15: Mental strength limit training

When the stone door of the Mental Energy Training Tower, engraved with ancient runes, slammed shut behind Lin Yuan, the dull, thunderous sound, like the throat-slitting roar of an ancient beast, instantly severed all clamor.

The thick, impenetrable darkness, carrying a cold and slick sensation, surged from all directions, completely swallowing him whole.

In the air, the scent of mysterious spices, settled for ten thousand years, was so thick it almost solidified; every breath felt like swallowing burning thorns, madly stimulating his taut nerves.

Beneath his feet, the earth trembled silently, and dark blue array patterns, like awakened living creatures, wound their way across the ground, lighting up; the eerie glow instantly tore through the darkness, casting Lin Yuan's figure like a ghost.

Directly in front, an ancient bronze lamp hovered quietly. Its body was mottled, covered in the marks of time, emitting a terrifying pressure that made the Soul tremble.

The flickering flame was no ordinary fire; inside it, cyan lightning snakes writhed and hissed, each flicker seemingly whispering the Law of Annihilation thunder.

【 Trainer: Lin Yuan (Awakening Realm, First Heaven) 】

【 Historical Best Record: Layer 3 (Awakening Realm Group) 】

Lin Yuan took a deep breath, suppressing the palpitations in his heart. No longer hesitating, he pressed his fingertip with determination toward the ancient bronze lamp!

"Boom——!!!" The instant his fingertip touched it, the world collapsed!

A vast and irresistible power, like the Nine Heavens galaxy pouring down, violently pierced through his body, tearing at his Soul!

Lin Yuan felt his consciousness gripped tightly by an invisible giant hand and dragged into a violent temporal-spatial turbulence; the next instant, he was slammed into a seething purgatory of lightning!

"Crack——!!!" The first cyan thunderbolt, thick as a giant python and carrying the destructive will to incinerate all things, tore through the firmament and slammed fiercely onto Lin Yuan's crown!

That was not the pain of the Physical Body, but the sharp wail of his Soul being torn apart!

The moment the lightning exploded, Lin Yuan's Sea of Consciousness was shattered like fragile glass!

Countless dust-sealed memory fragments—laughter, tears, humiliation, despair—erupted madly like volcanic lava, turning into twisted and hideous pictures before his eyes.

"Arghhh——!" Lin Yuan felt as if struck by a heavy hammer; his knees slammed into the ground, his fingers digging deep into the hard floor, stone chips and blood splashing everywhere!

His entire body's bones and tendons groaned under the unbearable load, every inch of muscle vibrating at high frequency; beads of sweat rolled off and were instantly evaporated by the high heat, wisps of blue smoke rising from his skin.

"Is this... the taste of crushing the Soul?!"

Before the severe pain could subside, the second Lightning Tribulation had arrived! This time, the lightning split into thousands, turning into billions of fine cyan lightning snakes that hissed sharply, like a swarm of hungry insects, madly drilling into every one of his pores!

Lin Yuan felt billions of red-hot steel needles piercing outward from the depths of his bone marrow. Beneath his skin, purple-gold patterns, like activated lava veins, suddenly lit up—the Primordial Purple Qi reacted instinctively, resisting this erosion that went deep into his bones!

"Ha... Hahaha!" Lin Yuan suddenly raised his head, his eyes bloodshot, but a nearly manic arc curled at the corners of his mouth.

Enduring the severe pain, he wobbled to his feet and wiped the blood from his lips. Deep within his pupils burned a flame of excitement more intense than the lightning!

"Tempering the Soul with heavenly lightning... Good! Very good! It is just as I intended!!!"

"Rumble——!!!" The third thunderbolt condensed into a purple-cyan giant hammer as large as a mountain, carrying the momentum to crush stars, tearing through the lightning purgatory and smashing down ferociously!

His vision was instantly swallowed by the blinding lightning, and nothing remained in his ears but the roar of destruction!

Blood flowed from Lin Yuan's seven orifices, his consciousness swaying wildly on the verge of shattering, but his stubborn spine remained straight; an unyielding will, like a prairie fire, burned fiercely amidst the destruction!

"Not enough! Too weak!!!" Lin Yuan roared hoarsely, his voice actually overpowering the rolling thunder!

Instead of retreating, he actively circulated the "Primordial Radiant Truth Technique," and the liquid Mental Energy in his Sea of Consciousness, like a boiling ocean, actively surged toward the destructive lightning!

