands.
Railin did not bother attempting to crack the mental lock through conventional array deciphering.
He simply pressed his thumb against the leather surface of the pouch.
The Ashen Devouring Technique!
SZZZZZ!
A thread of pitch-black void energy shot straight from his thumb into the mental lock! The lingering soul imprint left behind by Lu Chen let out an invisible, silent shriek before being instantly swallowed and erased by Railin's void force!
CLICK.
The spatial pouch opened wide without resistance.
Railin tilted his hand, pouring the contents of the pouch directly onto the polished granite floor before him. A dazzling array of glowing items tumbled out, filling the dim chamber with a rich, intoxicating spiritual aura:
Over five hundred high-grade spirit stones, glowing with a deep blue luminescence; three scroll cases made of black ironwood containing intermediate Earth-tier sword arts of the Shadow Moon Peak; a private inner-sect token granting access to the high-tier gravity training chambers; and a small, heavy bronze box wrapped in silver talismans.
Railin's eyes bypassed the spirit stones and sword scrolls entirely, locking directly onto the bronze box.
With a light flick of his finger, the silver talismans tore apart, and the bronze lid popped open.
Inside lay a single, dark-red, lotus-shaped crystal that radiated a sharp, volatile blood aura—The Blood-Lotus Heart Core. It was a rare, forbidden spirit material harvested from the core of a Stage Four blood-attribute spirit beast, specifically used by peak Foundation practitioners to ignite their blood qi and achieve short bursts of explosive physical power during battle.
A dark, cold glint flickered in Railin's eyes.
"Shu-Lin was truly generous to her direct disciple," Railin murmured, his pale lips curving into a subtle arc. "With this Blood-Lotus Heart Core and my current Stage Three foundation, refining my physical body to withstand the explosive force of my Soul-Piercing Needles will take less than an hour."
He picked up the dark-red lotus crystal, holding it between his hands. He did not swallow it whole nor did he refine it slowly through fire. Instead, the void vortex inside his lower dantian flared once again!
BOOM!
The volatile blood aura trapped inside the lotus crystal was violently extracted, turning into dark-red streams of pure physical essence that entered Railin's palms, flowing directly into his bones, skin, and muscular fibers! His pale skin flared with a faint crimson sheen, his bone structure vibrating with a heavy, metallic resonance as his physical body absorbed the beast core's raw vitality!
While the rest of the academy rested, whispered in fear, or plotted his downfall under the cover of night, Railin remained in the dark chamber, quietly devouring every single piece of loot, steadily transforming his enemy's legacy into his own absolute power.
See you in next chapter....