Lin Feng plunged into the Core Chamber, the earth sealed tightly around him. The moment he swallowed the volatile mixture—the Thunder Lotus Petals, the Dragon's Breath Dust, and his own self-forged Root of Endless Essence—his body became a furnace.
The three energies, all violently hostile to one another, collided in his newly forged Verdant Core Structure. The Lotus sought to cleanse, the Dust sought to incinerate, and the Root sought to anchor and stabilize. For a Core Formation attempt, this was normal chaos.
But Lin Feng's power was not normal. The Primordial Chaos Art immediately began to consume and re-regulate the chaotic energy, not merely stabilizing it, but forcing it into a form far beyond the Mortal Realm's understanding.
"Ascension is imminent," the guttural voice of the black ring echoed in his mind. "The Core will form, but the pressure will tear apart the structure of the Foundation Realm itself. Maintain focus! If you waver, your spirit will dissolve into the Void!"
Lin Feng grit his teeth. It felt like ten thousand spiritual needles were simultaneously sewing his intestines together with threads of white-hot lightning. Sweat instantly vaporized from his skin. The Foundation energy that had once felt so solid now felt like brittle glass, about to shatter.
"Ascend!" he roared internally, pouring all his newly acquired Limitless Foundation power into compressing the nascent Core.
Up above, outside the sealed Core Chamber, Han Yue was a statue of terrified resolve. She stood directly over the hidden earthen lid, her cheap, worn shovel—Lin Feng's favored decoy—clutched tightly. The Hidden Soul Amulet felt cold and heavy against her chest.
She heard the sounds—a deep, resonant thrumming from the earth, like the heartbeat of a cosmic drum. Then, the rhythmic CRACK-CRACK-CRACK of rocks splitting beneath the intense spiritual heat.
"Stay focused, Han Yue," she whispered to herself. The key is always the romance, the key is always the romance... She was suddenly grateful for the silly, flirtatious mind games Lin Feng insisted on; they had distracted her from the paralyzing reality of what was happening beneath her feet.
The ground around the stables began to shimmer, and a faint, sickly yellow glow pulsed from the dirt—the waste Qi being violently expelled.
THUD.
A heavy shadow fell over her. Han Yue's heart seized. She didn't need her low-level Qi sense; she could smell the rich, refined sandalwood scent of an Inner Peak disciple.
She turned slowly, putting on a face of bored, annoyed administrative duty.
Standing before her was a young woman, mid-twenties, Level Seven Foundation, and undeniably wealthy, her robes the precise, untainted yellow of the Yan Clan's loyal subordinates. This was Yan Li, Yan Xia's cousin, and known for her meticulous, bureaucratic cruelty.
"Administrator Han Yue," Yan Li said, her voice dripping with superior condescension. "I'm here to inspect the Mortal Estate's spiritual stability. We received reports of… excessive Qi effluence in this sector. It seems the spiritual pollution here is reaching unacceptable levels."
Yan Li's eyes weren't on Han Yue; they were darting everywhere, looking for the source of the chaotic yellow haze and, more importantly, looking for any trace of the mysterious 'Elder' or the missing stable hand, Lin Feng.
Han Yue gave a heavy sigh, leaning dramatically on her shovel. "Oh, it's that wretched Lin Feng again. Honestly, Young Mistress Yan Li, the stability here is a nightmare. I apologize for the unsightly aura. I believe it's just the deep-end cleaning Lin Feng is attempting."
"Deep-end cleaning?" Yan Li scoffed, stepping closer, her spiritual sense deliberately pushing forward, trying to penetrate Han Yue's core.
The Hidden Soul Amulet absorbed the probe instantly, leaving Yan Li sensing nothing but the faint, expected Qi Condensation Level Three of the Administrator.
"Yes," Han Yue said, fanning herself dramatically. "He's tackling the ancient spiritual residue from the manure pit. You know, the stuff that clings to the bottom of the deepest hole. It's an absolutely vile job. He's down there now, in the deepest pit, covered in… well, you can imagine. I told him he should come up and rest, but he's so committed to his filth."
Yan Li wrinkled her nose, genuinely repulsed by the thought of spiritual manure residue. The idea that a Foundation Master was performing a breakthrough while covered in filth was entirely illogical to her high-society mind.
But Yan Li persisted, stepping toward the area where the most intense spiritual cracking was occurring. "I need to verify his location. Stand aside, Administrator. I need to ensure this 'deep end' isn't structurally unsound."
"Oh, you don't want to go in there, Young Mistress!" Han Yue gasped, physically placing herself between Yan Li and the Core Chamber. "You simply cannot disturb him. He becomes quite… feral when he's cleaning. Last month, he nearly bit off Head Servant Cao's finger when he interrupted his rhythm. It's a very sensitive, spiritual process, you see. Besides," she leaned in, lowering her voice conspiratorially, "he only uses the Sacred Scraper in the deep end. We can't afford to lose that tool if he accidentally flings it at a delicate Inner Sect Master."
The combination of the disgusting spiritual manure, the terrifying threat of the 'feral' servant, and the mention of the Sacred Scraper (which Yan Li remembered hearing about as a bizarre, recent Outer Sect rumor) caused Yan Li to recoil instinctively.
