The attack came at the third hour after midnight, when spiritual energy was at its lowest ebb and most cultivators were deep in meditation or sleep.
Lin Feng felt it first through the defensive formations Mei She had installed—a subtle wrongness in the ambient spiritual energy that made his consciousness streams fragment instinctively into alert awareness. He was out of bed and spiritually armed within seconds, his perfect meridians flooding with void energy as training took over.
There. Multiple breaches in the sect's perimeter formations. Not crude destruction but sophisticated penetration—the work of formation specialists who knew exactly where to strike for maximum effectiveness.
"Han Shu, Liu Feng," Lin Feng called quietly, knowing they'd be instantly alert.
Both bodyguards materialized in his quarters through prepared formations, their Level 7 cultivations making the air feel suddenly dense with power.
"Eight confirmed intruders," Liu Feng reported, her wind element cultivation allowing her to sense movements throughout the sect. "Divine Domain Levels 5 through 7. Professional mercenaries moving in coordinated assault pattern toward this location."
"They're not attempting stealth anymore," Han Shu added. "This is direct assault accepting they've been detected. Confidence suggests either overwhelming force or contingency plans we haven't anticipated."
The sect's alarm formations activated moments later, spiritual energy sirens cutting through the night. Throughout Celestial Dawn, cultivators were mobilizing—combat teams moving to intercept, elders establishing defensive positions, and disciples evacuating to protected areas.
"We stay here," Liu Feng decided. "This location has best defensive formations and clear sight lines. Let them come to us through prepared kill zones rather than engaging on their terms."
Lin Feng's consciousness fragmented into six awareness streams automatically:
Stream 1: Monitoring defensive formations Stream 2: Tracking intruder positions through spiritual energy signatures Stream 3: Preparing void techniques for combat deployment Stream 4: Maintaining coordination with Han Shu and Liu Feng Stream 5: Assessing potential escape routes if defense failed Stream 6: Managing overall tactical situation
The mental load was intense but sustainable. Mei She's training was proving its value.
"First wave incoming," Liu Feng announced. "Three Divine Domain Level 6 cultivators, moving fast. Professional formation—one main striker, two support specialists."
The assault hit Lin Feng's defensive formations with devastating precision. Not random attacks but coordinated strikes targeting specific structural vulnerabilities that should have been nearly impossible to identify without detailed prior analysis.
They have formation specialist advising them, Lin Feng realized. Someone who studied our defenses thoroughly.
Han Shu and Liu Feng engaged immediately, their Level 7 cultivations overwhelming the attackers with brutal efficiency. The main striker—a fire element cultivator with impressive technique—lasted approximately thirty seconds before Han Shu's earth formations simply crushed him through superior power. The support specialists attempted retreat but Liu Feng's wind techniques were faster, cutting them down before they could disengage.
"Too easy," Liu Feng observed grimly. "That was probing attack to test our response."
She was right. The real assault came seconds later.
Five more intruders breached the inner perimeter—these ones significantly more powerful. Two Level 7 cultivators leading three Level 6 specialists, all moving with coordinated precision that spoke of extensive training together.
And behind them, Lin Feng sensed something that made his void cultivation instincts scream warning.
Demonic cultivation.
"Corruption detected," he called to his bodyguards. "At least one cultivator using demonic techniques. Possibly the force behind the entire operation."
"Confirmed," Han Shu rumbled. "Sovereign Monarch level spiritual energy signature concealed behind the obvious attackers. Professional ambush predator using mercenaries as disposable screening force."
The tactical situation had just become exponentially more dangerous. Sovereign Monarch level meant power that could potentially overwhelm even Han Shu and Liu Feng if they weren't careful.
The Level 7 mercenaries hit the defensive formations with techniques that shattered Lin Feng's outer barriers like glass. He immediately deployed flexible void formations—the adaptive structures Grand Elder Bingxin had taught him that could bend under pressure rather than breaking.
The formations held but barely, spiritual energy backlash hitting Lin Feng like physical impact. His meridians strained under the pressure of maintaining complex techniques while simultaneously processing six consciousness streams.
