16: Ultimate Talent

When Lin Yuan pushed open the heavy stone door of the Mental Tempering Tower, which seemed soaked in blood, dazzling heavenly light poured over him like molten gold liquid. He was covered in blood, his broken white clothes long saturated with solidified dark red, shimmering with a chillingly sinister glow under the sunlight.

The plaza was deathly silent! Hundreds of gazes were fixed rigidly on him, as if drawn by a magnet—especially on the dark tower door behind him, which symbolized the Fifth Level of the Abyss! The pupils of every person who witnessed this scene contracted violently, their minds blank.

"Lin... Lin Yuan?!" Instructor Xiao Zhan's voice was as dry as sandpaper scraping, trembling with disbelief. "That... the fifth level... did... did you really pass through it?!"

Lin Yuan raised his hand, wiping away the blood crust covering his eyes with some effort, and managed to pull his lips into an arc that showed exhaustion yet contained volcanic power: "Luck... wasn't bad."

"Luck?!" Xiao Zhan erupted in earth-shattering laughter, like a lit powder keg, his voice filled with extreme shock and ecstasy. "What a magnificent 'luck'! The historical monument for the Awakening Realm group only has the name of the 'Third Level' inscribed at its highest! The Fifth Level?! That is myth! That is legend!!"

"Hiss—!"

A collective gasp instantly rose from the surroundings, like a thousand venomous snakes simultaneously flicking their tongues. Awakening Realm... 5-star Mental Energy?! This wasn't just unheard of; this was a miracle that completely overturned martial arts perception!

Lin Yuan merely looked calmly at Xiao Zhan, his eyes, which had just endured the baptism of a soul purgatory, were as deep as the starry sky: "Instructor Xiao, where is the Realm Advancement Tower?" His voice was not loud, but it carried an undeniable penetrative force. "I want to... strike while the iron is hot."

Xiao Zhan's laughter was cut off as if by a sharp blade, and he stared in astonishment: "You... you're going right now?! Aren't you going to treat your injuries first? Aren't you going to meditate and recover?!"

"No matter." Lin Yuan casually rotated his shoulders, his joints emitting faint cracks as dark red blood scabs rustled and fell off. "My condition... is perfect."

Just as his voice faded—

[Ding! Massive evolution points detected!]

[Consume 5,000 Points to upgrade the "Grand Beginning True Renewal Art" to the Chaos Secret Codex, the "Supreme Spirit Renewal Art"?]

"Yes!" Lin Yuan's will was ironclad!

"Boom—!"

It was as if the first clap of thunder at the dawn of the universe exploded in the depths of his soul! A torrent of information, vast as a sea of stars, instantly shattered the framework of his previous Cultivation Technique! Countless profoundly mysterious runes, pathways, and cyclical circulations frantically restructured and combined within his Sea of Consciousness!

The Origin Power that had previously flowed docilely within him instantly boiled and roared, as if injected with volatile stellar core energy!

His meridians were violently torn and expanded by an invisible colossal force, letting out a grating groan; his Dantian Qi Sea swelled madly, its capacity increasing exponentially! A vast dao rhyme originating from the dawn of Chaos began to circulate around his body.

["Supreme Spirit Renewal Art": Cultivation Speed: +2000%! Origin Power Purity: +300%! Spiritual Energy Carrying Limit: +5000%!]

"Hiss..." Even with Lin Yuan's iron will, he was shaken by this heaven-defying increase. "5,000 Points... worth it!"

Xiao Zhan suppressed the turbulent waves in his heart and led Lin Yuan to a colossal tower constructed entirely of Flawless White Jade. The tower soared into the clouds, radiating a gentle yet sacred brilliance, while seven-colored clouds around the spire flowed slowly like living entities, emitting a soul-stirring, majestic pressure.

"The Realm Advancement Tower costs 2,000 Points per entry," Xiao Zhan said solemnly. "It contains a folded space. The Spiritual Energy concentration starts at a minimum of one hundred times, and can reach... ten thousand times at maximum! But the pressure... increases exponentially with the concentration! Theoretically, the Cultivation Speed has no upper limit, but in reality..." He didn't finish his sentence, but the danger was self-evident.

