Heaven's Only Men Cultivator

Chapter 2 - The Sun Has Returned

The water was a freezing, crushing weight that dragged Li Feng into the black. His lungs screamed for air, but every time he tried to gasp, the churning river forced silt and ice into his throat. Just as the darkness began to claim the edges of his consciousness, a violent jolt of heat snapped his eyes open.

His body hit a solid surface. Not rock, but wet sand.

"Cough... 'ack'... help..."

Li Feng rolled onto his side, retching up mouthfuls of river water. His hands clawed at the damp earth, his fingers numb and white. The air here was stagnant, smelling of ancient dust and damp moss. It was pitch black, save for a faint, rhythmic pulsing of amber light coming from his own chest.

"Wake up, boy. Unless you find the cold a comfortable blanket."

Li Feng froze. The voice didn't come from the shadows of the cave. It echoed inside his skull, resonant and heavy like a bronze bell.

"Who’s there?" Li Feng croaked, his voice cracking. "Is someone there?"

"The one keeping your heart from turning into an icicle," the voice replied, tinged with a hint of dry amusement. "Sit up. Your limbs are freezing, and the river didn't exactly do your injuries any favors."

Li Feng struggled to his feet, his wet clothes clinging to him like a second, frozen skin. He looked around. He was in a massive underground cavern. High above, a jagged fissure allowed a sliver of moonlight to pierce the gloom, illuminating the rushing underground river that had deposited him here.

"I’m dying, aren't I?" Li Feng whispered, clutching his chest. The golden glow beneath his skin was the only thing keeping the shivering at bay. "The Silk Cloud disciples... they said I would explode."

"They are idiots," the voice snapped. "A cup cannot hold an ocean, that much is true. But you are not a cup, Li Feng. You are a dry well that has finally found its spring. Now, sit. Cross your legs. Do it before the hypothermia finishes what those girls started."

"I don't know how to meditate," Li Feng said, his teeth chattering. "I'm a slave. Men aren't allowed to... we aren't allowed to know these things."

"The 'laws' of this world are a lie whispered by the fearful," the voice said. "Your ancestors didn't ask for permission to move mountains. Why should you? Sit."

Li Feng obeyed, dropping onto the cold stone floor. He folded his legs, his body screaming in protest. The cuts from the thorn-bushes and the bruises from the fall were beginning to throb with a dull, insistent pain.

"Now, close your eyes," the voice commanded. "Stop looking at the dark with your eyes. Look at the fire in your chest. That is the Ancient Yang Core. It is the heart of a sun, trapped in a vessel of clay."

Li Feng closed his eyes. At first, there was only the cold. Then, he saw it. Deep within his solar plexus, a tiny grain of golden light was spinning. It was beautiful. It was terrifying.

"It’s... it’s burning me," Li Feng groaned.

"It is cleaning you," the voice corrected. "Direct the heat. Don't fight it. Imagine the fire is water. Guide it through your veins. Down to your feet, up to your head. Wash away the cold."

"I can't... it's too much. It's like swallowing sunfire."

"Focus! Do you want to go back to the whip? Do you want to die in the dark like a dog?"

"No!" Li Feng shouted, his voice echoing off the cave walls.

"Then take control! You are the master of this flame. The Yang Core chose you because your will was the only thing stronger than your chains. Breathe. Inhale the heat, exhale the cold."

Li Feng gritted his teeth. He focused all his will on that tiny golden grain. He reached out with his mind, touching the searing energy. It roared, but he didn't pull back. He wrapped his thoughts around it and pulled.

Slowly, a trickle of warmth began to flow. It moved down his arms, tingling in his fingertips. It flowed down his spine, melting the ice in his marrow. The pain didn't vanish, but it transformed. The sharp stabs of the river's cold were replaced by a dull, radiant thrum.

"Good," the voice whispered. "You are entering the first stage. Qi Condensation. For a thousand years, no man has felt the Qi of the sun. Feel how it hungers to fill the void inside you."