This is beyond tournament combat, he recognized with cold clarity. These are people trying to kill or capture, not demonstrate skill.
Han Shu engaged the first Level 7 attacker—an earth element specialist whose techniques should have been direct counter to Han Shu's own earth cultivation. But Han Shu's superior refinement and raw power made the matchup irrelevant. Within minutes, he'd forced the attacker into desperate defensive position.
Liu Feng faced the second Level 7 mercenary, a lightning cultivator whose speed and offensive power made her the more dangerous opponent. They fought at velocities Lin Feng could barely track, wind and lightning techniques colliding in displays that carved through space itself.
Which left Lin Feng facing three Level 6 specialists while the hidden Sovereign Monarch level threat maneuvered for optimal striking position.
Six consciousness streams, Lin Feng reminded himself while fragmenting his awareness further. Distribute the processing load.
Stream 1 and 2 handled the two melee specialists attempting to close distance. Stream 3 managed formations blocking the ranged attacker's techniques. Stream 4 maintained coordination with bodyguards. Stream 5 tracked the hidden Sovereign Monarch threat. Stream 6 coordinated overall response.
The mental load was crushing but manageable. Each stream focused completely on its specific problem without worrying about the others, exactly as Mei She had taught.
Lin Feng deployed Void Heart Strike against the first melee specialist—the technique that had defeated Wu Chen's perfect defense. The attack punched through the mercenary's guard and sent him reeling backward, spiritual energy disrupted.
The second specialist adapted immediately, switching from direct assault to formation warfare. Ice techniques bloomed around Lin Feng's position, creating geometric cages designed to restrict movement.
Ice formations. Lin Feng smiled grimly. He'd spent months training with the Ice Goddess and studying with Frozen Sky Sect's formation masters. Ice techniques held no mysteries for him anymore.
He shattered the formations with void-enhanced disruption, then counter-attacked with spatial manipulation that made the specialist's positioning irrelevant. The mercenary found himself suddenly inside his own formation cage, trapped by techniques that had been meant to constrain Lin Feng.
"Surrender," Lin Feng offered, maintaining the void formation while his other consciousness streams continued managing the remaining threats. "You're outmatched and your employer is using you as disposable assets."
The specialist hesitated—professional calculation warring with survival instinct.
Then the hidden Sovereign Monarch made its move.
Demonic spiritual energy erupted from concealment with crushing force, targeting not Lin Feng but Han Shu and Liu Feng simultaneously. The attack was perfectly timed to exploit the moment when both bodyguards were fully committed to their individual opponents.
But Lin Feng had been tracking the threat through his fifth consciousness stream. He'd seen the attack developing and prepared counter-technique three seconds before it launched.
Void Mirror—Mei She's gift technique—activated at scale Lin Feng had never attempted before. Instead of reflecting a single attack, he manifested spatial reflection that caught the demonic energy assault and redirected it back toward its source.
The reflection wasn't perfect. Demonic cultivation was specifically designed to resist such counters through corruption that subverted technique structure. But Lin Feng's void cultivation had natural advantages—emptiness couldn't be easily corrupted because there was no structure to subvert.
The reflected attack hit the hidden Sovereign Monarch with perhaps thirty percent of its original force. Not devastating, but enough to reveal the attacker's position and disrupt their tactical advantage.
A figure materialized from shadow twenty meters away—middle-aged man with spiritual energy that radiated wrongness. Not just powerful but twisted, corrupted through demonic cultivation into something that made Lin Feng's void instincts recoil.
"Impressive," the demonic cultivator acknowledged, his voice carrying unnatural resonance. "Void cultivation countering demonic techniques. That's rare capability worth capturing alive rather than simply killing."
"Elder Shadow," Patriarch Cloud Heaven's voice cut through the combat chaos as the sect leader arrived with three more elders. "Formerly of Celestial Dawn, now embracing corruption. I'd hoped the reports were exaggerated."