"Ten thousand times? Good!" Terrifying sharp light burst forth from Lin Yuan's eyes, and he handed over his Identification Jade Token without hesitation.

The white-bearded old man guarding the tower swept his cloudy gaze over Lin Yuan's body, which looked as if it had been fished out of a blood pool, and his snowy white eyebrows suddenly shot up: "Little kid, looking like that... are you sure you're not looking for death?"

"Confirmed." Lin Yuan's answer was decisive, carrying a sense of resolute forward momentum.

Buzz—!

The heavy white jade stone door slowly opened, and dense, pale blue Spiritual Energy, so thick it had materialized, surged out like a bursting flood! Lin Yuan stepped inside, and the stone door slammed shut behind him, separating the interior and exterior into two different worlds.

The inside of the tower was not as vast as imagined; it was merely a circular stone chamber three meters in diameter. However, the Spiritual Energy here was no longer gas! Pale blue Spiritual Liquid formed a gigantic vortex, slowly rotating in the room, viscous like mercury.

The moment Lin Yuan stepped in, his skin was racked with intense pain, as if pricked by ten thousand needles—the residual Spiritual Pressure alone was enough to tear the flesh of an ordinary Awakening Realm Martial Artist!

"One hundred times? Just an appetizer." Lin Yuan sat cross-legged in the center of the vortex and fiercely activated the "Supreme Spirit Renewal Art"!

"Rumble—!!"

It was like dropping a red-hot iron into a calm sea of oil! The Spiritual Liquid vortex in the entire stone chamber instantly turned violent, forming a massive funnel centered around Lin Yuan!

His body seemed to transform into a bottomless black hole; every pore screamed greedily, madly devouring the extremely pure liquid Spiritual Energy! The Origin Power Vortex within his Dantian expanded and accelerated at an unprecedented rate, transforming into a roaring miniature stellar vortex!

[Spiritual Energy Concentration: 100 times → 300 times!]

The pressure suddenly surged like a landslide and a tsunami! Lin Yuan's meridians groaned under the strain, as if they would shatter piece by piece the next second! The pain was excruciating! But instead of panicking, he was delighted; this was precisely the state of "Breaking Before Establishing" described in the "Supreme Spirit Renewal Art"!

The upgraded Cultivation Technique was like the most skilled beast tamer, guiding the volatile Spiritual Energy along mysterious trajectories, simultaneously tearing apart and repairing, strengthening, and widening his body at an even faster rate!

"Not enough! Far from enough!!" Lin Yuan roared, actively opening all the Acupoints across his body, as if throwing open all the floodgates!

[Spiritual Energy Concentration: 300 times → 500 times!]

"Puchi!" His skin instantly burst open, and fine blood beads seeped out like sweat! His bones let out a chilling "creak" under the terrifying pressure! However, supported by both the "Supreme Spirit Renewal Art" and the 2% integration of Primordial Purple Qi within his body, Lin Yuan was pleasantly surprised to find that his limit of endurance... was bottomless!

"Crack!"

At the core of the Dantian vortex, an invisible shackle seemed to be broken by the torrential energy flow! A much mightier aura erupted from his body!

"Awakening Realm Second Heaven! Break!" Lin Yuan's eyes were like lightning, the sharp light nearly piercing the Spiritual Liquid. "Again!!"

[Spiritual Energy Concentration: 500 times → 1,000 times!]

The pressure climbed geometrically once more! Blood simultaneously overflowed from Lin Yuan's seven orifices, and his face instantly became ferocious! But his mind was as calm as an ancient well, and his entire will was dedicated to this fierce wrestling match against the great power of heaven and earth!

The Primordial Purple Qi circulated spontaneously, acting like the most efficient divine light of restoration, smoothing the tears in his meridians; even more wondrously, it resonated with the 5-star Mental Energy in his Sea of Consciousness!

