The explosion unleashed an enormous shockwave that launched Jin Feng twenty zhang from the epicenter. He crashed into the seafloor with enormous force.
His injuries were catastrophic, severe even for a newbie cultivator. His lungs had burst from the pressure, both eardrums had ruptured, and his intestines had torn apart, causing massive internal bleeding that turned the surrounding water a deep dark crimson.
Gritting his teeth against the agony, Jin Feng forced himself to focus entirely on healing his wounds. His qi, what little remained, flowed desperately through his damaged meridians as he began sinking toward the ocean floor.
Then, there it was!
Rising from the abyssal depths like something from a forgotten dream, an otherworldly palace emerged. Ten zhang tall and nearly sixty zhang wide, and what amazed him was that it defied everything he knew about underwater structures.
The palace possessed no windows or conventional walls. Instead, reverse flowing waterfalls cascaded upward along its surface, streams of luminescent water flowing from bottom to top in perfect loops, defying gravity itself. The liquid walls shimmered with an ethereal blue green radiance that pulsed like a heartbeat.
Even as the surrounding seawater pressed against it, the palace remained unhinged, its flowing barriers were as immutable as stone walls.
There were ancient symbols carved into the flowing water seemed to shift and move frantically, their meaning not conceivable by today's language system. The entire structure emanated an aura of primordial power that made Jin Feng feel involuntarily gasp and take a mouthful of water.
At the palace's center stood a massive door carved from what appeared to be deep ocean sapphire, so dark blue it was almost black. The door had no handle, no visible mechanism for opening.
"Shen Tao's inheritance!" spurted Jin Feng while harboring a deep contorted smile that seemed to span along his entire lower face section.
At this moment all his pain seemed to vanish, replacing it with pure ecstasy.
Jin Feng rushed toward the imposing structure, its sheer size making him look like a fool out of place.
He pressed both palms against the massive door and pushed with all his strength. Veins bulged on his forehead as his face slowly turned crimson from the exertion. The door didn't budge even slightly.
'Why doesn't it move? Isn't it supposed to be an inheritance? Why did it appear right before me if it won't let me inherit it?' Jin Feng's frustration mounted, joy rapidly transforming into anger. A sense of urgency began clawing at his chest.
'Forget it, I'll come back later to study this properly. My regeneration stone's effects are wearing off, and if I'm caught here...' He glanced around the glowing palace. 'If this really is Shen Tao's inheritance, I'll likely be slaughtered on the spot like a pig.'
Jin Feng snorted and began swimming away from the palace, his movements sluggish from his injuries and depleted qi.
Breaking the surface, Jin Feng gasped for air and immediately began swimming toward shore with whatever strength remained. Each stroke sent waves of pain through his damaged body, but the regeneration stone's fading effects coupled with his barely enough amounts of qi kept him moving.
As he dragged himself onto the familiar sandy beach where he'd been familiarized himself as of lately, Jin Feng's eyes widened in shock.
The shoreline was no longer empty, a few mortals have already arrived.
'What in the heavens...?'
Dozens of figures had already arrived, and more were appearing by the minute. In a few moments even cultivators descending from the sky appeared, their robes billowing dramatically. Others emerged from the forest depths. A few even rose directly from the distant sea itself, water streaming off their bodies as they walked on the surface as if it were solid ground.
Jin Feng recognized the cultivation levels immediately, these weren't weaklings like himself. Most radiated the steady aura of tier two cultivators, with several emanating the more oppressive presence of tier three. One figure in particular, an elderly woman with silver hair braided with pearls, made Jin Feng's qi instinctively recoil. Tier four, maybe even tier five.
'How did they get here so fast? The explosion happened less than ten minutes ago!'
He pressed himself lower against the sand, where he sat down contemplating.
"...definitely came from the sea floor," one cultivator was saying, his voice carrying clearly across the water. "That level of spiritual disturbance... it has to be a major inheritance."
"Shen Tao's legacy?" another replied, excitement poorly concealed in his tone. "The legends spoke of a hidden palace that would gradually reveal itself as the one meant to inherit itself would emerge."
'They already know what it is...' Jin Feng realized with growing dread. 'If they find me here, covered in wounds from the explosion...'
More cultivators continued arriving some alone, others in small groups wearing matching sect robes. Jin Feng counted at least thirty powerful figures within his line of sight, and he could sense others beyond his limited perception.
His regeneration stone's effects were gone now, leaving him even weaker and more vulnerable. Every instinct screamed at him to flee, but surrounded by so many experts, even breathing felt dangerous as the slightest abnormal movement could attract one of these master's attention.
'I need to get out of here...' Jin Feng thought to himself, almost out loud.
"Excuse me, junior, could we talk about something?" a female voice reverberated from behind Jin Feng, making his heart skip several beats.
Jin Feng hesitantly turned toward the direction the voice came from, but there was no one in sight. Only empty beach stretched behind him, with the distant cultivators still focused on the sea.
'Thought transmission? Only a tier five cultivator can do something like this...' Jin Feng gulped as his anxiety multiplied tenfold. Cold sweat broke out across his already clammy skin.
