Chapter 140: Chapter 138: An Ancient Cave
In the Lin Family’s Cultivation Arena in Fenggu Town, Lin Qing stood to the side with a grim expression.
The Lin Family’s Grand Elder’s hands were a blur as he imprinted a series of mysterious seals onto a jade stone.
He opened his eyes, an unusual light swirling within them as he gazed into the jade stone.
A dim, gray light rose from the jade stone, and strange patterns seemed to shift within it.
Lin Qing, of course, couldn’t make sense of what he was seeing, but he knew the Grand Elder was using a Heavenly Mechanism Skill to perform an Inference on Lin Qiu’s fate.
CRACK!
The jade stone that Lin Qiu had carried on his person suddenly shattered, and the Anomaly vanished.
Watching from the side, Lin Qing knew something had happened to Lin Qiu, even though he was ignorant of the Heavenly Mechanism Inference Technique. Seeing the jade shatter, he feared the worst.
"Grand Elder, what happened?"
Lin Qing exclaimed.
The Grand Elder stopped and said flatly, "The jade has shattered, his fate extinguished. Lin Qiu is dead. He died one day ago."
Hearing the news of Lin Qiu’s death, Lin Qing’s expression flickered but quickly returned to one of cold indifference. A chill flashed in his eyes as he said, "A day ago... that’s exactly when Hua Xiaoling returned. Just as I suspected. My useless brother died at the hands of that little bitch, Hua Xiaoling, and that strange boy."
"Grand Elder, I’ll take some men to the Hua Mansion to arrest them right now! We can use this as a chance to eliminate Hua Xiaoling. I’m sure the Hua Family’s Grand Elder will be grateful to our Lin Family for it!"
Lin Qing turned to summon his men, but the Grand Elder stopped him. "You have no proof. On what grounds will you go to the Hua Family and make an arrest?"
"Since when does our Lin Family need proof to arrest someone from the Hua Family?" Lin Qing retorted, finding the Grand Elder’s question odd. "Suspicion alone is enough!"
After all, lately he had never needed proof to arrest people from the Hua Family. He would just show up at their door without even a word of greeting.
In just the past three months, he had rounded up nearly all of the Hua Family’s direct-line members.
So, in his eyes, the Hua Family was a pushover, ripe for the picking.
The Grand Elder sighed. "You didn’t need it before, but I’m afraid you do now."
"Grand Elder, why would you say that?" Lin Qing asked in alarm. He knew that as an Inference Master, the Grand Elder would not speak carelessly.
"The Thousand Poisons afflicting the Hua Family Patriarch has been cured," the Lin Family’s Grand Elder said. "He sent the Hua Family’s Grand Elder reeling with a single palm strike. Do you still think you can just waltz into the Hua Family and arrest whomever you please?"
Lin Qing’s expression changed drastically. "What? That little bitch Hua Xiaoling actually found the Thousand-Petaled Flower! But even so, how could the Hua Grand Elder’s faction have possibly let them see the Hua Family Patriarch?"
The words had barely left his lips when his communication jade lit up. He swept his Divine Thought across it and, after reading the message, snarled through gritted teeth, "So it was that boy who ruined everything! He actually broke into the Sixth Layer of the Hua courtyards. Lie Xiaoyu and Hua Ming are completely useless!"
"Grand Elder, what do we do now?" Lin Qing asked, forcing himself to remain calm.
"Our only option is to wait for the competition over the spots for the Ancient Ruined City. We can make our plans then, after your grandfather, the Clan Leader, comes out of seclusion," the Grand Elder said with a helpless sigh.
"Fine," Lin Qing said fiercely. "In another month, the powerful experts led by the Cang Family will arrive. Destroying the Hua Family and that boy will be as easy as lifting a finger!"
...
「In a valley within the Hua Family’s forbidden grounds.」
With the help of the Black Token, Hua Xiaoling cultivated as she ventured deeper into the forbidden grounds.
She discovered that as she cultivated here, absorbing the Ancient Spiritual Power, the seal on her body’s mysterious bloodline actually began to loosen. Her cultivation speed gradually increased, and she soon became completely immersed, losing all track of time.
Meanwhile, Jiang Jichen was already two-thirds of the way into the forbidden grounds!
But the deeper he went, the more powerful and terrifying the Restriction Residual Force became. Yet Jiang Jichen used no protection, allowing the force to ravage his physical body.
However, the Ancient Spiritual Power in the air also grew much denser. Jiang Jichen continuously absorbed and refined it, and his cultivation progressed at an astonishing rate.
The auras of life and death swirled endlessly here, and immersed within them, Jiang Jichen could comprehend the dao of life and death.
An understanding gradually dawned in his mind. ’Yin-Yang, life and death... Solitary Yin cannot beget life, nor can solitary Yang sustain growth. Yin and Yang must exist in balance.’
’The same is true for life and death. The apex of life is not death, and the apex of death can be a form of eternal existence. The principle is the same, but one must experience it firsthand to truly comprehend it.’
Refining his body, comprehending the laws, and pressing forward, ten days passed in the blink of an eye.
On this day, Hua Xiaoling finally felt the Black Token reach its limit, showing signs of shattering. She had ventured more than halfway into the forbidden grounds, but she knew this was as far as she could go.
In just those ten short days, Hua Xiaoling’s cultivation had grown by leaps and bounds. She had broken through from the Innate Third Layer to the Innate Fourth Layer of Perfection Realm. Moreover, by absorbing the Ancient Spiritual Power, the Spiritual Power within her body had been tempered and purified, laying a solid foundation for the Foundation Establishment Realm.
More importantly, her greatest gain was the loosening of the bloodline seal within her body. In the future, the natural suppression she faced during cultivation would be greatly reduced, allowing her to advance much faster.
The moment Hua Xiaoling exited the forbidden grounds, the Black Token she carried shattered with a CRACK and turned to dust.
Hearing the noise, several Hua Family ancestors appeared in a flash.
"The Black Token shattered... But for Ling’Er to have cultivated inside for ten days, that’s..." one of the Hua Family ancestors said, his voice filled with shock.
As far as they knew, previous Hua Family Patriarchs had only ever been able to last three days in the forbidden grounds. Yet Hua Ling’Er had stayed for a full ten days. The fact shocked them to their core.
"Honored Ancestors, is it a major problem that the token shattered?" Hua Xiaoling asked cautiously.
These Hua Family ancestors were all Foundation Establishment Cultivators nearing the end of their lifespans. They would only emerge if the family faced a crisis of survival; otherwise, they stayed out of clan affairs.
One of the Hua Family ancestors said calmly, "It was a consumable item to begin with. If it breaks, it breaks. It’s no great loss. The fact that you were able to stay inside for ten days, Ling’Er, proves that your potential is astonishing. Perhaps there is hope for the Hua Family to one day break its bloodline seal!"
The other Hua Family ancestors nodded in agreement.
Just then, another ancestor asked, "And what of the young man who accompanied her? Surely he hasn’t met with an accident?"
Hua Xiaoling had sensed Jiang Jichen’s aura inside and knew he was unharmed, but she didn’t let on. "I’m not sure," she said. "Please don’t worry about me, Honored Ancestors. I’ll just wait for him here."
However, her wait stretched on for over ten days.
By now, Jiang Jichen had reached the very depths of the Hua Family’s forbidden grounds. There, at the far end, he saw an Ancient Cave.
It was only about ten meters away, but that short distance was treacherous. With every step he took, Jiang Jichen had to stop and cultivate for a period of time.