Under the frantic pounding of the lightning, his vast Mental Energy was crazily compressed and tempered, beginning to condense into glittering, star-like crystals that settled in the deepest part of his Sea of Consciousness!

When the ninth Lightning Tribulation—a purple-cyan lightning dragon capable of piercing the earth—roared and descended, Lin Yuan made a move that even caused the lightning to pause!

He suddenly spread his arms, as if embracing fate, and offered his entire chest without reservation to the world-destroying lightning!

"Come! Help me ascend to the heavens!!!"

"Boom——!!!" The lightning dragon pierced his body! Destructive energy instantly swallowed him!

Yet, at the core of this ultimate destruction, Lin Yuan felt an unprecedented "Rebirth"!

His torn consciousness, under the flow of the Primordial Purple Qi, was crazily reorganized and transformed! His Mental Energy, like a nova that had absorbed endless nutrients, expanded and underwent qualitative change at an incredible speed!

【 Layer 1 Cleared! 】

【 Mental Energy Breakthrough: 1.57 Stars → 1.67 Stars (+0.1 Star)! 】

【 Talent 'Lightning Origin' Evolved: Advanced! 】

【 Reward Points: +1000! 】

As the lightning faded, electric arcs danced around Lin Yuan's body; his clothes were tattered, his hair stood on end, and he emitted a charred scent, yet he looked like a Thunder God reborn from the fire!

He closed his eyes to regulate his breathing, and as he circulated his Cultivation Technique, the tingling sensation from the lightning blasts quickly receded, replaced by a majestic, overflowing power in his Sea of Consciousness.

A moment later, he opened his eyes, his gaze sharp as lightning, and with one step, his figure vanished into the dark light gate leading to the second layer.

Upon entering the second layer, the scene before him changed abruptly. Countless enormous crystal mirrors stood, forming a bizarre and infinite labyrinth.

In every mirror was a completely different "Lin Yuan"—an ordinary office worker, a lonely peerless powerhouse, a seeker of relatives lying in a pool of blood... countless eyes, carrying various emotions, instantly focused on him.

"Is this... a fork in fate?" Lin Yuan paused, his fingertip lightly touching a mirror reflecting his mundane life on Blue Star, which appeared peaceful and serene.

"You shouldn't have left Blue Star!" "Your parents are long dead!" "Look at your pathetic talent! You are destined to be an ant!"

Countless "Lin Yuan" spoke simultaneously, their voices overlapping into a torrent of shrieks that tore at his Soul! Especially the blood-red mirror on the right, where the "Lin Yuan" inside was drenched in blood, limbs missing, and issued a blood-curdling curse: "You will die! You will die worthlessly! You will never find them!"

"Noisy!!!" Purple lightning exploded in Lin Yuan's eyes! The Purple Lightning Sword at his waist let out a dragon's roar as it unsheathed! A purple sword Aura, condensed to the extreme, swept out like a bolt of silk tearing through the Void Realm!

In an instant, the fragile phantom mirrors shattered like bubbles in large swaths! However, three giant mirrors remained motionless, as solid as rock:

One was the mediocrity of growing old in Blue Star; one was the loneliness of reaching the peak only to be solitary; the last one... was his parents in some cold laboratory, smiling at him with eyes full of compassion and farewell.

Lin Yuan's sword hovered before the third mirror, trembling violently. He knew it was an illusion, but the familiar and warm smile in the mirror felt like a red-hot iron, searing his heart!

An indescribable soreness and severe pain instantly seized him, his eye sockets turning uncontrollably red.

"If... if it were you..." his voice was hoarse, carrying a choke he hadn't even realized, "how would you want me to... be?"

The "parents" in the mirror seemed to hear his heart's voice, their lips moving, their voices soft yet carrying the power to pierce the Soul: "Live on... child... living is... more important... than finding us..."

"Crack——!" The mirror shattered in response! There was no earth-shattering explosion, only countless starlit specks, like a gentle swarm of fireflies, lightly and irresistibly pouring into his glabella.

A warm and majestic current of Mental Energy instantly smoothed away all the pain of tearing.

【 Layer 2 Cleared! 】

【 Mental Energy Leap: 1.67 Stars → 1.8 Stars (+0.13 Stars)! 】

【 Reward Points: +2000! 】

Without the slightest pause, Lin Yuan stepped onto the third floor.

