Okay, so the Spiritual Pressure Platform. This wasn't some minor league game, alright? This was the big show. Forget your parlor tricks, your subtle displays. This thing? It spat out the real score, your honest-to-god spiritual power, your actual cultivation level. Lin Feng's turn. He was either gonna knock it out of the park, shock everyone silly, or belly-flop right into the mud in front of the whole sect. And the craziest part? He felt, like, ready. Beyond ready, even. That coiled-up energy, just waiting for the trigger.
He stepped onto the thing. It looked… underwhelming, honestly. Just a circular piece of rock, maybe ten feet across, with some faded, nearly invisible lines etched into it. Nothing special to look at, but everyone knew. The second a disciple's foot landed, it'd light up. How bright, how many glowing rings appeared—that told the tale. Most servant-disciples? They barely managed a nervous blink from it. Even the inner disciples, the ones with all the swagger, usually topped out at one or two rings, if they were lucky.
The entire place went dead silent. Like, crickets. Every single pair of eyes was stuck on Lin Feng. Chen Wu, that jerk, was practically vibrating with anticipation, a truly disgusting smirk plastered across his face. Mei Hua, though, she was a completely different story. Her hands were clamped together, tight enough to crack her knuckles, breath held hostage in her throat. Her eyes were this wild, desperate blend of dread and that tiny, fragile spark of hope.
Lin Feng? Still. Absolutely still. He just closed his eyes for a second. Quick reset. He wasn't thinking about the suffocating crowd, or Chen Wu's sour face, or the elders up on their platform. Nah. His mind was on the Cosmic Origin Pearl, that low, deep hum from way down in his core. He thought about the Cosmic Dust Refinement Technique, just grinding away, turning all that raw, chaotic energy into something so pure, so potent, it hummed. And yeah, Mei Hua. That quiet promise he'd made to himself.
Then, his eyes just snapped open. And he… let it rip. Not all of it, obviously. The guy's practically a god, right? He couldn't just unleash a cosmic wave and turn the entire sect into dust. But he let just enough flow. A precise, controlled release. Enough to make a statement no one could possibly miss. He channeled that perfectly refined spiritual energy into the platform.
The platform didn't just flicker. It didn't just light up. It exploded. A blinding, golden blast erupted from beneath his feet, making everyone flinch, eyes squeezed shut for a split second. And then, ring after ring of pure, shimmering energy just burst forth, ascending, climbing, higher and higher.
One ring. Two rings. Three. Four. Five!
A collective gasp. Like everyone inhaled at once. Five rings! That's… that's the absolute, tip-top pinnacle of Mortal Plane cultivation. That's Elder status. And for a servant-disciple, a guy with a supposedly broken spiritual root? That was just. Flat. Out. Impossible.
Chen Wu's jaw hit the floor. Seriously. It actually unhinged. His face drained of all color, going from that smug, nasty purple to a sickly, pale white in less than a second. His smirk? Gone. Replaced by pure, unadulterated shock. He actually took a step back, like Lin Feng was radiating something genuinely dangerous, something toxic.
And Mei Hua? Her eyes went wide. Like, cartoonishly wide. And yeah, tears. Not sad tears, though. These were tears of pure, disbelieving, heart-bursting joy. She'd always known he had some strength, but this? This was beyond anything she could have ever, ever dreamed. He hadn't just passed. He hadn't just proven them wrong. He had, with this insane, unapologetic defiance, absolutely obliterated every single expectation.
Even the elders, those old, jaded figures who had seen more assessments than anyone could count, were on their feet. Their faces were this hilarious, bewildered mix of shock and confusion, and then this slow-dawning, truly terrifying realization. This wasn't a fluke. This wasn't some lucky break. This was something completely unheard of. A phenomenon. Even the super serious, stern old elder, the one who always had a critique ready, stood there, totally speechless. His beard, the one he usually stroked so meticulously? Completely forgotten.
Lin Feng just stood there, the golden light of the platform making him look less like a servant and more like some ancient king. He looked at the elders for a second. Then, slowly, deliberately, he shifted his gaze to Chen Wu. And you know what? There wasn't any anger in his eyes. No big triumph, either. Just this quiet, almost pitying look.
He'd made his point. And truly, this? This was just the warm-up act. The Ascendant Sovereign had just taken his first, undeniable step back onto the path of conquering the world again. And guess what? Everyone in the Azure Cloud Sect just got a front-row seat to history. So yeah. That just happened.
End of chapter 8