"No exaggeration, old friend. Just evolution beyond the limitations you still cling to." Elder Shadow's corrupted spiritual energy intensified. "And tonight I'm reclaiming what should have been mine—the servant with perfect meridians and void cultivation that could advance my research significantly."
"You'll find that considerably more difficult than anticipated," Cloud Heaven replied, his Cloud Transformation Level 7 cultivation matching Elder Shadow's Sovereign Monarch presence. "Celestial Dawn is prepared for your corruption."
The battle escalated into chaos.
Elder Shadow engaged Patriarch Cloud Heaven directly, their clash generating spiritual energy shockwaves that cracked the ground and shattered ambient formations. The three accompanying elders moved to support, creating coordinated assault that forced the demonic cultivator into genuine defense.
The mercenary attackers, recognizing their employer was now engaged, made unified push to extract Lin Feng before reinforcements could arrive. The two Level 7 cultivators broke away from Han Shu and Liu Feng, accepting injuries to reposition. The Level 6 specialists converged from multiple angles.
Lin Feng's consciousness streams processed the tactical situation in parallel:
Stream 1: They're committing fully now. No retreat option. Stream 2: Elder Shadow is their real strength. Mercenaries are distraction. Stream 3: My defensive formations are depleting. Maybe ninety seconds before failure. Stream 4: Han Shu and Liu Feng are injured but operational. Stream 5: Patriarch Cloud Heaven is matching Elder Shadow but not winning. Stream 6: I need to change the tactical equation somehow.
The solution crystallized across his fragmented consciousness simultaneously.
He couldn't win through direct power—too many opponents, too much cultivation level difference. But he could make capturing him so expensive that the operation failed regardless of tactical success.
Lin Feng activated every remaining defensive formation simultaneously, not trying to make them last but burning through their energy reserves for maximum instantaneous effect. Void techniques, flexible formations, spatial manipulations—everything he'd learned compressed into single overwhelming defensive pulse.
The technique shouldn't have been possible at Divine Domain Level 5. The spiritual energy cost was absurd, the coordination requirements exceeded what unified consciousness could manage, and the mental strain of maintaining six awareness streams while executing complex technique should have caused immediate collapse.
But Lin Feng had perfect meridians, months of systematic training, void cultivation advantages, and consciousness division capabilities that let him process the impossible technique across multiple parallel awareness streams.
The defensive pulse detonated outward with force that threw every attacker backward. Not damaging, but disrupting—breaking formation coordination, forcing repositioning, creating chaos that his bodyguards could exploit.
And costing Lin Feng nearly all his remaining spiritual energy.
His vision blurred, meridians screaming protest at the abuse. His consciousness streams began collapsing as mental fatigue overcame training. He felt himself falling toward unconsciousness—
—and touched something deeper than normal awareness.
The Divine Domain Level 6 threshold.
Not now, he thought desperately. Combat breakthrough under these conditions will destroy my foundation—
But his cultivation didn't care about tactical convenience. Power flooded through his meridians with irresistible force, spiritual energy capacity expanding, dantian deepening, consciousness expanding beyond its previous limits.
Lin Feng broke through to Divine Domain Level 6 while surrounded by enemies and depleted from overexertion.
It should have been catastrophic. Breakthroughs required calm meditation and careful control, not combat chaos and spiritual exhaustion. The conventional wisdom was that forced advancement under these conditions inevitably damaged foundation.
But Lin Feng's situation wasn't conventional.
His perfect meridians handled the power surge without rupturing. His void cultivation embraced the chaos rather than requiring perfect structure. His consciousness division training meant his mind was already fragmented in ways that accommodated the expansion naturally.
And most crucially—his dao companion bond with Yun Qingxue activated automatically, her consciousness reaching across the sect to stabilize his breakthrough through their resonance.
I've got you, her mental presence wrapped around his fragmenting awareness. Your breakthrough is stable. Just breathe and let it complete.
The advancement finished in seconds that felt like hours. When Lin Feng's awareness fully returned, he was standing in crater his defensive pulse had created, surrounded by shocked mercenaries, with spiritual energy that felt qualitatively different from moments before.