"What is this...?" Looking inward, Lin Yuan's mind shook violently! Deep within his Sea of Consciousness, the core of star sand tempered by lightning spontaneously formed a slowly rotating miniature Purple Stellar Vortex under the guidance of the Primordial Purple Qi! As the stellar vortex spun, it actually converted and purified a portion of the surging volatile Spiritual Energy directly into pure Mental Energy, feeding back into his Sea of Consciousness!

"Violet Extreme Stellar Vortex?!" An ancient piece of information of unknown origin suddenly unlocked—a celestial phenomenon created by the fusion of Primordial Purple Qi and high-level Mental Energy! It could simultaneously temper Origin Power and Mental Energy, doubling efficiency!

"Heaven assists me!" Lin Yuan was ecstatic; utilizing this heaven-defying anomaly, his Cultivation Speed surged crazily once more!

[Spiritual Energy Concentration: 1,000 times → 3,000 times!]

The entire stone chamber was completely filled with deep blue, nearly solid Spiritual Liquid! Lin Yuan was like a figure cast inside a Spiritual Jade Amber! His body was undergoing the most brutal yet most sacred baptism!

Muscle fibers were torn, bones were crushed, internal organs were squeezed... then, under the dual effect of the Primordial Purple Qi and the "Supreme Spirit Renewal Art," they were reborn in a tougher, stronger state! Every cycle of destruction and repair caused a qualitative leap in his life level!

"Break! Break! Break!"

"Awakening Realm Third Heaven!"

"Awakening Realm Fourth Heaven!"

"Awakening Realm Fifth Heaven!"

The barriers of the realm were as fragile as paper before him! Every breakthrough was accompanied by violent oscillations of the Spiritual Liquid vortex inside the stone chamber and energy light pillars shooting into the sky!

When the concentration soared to 5,000 times, Lin Yuan's body surface was completely covered by a thick black crust mixed with impurities and dried blood, resembling a terracotta warrior about to shatter. However, the life aura emanating from beneath the crust was increasingly terrifying and magnificent, like a slumbering ancient behemoth!

"Primordial Purple Qi... burn for me!!" Lin Yuan let out an unyielding roar from the depths of his soul!

Buzz—!

The dormant 2% Primordial Purple Qi within his body erupted like the core of a fully ignited star! Dazzling purple divine light instantly burst forth from his body, staining the deep blue Spiritual Liquid surrounding him a noble purple-gold color! A massive cocoon of light, woven from pure Primordial Purple Qi and liquid Spiritual Energy, completely enveloped Lin Yuan!

At this moment, he entered a mysterious state of "Unity of Heaven and Man"! Without deliberate guidance, the purest Spiritual Energy between heaven and earth flowed spontaneously and docilely into his body, as if paying homage to a monarch, and was efficiently converted by the Violet Extreme Stellar Vortex into the most fundamental and purest Origin Power and Mental Energy! Cultivation became the instinctive breathing of life!

[Spiritual Energy Concentration: 5,000 times → 8,000 times!]

"Whoop—whoop—whoop—!"

A piercing, crimson alarm, signifying extreme danger, instantly blared throughout the tower space! This was a death warning indicating the Spiritual Energy concentration had exceeded the tower's design limit! The energy pipes groaned under the strain, and the array patterns on the white jade walls flickered erratically, seemingly ready to collapse at any moment! But Lin Yuan, inside the cocoon of light, was completely immersed in that supreme Dao State, oblivious to the outside world!

"Sixth Heaven! Break!"

"Seventh Heaven! Break!"

"Eighth Heaven! Open for me!!!"

When the Spiritual Energy concentration was forcibly pushed to the unprecedented limit of 10,000 times, the entire stone chamber transformed into the center of a destructive storm! Lin Yuan's body floated at the core of the volatile vortex, completely engulfed by a terrifying energy tornado interwoven with blue and purple, flashing with lightning and thunder!

