The sky above the Moon-Shattered Valley had transformed into a chaotic theater of ink-black clouds and jagged silver lightning. Nature itself seemed to be screaming in protest against the transgression occurring within the bowels of the earth. Inside the cavern, however, the silence was absolute, a pressure so heavy it seemed to freeze time itself.
Qin Feng and Ye Chen sat face-to-face. Their knees touched, and their palms were fused as if they had been forged together in a single fire. Between them, the fifty high-grade spirit stones stolen from Senior Sister Meng floated in the air, swirling frantically. Under the gravitational pull of their dual cultivation, the stones began to hairline fracture, releasing a tide of azure Qi so pure it made the crystal walls of the cave hum with resonance.
[WARNING: Foundation Establishment Breakthrough Process Initiated.] [Breakthrough Mode: Eclipse Symbiosis (Risk of Death: 65%).]
"Qin Feng, do not close your eyes," Ye Chen whispered. Her voice, once distant and icy, now carried a feverish urgency. "Foundation Establishment is the moment you cease to be a mortal and become a pillar of the world. You must transform your gaseous Qi, unstable and volatile, into a liquid sea of eternal power. For others, this is a trial of solitude. For us, it is a fusion. If your mind wavers by a single millimeter, my cold will freeze your heart. If my will falters, your fire will devour my soul."
"I won't let go," Qin Feng groaned, the muscles in his neck bulging, his face bathed in a sweat that evaporated instantly into golden steam. "I spent twenty years crawling in the dust of the mines for scraps. I'm not going to die now that I finally have the heavens in my hands."
[STARTING QI LIQUEFACTION...]
The first shock hit Qin Feng with the violence of a mountain collapsing onto his chest. His dantian, his energy center, felt as if it had become an incandescent forge. The Qi he had accumulated over years of labor began to compress, folding in on itself, seeking an impossible density. The pain was a living entity; it felt as if every inch of his meridians was being put through a pestle to be ground into stardust.
"Breathe with me," Ye Chen's voice commanded directly into his mind, bypassing his physical senses. "Do not fight the agony. Do not reject it. Absorb it. Become the pain, and it can no longer hurt you."
Through their link, Qin Feng suddenly felt what Ye Chen was enduring. Her meridians, once shattered by the sect's nails, were being stitched back together by his own golden Qi. It was a fair and brutal exchange: he gave her the raw strength of his miner's vitality, and she gave him the millenary purity of her Empress's soul. The pill poison, the mine slag, the impurities accumulated from years of malnutrition... everything was being purified, burned away in a violet and gold blaze.
Meanwhile, outside, the world was erupting. The surviving disciple had returned, and he was not alone. A dozen winged mounts, Silver-rank Griffin-hawks, spiraled down from the heavens. On the lead mount stood a man whose mere presence made the ancient trees bow. He was the First Elder of the Azure Sky Sect, an expert at the 3rd Layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm.
"They are in there," the Elder thundered, his voice echoing like a funeral bell. "I feel the instability of the Qi. They are attempting a breakthrough? In that state? What nameless arrogance! Break that barrier! Kill the miner at any cost, and bring the traitorous woman to me alive. She still has crimes to pay for."
The elite disciples launched the assault. Balls of sacred fire and razor-sharp wind blades slammed into the cave entrance. The vibrations caused entire sections of the ceiling to collapse. Dust filled the air, but Qin Feng and Ye Chen did not flinch. A sharp piece of debris sliced Qin Feng's cheek, but the blood that flowed was no longer dark red; it glowed with the luster of liquid gold.
[ALERT: Cave integrity compromised to 40%.] [Breakthrough Progress: 80%... 85%...]
"Faster!" Qin Feng roared internally, addressing the System. "They're going to bury us alive before we're done!"
[WARNING: Forced acceleration will cause permanent meridian damage!]
"Do it!" Ye Chen intervened via the spiritual link. "I will sacrifice my lunar source to stabilize his body! If he dies, nothing will matter anymore!"
"No!" Qin Feng replied in a mental shout. "We do it together, or we die together!"
In a burst of pure will, Qin Feng no longer settled for absorbing the energy of the stones. He seized Ye Chen's energy and projected his own back in a frantic rotation cycle. The "Eclipse Taiji" between them became a disk of white light so intense it rendered the cave invisible.
Outside, the Elder frowned. He felt a sudden pressure, a gravitational force that crushed his disciples to the ground. "Get back!" he shouted, dread suddenly replacing his arrogance.
BOOM!
The cave entrance didn't just explode; it vaporized. A pillar of violet and golden light shot toward the zenith, tearing through the clouds and illuminating the valley as if a second sun had just been born.
[DONG!] [CONGRATULATIONS! Breakthrough successful against all odds!] [The Lord and the Empress have reached the 1st Layer of Foundation Establishment!] [New Body Unlocked: Primordial Eclipse Body (Divine Grade).]
The smoke slowly dissipated, revealing a sight that made the Elder's blood turn to ice. In the center of the crater, Qin Feng stood tall. His miner's rags were in tatters, revealing a lean but terrifyingly dense physique, traced with silver runes that pulsed beneath his skin. His eyes were no longer human; they shifted colors, turning from gold to purple in rhythm with his new liquid dantian.
At his side, Ye Chen rose with newfound grace. Her wounds were a distant memory. Her black hair floated in a wind of pure energy. She no longer looked like a fugitive, but like a war deity returning from a thousand years of exile.
The First Elder of the Azure Sky Sect climbed down from his mount, his face distorted by disbelief. "Impossible... How could two pariahs trigger a Celestial Vision for a mere Foundation breakthrough?"
Qin Feng reached out his hand. His old miner's pickaxe, forgotten in the dust, flew into his palm. Under the influence of his new Qi, the rusted metal transmuted, becoming an ebony-black weapon with a blade of violet crystal.
"Elder," Qin Feng said, his voice resonating with an authority that made the elite disciples waver. "You said that luck belongs to the powerful."
He took a step forward, and the ground beneath his feet cracked. An absolute cold spread instantly, freezing the flames of the guards' torches.
"Today," he continued, lifting his transformed pickaxe, "I've decided that the power is changing sides."
Ye Chen placed a light hand on her husband's shoulder, a glacial smile on her lips. "Husband, do not kill them all at once. I want them to realize who is breaking their sect before they draw their last breath."
The Elder roared in rage and charged, his iron mace brandished, releasing the full power of a 3rd Layer expert. But to Qin Feng, the Elder seemed to be moving through molasses. The world had become transparent; he saw the lines of force, the flaws in the enemy's armor, the hesitation in his heart.
Qin Feng vanished.
[SKILL EVOLVED: Eternal Shadow Step.]
He reappeared above the Elder, his pickaxe shining with a world-ending light. "First Foundation Face-Slap," he whispered.
The collision was silent, but the shockwave that followed leveled the forest for three hundred meters, marking the beginning of a new era.