Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The storage ring didn’t have a lot of storage capacity, but all the items inside exuded powerful energy fluctuations, thereby indicating that they were all extremely valuable items.
To start things off, there were a hundred vital stones glowing with bright white light, which already amounted to a million spirit stones.
There were also two seventh-grade immortal pills, Spirit Regeneration Pills, which had potent regenerative effects on injuries, as well as a secondary effect of enhancing the consumer’s vitality.
There was one high-rank and three intermediate-rank spirit swords, these were probably gifted by Yang Yuan after observing how wasteful An Lin’s Sword Burial technique was.
There was around half a kilogram of Blood God Jade, which could be made into furniture and those who sit upon the furniture could use it to slowly strengthen and fortify their own domains. It was one the most sought after items by Soul Formation Stage cultivators and just this one item alone was worth around five hundred thousand spirit stones!
Unfortunately… It was absolutely useless to An Lin as he didn’t even have a domain.
Lastly, there was a ring glowing with a faint yellow light. An Lin couldn’t decipher what it was.
Luckily, an attached note introduced the origins of this item to An Lin.
This was a mystic treasure which Yang Yuan had obtained from one of the ancient underground palaces in the southern region of the Vermilion Bird Trial Grounds, and there were a total of four of these rings.
These four rings each have one of the characters of East, South, West, or North engraved on them in the Ancient Man language. Those who wear the rings have a certain probability of summoning the power of one of the powerful deceased beasts of the Ancient Man Tribe.
Yang Yuan also speculated that the ring was likely an indication of status within the Ancient Man Tribe, but he was unable to discern just how this was indicated. However, he could tell that these items definitely had extraordinary origins, and they were the most valuable things he obtained during his time in the Vermilion Bird Trial Grounds.
After being saved by An Lin and the others, he decided to give three of the rings to his saviors as a gesture of gratitude.
Thus, An Lin, Mo Hai, and Shangguan Yi received the East, South, and North rings respectively.
An Lin brought out his ring, which had the character “East” inscribed upon it. There were golden ripples running along the surface of the ring, and it was certainly very beautiful to look at. He heaved a long sigh as he looked at the ring; he didn’t think that Yang Yuan would give him something so valuable as repayment.
He refined the ring and slipped it onto his own finger. An extremely powerful intent appeared from within the ring before latching onto his consciousness. This was an ancient black dragon which circled above the stars. Its eyes were like a pair of scorching suns, from which boundless ferocious might exuded.
An Lin’s heart trembled as he sensed the powerful intent in his consciousness.
If he could summon this strength, it would definitely imbue him with earth-shattering power.
However, he was very aware of the fact that he would definitely be unable to summon this black dragon at his current level of strength.
He even had a feeling that the ancient black dragon was the true owner of this ring.
An Lin shook his head and closed his eyes, not wanting to think about this matter anymore.
The Demonic Sealing Vines that Shangguan Yi had brought back from the trial grounds were stored by the elders in a forbidden area within the Vermilion Bird Sect. This was an ancient plant of unknown origins with very similar properties to the divine tree of the Vermilion Bird Sect, so it had a lot of research value.
At the same time, tales of the feats of An Lin and the others within the Vermilion Bird Trial Grounds were also circulating throughout the Vermilion Bird Sect.
The story of how the three of them traveled to the southern region of the Vermilion Bird Trial Grounds and risked their lives to rescue Yang Yuan became a legend that was revered throughout the entire sect. Gradually, the name of An Lin, their most powerful in-name disciple in history became known far and wide.
“Hey, have you heard about our sect’s in-name disciple, An Lin? He slew the Ancient Man Tribe’s Divine General, the black phoenix, thrice! All the Divine Generals of the Ancient Man Tribe are mighty figures equivalent to Return to Void Stage cultivators, and I heard the black phoenix was at the pinnacle of Return to Void Stage as well!”
“Huh? I heard that An Lin killed the black phoenix ninety-nine times! By the end, the entire Vermilion Bird Trial Grounds were weeping tears of blood. Even the demonic moon shed tears and begged for An Lin to stop and only then did he stop his killing spree before sealing the black phoenix into the sacrificial altar…”
“Er… I’m not sure which of those editions is accurate, but he’s extremely bada*s nonetheless. If I ever get a chance to meet him, I’m definitely going to discuss Dao with him.”
“That’s definitely a good idea. But if he’s so strong, why is he only an in-name disciple?”