The solid ground beneath his feet suddenly vanished!

He fell as if into the Nine Netherworlds, engulfed by boundless darkness and bone-chilling cold.

The swirling nether black mist emitted screams like ten thousand ghosts, with every wisp possessing terrifying power that corroded Mental Energy and froze the Soul!

"Materialization trial? Bridge!"

Lin Yuan forced himself to stay calm while falling rapidly.

He surged his Mental Energy wildly, condensing a barely formed transparent pedal beneath his feet.

"Sssss—!"

The black mist was like bone-eating maggots, instantly corroding the pedal into a sieve, causing it to crumble and vanish!

Lin Yuan fell again!

"Not condensed enough!"

A flash of ruthlessness crossed his eyes, and he bit his tongue hard!

The sharp pain and intense smell of blood stimulated his nerves, which were on the verge of collapse!

For the second time, he forcibly wove his Mental Energy into a more complex, net-like structure, struggling to extend it two meters!

"Sizzle, sizzle—!"

The black mist eroded even faster!

The intangible net of Mental Energy was like it had been splashed with strong acid, dissolving rapidly!

When the black mist touched his skin, it brought the extreme pain of ten thousand ants biting his heart and ice needles piercing his marrow!

Despair, like a cold tide, began to drown his consciousness...

"Primordial Purple Qi... Primordial Purple Qi can strengthen the Physical Body... Why can it not strengthen the Mental Energy?!"

A crazy thought struck like lightning through the night!

Without hesitation, he separated a wisp of pure Primordial Purple Qi and ruthlessly fused it into the Mental Energy that was about to collapse!

"Hum—!"

In an instant, a dazzling purple-gold light bridge, like a Heaven-splitting Divine Spear, erupted from beneath Lin Yuan's feet!

The sacred, ancient, and incomparably tough purple-gold light instantly scattered the thick black mist, tore through the nether, and with an unstoppable Aura, pierced straight to the other shore!

[Third floor cleared!]

[Mental Energy surged: 1.8 stars → 2 stars (+0.2 stars)!]

[Reward points: +3000!]

Lin Yuan's figure moved like electricity, rushing into the fourth floor without pause!

Greeting him was a violent roar that made the whole space hum!

"Roar—!!!"

A three-zhang tall bronze giant, like a moving mountain, swung its millstone-sized giant fist, bringing a terrifying Mental Energy shockwave that crushed the air, smashing down at him!

Lin Yuan dodged at the limit; the spot where he stood was smashed into a deep pit by the giant fist, with debris shooting out like cannonballs!

"Mental Spike! Break for me!"

Lin Yuan's eyes sharpened, and three invisible Mental Energy spikes formed instantly, stabbing fiercely at the giant's head!

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! It was like mud oxen entering the sea!

The bronze giant was unharmed, the scarlet crystal core on its chest flashing with a cold, mocking light!

The giant's huge palm, carrying a whistling gale, swept over with even greater speed!

"Bang!"

Lin Yuan had nowhere to dodge and, as if hit by a siege hammer, flew backward like a cannonball, slamming hard against the solid tower wall, his internal organs churning, and he spat out a mouthful of blood!

"Mental attack... immunity?!"

Lin Yuan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, the shock in his eyes instantly turning into burning Battle Intent.

"Then... taste this! Thunder, help me!!"

Within his Sea of Consciousness, the dormant Advanced thunder Origin seemed to be thoroughly enraged!

Violent purple electric snakes gathered wildly!

A Mental Energy spear wrapped in destructive purple lightning condensed in front of his glabella in an instant!

Where the spear tip pointed, even space distorted!

"Break—!!!"

The purple lightning spear turned into a bolt of lightning that tore through the Void Realm, hitting the scarlet crystal core on the giant's chest with pinpoint accuracy!

"Crack—Boom!!!"

The crystal core shattered upon impact!

Violent purple thunder light exploded from within the giant like an angry Dragon!

The massive bronze body instantly stiffened, then disintegrated in the blinding thunder light, turning into sky-filling bronze fragments that fell to the ground!

[Fourth floor cleared!]

[Mental Energy skyrocketed: 2 stars → 2.5 stars (+0.5 stars)!]

[Reward points: +4000!]

[Historic Breakthrough! Created a brand new record for the Awakening Realm group: First to clear the fourth floor!]

[Extra reward: Mental Energy +0.5 stars!]

The record-breaking prompt sounded like heavenly music!

