The pressure was absolute. Lin Ming felt as if the weight of a mountain had been dropped on him. He couldn't move, couldn't channel his Qi, couldn't even breathe properly.
The gap between Foundation Establishment and Nascent Soul was not a gap; it was a chasm, an impassable cosmic void. Every instinct screamed at him, but his body wouldn't obey.
Pham Tuan was on one knee, his stone-like skin cracking under the strain, blood trickling from his nose.
The first Nascent Soul Madakaros glided forward, its movements unnervingly smooth. It ignored them, its attention fixed on the three ancient books on their pedestals. "The Elemental Codices of the Earth Progenitors... to think they were real."
The second operative kept its gaze locked on Lin Ming and Thuan Thien. "The mission is a failure, but the salvage is promising. Secure the artifacts and the specimen.
Level the chamber." Its telepathic voice was cold, dismissive, as if discussing the collection of interesting insects.
'Specimen'. It meant him. They didn't see him as a warrior, but as a prize to be dissected.
The first operative reached for the Book of Earth. If it took that book, if it "leveled the chamber," the entire city above could be obliterated.
Lin Ming's mind raced, his thoughts a desperate blur under the crushing pressure. He couldn't fight. He couldn't run. The System's assessment was grimly accurate. Survival was statistically impossible.
Unless...
A thought, insane and reckless, sparked in his mind. The combined power of his ancestors. The [Long Tien Cau]. His new, unstable skill.
He hadn't tested its attack form yet. He didn't know what it would do. But it was the only card he had left to play. It was a power born of this very land, a fusion of its core energies. Perhaps it could defy the alien invaders.
He fought against the mental pressure, focusing all of his will, every ounce of his remaining Fairy Qi, into the spiritual sea in his dantian.
The crimson and gold energies began to swirl once more, faster and faster.
The second Madakaros operative sensed the shift. Its third eye narrowed. "Resistance? Futile, but... amusing." It increased the pressure, intending to crush Lin Ming's spirit completely.
Minerva (comms): Ming! What's happening? Your bio-signature is going crazy! It's like a reactor about to go critical!
Quynh Nhu (comms): Zenith, report! What's your status?! Talk to me!
He couldn't answer. All of his focus was on the raging vortex within him. The crimson Dragon energy, explosive and raw.
The golden Fairy Qi, vital and pure. They spun together, a dance of creation and destruction. A miniature sun began to form in his dantian, threatening to tear him apart from the inside. The Dragon's Blood armor flared to life on its own, its scales glowing intensely, desperately trying to contain the incredible power he was summoning.
He gritted his teeth, blood seeping from his lips. The pressure from the outside was immense, but the pressure from the inside was even worse.
The Nascent Soul operative finally showed a flicker of surprise, then alarm. It could feel the terrifying power Lin Ming was about to unleash. This wasn't the energy of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
This was something primordial. "What is that power?! Stop him!" it broadcasted to its partner.
But it was too late. Lin Ming, with a final, desperate surge of will, brought his hands together in front of his chest and forced the chaotic energy out of his body.
The [Long Tien Cau] materialized in his palms. It was no longer a stable, baseball-sized sphere. It was a roiling, unstable vortex of incandescent light, crackling with raw power, constantly threatening to detonate. It was beautiful. It was terrifying. It was his final, desperate gambit.
"Get Pham Tuan... and the archivist... out of here..." he managed to force the words through his comms link to Minerva. "Tell Quynh Nhu... to run."
Using the momentary distraction caused by the terrifying energy sphere, he shoved Pham Tuan with all his might towards the staircase. "GO!"
The first operative abandoned the codex and spun around. Both Nascent Soul aliens now recognized the imminent danger. They raised their hands, creating a shimmering shield of violet energy in front of them.
Lin Ming poured the last of his consciousness into the sphere. His objective wasn't to kill them. He knew he couldn't. His objective was to create a big enough bang to disrupt their portal and everything else.
"Rasengan!!!" he whispered one last time, a delirious smile on his face. "No. This... is Heaven's... WRATH!"
He pushed the sphere forward.
It did not fly. The moment it left his hands, it detonated.
There was no sound. There was only light.
A wave of pure, white-gold energy erupted outwards. It was not a physical explosion of fire and shrapnel; it was a spiritual and elemental one. The very fabric of the chamber was unmade. The Nascent Soul aliens' violet shield shattered like glass. The two powerful beings were thrown back against the wall, their ornate robes torn, their bodies smoking. Their portal flickered violently and collapsed.
The energy wave, carrying the will of the Ancestors, slammed into the four pedestals. The three elemental books glowed fiercely, their ancient power activated by the raw energy. The machine they controlled whirred to life. But it wasn't overloading. It was... reinforcing.
The walls of the chamber solidified. Ancient runes flared to life, absorbing the explosive energy and channeling it into the foundations of the library, of the very bedrock beneath Hanoi, strengthening it, not destroying it.
The technique, born of the land, was instinctively protecting the land.
The wave washed over Lin Ming. His vision went white, and then black.
...
Quynh Nhu, from her perch on the tower, felt the ground shake. It wasn't a violent earthquake, but a deep, solid rumble, as if the entire city had just settled onto a firmer foundation. All of her comms links went dead at the same instant.
"Zenith? Minerva? Juggernaut? REPORT!" she yelled into the silence, her heart pounding with dread.
...
When Lin Ming's consciousness returned, it was to the sound of dripping water. He was lying in darkness, his body aching in a way it never had before. His Qi channels were empty, scorched. His Dragon's Blood armor was gone. The Foundation Establishment he had just achieved felt... fragile. He had poured everything into that one attack.
He pushed himself up, his body screaming in protest. The Hall of Four Books was a wreck. The Nascent Soul aliens were gone. In their desperation, they must have escaped through a personal, short-range teleportation device before their portal collapsed completely. They had been injured, repelled, but not killed.
On the ground lay something they had dropped in their haste. It was a small, triangular data crystal, glowing faintly. An intel drop. A small victory in a catastrophic fight.
But he was not alone.
In the center of the room, standing beside the now-glowing pedestals, was a figure. A shimmering, translucent spirit. It was the old monk from the temple. Or rather, the spiritual projection of him.
"You have a dragon's heart, but a firefly's strength," the spirit said, its voice ancient and resonant. "You have bought this city time, but you have also painted a target on its back. They have seen you. They have seen the sword. They know what lies hidden here. They will return."
The spirit pointed a shimmering finger at Lin Ming. "Your power is unbalanced. You have the vessel, but not the knowledge. The 'keys' you see here... they are not just control modules. They are textbooks. They contain the primordial principles of this world's cultivation. The way of your ancestors."
"You... you must learn. You must master the elements. You must become strong enough to wield this power not as a desperate bomb, but as a craftsman's tool. Begin with Earth. It is the foundation of all things. Learn its secrets, and your own foundation will become unbreakable."
The ancient Book of Earth on its pedestal glowed, and floated gently towards Lin Ming, stopping just before him.
"The path is open, Son of the Dragon. Your true cultivation begins now."