Divine Domain Level 6. Achieved through impossible circumstances that somehow became survivable.
"That's unfortunate," Elder Shadow observed from his engagement with Patriarch Cloud Heaven. "He was more valuable at Level 5—easier to capture, less developed in his capabilities. But perhaps still worth the effort."
He began forming seals for technique that radiated such concentrated demonic power that even viewing it felt like corruption seeping into consciousness.
"Retreat," Patriarch Cloud Heaven commanded urgently. "All disciples, fall back to inner sanctum. Elder Shadow is preparing Demon God's Descent—area-effect corruption that will subvert anyone below Cloud Transformation level."
The mercenaries fled immediately, professional recognition of threat overriding contract obligations. Han Shu grabbed Lin Feng and Liu Feng, his earth element cultivation allowing him to tunnel through the ground faster than surface retreat.
They emerged in the inner sanctum seconds before Elder Shadow's ultimate technique detonated across the outer sect grounds.
Demonic spiritual energy flooded the area they'd just evacuated, corrupting formations, poisoning the ambient cultivation atmosphere, and generally transforming the battlefield into nightmarish landscape where normal techniques would fail.
"He's trying to create permanent corrupted zone," one of the elders explained grimly. "Even if we drive him away tonight, that contamination will persist for months. It's strategic attack on Celestial Dawn's cultivation resources."
"Can we stop it?" Lin Feng asked, still processing his unexpected breakthrough.
"Not conventionally. Demonic corruption resists purification through normal means." Patriarch Cloud Heaven's expression was calculating. "Unless..."
He looked at Lin Feng with sudden intensity.
"Your void cultivation. Emptiness consuming structure, liberation from constraints. Could you purify demonic corruption by reducing it to nothing?"
Lin Feng extended his awareness through the corrupted zone. His void cultivation instincts immediately recognized what Cloud Heaven was suggesting—demonic corruption was imposed structure, twisted spiritual energy patterns that could theoretically be dismantled and returned to emptiness.
"Maybe," he said honestly. "I've never attempted void purification at this scale. It could work or it could just spread the corruption differently."
"We need to try. The longer that corruption persists, the deeper it will entrench." Cloud Heaven paused. "But you just broke through. Are you stable enough for major technique deployment?"
Lin Feng checked his internal state. The breakthrough had been chaotic but successful—his foundation felt solid, his spiritual energy circulation was stable, and his consciousness streams were reorganizing to accommodate expanded capacity.
"I'm stable. And my Level 6 cultivation should provide enough power for large-scale void technique."
"Then do it. We'll maintain defensive perimeter while you work. Just... be careful. Demonic corruption has ways of subverting even well-intentioned purification attempts."
Lin Feng nodded and moved toward the edge of the corrupted zone, his consciousness fragmenting into seven streams now—the breakthrough had increased his natural capacity.
Seven streams for seven-part technique, he organized. Each stream handling one aspect of the purification process.
He began the most complex void cultivation technique he'd ever attempted—systematically dismantling demonic corruption across an entire sect section, reducing twisted spiritual energy back to primordial emptiness, then allowing natural formations to rebuild healthy cultivation atmosphere.
It was delicate work that couldn't be rushed. Each corrupted formation needed individual attention, each twisted spiritual energy pattern required careful unwinding. Too aggressive and he'd just break things further. Too cautious and the corruption would resist and adapt.
But Lin Feng had spent months studying formation theory with obsessive focus. He understood spiritual energy patterns better than most cultivators twice his age. And his void cultivation gave him tools specifically suited for this exact problem.
Two hours later, as dawn began lightening the eastern sky, Lin Feng completed the purification.
The corrupted zone was gone. The twisted spiritual energy had been reduced to emptiness and then rebuilt into clean cultivation atmosphere. The sabotaged formations were not just repaired but upgraded through the rebuilding process.
Elder Shadow was gone too—he'd retreated once it became clear his strategic attack was being countered. The mercenaries had fled. The demonic infiltration had been exposed and disrupted.
