For a thousand years in his previous life, Lin Xuanzhi’s soul force had become extremely powerful.
Craftsmen relied on, first, the soul fire, and second, the soul force. Lin Xuanzhi did not lack either.
In his past life, he had been able to repair the Revert World Mirror, which was a heaven-shocking magic treasure that couldn’t even be categorized into any level by himself. Wouldn’t it be easy, then, to refine a mere black turtle’s inner core?
It was just that he didn’t release the soul force that was sealed inside his body when he rebirthed before, so the cultivation speed he displayed back then was still only a little faster than ordinary people.
But now that Lin Xuanzhi had braved the danger of exploding his body in order to unseal his soul force, naturally, he could easily refine the magic treasures he needed.
After staring at Lin Xuanzhi with a complicated look, Esteemed Lan Yue slowly said, “Xuanzhi, if you really decide not to hide, I’m afraid that all the spearheads will point towards you.”
“That is better than pointing the spears at the people around me,” Lin Xuanzhi replied.
Esteemed Lan Yue nodded, stroking his astrological staff. “Tonight, I will divine the stars to see the future for all of you.”
“If it’s not to your inconvenience, Master.”
“It’s no trouble. There are still some things I want to discuss with you privately.”
Qing Zhu carefully handed a strand of hair tied by a red rope to Esteemed Lan Yue.
Qing Zhu asked nervously, “Your divination won’t have any problems?”
Esteemed Lan Yue removed the red rope and said, “Normally speaking, nothing will go wrong.”
Qing Zhu saw that he was going to start casting spells, so he stopped talking, but his eyes were staring unblinkingly at Esteemed Lan Yue’s hand.
Esteemed Lan Yue expertly made a hand seal and placed the strand of hair in the middle of the apparatus. There were a dozen small paper people on it, all of whom were lying motionless on the stone plate.
It didn’t take long for Esteemed Lan Yue to finish his hand techniques, and his eyes turned fierce. The strand of hair began to burn, and those little paper people seemed to have been revived all of a sudden. They all stood up and began to dance and rotate on the astrolabe.
Qing Zhu was dazzled.
Esteemed Lan Yue squeezed out a drop of blood onto the burning black hair. The flame suddenly grew bigger and changed from a jade-like blue color to ghostly green.
The flame burned for three days and three nights, and the little people also danced for three days and three nights.
However, the instant the flames went out, all of the little people dropped down at the same time.
“What does this mean?” Qing Zhu looked at the burnt hair and felt uncomfortable in his heart.
“Don’t say it.” Qing Zhu suddenly stood up. Holding the red rope in despair, he said, “I don’t believe it. He must still be alive.”
Esteemed Lan Yue sighed.
Liu Mengchen’s soul could no longer be found in the Five Continents’ cultivation world.
In reality, this was no surprise.
Any techniques Esteemed Lan Yue knew, Yin Xinghan knew as well. He probably already used the five-element soul searching technique, or similar spells, to search for Liu Mengchen more than once. But even Yin Xinghan could neither find Liu Mengchen if he was alive nor find his corpse if he was dead, so Esteemed Lan Yue’s spell likely didn’t miss anything.
Things did not bode well for Liu Mengchen.
Qing Zhu wanted to search for him again merely because he was unwilling to accept this.
Qing Zhu left Sinking Sword Peak in despair. Zhan Fengting tried to speak up and stop him but was directly ignored by Qing Zhu.
Seeing the situation, Zhan Fengting knew that it was bad, and he couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable again.
The peaceful days didn’t last long. A few days later, someone couldn’t endure any longer and arrived at the gate.
“Master, Youngest Martial Brother.” Zhan Fengting came over in a hurry and informed, “Just now, a disciple sent a message. Some people are clamoring outside the sect gates, demanding that Profound Sky Sect hand over Xuanzhi and the Twin Lotus Lamp together. Otherwise, they will gather other people in Profund City to attack Profound Sky Sect.”
When Esteemed Lan Yue heard this, his cold expression turned ugly. “That’s nonsense. Do they think they can rush into Profound Sky Sect whenever they want?”
When Lin Xuanzhi heard this, he stood up from the futon beside him. “Who are the ones calling for battle?”
Zhan Fengting answered, “Some of them are rogue cultivators, some are people from mercenary groups, and some are disciples of Sky Peak Sect. There is a leader named Mo Yan. It’s said that he is already at Profound Realm peak Separated Spirit Stage. I’m afraid it’ll be difficult to deal with him.”
“Mo Yan?” Lin Xuanzhi sneered, “I didn’t look for him, but he came to me. I want to see just how powerful he is.”
Esteemed Lan Yue asked, “Did you have a conflict with this person before?”
Lin Xuanzhi nodded. “A big conflict. I just didn’t have any time to pay attention to him before.”
Just then, a noisy voice came from outside, and Wan Yitong raised his voice, shouting, “Don’t bully intolerably! Youngest Martial Brother is my Sinking Sword Peak’s disciple and my Master’s closed-door disciple. You are not qualified to drive him out to fight!”
Lin Xuanzhi and Esteemed Lan Yue exchanged glances. “Master, I’ll go out and take a look.”
Zhan Fengting grabbed Lin Xuanzhi and shook his head. “They are from the Sect Master’s side. They don’t know anything. Just ignore them. We can handle everything.”
Lin Xuanzhi’s heart warmed. These martial brothers were really sincere towards him. During the time he returned to Profound Sky Sect, he’d been cultivating in seclusion every day, while ignoring all the matters outside. It was Zhan Fengting and the others who helped him handle all those matters.
