Chapter 68: Breaking Through the Sea of Consciousness
Five slender, sharp psychic threads, like five invisible fine blades, braved the Ancient Progenitor's intercepting psychic power and fiercely thrust toward the fluorescent links connecting to the five secondary priests.
In mid-air within the rock cave, invisible psychic collisions continuously exploded. The intercepting thoughts diverted by the Ancient Progenitor were as heavy as iron, ruthlessly slamming into Lin Yan's psychic threads. Lin Yan endured excruciating pain in his skull, and the outer layer of his Sea of Consciousness continuously shattered. Fine, dense pain spread throughout his body along his mental state. Gritting his teeth, he steadied his mind. Taking advantage of the gap while the Ancient Progenitor needed to simultaneously suppress the other seven members of the squad, he forcibly made micro-adjustments to the trajectory of his psychic threads, avoiding a direct, head-on clash. He pierced into the five fluorescent links by sliding through the gaps in the psychic torrent.
Chi——
Invisible shockwaves rang out one after another.
The psychic links connecting the five secondary priests to the Ancient Progenitor were entirely severed.
The massive psychic power that had originally gathered into one entity instantly lost its amplifier. The intensity of the psychic torrent shrouding the entire resonance cave abruptly diminished by more than half, and the crushing psychic pressure that was on the verge of overwhelming the squad members suddenly eased.
"The psychic impact has weakened!" Lu Heng immediately seized the opportunity, fiercely hacking down a scaled beast that had charged close with his long knife, and shouted loudly, "Hold the formation!"
The bodies of the five secondary priests trembled violently. Having lost their link connections, they could no longer channel psychic power to the Ancient Progenitor. They could only emit low, angry roars, rise to their feet, and prepare to personally pounce and slaughter the squad.
A surge of killing intent erupted in the Ancient Progenitor's dark gold vertical pupils.
It had not expected that a human stuck at the second-tier peak could actually sever all the secondary links under its psychic suppression. But it was not panicked. The Ancient Progenitor's own primordial psychic power remained firmly locked onto Lin Yan.
The massive psychic backlash brought about by the severed links surged back into Lin Yan's Sea of Consciousness along the psychic threads.
Boom!
The psychic power accumulated from countless life-and-death bloody battles, borrowing this backlash force, crazily crashed against the barrier at the second-tier peak. The barrier, covered in cracks, could no longer support itself and shattered with a deafening crash.
The Sea of Consciousness broke through its realm, stepping into the third tier.
Yet, in the exact same instant that the barrier shattered, the long-awaited opportunity finally arrived for the Ancient Progenitor.
In the moment of breaking through the Sea of Consciousness, the mind would inevitably experience a brief blank period, and the psychic power would lose control and surge wildly. This was a weakness that no one cultivating the Sea of Consciousness could avoid. The Ancient Progenitor had prepared its full primordial psychic impact for this very moment. Holding nothing back, it transformed into a pitch-black psychic spear, thrusting directly toward Lin Yan's spiritual core.
"Lin Yan!" Old Chen witnessed this scene, his eyes tearing with rage. He swung his long knife fiercely to force back the scaled beasts in front of him, wanting to rush over and provide cover. But he was死死 (tightly) entangled by two scaled beasts and could not break free.
Su Qing's face turned pale. While holding up the recorder to continuously film the core battlefield, she desperately spread her Sea of Consciousness barrier to withstand the scattered psychic shockwaves.
Lin Yan's mind went completely blank, his perception briefly stripped away. The psychic spear from the Ancient Progenitor arrived before his spiritual core in the blink of an eye.
The instincts accumulated from years of martial arts practice took over everything in the instant his consciousness went blank.
The ancient martial arts mind-calming technique was unaffected by the brief loss of control in his Sea of Consciousness. Like a stabilizing pillar, it firmly secured his most primordial mental state. Just as the psychic spear was about to pierce his core, the blank period rapidly faded, and Lin Yan abruptly regained control of his Sea of Consciousness.