Celestial Dawn Sect had survived.
Lin Feng collapsed from exhaustion moments after confirming the purification was complete.
When awareness returned, he found himself in the medical pavilion for the third time in as many weeks. Elder Chen stood over him with expression mixing exasperation and grudging respect.
"Divine Domain Level 6," she announced. "Combat breakthrough under absolutely terrible conditions that somehow didn't destroy your foundation. You're either extremely lucky or there's something about your void cultivation that makes you immune to conventional breakthrough risks."
"How long was I unconscious?"
"Fourteen hours. Your body shut down from accumulated exhaustion—spiritual, physical, and mental depletion all hitting simultaneously." She produced the now-familiar jade bottle of Spirit Recovery Pills. "Same protocol: complete rest, high-grade medication, no cultivation practice for three days minimum."
"What happened after I collapsed?"
"Cleanup operations. Investigation of how mercenaries penetrated so effectively. Interrogation of captured attackers. Assessment of Elder Shadow's capabilities and likely next moves." Elder Chen's expression softened. "And every senior cultivator in the sect wanting to thank you for the purification work. Removing that demonic corruption saved months of costly remediation."
After Elder Chen left, visitors began arriving in steady stream.
Patriarch Cloud Heaven came first, bringing formal commendation and updated security protocols.
"Elder Shadow won't attempt direct assault again soon," he explained. "He lost too many mercenary assets and failed his primary objective. But he's still active threat who knows our sect's weaknesses. Continued vigilance is required."
Zhao Hai arrived with food and updates about the combat aftermath, including several amusing stories about mercenaries trying to flee through prepared ambush points.
Xiao Ling came with schedules and organization, efficiently documenting everything that needed administrative attention following the attack.
Elder Wei visited to discuss the formation purification technique Lin Feng had demonstrated, his scholarly excitement temporarily overcoming the gravity of recent events.
And finally, after everyone else had departed, Yun Qingxue arrived.
"You're an idiot," she said without preamble, settling beside his bed. "Combat breakthrough was extremely risky even with our dao companion bond stabilizing it."
"I didn't choose the timing."
"No, but you chose to deplete yourself completely before the breakthrough was forced. That's tactically brilliant and medically catastrophic." Her ice-blue eyes held fierce concern. "Don't do it again."
"I'll try to avoid situations requiring complete spiritual energy depletion during imminent life-or-death combat."
"That's not reassuring." She took his hand—rare physical contact in semi-public space. "But you survived. Advanced to Level 6. Purified demonic corruption. And established yourself as cultivator who accomplishes impossible things through combination of skill and apparently limitless risk tolerance."
"Is that approval or criticism?"
"Both." She squeezed his hand gently. "Rest now. When you've recovered, we have work to do. Level 6 is significant milestone, but you're still vulnerable. The Crimson Empress is still interested. And Elder Shadow now has personal vendetta."
After Qingxue departed, Lin Feng lay alone with his thoughts, processing everything that had happened.
He'd survived coordinated assault by professional mercenaries. Broken through to Divine Domain Level 6 under impossible conditions. Purified demonic corruption through unprecedented void technique application.
And made himself even more visible, more valuable, and more threatening to those who preferred he not exist.
The price of excellence, he thought tiredly. Gets higher with each accomplishment.
But the alternative was accepting powerlessness, remaining vulnerable, letting others dictate his fate through superior force.
Lin Feng had been powerless servant for fourteen years. He'd chosen cultivation specifically to never be powerless again.
So he'd continue advancing, continue facing impossible situations, continue surviving through tactical intelligence and desperate improvisation.
Because that was what void cultivation meant—liberation from constraints, including the constraint of accepting predetermined limitations.
Let them come, he thought as sleep finally claimed him. I'll keep becoming stronger faster than they expect.
The assault had failed. The infiltration was exposed. The demonic threat remained but was diminished.
And Lin Feng had advanced another step on the long path toward power sufficient to determine his own destiny.
End of Chapter 57