Chapter 953: Chaotic Awakening

At the peak of the towering solitary mountain.

Jiang Qingge and Mu Qingchen exchanged a smile. Each retrieved a musical instrument, nodded gently at Ling Feng, then began to play with a calm, unhurried rhythm.

Ling Feng sat cross-legged. Behind him, the illusion of the Mark of Brilliance rose slowly, radiating a milky-white glow that bathed his body in sacred light.

Mu Qingchen lightly pressed a few notes on his jade flute. A moment later, a graceful melody flowed out, the sound waves rippling like circles upon water. Within the melody lay his comprehension of the world's natural order. The realm of meaning extended far and deep, enthralling everyone present. It was as though they were about to lose themselves entirely in the sound of the flute.

The waves of sound reached Ling Feng's side, and the illusion behind him began to tremble. Ripples spread through it. In his sea of mind, the Mark of Brilliance spun wildly, releasing radiant divine light in every direction. The light from the Mark of Brilliance emerged from within his body. Countless manifestations gathered around him.

At that moment, Ling Feng appeared to have transformed into a Mark of Brilliance Sacred Monument. Countless visions took shape, leaving the young talents below staring in stunned silence.

"What's happening? I thought you could only condense one Mark of Brilliance. So why are there so many manifestations around him? Are all of those really his?"

Yue Yunlan's eyes shimmered. She stared at the countless manifestations surrounding Ling Feng. This guy had claimed to have only branded a few visions, yet what he was showing now encompassed all possibilities. It was as if he had duplicated the entire Mark of Brilliance Sacred Monument.

She bit her lower lip, eyes fixed on Ling Feng. Two words appeared in her mind: Heaven Defying!

Meanwhile, Jiang Qingge began plucking the strings of his qin.

The vibrating strings produced a sound like clashing weapons and galloping horses, completely opposite in tone to Mu Qingchen's ethereal and graceful melody. He had infused his will into the realm of the qin's music. It resounded through the heavens like war drums shaking the skies.

The high, resonant tones also reached Ling Feng. The two entirely contrasting sound waves collide and interwoven in the space around him. Ripples rose up around him, setting off repeated tremors in the illusion behind him.

The two conscious realms, each containing its own insight into the creation of heaven and earth, were continuously absorbed and refined by Ling Feng's Mark of Brilliance. A glimmer of understanding emerged within him. As his spiritual thoughts kept evolving, the egg-shaped Mark of Brilliance also seemed to undergo a purification. Amidst its dazzling light, a faint crack appeared on its surface for the first time.

"I knew it!"

Ling Feng felt a surge of excitement. Once the shell cracked, the Chaotic Source would take its place!

Perhaps noticing the crack that had just appeared on Ling Feng's Chaotic Egg, Jiang Qingge and Mu Qingchen began playing faster. The ripples formed by their fingers grew denser. The two opposing conscious realms kept pouring into Ling Feng's spiritual thoughts. His understanding of creation became clearer. More and more cracks spread across the shell.

Half an hour passed. Although the cracks had multiplied, the egg still showed no sign of breaking apart. At this rate, even if they played for three days and nights, the Chaotic Egg would never fully open. The Chaotic Source within would remain sealed.

"Senior brothers, now is the moment!"

Ling Feng's eyes suddenly opened. His pupils surged with countless mysterious patterns. These mysterious marks radiated a strange power and the illusion behind him was now covered in dense cracks. He sensed that the moment the shell shattered, he would rise to an entirely new level!

Jiang Qingge and Mu Qingchen nodded heavily. They had also noticed that Ling Feng's Mark of Brilliance had reached the edge of a breakthrough.

Hum!

In an instant, the tone of Mu Qingchen's flute shifted drastically. The once airy melody became fierce and thunderous, like divine lightning from the heavens. The sound rolled like a mountain-breaking roar. Ripples of sound blasted into Ling Feng's body. The illusion of the Mark of Brilliance behind him exploded with light in nine radiant colors and shot into the sky.

As Mu Qingchen's conscious realm shifted, Jiang Qingge's music changed as well. The clashing notes of iron and steel became flowing streams and graceful cascades. The melody echoed with quiet elegance, as if it emerged from a serene valley.

Movement and stillness formed a complete cycle. Heavenly Dao flowed through it, and Great Dao returned in full. Chaos awakened, and the world began anew!

Buzzing vibrations filled the air.

Jiang Qingge and Mu Qingchen played more wildly than ever. The sound waves kept entering Ling Feng's body. Waves of ripples surged like an unstoppable tide. This overwhelming force of willpower rivaled the most profound moments of enlightenment.

Great Dao! Heaven and earth! Creation! Nature!

All things returned to chaos...

Clarity unfolded within Ling Feng's mind in steady streams. Everything, every drop of comprehension, was absorbed into the Mark of Brilliance. Ordinary cultivators refined their Marks of Brilliance by sensing the natural world on their own, gradually strengthening and refining them. Ling Feng, on the other hand, was being taught directly by two monsters of talent. Combined with the insights he had previously gained during enlightenment, this half-hour had been worth more than a dozen years of bitter cultivation.

Jiang Qingge and Mu Qingchen were still playing furiously. Anyone could tell that both had pushed their wills to the very limit. This was the decisive moment.

The qin and flute resounded together. Though utterly different in tone, both melodies were born from insights into the Great Dao.

Their fingers moved with lightning speed. Under such terrifying exertion of willpower, even the weather began to shift. Black clouds surged toward the mountain, violent winds swept through the sky. Behind Ling Feng, the illusion of the Mark of Brilliance rose ever higher, climbing until it shrouded the entire Tiansheng Peak.

The heavens shifted. The clear skies transformed into a night full of stars. Nine brilliant stars moved along a strange and ancient path. Gradually, they aligned into a straight line!

A deafening boom tore through the world!

The heavens and earth changed color. Thunder surged as a Thunder Dragon split the sky and shattered the firmament!

Yue Yunlan's expression shifted dramatically. This phenomenon was even more terrifying than what had occurred in the Shadowmist Sword Forest.

"Is Ling Feng's Mark of Brilliance about to be born?" she whispered, gazing at the youth on the platform bathed in divine radiance. Her eyes sparkled like the stars above.

A low hum vibrated through the air.

The strings of the qin snapped! The flute cracked!

At the instant of that thunderous drumbeat, the wills of Jiang Qingge and Mu Qingchen were replaced by the will of heaven and earth.

Could the will of mortals ever shake the will of heaven and earth? Ling Feng's Mark of Brilliance had finally reached the threshold of transformation under this near-divine catalysis. It had triggered the celestial phenomenon that marked the birth of the Chaotic Egg.

"From here on, it is up to you."

Jiang Qingge and Mu Qingchen each gave Ling Feng a look before abandoning their instruments. In a flash, their figures vanished from the platform. They had seen it. A bolt of mystical thunder as thick as a barrel was splitting the sky and hurling toward Ling Feng.

Atop Tiansheng Peak, clouds churned, thunder raged.

The power of the Chaotic Source shaped the primordial void and gave rise to all things. It was the supreme force of creation. Such a power of creation was not tolerated by the world laws of the Xuanling Continent!

Just as one needed to endure a lightning tribulation to ascend as an immortal, the birth of any source power would likewise draw its own tribulation.

Boom!

Purple lightning, crimson lightning, black lightning. The three-colored lightning tribulation swept forth, twisting and writhing as it descended with ruthless force upon Ling Feng!

It struck with merciless intensity!