The newly born third-tier Sea of Consciousness power instantly activated, transforming into a condensed psychic barrier that stood right before his spiritual core.
Bang!
The psychic spear heavily collided with the barrier.
A massive psychic shockwave swept through the entire resonance rock cave. Large patches of the dark blue fluorescent veins on the rock walls extinguished, and the remaining psychic threads in mid-air snapped inch by inch. Lin Yan stumbled backward two steps, a sweet taste rising in his throat as a mouthful of blood overflowed from the corner of his mouth. But his spiritual core remained completely unharmed.
A hint of astonishment flashed in the Ancient Progenitor's eyes.
It had accurately calculated that breaking through the Sea of Consciousness would inevitably bring a blank period in the mind. It never expected that Lin Yan, with his foundation in ancient martial arts, could guard his true heart in that fleeting moment of lost consciousness and stubbornly withstand this guaranteed fatal strike.
"Impossible." The Ancient Progenitor's thought carried a slight tremor, echoing through the rock cave. "A mere human, how can you stabilize your mind in the exact instant of breaking through?"
Lin Yan raised his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth, and the brand-new third-tier Sea of Consciousness power slowly circulated within his body. His vision on the mental plane had become entirely different. Every faint psychic fluctuation and every remaining node in the rock cave was clearly reflected in his perception.
When he was at the second tier, he could only passively capture and disturb node signals. Having stepped into the third tier, he could now actively construct psychic threads and directly confront the opponent's psychic will.
"Your calculations end here," Lin Yan said in a deep voice, responding directly to the Ancient Progenitor on the mental plane.
Enraged, the Ancient Progenitor's massive body slightly arched, and the blue light on the bone spines along its spine surged. Having lost the power boost from the secondary priests, it no longer relied on the remote psychic network to dispatch orders. It planned to personally strike and tear apart this human squad that had broken into its nest.
"Everyone, seize the opportunity to retreat! The evidence has all been recorded!" Seeing the situation clearly, Lu Heng immediately issued the retreat order. "We have already obtained direct footage and waveform records of the underground alien race. The mission objective is complete; there is no need to fight to the death!"
The five secondary priests had already broken through the blockade and, along with a massive swarm of scaled beasts, were fiercely pouncing toward the squad. The Ancient Progenitor's massive body slowly took a step, its heavy footfalls splashing large amounts of turbid water as it approached Lin Yan step by step.
Lin Yan stood at the front of the team, fully deploying his third-tier Sea of Consciousness to block the Ancient Progenitor's psychic suppression, buying a window of opportunity for his teammates to break out.
"You all go first! I will cover the rear!" Lin Yan shouted loudly.
"No! We leave together!" Old Chen swung his knife to slay a scaled beast, wanting to move closer.
"There is only one passage; do not waste time!" Lin Yan urged while continuously fending off the endless psychic impacts from the Ancient Progenitor. "I will follow right behind!"
Lu Heng briefly weighed the situation, knowing that continuing to entangle themselves would result in everyone perishing here. The evidence had been obtained; as long as the footage and waveforms were brought back to Panshi City, it would completely change humanity's understanding of the catastrophe.
"Alternate covering retreat! Lin Yan, you must keep up!" Lu Heng no longer hesitated. Leading the rest of the team, he fought as he retreated toward the rock crevice passage they had come from.
Inside the rock cave, only Lin Yan remained, facing the Ancient Progenitor and the swarming scaled beasts alone.
The Ancient Progenitor's dark gold vertical pupils stared fixedly at the human who had just broken through to the third-tier Sea of Consciousness, its thoughts ice-cold: "Interesting. Unfortunately, today, you will still be buried here."
Lin Yan gripped the short blade in his hand tightly. With his third-tier Sea of Consciousness and his ancient martial arts inner qi operating in perfect sync, he calmly met the gaze of this underground overlord.
