Chapter 133: Elevated Strength-Breakthrough

The battlefield was still, a haunting tableau of devastation. The earth, once firm, now lay churned and blood-soaked, its surface littered with the shattered remnants of weapons and armor that once belonged to the younger generation. The air was thick with the metallic tang of blood and the acrid stench of burnt flesh that fell from numerous bodies, a grim reminder of the carnage that had unfolded. Above, the heavens loomed, their silent gaze bearing witness to the aftermath of the trial. The echoes of dying screams had faded, leaving behind an eerie silence that seemed to stretch endlessly.

Jiang Feng stood amidst the ruins, his breaths shallow and labored. His body, a canvas of wounds and scars, bore testament to the savagery of the battle. His blackened draconic scales, once a symbol of his indomitable strength, now hung cracked and bloodied, barely clinging to his skin. In his hand, the Celestial Dagger pulsed faintly, its once-brilliant edge dulled from countless kills. He tightened his grip on the hilt, the faint thrum of its power a small comfort in the face of his exhaustion.

"The Concept of Darkness, what exactly are you?" Jiang Feng held up his hand, and there he saw dozens of dark veins, pulsing under his skin with every beat of his heart.

Nearby, Ji Moran leaned heavily against her sword, her once-pristine robes now torn and drenched in crimson. Her thigh wound, though she had tried to freeze it shut, still oozed blood, staining the ground beneath her. Her breaths came in ragged gasps, each one a struggle against the weight of her injuries. Yet, despite the pain, her eyes remained sharp, scanning the battlefield with a mixture of relief and wariness.

"Will you be okay?" Jiang Feng walked over to her, his two bloodlines worked on overdrive to heal his broken and bruised body.

"I'll live, how about you? Feeling ok?" Ji Moran asked, her cold eyes melting with concern.

"I'll be okay. I'm sorry I had to put you through all of this, the outside world must be in chaos right now, I don't want to drag you down with me." Jiang Feng frowned, he knew what the dangers of the outside world now held once everyone else made it out before them.

"I made this choice on my own, you don't need to feel guilty about it. Plus if it wasn't for you, I'd mostly likely be dead by now. Our time at the beginning of the trail was the best of my life in recent years, not only that, but I had the opportunity to grow, breaking through levels I've never dreamed of. The pain we are experiencing now will lead us to a better future, I'll always full you!!" Ji Moran held onto his head as she did her best to provide Jiang Feng with comfort, she knew that at this time, he was burdened with a lot of heavy thoughts and challenges that were not yet over.

"Thank you" A smile escaped Jiang Feng's lips, one had to know that this was the first time he was experiencing the affection of a woman, it had always been his father, then Lin Moyi and Lin Rou. Uncle Zhen Chen came into the mix shortly after. Jiang Feng sighed when he looked at their bloody bodies. They had won. But at what cost? Excavating potential for the future, was it truly worth it?

As the two spoke, the realm itself seemed to acknowledge their victory, trembling beneath their feet as though the very will of the heavens had been stirred. And then, the sky cracked open.

From the churning clouds above, two massive eyes of pure flame emerged, their ancient gaze piercing through the battlefield like divine judgment. One burned with a radiant golden hue, reminiscent of the dawn of creation, while the other shimmered with an ethereal blue, cold and unyielding. Their presence sent waves of pressure crashing down, forcing even Jiang Feng and Ji Moran—who had already endured the worst of the battle—to steady themselves.

"Saloris and Lunara?" Ji Moran whispered, her voice hoarse and barely audible.

Jiang Feng said nothing. His instincts screamed that this was no ordinary reward, even though he had gotten the two legacies already, or so he thought. The eyes were watching them, measuring their worth which was strange to him after all that happened, and he could feel the weight of their judgment pressing down on him.

And then, they descended.

The golden eye erupted into a beam of pure essence, crashing directly into Jiang Feng's body. Simultaneously, the blue flame engulfed Ji Moran, her form swallowed whole by its icy radiance. Neither of them could resist. The power was too overwhelming, their exhausted bodies far too weak to reject the gift.

Jiang Feng felt it first.

A roaring heat flooded his meridians, scorching through every wound, sealing torn flesh, and reforging his battered body anew. The Skyforge Flame within him flared in resonance, greedily devouring the celestial sun fire. His damaged meridians expanded, his dantian trembled, and his essence surged like a river breaking through a dam.

"Caelestis, you're not supposed to devour these flames!" Jiang Feng shouted as he realized Skyforge Flame was devouring a large amount of sun essence energy which he was advised not to let happen.

As Jiang Feng's voice faded into the stillness of the air, a brilliant blue flame coalesced on his shoulder, morphing into the delicate form of a tiny fairy. She perched gracefully, embodying both elegance and wisdom. "Don't worry about it; this isn't the Golden Crow essence of the sun flame," Caelestis reassured him in a soothing yet authoritative tone within his mind. "It's merely the stored energy from the sealing formation above our heads. Since they are making their exit, we might as well take advantage of this opportunity. There's plenty to go around." Her calm presence instantly alleviated the anxiety that had gripped him.

What surprised him further was the fluency and clarity with which she spoke, far surpassing the hesitant utterances he had expected. Within moments, he felt a surge of power as he reached the seventh level of the Essence Condensation Stage. The essence lake within him, now a colossal twenty-one thousand meters in diameter, shimmered with blue and yellow hues. "Saloris is also inside, absorbing as much essence as it can," Caelestis continued her tone now slightly more urgent. "However, because of your current cultivation base, we may not be able to absorb all this energy, even with the combined efforts of the three of us."