Hours passed. Li Feng lost track of time. The dampness of the cave was gone, replaced by a shimmering aura of heat that radiated from his body. The golden light was no longer just a pulse; it was a steady, humming glow that illuminated the entire cavern.

"My blood," Li Feng whispered, opening his eyes.

He looked at the deep gash on his forearm. Instead of the dark crimson of a common man, the wound was weeping a thick, luminescent gold. As he watched, the skin began to knit itself back together, the golden fluid receding as the flesh closed.

"Your mortality is being rewritten," the voice said, sounding satisfied. "The curse of the Heavens was meant to keep the Yang energy suppressed in men. By absorbing the Core, you haven't just broken the law—you've broken the cage."

"Am I... am I still me?" Li Feng asked, staring at his unblemished skin.

"You are more than you were. You are the Fajar Terlarang. The Forbidden Dawn."

Li Feng stood up. He felt light. The crushing weight of the world, the feeling of being 'lesser' that had been drilled into him since birth, had evaporated. He felt like he could reach out and pluck the moon from the sky.

"What happens now?" Li Feng asked, looking deeper into the cave.

"Now, you stop being a fugitive and start being a successor," the voice said. "Walk forward, boy. There is a reason the river brought you to this specific grave."

"Grave?"

Li Feng stepped over the uneven rocks, his golden aura lighting the way. As he rounded a massive stalagmite, he stopped dead.

At the very back of the cavern stood a pair of gargantuan stone doors. They were carved from a dark, obsidian-like rock, etched with runes that seemed to writhe like living snakes under the light of his golden Qi. In the center of the doors was a circular indentation, exactly the size of a human palm.

"What is this place?" Li Feng asked, his heart hammering against his ribs.

"This is the Tomb of the First Sun," the voice replied, its tone turning solemn. "Everything the women of the Silk Cloud Sect think they know is a fairy tale. The truth is behind these doors. But be warned, Li Feng. Once you open this, there is no going back. The Heavens will see you. The 'Architect' will know you exist."

Li Feng looked back at the path he had come from—the dark river, the cold world, and the chains he had worn for nineteen years. He then looked at the doors.

"They already want me dead," Li Feng said, his voice hardening. "I might as well give them a reason to be afraid."

He reached out, his hand trembling only slightly. The moment his palm touched the cold obsidian, the runes flared with a blinding, sun-white light.

BOOM.

The sound was deafening. It wasn't just a noise; it was a vibration that shook the very foundations of the mountain. Dust cascaded from the ceiling, and the underground river surged as if in fear.

"It’s moving," Li Feng gasped, stepping back.

The massive doors didn't swing open. Instead, they began to vibrate with a violent, rhythmic intensity. A low, mechanical grinding sound filled the air, followed by a hiss of ancient, pressurized air escaping from the seal.

"The seal is breaking," the voice inside him warned, a note of urgency creeping in. "Prepare yourself, Li Feng. The inheritance is not a gift—it is a burden."

The ground beneath his feet buckled. The vibration grew so strong that the golden light from Li Feng’s chest began to flicker wildly. From behind the doors, a deep, resonant thud echoed, as if something—or someone—was hitting the stone from the other side.

"Wait," Li Feng said, his eyes widening. "Is there something alive in there?"

The doors groaned, a hairline fracture appearing down the center. A beam of light, so bright it made the golden Qi of the Core look like a candle, shot through the crack, lancing across the cavern.

The vibration reached a crescendo. The mountain itself seemed to scream.

"Li Feng, hold your ground!" the voice roared.

The obsidian doors began to shatter, and from the blinding light beyond, a pressure so immense hit Li Feng that he was nearly blown off his feet. The air in the cave was no longer stagnant; it was howling with the force of a thousand-year-old storm.

As the dust began to settle and the light dimmed just enough to see, Li Feng saw a shadow moving within the tomb.

"The sun has returned," a new voice whispered, this one not in his head, but coming from the darkness beyond the broken seal.

The doors gave way completely, collapsing into a heap of rubble.

Li Feng stood frozen, his golden blood singing in his veins, as the silhouette stepped forward into the light.

***