"Don't worry, junior. As long as you tell me everything that happened here, you can go. Who knows, if you're honest, I might even compensate you for your efforts." the female voice continued, her tone deceptively gentle.
Jin Feng's breathing became shallow. A tier five cultivator showing interest in him could only mean death or worse.
"Of course, I won't force you," the voice continued with subtle menace, "but what I will do is tell everyone here that you were present when the explosion happened."
The threat hung in the air like a blade at his throat. Jin Feng's mind raced, surrounded by dozens of powerful cultivators, wounded and weak, with a tier five expert already suspicious of him.
"If you agree to cooperate, just nod and I will teleport you immediately."
Jin Feng froze for several seconds, weighing his nonexistent options, before reluctantly nodding.
The world blurred.
In an instant, Jin Feng found himself standing in a magnificent hall that took his breath away. The chamber was enormous, easily thirty zhang long and five zhang wide, with a vaulted ceiling that soared at least ten zhang high. Massive pillars of polished jade supported the structure, each one carved with intricate dragons.
The floor was a masterwork of inlaid marble in deep white and gray, forming complex geometric patterns that drew the eye toward the center of the room.
Floating orbs of soft golden light drifted lazily through the air, providing gentle illumination that reflected off crystal formations jutting from the walls. The crystals hummed with barely contained spiritual energy, their surfaces pulsing in rhythm like a massive heartbeat.
At the far end of the hall sat an ornate table carved from what appeared to be a single piece of ancient spirit wood, its surface polished to a mirror shine.
"Please, take a seat." the voice spoke aloud now, no longer using thought transmission.
From behind one of the jade pillars stepped the elderly woman Jin Feng had glimpsed on the beach. Up close, she was even more imposing. Her silver hair, braided with luminescent pearls that glowed softly in the hall's light, fell to her waist like a cascade of moonlight. Her robes were deep ocean blue with silver embroidery depicting crashing waves, and they rustled with the sound of distant thunder as she moved.
But it was her eyes that truly unsettled Jin Feng, gray, knowing eyes that seemed to see straight through his soul to his deepest secrets. Her cultivation level pressed against him like a crushing weight, making it difficult to think clearly.
She moved with fluid grace to the spirit wood table and settled into a chair that materialized from thin air, a construct of pure qi that looked more comfortable than any mortal furniture.
"Sit." she said gently, gesturing to another qi formed chair across from her.
Jin Feng approached cautiously, every instinct screaming danger. As he lowered himself into the ethereal chair, he was surprised by how solid and comfortable it felt.
The woman studied him for a moment, her gaze lingering on his obvious injuries. Then, without warning, she raised her hand.
A stream of pure, radiant qi flowed from her palm toward Jin Feng like liquid starlight. His first instinct was terror, shrinking his pupils to pin size.
But instead of pain, warmth spread through his body. The woman's qi seeped into his damaged meridians. His damaged lungs began to mend, his ruptured eardrums sealed themselves, and the internal bleeding that had been slowly killing him stopped entirely.
Within moments, Jin Feng felt better than he had in weeks, even his mood has improved a little bit.
The woman lowered her hand and smiled, an expression that somehow managed to be both kind and terrifying.
"There." she said pleasantly. "Now we can have a proper conversation without you bleeding all over my furniture. I am the supreme elder of the Celestial Tide sect. And you, young man, are going to tell me exactly what you were doing at the bottom of that sea when Shen Tao's inheritance awakened."
Jin Feng looked at his hands and slowly spoke. "Seeing how senior elder personally took interest in me and even showed the magnanimity to heal my injuries I will not hide the truth."
"A few months ago a devastating storm took place, in which I lost my parents and all my life accumulations. I barely managed to escape with my life thanks to a benevolent fellow cultivator."
Jin Feng then took a deep breath before continuing. "Ever since that day, my cultivation progress has stagnated as I am just an inferior type with no backing whatsoever. Whenever I feel lost or just having a bad day I like to go swimming , usually spending hours just drifting away."
"As for the reason why Shen Tao's inheritance revealed itself I'm afraid that I have no clue. I won't lie to senior elder, I tried to get the inheritance, I even used two grade one regeneration stones but the door just wouldn't budge." said Jin Feng while keeping his gaze low.
The elder of the celestial sect paced around the table a couple of times, with her hands tucked firmly behind her back.
Then she stopped right in front of Jin Feng, glancing at him before three small round stones materialized in her hand.
"I appreciate your honesty, young man. Take these three grade two regeneration stones." The elderly woman placed the stones in Jin Feng's hands and carefully observed his reaction.
Jin Feng's eyes widened like a child looking at candy.
"Thank you, senior. I hope I've been of some help." Jin Feng said, looking at the woman.
The elderly woman smiled before flicking her hand, sending Jin Feng outside.
After that, the woman's smile faded away, turning into an almost expressionless mask.
Three figures suddenly materialized. All of them wore the same robes that the woman did.
"The boy is unlikely to be the inheritor of Shen Tao's inheritance. Otherwise, he would have already claimed it." said one of the cultivators.
"Indeed, but the boy did not tell the full truth."
"Keep an eye on him, just in case. It's better to be sure. If something interesting happens, tell me immediately."
"Yes, Lady Wuhan." the three cultivators said in unison.