Jiang Feng felt his power surge palpably, his aura shifting and solidifying into something formidable. His dragon scales once cracked and muted in hue, began to mend themselves, transforming into a deeper, more lustrous sheen, a testament to his rising strength. His blood raced with newfound vigor, pulsating with a vitality that had previously eluded him. "Jiang Feng, you need to activate the devouring diagram to absorb this power swiftly," the Aetherion Dragon's voice resonated in his mind. "After your breakthrough, your body will become capable of storing this energy, which will be crucial for the upcoming dragon ritual and while mastering the Titan Ascension Art."

The Aetherion Dragon's reminder of the formidable challenges ahead filled him with both determination and trepidation. Lifting his head with renewed focus, Jiang Feng opened his mouth and inhaled deeply, channeling infernal breathing. He pulled the tempestuous energy swirling around him, feeling it rumble as it surged into his body like a torrential wave. The devouring diagram lit up with an effulgent brilliance, and his body responded with a series of resounding explosions, resembling claps of thunder that echoed throughout the space, signaling the awakening of his latent potential.

"Wait, is Caelestis a female?" Jiang Feng murmured hearing the change in tone.

"Focus will you!" a loud rumble causing Jiang Feng to snap back to his senses. It was the voice of the fairy on his shoulders, Jiang Feng could only give an awkward smile before continuing.

Ji Moran, who was now enveloped in the blue flames, underwent a similar transformation. The frost within her veins thickened, becoming even purer, its potency reaching terrifying levels. The Rebirth Phoenix, Lunara Glacies, deep within her soul let out an ethereal cry, resonating with the realm's energy. Her wounds vanished, her meridians widened, and her spiritual foundation solidified at the very brink of the Golden Core realm, with a little more push, she would enter the second stage.

The icy flame coiled around her, fusing into her very existence, deepening her control over her lineage's power. She shuddered as the overwhelming energy threatened to break through her cultivation threshold and even her body. But she held it back—barely. One more push and she would step into the next stage, but she feared that with so much energy, she might explode.

And then, as suddenly as it came, the energy receded.

The light beams withdrew into the sky, and the eyes of flame—satisfied with their decree—slowly faded into nothingness.

Silence.

Jiang Feng exhaled slowly, flexing his fingers, feeling the immense changes within. After the devouring diagram went to work, Jiang Feng noticed that his essence lake was pushed to twenty-one thousand nine hundred meters, which was a huge step in his book. Not only that but he could feel a strong surge of energy inside his chest, but no matter how he tried to fully sense it, it was like the energy wasn't there even though it was. He couldn't touch it at all.

He turned to Ji Moran, whose icy blue eyes flickered with newfound strength.

"Looks like we've hit the jackpot yet again," she murmured.

Jiang Feng scoffed. "It's a shame we couldn't get more of it haha."

The realm itself groaned as if acknowledging his words. The chains overhead shuddered, the final remnants of their cracked bindings struggling to hold together. The trial was over, but something lingered—an unease, a shift in the very foundation of the Obsidian Waterfall Realm which caused the sky to vibrate without the two noticing.

Ji Moran wiped the blood from her sword. "We should leave. The elders are waiting."

But as she spoke, a deep rumble resonated from the sky. The light that once illuminated the battlefield dimmed, the air thickening with something unseen yet oppressive. Jiang Feng felt it instantly—the same presence that had whispered to him during the battle, urging him to descend deeper into the darkness.

Ji Moran noticed his expression. "What is it?"

Jiang Feng didn't answer immediately. His eyes lifted toward the sky, his gaze sharpening as an unsettling sensation swept over him. Something was watching them—something that was moving fast, powerful, and closing in.

A metallic clang echoed through the realm, the sound vibrating through the air like an ominous warning. The chains trembled violently, thrumming with an unseen force. Then—

Snap!

One of the chains ruptured, the links shattering into nothingness. Silence fell like a heavy veil, deeper and more suffocating than before. The very fabric of the realm seemed to recoil, as if it, too, had sensed the disturbance. And then, the sky itself tore apart.

Right above where the broken chain once held firm, space cracked open like a fractured mirror. From within that void, a black beating heart slowly emerged, drifting downward as if descending from an unseen hand. It carried with it a presence unlike anything mortal or divine—a force so alien, so consuming, that reality seemed to bend around it.

As it fell, it began to devour the spiritual energy in the air, swallowing it hungrily. The vibrant glow of the realm's essence dimmed, fading as though snuffed out by some unseen maw. The very space around the fruit trembled, unstable under its influence. Ji Moran's breath hitched. She could feel an abyssal aura pressing against her, thick and suffocating. Her body shuddered instinctively, as if warning her to flee.

"W-What is that?" she asked, her voice tight with shock. Her eyes remained locked onto the beating heart, unable to look away. The darkness it radiated wasn't just an absence of light—it consumed light itself, snuffing it out entirely.

Jiang Feng exhaled and released her hand. "Back away for a moment."

The moment he spoke, Ji Moran felt something far more dangerous than the darkness in the air. Without hesitation, she leapt backward, distancing herself as quickly as possible.

"Be careful!" she called, her voice edged with worry. She had known that Jiang Feng wielded a dark power, but the true nature of it remained a mystery to her. She didn't know where it came from, nor how it had changed him—only that it had granted him terrifying strength.