After Lin Xuanzhi left closed-door cultivation, he overheard people say that Wan Yitong had already fought countless battles with disciples from the other peaks in this short seven to eight days. There were even a few battles where blood was drawn, and Wan Yitong was almost punished by the peak rules because of that.
This time, Lin Xuanzhi didn’t intend to let others fight his battles for him.
He had to solve his problems himself.
Lin Xuanzhi gave Zhan Fengting a comforting look. “Elder Martial Brother, don’t worry. I know the limits, but if I don’t strike the mountains and shake the tigers this time, I’m afraid they will think I’m easy to bully in the future. They will become more arrogant and presumptuous. It’s better to…teach them a good lesson.”
Zhan Fengting frowned slightly. “Xuanzhi, what exactly have you been doing these days?”
Lin Xuanzhi smiled. “I didn’t do anything. I just tried to exchange some feelings with Zhige.”
He didn’t explain any more, and pushed the door open as he left with his back straight.
Outside, Wan Yitong was preparing to draw his sword, when a disciple of the main peak shouted with indignation, “You all protect Lin Xuanzhi in this way, but you don’t know that he has hidden the Twin Lotus Lamp that originally should’ve benefited everyone. Not to mention, our Profound Sky Sect’s disciples can’t even go out without being attacked now. I don’t know how many disciples have already been injured!”
“That’s right! The sect can protect him, but he has to pay some price accordingly!”
“All of you must have gotten benefits to protect him like this. Do you really think we are all blind?”
The man’s voice just fell when he felt a chilling feeling on the back of his neck.
He shuddered and saw Lin Xuanzhi standing on the steps, holding the sheathed Zhige sword in hand.
When the man touched his neck, there was a trace of blood on his hand.
He screamed with fright and collapsed on the ground, legs soft.
All the other disciples who had been chattering fell silent and stared warily at Lin Xuanzhi as he walked towards them step by step.
Lin Xuanzhi’s face was as cold as frost, and his eyes shone with no other color except black. He seemed to be staring at them like they were dead people. His body was very tall, with wide shoulders and a narrow waist. In his hand, he held Zhige. Just a few steps down the stairs gave people the feeling of an oppressive aura.
Several disciples who came from the main peak kept quiet out of fear and retreated silently despite themselves.
One of the disciples insisted, “Lin Xuanzhi, it can’t be that you want to slaughter your fellow disciples from the same sect?”
Lin Xuanzhi glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and said contemptuously, “Kill you? Not qualified enough.”
“Lin Xuanzhi, don’t be too arrogant! Now that Profound Sky Sect is blocked at the mountain gates and people are clamoring for a battle every day, don’t you have any shame?” Another disciple also got angry and snapped, “One of my younger martial brothers was seriously injured when he went out yesterday. Thirty-five disciples of Profound Sky Sect have already been injured in a dispute in Profund City ever since you came back. It’s all because of you!”
Wan Yitong huffed, “Shut the fuck up for Laozi! At this time, you don’t band together against a common enemy, but instead, you have to fight within your nest. Is this what the teachings of Profound Sky Sect taught you?”
“Elder Martial Brother Wan, what you said is one-sided. Sky Peak Sect is the main sect of all the celestial-level sects, and that side specifically named Lin Xuanzhi and the Twin Lotus Lamp as items we must hand over. Don’t tell me that we’re going to disobey the orders of the main sect and protect a person who keeps all the benefits to himself?”
“If they said that you were born to your mother and the Old Wang next door, will you also believe that?” Wan Yitong was so angry he smiled. “If you don’t have enough brains, go see a healer; don’t come out to harm people!”
“How can you speak so harshly?”
“Fuck off if you don’t want to hear it! Who told you to send yourself to our door to look for abuse?”
“You…” The disciple bickering was obviously no match for Wan Yitong. He glared angrily for a while and said, “Anyway, the Sect Master is telling Lin Xuanzhi to handle the clamoring people at the mountain gate by himself. You all do as you see fit!”
With that, the group of disciples left in a flurry.
Wan Yitong showed a victorious expression and smoothed out his sleeves. “Want to fight with this grandpa? Want to compare who’s more annoying, unreasonable, and shameless? How trifling; slags!”
Lin Xuanzhi looked at Wan Yitong and smiled. “There is no need to compare this kind of thing ba?”
Wan Yitong replied, “Younger Martial Brother, your move just now was really handsome. Why do I feel like your swordsmanship is more advanced?”
Lin Xuanzhi said lightly, “After being in secluded cultivation these days, of course there must be some progress.”
Wan Yitong stared at Lin Xuanzhi for a while, then frowned slightly. “Younger Martial Brother, your aura seems to be somewhat different than before.”
Lin Xuanzhi smiled. “You want to praise that I’m much stronger than before — there’s no need to be so euphemistic.”
Wan Yitong, “…”
Wan Yitong said, “Younger Martial Brother, you don’t have to pay attention to what those people said. Master and the Yuan family are sending letters everywhere these days. They are uniting with other sects and families to fight against the common enemy, Yin Xinghan. In a few days, they will have some results.”
Ever since Yin Xinghan destroyed the Liu family, Lin Xuanzhi’s pursuit and interception turned from actions done in secret to blatant actions in the open. Who knows what was going through Yin Xinghan’s mind, but he was actually behaving like a mad dog.
—
Sarah: *sighs for LMC* poor Qing Zhu…
Rose: Can’t wait for Yin Xinghan to die.
Ea: +1