She glared at Han Yue, recognizing the deliberate, infuriating obstruction. "You are protecting him, Administrator. Why?"
Han Yue met her gaze, a bold, dangerous look entering her eyes—the confidence imparted by Lin Feng's trust. "Protecting him? No. I am protecting my administrative peace, Young Mistress. If Lin Feng fails this cleaning, I get blamed. If he succeeds, I get peace. He told me he'd give me a romantic dinner if the cleaning was perfect. I'm simply motivated by that."
Yan Li stared at her, utterly baffled. A romantic dinner? A Level Three Administrator and a filthy stable hand? Is this some sort of bizarre, low-level flirtation? The spiritual arrogance of the Yan Clan could not compute a breakthrough, only incompetence and depravity.
"Your tastes are deplorable, Han Yue," Yan Li finally said, disgusted. "But I don't have time for your base domestic dramas. Inform that rat that his cleaning had better succeed, or the entire estate will be leveled for contamination."
With a final, haughty sneer, Yan Li spun on her heel and departed, unable to handle the thought of spiritual effluence and inappropriate flirting in the same sentence.
The moment Yan Li's presence vanished, Han Yue collapsed onto the dirt, breathing hard. The Core Chamber beneath her was now silent, the deep drumming replaced by a terrifying, prolonged stillness.
He's either done, or he's dead.
Suddenly, the stillness broke. It wasn't a sound; it was an implosion.
The spiritual energy that had been violently expelled from the earth was violently sucked back into the pit with terrifying speed. The ground cracked sharply, and a pillar of pure, refined purple-gold lightning shot out of the ground where Lin Feng sat, piercing the clouds overhead with a deafening ZAP!
The entire Azure Cloud Sect felt it. Every Master, every Elder, every disciple—their spiritual cores vibrated with alarm.
What was that? A Heaven-Defying artifact forming? A forbidden ritual?
The lightning vanished instantly. The only thing left was the scent of ozone and the heavy, intoxicating spiritual pressure radiating from the pit.
Lin Feng rose slowly from the earth, the Core Chamber lid shattering into dust around him.
He was fundamentally transformed. His robes were gone, burned away by the chaotic heat, leaving him exposed but untouched. His skin was smooth, lightly tanned, and utterly flawless. His physique was lean, powerfully muscled, and hardened to the point of being comparable to steel. The faint, subtle glow of Core Formation Level One emanated from his body.
More importantly, his eyes, previously guarded and cold, now burned with a terrifying, primal power—the energy of the Primordial Chaos Core.
Core Formation: Level One—The Primordial Chaos Core—Achieved!
He was no longer a Foundation Master; he was a Core Formation Grandmaster, decades ahead of his time, and likely the strongest cultivator in the entire Outer Sect.
Han Yue stared at him, unable to speak, her face flushed from the raw spiritual pressure and the sight of her completely transformed, semi-divine partner.
Lin Feng gave her a devastatingly handsome, utterly calm smile. His voice was deeper, resonating with a confident power that sent shivers down her spine.
"Did the 'deep end cleaning' succeed, Administrator Han Yue?" he asked, stepping out of the pit.
Han Yue struggled to find her voice, her eyes fixed on the raw power radiating from him. "Yan Li… Yan Li was here. She suspected everything. But I… I told her you were committed to your filth and that I was motivated by the promise of a romantic dinner."
Lin Feng's smile widened, moving from calm confidence to playful amusement. He stepped toward her, the spiritual pressure of his newly forged Core enveloping her entirely. It wasn't threatening; it was possessive.
"A romantic dinner, you say?" he murmured, his hands gently taking the shovel from her numb fingers, tossing it aside. "That sounds like a fair reward for saving my life and my breakthrough, my clever Administrator."
He leaned down, his voice dropping to a seductive whisper, the overwhelming power of the Core Formation Master momentarily focused just on her.
"But the Primordial Chaos Core is quite demanding, Han Yue. It requires immediate satisfaction."
Before she could form a coherent thought, he closed the distance entirely, pressing her body against the hard wall of the stable. The moment was electric—a reward, a declaration of ownership, and a dangerous, intimate secret all at once.
The sound of agitated sect bells began ringing from the Inner Peak, alerting everyone to the impossible spiritual disturbance they had just felt. Lin Feng pulled back, his eyes flashing toward the disturbance, his focus immediately returning to the game.
"That's the alarm," he stated, his voice now cold and strategic once more. "The sect knows a Core has formed. They just don't know who or where. Yan Xia and Yan Qiu are about to be in a panic."
He quickly pulled on a new set of inner robes he had prepared. He now had the power to face any Foundation Master in the sect.
"Chapter 1 is over, Han Yue," Lin Feng declared, his newly forged Core pulsing with energy. "The Stable Hand is dead. The Core Master has arrived. It's time to move the wealth."
He turned, glancing toward the forest. "We need to leave the Azure Cloud Sect before dawn. But first, I need a quick, decisive victory against the one who started all this."
Lin Feng looked up toward the Inner Peak. "It's time to pay a little visit to Liu Kai and settle a ten-year debt."