Chapter 106: Breaking the Record, the Number One Person in History!

Chapter 106: Breaking the Record, First in History!

“This is the ‘Thunder Pool Stele.’”

The staff member’s voice carried a trace of reverence. “Engraved upon it are the names of the top one hundred trial-takers who have absorbed the most Thunder Crystals since the Qiming Thunder Pool opened to the public, spanning tens of thousands of years.”

All eyes were irresistibly drawn to that stone tablet.

Qin Feng’s gaze also fell upon it.

He swept his eyes from top to bottom, quickly scanning the names that had left a resounding mark in Qiming Star’s history.

His gaze halted at the very top name on the stele.

[First Place: Sun Chantang – 88 Crystals]

Seeing this familiar name, a surge of inexplicable emotion welled up in Qin Feng’s heart.

So it was that the master who had uprooted his illness and guided him through the darkest moments of his life had once set such a glorious record here.

Countless ages ago, a young Sun Chantang had also claimed countless firsts on Qiming Star.

[Second Place: Wang Pojun – 87 Crystals]

Qin Feng had never heard of this name, but to trail Sun Chantang by a single crystal, he must have been a martial artist of earth-shaking prowess.

The names below grew even more unfamiliar.

Yet the numbers following each name spoke of a brilliant past and an extraordinary will.

“Allow me to further explain the approximate correlation between Thunder Crystal quantity and physical aptitude.”

The staff member’s voice rang out again, pulling everyone’s thoughts back.

“Generally speaking, if an unrefined pure-blood human can successfully absorb eight Thunder Crystals, their physical aptitude will ascend to ‘Gold Standard Human Level I.’”

“If they can absorb forty Thunder Crystals, they can reach ‘Gold Standard Human Level II.’”

“And to achieve the theoretical limit of the human species in psychic energy technology—‘Gold Standard Human Level III’—one must absorb at least one hundred Thunder Crystals.”

“Of course, this is only a rough reference. The specifics vary from person to person. Let me emphasize one last time: everyone must act within their limits! When your body and mind issue warnings, you must leave the Thunder Pool immediately! Understood?”

“Understood!”

The young men and women present answered in unison.

With the explanation concluded, the camp once again fell into quiet anticipation.

Time ticked by, minute after minute.

A few hours later, the thick thunderclouds above, which had been writhing with electric serpents, seemed drawn by some mysterious force. They began to slowly part to both sides, revealing a stretch of azure, cloudless sky.

“The Thunder Pool is open! All trial-takers, follow me up the mountain!”

A guide shouted loudly.

As his words fell, nearly a hundred qualified youths followed the guide, climbing toward the majestic Thunder Mountain.

Behind them, the high-level martial artists acting as guardians, including Lin Yue, silently followed.

The guide did not stop them; instead, he tacitly allowed their presence.

After all, in such a perilous place, one more strong individual meant one more layer of safety.

The mountain path of Thunder Mountain was rugged and steep. The higher they climbed, the thinner the air became, and the biting wind cut like knives against their faces.

But for these trial-takers, all at least first-rank martial artists, this difficulty was nothing.

Over an hour later, they finally reached the summit of Thunder Mountain.

Standing there, the view opened up before them.

They could even clearly see the faintly curved, planetary horizon in the distance.

White clouds churned beneath their feet, like a fairyland.

And atop this peak, there truly lay a strange lake.

The lake was about three hundred meters in diameter, no more than three or four meters deep. Its water was crystal clear, yet it shimmered with a dreamlike blue-violet hue.

Within the water, countless tiny sparks of lightning seemed to flow and leap, crackling softly, exuding an aura of mystery and danger.

This was the Qiming Thunder Pool.

“Thunder Crystals float suspended in the water,”

the guide said, pointing at the blue-violet lake. “Once you enter the pool, grab a Thunder Crystal, hold it tightly in your palm, concentrate your mind, and you can absorb it.”

He glanced at the time, then announced loudly: “The hour has come! Enter the pool!”

“Plop!”

“Plop!”

“Plop!”

With successive splashes, the youths leaped one by one into the Thunder Pool.

Qin Feng followed suit, his body sinking into the blue-violet water.

The water was icy cold, yet the vast and pure psychic energy within it made him feel utterly refreshed.

Following the guide’s instructions, he searched briefly in the water and grabbed a crystal floating beside him, about the size of a thumb, completely translucent, with sparks of lightning flickering inside.

This was a Thunder Crystal.

He clenched it tightly in his palm.