A new round of life-and-death duel had officially begun.
End of Chapter.
In mid-air within the rock cave, invisible psychic collisions continuously exploded. The intercepting thoughts diverted by the Ancient Progenitor were as heavy as iron, ruthlessly slamming into Lin Yan's psychic threads. Lin Yan endured excruciating pain in his skull, and the outer layer of his Sea of Consciousness continuously shattered. Fine, dense pain spread throughout his body along his mental state. Gritting his teeth, he steadied his mind. Taking advantage of the gap while the Ancient Progenitor needed to simultaneously suppress the other seven members of the squad, he forcibly made micro-adjustments to the trajectory of his psychic threads, avoiding a direct, head-on clash. He pierced into the five fluorescent links by sliding through the gaps in the psychic torrent.
Chi——
Invisible shockwaves rang out one after another.
The psychic links connecting the five secondary priests to the Ancient Progenitor were entirely severed.
The massive psychic power that had originally gathered into one entity instantly lost its amplifier. The intensity of the psychic torrent shrouding the entire resonance cave abruptly diminished by more than half, and the crushing psychic pressure that was on the verge of overwhelming the squad members suddenly eased.
"The psychic impact has weakened!" Lu Heng immediately seized the opportunity, fiercely hacking down a scaled beast that had charged close with his long knife, and shouted loudly, "Hold the formation!"
The bodies of the five secondary priests trembled violently. Having lost their link connections, they could no longer channel psychic power to the Ancient Progenitor. They could only emit low, angry roars, rise to their feet, and prepare to personally pounce and slaughter the squad.
A surge of killing intent erupted in the Ancient Progenitor's dark gold vertical pupils.
It had not expected that a human stuck at the second-tier peak could actually sever all the secondary links under its psychic suppression. But it was not panicked. The Ancient Progenitor's own primordial psychic power remained firmly locked onto Lin Yan.
The massive psychic backlash brought about by the severed links surged back into Lin Yan's Sea of Consciousness along the psychic threads.
Boom!
The psychic power accumulated from countless life-and-death bloody battles, borrowing this backlash force, crazily crashed against the barrier at the second-tier peak. The barrier, covered in cracks, could no longer support itself and shattered with a deafening crash.
The Sea of Consciousness broke through its realm, stepping into the third tier.
Yet, in the exact same instant that the barrier shattered, the long-awaited opportunity finally arrived for the Ancient Progenitor.
In the moment of breaking through the Sea of Consciousness, the mind would inevitably experience a brief blank period, and the psychic power would lose control and surge wildly. This was a weakness that no one cultivating the Sea of Consciousness could avoid. The Ancient Progenitor had prepared its full primordial psychic impact for this very moment. Holding nothing back, it transformed into a pitch-black psychic spear, thrusting directly toward Lin Yan's spiritual core.
"Lin Yan!" Old Chen witnessed this scene, his eyes tearing with rage. He swung his long knife fiercely to force back the scaled beasts in front of him, wanting to rush over and provide cover. But he was死死 (tightly) entangled by two scaled beasts and could not break free.
Su Qing's face turned pale. While holding up the recorder to continuously film the core battlefield, she desperately spread her Sea of Consciousness barrier to withstand the scattered psychic shockwaves.
Lin Yan's mind went completely blank, his perception briefly stripped away. The psychic spear from the Ancient Progenitor arrived before his spiritual core in the blink of an eye.
The instincts accumulated from years of martial arts practice took over everything in the instant his consciousness went blank.
The ancient martial arts mind-calming technique was unaffected by the brief loss of control in his Sea of Consciousness. Like a stabilizing pillar, it firmly secured his most primordial mental state. Just as the psychic spear was about to pierce his core, the blank period rapidly faded, and Lin Yan abruptly regained control of his Sea of Consciousness.