His skin exhibited a jade-like luster under the intense light, and deep within his bones, mysterious and unfathomable Purple Dao Runes clearly emerged, like the branding of Heaven and Earth's rules!

"The final stage... Nine Heavens... Peak!!!" Lin Yuan fiercely detonated the torrent of Origin Power within him, which was compressed to the extreme, like a liquid star!

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!!"

A series of explosions, as if splitting heaven and earth, erupted from within him! That was the declaration that the shackles of life had been utterly shattered! A vast aura, powerful enough to change the color of heaven and earth, erupted like a volcano that had been dormant for ten thousand ages!

A wave of purple-gold energy erupted from him like an apocalyptic tide, forcefully shattering and repelling the ten-thousand-fold spiritual energy storm—a storm capable of crushing a Gathering Origin Realm expert—for a brief instant!

[Awakening Realm Nine Heavens... Peak!]

[Base Battle Power Assessment: 20 Stars!]

[Mental Energy Assessment: 8 Stars!]

When Lin Yuan slowly opened his eyes, two beams of purple-gold light pierced the void! He found himself floating in the center of a completely dry, dead stone chamber. All the spiritual energy, including the energy stored in the tower wall's array formation, had been completely devoured by him!

The array patterns on the walls, which were originally iridescent, were now as dull as ordinary stone. His body was covered in a thick layer of foul-smelling, pitch-black filth—life impurities that had been forced out by the extreme refinement!

"Cleansing the Marrow... Rebirth..." Lin Yuan's mind stirred, and the filth on his body vibrated violently and fell away, revealing skin that looked like it was carved from divine jade and flowed with a lustrous treasure light. Every inch contained explosive power. He casually raised his hand, and his fingertip sliced through the air, creating a visible, space-distorting sharp air blade!

"Kacha... Kacha-chaka..."

Suddenly! A crisp sound, like cracking ice, came from the deepest part of his spine! A great power, far older and more vast than when he had previously awakened the “Thunder Origin,” and seemingly originating from the very beginning of life, roared into awakening!

Countless tiny, glittering Points of cold silver light, like stars being born in the universe, surged out from the depths of his bone marrow! These silver Points rapidly flowed and intertwined beneath his crystalline skin, outlining complex and profoundly mysterious three-dimensional patterns, as if constructing a perfect blueprint for life evolution!

"This is... a new talent?!" Lin Yuan's mind was violently shaken. He closed his eyes and looked inward. He saw the patterns formed by the silver light Points breathing like living things, autonomously and greedily absorbing all the scattered, sparse cosmic energy in the space—Star Power, Earth Vein Qi, and even the subtle ripples of space itself... devouring everything!

[Eternal Evolution Body (Bronze Physique) Awakened!]

[Talent Trait: Infinitely Growing Physique! Can continuously strengthen the body by absorbing and converting all forms of energy (Spiritual Qi, Star Power, Elemental Force, Space Ripples...) ]

[Current Stage: Bronze Physique! Base Physical Defense +100%! Recovery Speed +200%! Energy Absorption Efficiency +50%!]

Before he could recover from the shock of this heaven-defying talent—

"Weng!!!"

The 2% fused Primordial Purple Qi within his body seemed utterly enraged by the awakening of the “Eternal Evolution Body,” erupting with unprecedented ferocity! It transformed into hundreds of millions of Purple-Gold Divine Rays, finer than hair, and brutally stabbed into his internal organs, limbs, bones, and even his most minute cells, like living roots!

"Ugh ah—!!!"

An indescribable agony, as if his soul was being ground to dust inch by inch, instantly engulfed Lin Yuan! He groaned, his knee slamming heavily onto the dry floor, causing the hard jade stone ground to shatter like a spiderweb! A metallic sweetness rose in his throat, but he clenched his jaw and swallowed it down.