A violent surge of energy instantly erupted from the crystal, coursing through his arm and into his body!

That energy, like countless miniature thunderbolts, recklessly scoured and roamed through his meridians and flesh, bringing a tingling, stabbing sensation.

Qin Feng frowned slightly, but soon he realized that this so-called “violence” was not nearly as unbearable for him as it seemed. In fact… it was almost gentle.

The moment this thunderous energy entered his body, it seemed tamed, flowing docilely, washing through his being bit by bit, altering the deepest structures of his life.

“Perhaps it’s because my body was already groomed by Master Sun and Lord Zhou Xiong’s ‘Ten Complete Hands.’”

“Or maybe it’s because I’m already a Gold Standard Human Level II.”

Qin Feng understood in his heart.

He looked around.

The other youths were all wearing expressions of extreme agony.

Their brows were furrowed, their teeth clenched, and their bodies trembled uncontrollably in the water from the searing pain, like small boats in a storm.

Some had even let out stifled cries of pain, unable to bear the piercing torment.

In contrast, Qin Feng’s expression could only be described as “comfortable.”

The energy of the first Thunder Crystal was soon fully absorbed.

Without hesitation, he grabbed a second one.

The pain from the second crystal was several times more intense than the first.

But for Qin Feng, it remained well within the range of easy endurance.

He thus floated suspended in the pool water, like a quiet cultivator, silently and efficiently absorbing one thunder crystal after another.

Meanwhile, a brutal elimination contest had already unfolded among the others.

"I can't take it! Ah!!"

A youth let out a piercing scream while absorbing his third thunder crystal, his entire body curling into a ball from the excruciating pain.

The guide on the bank immediately leaped into the pool and swiftly hauled him out.

The absorption of thunder crystals—the further one went, the greater the pain, growing at a geometric rate.

Soon, when absorbing the fourth thunder crystal, over a dozen more people gave up, unable to bear the bone-deep agony.

By the fifth, the number of those who quit increased, exceeding half of the total participants.

When the process reached the sixth, only a scant three or four figures remained in the lightning pool that had originally held nearly a hundred.

They were all gritting their teeth and persevering, their faces twisted in pain, every muscle in their bodies violently convulsing.

Zhou Heyuan was among them.

His eyes were bloodshot, his lips bitten fiercely to keep from making a sound.

The sixth!

Only two steps away from the eighth!

If he could just hold on a little longer and absorb eight thunder crystals, he would become a "Golden Standard Human Level I"!

That was a physical potential far more powerful than any special constitution!

Yet ideals were full, but reality was cruel.

The dual torment of body and spirit, like endless tides, crashed wave after wave against their fragile will.

In the end, as the energy of the sixth thunder crystal was about to be fully absorbed, everyone except Qin Feng had reached their limit.

One after another, they signaled their surrender and were brought out of the lightning pool by the guides and their elders, faces full of reluctance.

The entire lightning pool now held only Qin Feng.

On the bank, all eyes were fixed on that figure still calmly floating in the center of the pool.

Zhou Heyuan gasped for breath, staring at Qin Feng, his eyes filled with shock and disbelief.

"This guy... is he even human? Absorbed six, and not a single reaction?"

Time passed, day after day, as the crowd waited.

Atop the towering Thunder Mountain, thunderclouds gathered anew, lightning flashing, casting the blue-violet lightning pool into an even more mysterious glow.

And Qin Feng, like an old monk in meditation, silently absorbed one thunder crystal after another in the pool.

The expressions of the people on the bank shifted from initial curiosity, to shock, to numbness, and finally into deep reverence.

On the first day, he absorbed fifteen.

On the second, thirty.

On the third, he successfully broke through the forty-crystal mark!

On the bank, a chorus of sharp intakes of breath.

On the fourth day, fifty.

When absorbing the fiftieth thunder crystal, Qin Feng's ever-calm face finally showed an expression of pain for the first time.

His brows were tightly knit, his complexion turned somewhat pale, and the muscles of his face twisted slightly from enduring the agony.

The true test had begun.

But he showed no intention of giving up.

On the fifth day, seventy-five.

His body began to develop fine cracks; threads of blood seeped out from under his skin, only to be quickly evaporated by the violent thunder energy.

On the sixth day, ninety!

When the guide on the bank announced this number, the entire scene fell into dead silence!

Ninety!

He had already surpassed the record set by the legendary hall master Sun Shantang on the "Lightning Pool Stele"!

Everyone held their breath, eyes wide, as if witnessing the birth of a new legend.

(Chapter End)