Chapter 158 | The Approaching Storm

Chapter 158: 158 | The Approaching Storm

The physical pressure of the core area pressed down on Lin Tian’s shoulders like a slab of solid iron. Every breath required a continuous, forced circulation of Qi just to keep his lungs from collapsing under the dense, corrupted spiritual energy. The air scraped against his meridians with every inhale, demanding absolute focus.

Lin Tian adjusted his internal flow, reinforcing his meridian walls with a steady stream of Primordial Yang energy. He did not complain. He simply analyzed the environment as a complex structural problem.

He stopped before a seemingly solid stretch of black rock. To an ordinary cultivator, the path looked perfectly safe. But Lin Tian’s perception peeled back the surface layer of the stone.

He watched how the ambient Qi bent and warped around a specific three-foot section of the ground. The air there didn’t shimmer; it simply ceased to exist, creating a microscopic void that would instantly sever a cultivator’s limbs if they stepped into it.

He treated the invisible spatial cracks like structural faults in a load-bearing wall. He calculated the integrity of the surrounding boulders, mapping a safe, invisible pathway through the deadly zone.

He noted the small fractures in the stone, calculating the exact weight his body could apply before triggering a collapse. Every step was a mathematical equation of survival.

A single miscalculation of half an inch would result in his limbs being severed by the invisible spatial blades. He placed his boots only on solid stones, moving with mechanical precision.

A faint silver glow caught his attention near a stable boulder. A Scarlet-Heart Orchid grew in a shallow depression. He extracted it, sealed its spiritual essence, and moved on without breaking his rhythm.

Ahead, cutting through the heavy, corrupted spiritual pressure, he felt a distinct fluctuation. A pure, blazing Yang attribute energy. It was faint, buried beneath layers of toxic dampness, but unmistakably clean and hot.

The Tier-4 Pure-Yang Lotus.

He adjusted his trajectory, locking his focus entirely on the faint Yang signature.

***

Three kilometers to the East, the spatial crack zone was a nightmare of invisible blades and shifting gravity.

Gu Yan’s team had been wandering through this deadly sector for hours, driven by the bloody scent of the Scarlet Ape.

The terrain was utterly treacherous. Hong had to be supported by Mei, his feet dragging uselessly across the sharp rocks, leaving a trail of black blood. Gu Yan walked ahead, his sword drawn, his eyes darting at every shadow, completely consumed by paranoid delusions.

Hong collapsed against a jagged pillar, coughing up thick, black coagulated blood. The beast venom had bypassed his flesh and was now devouring his meridians. Dark, twisted black veins crawled up his neck, pulsing with a sickly light. Frost formed on his eyelashes, yet he sweated profusely, his skin burning with the internal fire of Qi Deviation.

"Senior Brother..." Hong whispered, his eyes rolled back. "The rocks... they are breathing. Lin Tian is under the ground... pulling us down..."

Mei knelt beside him, her hands trembling. Her palms were covered in red, blistered burns from trying to suppress the poison. She was completely exhausted, her spiritual sea nearly dry.

"His Dantian is collapsing," Mei said, her voice cracking. "If we do not find a pure Yang herb today, he will die by nightfall. We have to find an exit!"

Gu Yan did not answer immediately. He was staring at a scorched patch of dirt where the bloody ape fur had finally disintegrated.

He dropped to his knees and pressed his hand against the scorched earth. He extended his Divine Sense, analyzing the lingering spiritual residue with desperate, obsessive focus.

There was no blood trail leading further East. There was no spiritual footprint of a cultivator running away.

There was only the faint, fading ash of a low-grade wind talisman.

Gu Yan’s eyes widened in absolute horror. A cold, suffocating realization washed over him, shattering the last remnants of his sanity.

"It was fake," Gu Yan whispered, his voice trembling. "The scent... the blood... it was a lure. He didn’t run away."

Mei looked up, terrified. "Senior Brother?"

Gu Yan spun around, his face pale, his eyes bloodshot with madness. He pointed his sword at the empty air.

"He tricked us! He left a fake trail to send us into the spatial tears! He is not just a disciple! He is a demon!" Gu Yan roared, his voice echoing off the invisible blades of distorted space.

"But we cannot retreat! Master’s Phantom Burns are spreading rapidly. If we return to Alchemy Peak without the Pure-Yang Lotus, she will die, and we will be stripped of our status! The mission is absolute!"

"Senior Brother Gu, please!" Mei cried. "Hong is dying! The Lotus is the only thing that can balance his poison too!"