A purer and more majestic Mental Energy poured in!

Lin Yuan's Mental Energy instantly broke through the shackles, reaching an astonishing 3 stars!

More importantly, he had found a killer move that perfectly fused the thunder Origin with Mental Energy attacks!

This Mental Energy honing tower was simply a Heaven-Defying blessed land customized for him!

Of course, he also deeply realized the terror of this tower for ordinary Awakening Realm practitioners—the 500-point entry fee, how many people couldn't even survive the first floor, wasting it in vain!

He circulated his Cultivation Technique to quickly calm his churning blood and consumed Mental Energy.

Lin Yuan's eyes burned with the fire of challenging limits, and without hesitation, he stepped into the fifth floor—symbolizing the pinnacle of the Awakening Realm!

The fifth floor was extremely empty, with only a transparent crystal suspended in the center.

"Please touch the crystal."

The ethereal voice carried no emotion.

Lin Yuan reached out and tapped it with his fingertip.

Hum—!

The crystal suddenly expanded, turning into a huge, constantly rotating polyhedron!

On every face, it began to play his deepest, most bone-deep fears:

Scene one: In the ruins of an alien world, his parents' cold, stiff corpses stared at him with hollow eyes... His world instantly collapsed into black and white.

Scene two: Imprisoned by a mysterious existence whose face he could not see, cold instruments pierced his Soul, the pain of tendons being drawn and bones stripped, and Soul Refining and marrow-calcining clearly transmitted, making even his Soul spasm.

Center of the scene: He who had lost the Primordial Purple Qi turned back into the ordinary person who lived numbly in a cubicle on Blue Star, his past bold words and passionate dreams turning into bubbles amidst the mundane daily grind, his eyes as hollow as a walking corpse...

"No—!!!!!"

A desperate roar erupted from the deepest part of his Soul!

In Lin Yuan's Sea of Consciousness, that brilliant star nebula vibrated violently, covered in spiderweb-like cracks!

From his seven orifices, bright red blood gushed out like a stream, instantly staining a large area of his clothes on his chest!

His knees went weak, and he knelt heavily on the ground, his body twitching violently from extreme pain and fear, his consciousness like a candle in the wind, ready to be extinguished completely at any moment!

Just at the last moment when his consciousness was about to be completely swallowed by endless darkness, a strange calmness, like a frozen dead sea, spread in the depths of his Soul.

"If... this is the end..."

At the very core of his Sea of Consciousness, that dormant Primordial Purple Qi with a 2% Fusion rate seemed to sense its master's dying will, and suddenly—

It erupted!

Like the first ray of light at the creation of the world!

A majestic, supreme purple torrent, carrying the power to crush all illusions and reshape the cosmos, surged out from the deepest part of Lin Yuan's Sea of Consciousness!

Wherever it passed, all fearful illusions were like snow thrown into a furnace, instantly dyed a noble purple, and then vanished without a sound!

The violent energy torrent released by the exploding crystal not only failed to hurt Lin Yuan in the slightest but was instead domineeringly pulled, swallowed, and refined by this erupting Primordial Purple Qi, turning into the purest nutrients to nourish his exhausted Soul!

[Final trial cleared!]

[Mental Energy qualitative Breakthrough: 3 stars → 4 stars (+1 star)!]

[Obtained secret technique: "Divine Thought Morphing Technique" (Fragment)!]

[Shocking record! Created an unprecedented record for the Awakening Realm group: First to clear the fifth floor!]

[Legendary extra reward: Mental Energy +1 star!]

When everything returned to calm, Lin Yuan slowly stood up straight.

His Mental perception spread like a tide, clear, vast, and full of power!

Mental Energy—5 stars!

A terrifying Realm he didn't even dare to imagine before stepping into this tower!

As for the higher, more mysterious sixth floor... insufficient clearance, Tier 1 talent, not yet accessible.

The tower gate opened slowly.

As Lin Yuan's figure stepped out of the giant tower that symbolized extreme tribulation, the first ray of dawn sun happened to pierce through the thick clouds, ten thousand rays of golden light, like the most glorious coronation, instantly shrouding him!

In the light, his tattered clothes and blood-stained marks seemed to turn into medals of honor.

A night of bitter fighting, breaking out of the cocoon to become a butterfly!

At this moment, his spirit was like a sea of stars, his will like diamond, as if even the rising sun was crowning him!