The Martial Emperor

Chapter 5 - Vibrant from the Sky

Only a dozen or so steps after Lin Feng and Zhang Hao left the mouth of the crevice, a sudden, thunderous roar shattered the silence of the valley. The ground beneath their feet shook violently, forcing them both to stop and turn around.

Before their eyes, the cliff wall that had previously stood firm began to crack. Massive boulders tumbled down, sealing the dark hole where Lin Feng had spent the last three days.

Thick dust billowed high into the air as the entire crevice collapsed completely, in an instant, the place became one with the cliffside. There was no longer a dark opening, no longer a cave. Zhang Hao stared with a face that turned deathly pale while clutching his chest.

"Feng! You got out just in time!" Zhang Hao exclaimed, his breath coming in short gasps. "By the heavens, if you were a second late, you would surely be dead, buried under that pile of giant rocks!"

Lin Feng remained silent, staring at the ruins. He remembered the message from the woman in white robes who had said that once he stepped out, he could never return. The destruction of the crevice was proof that the permission granted to him had expired.

Instead of panicking like his companion, Lin Feng stood tall. He pressed his hands together and bowed respectfully toward the ruins of the crevice. A final tribute to the mysterious figure who had given him a lesson meaningful for his rapid progress.

"Why are you paying respects to those rocks?" Zhang Hao asked with a bewildered frown. "Hurry, we must leave immediately before there is a larger aftershock!"

"Just a final word of thanks," Lin Feng answered with a thin smile, keeping the secret of the mysterious woman to himself.

Once again, his body trembled. Recalling the appearance of the emperor in the vision earlier, Lin Feng wondered if his fate tomorrow would be the same as that figure's?

The sun began to rise high as they made their way along the bank of a river that flowed calmly yet deeply. Because they had agreed to avoid the toxic mist atop the cliffs, the two had to take the much more difficult lower route. The path was full of slippery hanging roots, thorny bushes, and massive rocks that required them to climb repeatedly along an uphill and downhill road.

The further they walked, forest monsters began to appear one by one. Although they were not as strong as the Black Scaled Demon Bear, they were numerous and attacked in groups. From behind the bushes, a pack of grey-furred Wind Wolves emerged, aiming for their legs with sharp fangs.

Zhang Hao prepared himself with his fists—since his sword had vanished—but Lin Feng stepped forward first. "Let me handle it, Hao. Consider this a trial run for my new strength."

Lin Feng drew his sword, the same one he had used in the previous battle. Lin Feng performed the only technique he knew: channeling his Qi into the weapon's blade. The sword vibrated softly, emitting an aura that was incredibly sharp and dense.

The bright blue Qi enveloping the sword blade now appeared brighter and thicker. It was a sight that made Zhang Hao's eyes go round.

"The strengthening technique... incredible. I have never seen a Qi flow so dense and pure," Zhang Hao muttered, amazed to see Lin Feng’s sword shining brightly.

Within seconds, Lin Feng blurred among the crowd of wolves. His movements were incredibly calm, and nothing was wasted. Every slash of his Qi-strengthened sword carved through the air with a soft whistling sound. In three swift movements, three wolves lay dead with neat wounds on their necks.

Zhang Hao gaped where he stood. He watched Lin Feng eradicate the rest of the monster group with little effort, as if the youth were merely cutting weeds in a backyard. "Feng... why has your strengthening technique become so fierce? Is reaching the second level of Marrow Refinement really this crazy in its effect?"

Lin Feng returned his sword to the spatial ring and regulated his breath. "It is not the technique that changed, but the fuel. Purer Qi automatically makes the energy density in my sword increase drastically."

"Is it because you have leveled up?"

Lin Feng shrugged. "That is certainly one of the reasons."

"But the difference cannot be this large."

Lin Feng only chuckled.

Toward late afternoon while they rested under the shade of a leafy tree, Zhang Hao’s curiosity finally reached its peak. He could no longer restrain himself from asking about what Lin Feng had actually experienced inside that cave to be able to rise to the second level of Marrow Refinement in such a short time.

Lin Feng sat cross-legged, staring at the river flow in front of him. "In there, I gained an enlightenment regarding the correct way to breathe. All this time we have been absorbing natural Qi in its raw state, but it turns out the Qi we inhale is already contaminated."

Lin Feng then began to explain the Qi filtering technique taught by the mysterious woman in simple terms. He told Zhang Hao to sit upright, close his eyes, and do what Lin Feng remembered through the memory injection from the mysterious woman.

Zhang Hao tried to follow the instructions carefully. At first, he found it difficult and choked several times, but Lin Feng patiently guided him to distinguish between energy that felt "heavy" and "light" inside the chest.

"Do not be greedy, Hao. Draw it in slowly, do not force the Qi in all at once or your chest will feel tight," Lin Feng advised.

By the time night arrived, Zhang Hao continued to meditate with the new technique. When he opened his eyes under the moonlight, his face looked much fresher. "Feng, this is amazing! Although my level hasn't increased, I can feel the Qi in my dantian is much more stable and calm now!"

Lin Feng was happy to hear it. However, he wondered: all this time they had been absorbing contaminated Qi, so how could they expel the filth in the dantian that had settled for so long? That was not explained at all in the memory injection given by the mysterious woman.

Lin Feng nodded with satisfaction. "Keep practicing every day. Luck will not save us forever. Tonight we rest, tomorrow morning we must leave this cursed region."

***

At the same time, far above the expanse of clouds unreachable by human eyes, stood a palace floating in the middle of the sky. The palace was magnificent, built from pure white marble that radiated a golden light. Giant pillars carved with dragons and phoenixes supported a roof made of crystal, pulsing with a dim light full of softness.

The floor was made of smooth jade, every corner of which emitted the scent of fragrant incense. This was a place that surpassed all luxury in the world, a residence for those who considered themselves rulers.

Inside one of the halls, three white-haired, long-bearded old men sat facing each other at a round table made of high-quality wood. Their faces were covered by silver masks that protected the area from eyes to nose, leaving only the set of their lips and chins which currently looked stiff and tense.

"Qiao Mulan has moved," said one of them, his voice heavy and echoing against the walls of the silent hall.

"That damn female..." the old man beside him stomped his foot under the table softly, yet it was enough to shake the entire contents of the room. "How dare she appear again after hiding for thousands of years! Does she miss seeing the world destroyed in war again?!"

"Calm yourself. Anger will not solve the problem," the third man interrupted coldly. "If she has intervened, it means the 'seed' we fear has shown itself. Like it or not, the rules we made will soon face a test."

"We know exactly that Mulan has been waiting for this moment for a long time," said the first old man. He clicked his tongue. "What a cunning snake!"

The three of them fell silent in the complicated matters haunting their minds. If it were true that Qiao Mulan had found a new heir, then the world order they had controlled all this time was threatened with collapse.

"One of us must go investigate," the third man ordered. "See what is happening there. If there are signs of the Martial Emperor’s heir, eliminate him immediately before he has a chance to grow larger."

The second man nodded and stood up at once. "Let me go, we felt that power in the Eastern Empire, didn't we?" he said before his body suddenly vanished.

The first and third men then rose and stepped toward a secret room behind the hall. There, atop a jet-black stone staff, was a small crystal pulsing with a strange purple light.

One of them stared at the crystal with a look full of concern. "Chaos will return once more to this world. And this time, I am not sure if this palace will still be standing when the storm ends."