He could clearly “see” everything happening inside his body: tissue fibers were forcibly decomposed and broken down under the scouring of the Primordial Purple Qi, and then, on a higher dimension, they were rewoven and reconstructed using the Purple-Gold Divine Rays as the framework and meridians! A purple-gold energy network, composed of Primordial Purple Qi, covering his entire body and containing the profound truths of Chaos, was rapidly taking shape within him!

When the last wisp of Primordial Purple Qi, like a wandering dragon returning to its nest, deeply imprinted itself into the core of his beating heart—

"Boom!!!"

A colossal heartbeat, seemingly originating from the dawn of Chaos and the first resonance of the Great Dao, echoed throughout the entire dry space inside the tower! Lin Yuan's entire purple-gold network suddenly burst forth with immeasurable sacred radiance!

At this moment, he felt that he had established an inexplicable, flesh-and-blood connection with the earth beneath his feet, the sky above his head, and even the Chaos Origin that supported the Myriad Worlds in the deep void! An ineffable, primal coercion, as if he himself were a cosmic prototype, involuntarily spread out!

[Ultimate Talent—Primordial Dao Body 0.1%, Unawakened!]

[Talent Trait: Foundation of Chaos, Origin of Ten Thousand Daos! Physical body, soul, and energy affinity infinitely approach the Primordial Origin! Possesses the supreme potential to contain and evolve all Great Daos! Current awakening level is extremely low; requires fusing more Primordial Purple Qi to gradually unlock!]

"Rumble—!!!"

The energy storm brought about by the simultaneous awakening of the Dual Heaven-Defying Talents raged inside the small tower like a cosmic storm! The remaining, extremely thin spiritual energy was instantly sucked dry!

Where Lin Yuan stood, the incredibly sturdy white jade floor and the space itself cracked open with spiderweb-like pitch-black fissures, as if they were fragile glass! However, the moment the fissures appeared, they were swiftly smoothed and healed by the purple-gold radiance naturally emanating from Lin Yuan's body, which contained the Power of Chaos Restoration!

"Clang—!!!" "Clang—!!!" "Clang—!!!"

Three colossal bell chimes, seemingly capable of cleansing the soul and announcing a miracle, resounded inside the tower without warning! Simultaneously, a beam of extremely pure Chaos Golden Light, containing supreme majesty and a Will of Approval, ignored the tower's resistance and plummeted down from the deep void, completely enveloping Lin Yuan!

[Creation-Tier Record Achieved!]

[Reward: Origin Baptism! Base Battle Power permanently increased by 20 Stars!]

Enveloped by the golden light, Lin Yuan felt as if he were soaking in warm amniotic fluid, and his billions of pores expanded to the maximum.

A gentle yet boundless Chaos Origin Power, pure beyond imagination, surged unimpeded into his limbs and bones, merging into his newly formed Primordial Dao Body and Eternal Evolution Body!

His Base Battle Power shot up like a rocket, instantly breaking through its limits and reaching a shocking 40 Stars!

[Creation-Tier Record: Single promotion of Eighth Heaven in the Awakening Realm! Unprecedented throughout the ages!]

[Additional Reward: Nine Revolutions Golden Elixir x 1! Points + 20,000!]

A Purple-Gold Treasure Box, neither gold nor jade, with Chaos Energy Flow flowing across its surface, appeared out of thin air, quietly suspended before Lin Yuan. The lid opened automatically, revealing a golden elixir, the size of a longan, perfectly round, with nine mysterious dao patterns naturally inscribed on its surface, lying peacefully inside.

Just a wisp of Elixir Qi that leaked out caused subtle ripples in the surrounding space; the energy contained within was enough to dim the stars!

"Nine Revolutions Golden Elixir..." A sharp light burst forth from Lin Yuan's eyes. This was a legendary Heaven-Defying Divine Elixir that could help people break through Major Realm Barriers and establish a Supreme Dao Foundation! Even among the ancient Dao Lineages that ruled the galaxy, it was an existence on the level of a Sect-Protecting Treasure!

Carefully putting away the treasure box, Lin Yuan slowly stood upright. A feeling of power to control heaven and earth spontaneously arose.