“That’s because he’s a student at The United University of Cultivation, so he doesn’t really care whether he’s an official disciple or not. He’s even famous in the Heavenly Court, and I’ve heard he’s already a legendary figure there with many awesome titles such as the user of the earthshattering finger, God of Stuffed Buns, self-detonation maniac, tamer of divine lightning…”
…
An Lin focused wholeheartedly on his recovery, and his condition improved day by day.
After five days, he had finally fully recovered.
When he rode around on Da Bai through the Vermilion Bird Sect, he felt like all the Vermilion Bird Sect’s disciples were looking at him with different expressions in their eyes.
He couldn’t exactly discern what the change was, but if he had to put it into words, it would be that when he first came here, all the disciples thought he was handsome, but now, they thought he was both handsome and powerful!
“An Lin, do you see all the admiring gazes from the sect disciples? How do you feel?” Xu Xiaolan asked with a teasing smile.
An Lin replied with a smile of his own, “It’s alright, I’m already used to it.”
Xu Xiaolan rolled her eyes at An Lin. “You’re lucky you have the Lightning Manipulation Technique, otherwise you’re going to get blasted to death by divine lightning sooner or later.” [1. There’s a saying in China that if one is too arrogant and cocky, God will hear them and strike them down with divine lightning, hence this reference.]
“Then do you know why my Lightning Manipulation Technique is so powerful?” An Lin asked with a mysterious expression.
“That’s because you’re super bada*s and divine lightning bows to you in awe and reverence!” Xu Xiaolan snapped.
An Lin faltered slightly at her reply. He didn’t think she would steal his line like that!
“Xiaolan, you truly know me better than anyone else.”
An Lin exclaimed after a brief silence.
A smug smile appeared on Xu Xiaolan’s face at his words, as if to say she had seen all of his tricks.
“Oh, by the way, since you’re fully recovered now, and Yang Yuan is also almost fully recovered, the sect elders decided that the Holy Vermilion Flame ceremony will be held tomorrow. If you earn the approval of the Holy Vermilion Flame during the ceremony, you can obtain its power in order to manifest a holy flame in your own sea of vital energy,” Xu Xiaolan continued.
“Do I need to prepare something in advance?” An Lin asked.
“Just don’t eat the holy flame.” Xu Xiaolan pursed her lips.
An Lin: “…”
Before they knew it, the two of them had made their way to the border of the Vermilion Bird Sect.
A lush forest of towering trees lay before them, above which was a clear blue sky.
The two them arrived once again at the place only they knew about. This was an extremely thick tree branch, resembling a wooden path that was wide enough for the two of them to walk side by side, upon which sat a long wooden bench.
An Lin sent Da Bai away to play by himself before sitting down on the bench with Xu Xiaolan by his side.
They looked at the clouds in the distance as well as the horizon below and silently basked in the serenity of the moment.
A light breeze blew by, carrying the scent of the divine tree.
Leaves rustled in the wind, creating a carefree and leisurely backdrop.
“An Lin, do you have a protagonist halo?” Xu Xiaolan suddenly asked. [1. Protagonist halo is a direct translation of a Chinese term used in novels which kind of breaks the fourth wall in that it’s establishing a certain character as the protagonist of a story.]
An Lin was shocked to hear this. “How did you know?!”
“I figured it out based on your ability to attract trouble,” Xu Xiaolan snapped.
“But my ability to attract trouble is second to Sister Shangguan Yi.” An Lin was modest for once.
“True, her life really has been an ongoing tragedy ever since the day she was born…” Xu Xiaolan sighed lightly with her brows slightly furrowed and she continued, “Her mother died during her birth due to delivery complications.”
An Lin’s expression turned solemn as he listened to her story.
“After that, vital energy converged in her body of its own accord, thereby attracting a demonic wolf which slaughtered her whole family and abducted her in preparation to eat her.
“However, they encountered a cultivator who slew the demonic wolf and delivered her back to her village, but none of the villagers wanted to adopt her.
“The cultivator was intrigued by her special constitution, but the cultivator didn’t have a high cultivation base and didn’t know how to help her bring out her true potential. After a few twists and turns, she was delivered to our sect, where she became the disciple of Daoist Priest Chi Yan.
“Daoist Priest Chi Yan died in a mission less than a year after that.
“Daoist Priest Ling Yun then took over her tutelage, only to die after less than half a year during a battle with the Blood Tribe.
“After that was Daoist Priest Huang Long, who died from a strange poison in less than a year.
“Daoist Priest Hong Zhao then died in a mission to vanquish a demonic sect three months after taking her under his wing…
“These events were extremely bizarre, and no one blamed Sister Shangguan Yi for this string of unfortunate event, but no one dared to take her under their wing after that…”
An Lin: “…”