"Hong is a casualty!" Gu Yan snapped, his logic completely broken by fear and pride. "Master’s survival is the only thing that matters! If we fail her, our cultivation resources will be cut off, and we will be nothing! We follow the strongest Yang energy. We get the Lotus for Master, and if Hong survives, he survives. If he dies, he died for Alchemy Peak!"

His mind completely detached from reality. He was no longer leading a team; he was a desperate servant trying to appease a dying master.

The fear of Elder Liu’s wrath was far greater than his fear of the Secret Realm. He looked at Hong’s bleeding body with cold, dead eyes, feeling zero sympathy. In his twisted mind, Hong’s suffering was just the price they had to pay for their ambition.

Mei quietly pulled her hands away from Hong. She reached into her spatial ring and touched her only emergency escape talisman. Her heart was cold, her eyes dead.

Gu Yan was no longer leading them; he was leading them to the slaughter for the sake of Elder Liu’s pride. If his madness got them killed, she would activate the talisman and leave him behind.

"We go to the center," Mei said, her voice hollow. "We follow the Yang beacon."

Gu Yan pushed himself up, his face covered in mud and blood. His eyes burned with psychotic, desperate hatred. "Yes... the center. We find the Lotus for Master. And then I will tear Lin Tian’s core out with my bare hands."

***

Far to the South, the heavy, suffocating pressure was suddenly pushed back by an invisible wave of intense heat. The corrupted fog parted, revealing a massive, sunken crater.

Lin Tian crouched low behind a floating stone pillar.

The heat radiating from the center was extraordinary. The air shimmered and warped, turning the surrounding black stone glowing red. The sheer intensity of the Yang energy made his skin prickle.

In the very center of the crater, floating above scorched earth, was a single, radiant flower.

The Pure-Yang Lotus.

Nine translucent crimson petals surrounded its golden-red center, each pulsing with a dense, blinding flow of pure Yang energy. The spiritual pressure around the flower created a physical dome of heat, keeping the toxic dampness at bay.

But Lin Tian’s gaze locked onto the massive shadow resting beside it.

A Guardian Beast.

It was a colossal creature, easily five meters tall, covered in thick, dark crimson scales that looked like forged armor. Its heavy aura spread across the crater, making the air feel thick and hard to move through. It was at the Peak of Foundation Establishment, bordering on Core Formation. Each exhale sent a wave of blistering heat across the stone.

Lin Tian analyzed the beast’s breathing pattern, the structural weak points of the crater walls, and the exact radius of its spiritual sense. He noted the narrow, V-shaped gorge that served as the only entrance from the north. The walls were steep and slick with condensed spiritual moisture.

If the beast were forced into that narrow gorge, its massive frame would be restricted, turning its greatest advantage into a fatal liability. He memorized the fault lines in the gorge walls, calculating exactly how much explosive force it would take to collapse the ceiling and crush the beast inside.

He also analyzed the beast’s thick crimson scales. They were heavily reinforced with metallic spiritual energy, making standard sword strikes completely useless.

A direct exchange of blows would only drain his Qi. He needed to use the environment. He calculated the exact trajectory needed to lure the massive creature into the choke point, ensuring its momentum would work against it.

A direct confrontation would be suicidal. He needed a variable to distract the beast. He needed a sacrifice.

Suddenly, his spiritual sense caught a faint, chaotic fluctuation at the northern edge of the core area.

It was a messy, uncontrolled burst of fire-attribute sword Qi, mixed with the desperate aura of a cultivator suffering from severe Qi Deviation.

Gu Yan’s team.

Drawn by the blazing beacon of the Pure-Yang Lotus and their desperate need to secure it for Elder Liu, the broken team was stumbling blindly toward the crater.

Lin Tian’s lips curved into a very faint, cold smile.

He did not need to trigger the beast himself. He just needed to wait.

***

Lin Tian melted into the shadows of the stone pillar, his aura completely suppressed.

His reserves were at eighty percent. His meridians were clear, reinforced by his Primordial Yang physique. His mind was sharp, calculating every possible outcome.

Below him, the Guardian Beast slept, its massive chest rising and falling with slow, terrifying rhythm.

In the distance, the chaotic auras of Gu Yan’s team were getting closer, drawn like moths to the blazing Yang flame. They were desperate, injured, and completely unaware of the apex predator waiting in the basin. They thought they were walking toward their salvation for Alchemy Peak. They did not know they were walking into a slaughterhouse.

The trap was set. The prey was arriving.

Lin Tian closed his eyes and waited in absolute silence.