Mental Energy 8 Stars! Realm: Awakening Realm Nine Heavens Peak! Base Battle Power 40 Stars! This terrifying data was enough to crush the vast majority of Gathering Origin Realm Martial Artists! Compared to himself three days ago when he entered the Mental Tempering Tower, the difference was like heaven and earth; he had completed the Ultimate Leap in life level!

"Creak—"

When the heavy white jade tower door was slowly pushed open by Lin Yuan from the inside, the sight that greeted him caused even his current state of mind to pause slightly.

Outside the tower, it was already packed with people! Not only were almost all the Students from the Training Camp present, densely filling the entire square, but even all the Instructors, and the three Chief Instructors—who were usually elusive and whose aura was as deep as the sea—stood like three statues at the very front of the crowd!

Countless gazes, filled with extreme shock, fervent worship, and a hint of unspeakable awe, focused on him. The air was heavy, like a block of lead.

Xiao Zhan was the first to rush forward like a cannonball, his voice hoarse and distorted from extreme nervousness and lingering fear: "Lin Yuan! You... you finally came out! A full three days! The tower shook as if it was going to fall apart! The alarm never stopped! We... we all thought you were..."

"Three days?" Lin Yuan frowned slightly. In that extreme state of ten-thousand-fold Spiritual Pressure and dual awakening, he felt only a few hours had passed. Was the flow of time inside the tower... distorted?

"Release your aura!" The leading Chief Instructor, whose hair was white as snow and whose countenance was ancient and simple, stepped forward. His voice was deep like muffled thunder, carrying an undeniable command, and also an unmistakable intent to probe.

Lin Yuan curved his lips into a calm arc. There was no need to hide, nor to deliberately erupt. He simply stirred his mind and naturally released a wisp of the power within his body, which resembled a slumbering Primordial Behemoth.

"Weng—!"

In an instant, a majestic coercion belonging to the Awakening Realm Nine Heavens Peak swept across the entire square like an invisible tsunami!

The air was instantly compressed, letting out a stifled whine! Fine, blue-purple electric arcs uncontrollably jumped and flickered around him, scorching black marks onto the dry jade stone ground beneath his feet! The purity, weight, and dominance of that aura far exceeded anyone's cognitive limit of the "Awakening Realm"!

"Awak... Awakening Realm... Ninth... Nine Heavens?!!!" Xiao Zhan's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, his voice sharp like a rooster whose neck was being squeezed, "When you went in... you were clearly only at the First Heaven!!"

Dead silence!

Absolute silence enveloped the entire square! You could hear a pin drop! Everyone's expressions froze, their brains completely crashing! Three days! Crossing the barrier of a full Eighth Heaven, from Awakening Realm First Heaven, straight to the Nine Heavens Peak?!

This was no longer a myth... This was a divine miracle that overturned Martial Arts Common Sense and shattered the limits of cognition! Monster! Prodigy! All the words they could think of seemed pale and powerless at this moment!

The white-haired Chief Instructor took a deep breath, and an unprecedented sharp light burst forth from his eyes, which were as profound as a starry abyss. He spoke slowly, his voice not loud, yet it clearly suppressed all the silence and echoed in everyone's ears:

"Lin Yuan."

"Effective immediately, you are promoted to Level Five Talent, enjoying the highest Core Authority in the Training Camp, with resource quotas... unlimited!"

He paused, his gaze piercing the void and landing on Lin Yuan, carrying an irresistible majesty, and concealing a hint of undetectable scrutiny:

"Now, immediately, follow me to meet... the Hall Master!"

Under the baptism of countless complex gazes interwoven with fanaticism, awe, jealousy, and disbelief, Lin Yuan remained calm and followed the white-haired Chief Instructor away.

He knew that after today, his name would sweep through the entire Training Camp like a hurricane, even shaking the higher echelons! And this was exactly what he wanted—only by standing at the peak of this wave, possessing enough weight, would he be qualified... to lift the heavy fog shrouding the mystery of his parents' disappearance!