The newly born third-tier Sea of Consciousness power instantly activated, transforming into a condensed psychic barrier that stood right before his spiritual core.
Bang!
The psychic spear heavily collided with the barrier.
A massive psychic shockwave swept through the entire resonance rock cave. Large patches of the dark blue fluorescent veins on the rock walls extinguished, and the remaining psychic threads in mid-air snapped inch by inch. Lin Yan stumbled backward two steps, a sweet taste rising in his throat as a mouthful of blood overflowed from the corner of his mouth. But his spiritual core remained completely unharmed.
A hint of astonishment flashed in the Ancient Progenitor's eyes.
It had accurately calculated that breaking through the Sea of Consciousness would inevitably bring a blank period in the mind. It never expected that Lin Yan, with his foundation in ancient martial arts, could guard his true heart in that fleeting moment of lost consciousness and stubbornly withstand this guaranteed fatal strike.
"Impossible." The Ancient Progenitor's thought carried a slight tremor, echoing through the rock cave. "A mere human, how can you stabilize your mind in the exact instant of breaking through?"
Lin Yan raised his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth, and the brand-new third-tier Sea of Consciousness power slowly circulated within his body. His vision on the mental plane had become entirely different. Every faint psychic fluctuation and every remaining node in the rock cave was clearly reflected in his perception.
When he was at the second tier, he could only passively capture and disturb node signals. Having stepped into the third tier, he could now actively construct psychic threads and directly confront the opponent's psychic will.
"Your calculations end here," Lin Yan said in a deep voice, responding directly to the Ancient Progenitor on the mental plane.
Enraged, the Ancient Progenitor's massive body slightly arched, and the blue light on the bone spines along its spine surged. Having lost the power boost from the secondary priests, it no longer relied on the remote psychic network to dispatch orders. It planned to personally strike and tear apart this human squad that had broken into its nest.
"Everyone, seize the opportunity to retreat! The evidence has all been recorded!" Seeing the situation clearly, Lu Heng immediately issued the retreat order. "We have already obtained direct footage and waveform records of the underground alien race. The mission objective is complete; there is no need to fight to the death!"
The five secondary priests had already broken through the blockade and, along with a massive swarm of scaled beasts, were fiercely pouncing toward the squad. The Ancient Progenitor's massive body slowly took a step, its heavy footfalls splashing large amounts of turbid water as it approached Lin Yan step by step.
Lin Yan stood at the front of the team, fully deploying his third-tier Sea of Consciousness to block the Ancient Progenitor's psychic suppression, buying a window of opportunity for his teammates to break out.
"You all go first! I will cover the rear!" Lin Yan shouted loudly.
"No! We leave together!" Old Chen swung his knife to slay a scaled beast, wanting to move closer.
"There is only one passage; do not waste time!" Lin Yan urged while continuously fending off the endless psychic impacts from the Ancient Progenitor. "I will follow right behind!"
Lu Heng briefly weighed the situation, knowing that continuing to entangle themselves would result in everyone perishing here. The evidence had been obtained; as long as the footage and waveforms were brought back to Panshi City, it would completely change humanity's understanding of the catastrophe.
"Alternate covering retreat! Lin Yan, you must keep up!" Lu Heng no longer hesitated. Leading the rest of the team, he fought as he retreated toward the rock crevice passage they had come from.
Inside the rock cave, only Lin Yan remained, facing the Ancient Progenitor and the swarming scaled beasts alone.
The Ancient Progenitor's dark gold vertical pupils stared fixedly at the human who had just broken through to the third-tier Sea of Consciousness, its thoughts ice-cold: "Interesting. Unfortunately, today, you will still be buried here."
Lin Yan gripped the short blade in his hand tightly. With his third-tier Sea of Consciousness and his ancient martial arts inner qi operating in perfect sync, he calmly met the gaze of this underground overlord.
A new round of life-and-death duel had officially begun.
End of Chapter.