To the visitors, the Visitation Hall was a place for them to receive Curator’s guidance. To Lin Jin, it was the perfect platform for gathering information.
By the time Lin Jin entered with his mask on, the eight visitors had already arrived.
In the past few days, a number of versions describing Curator’s one-man battle against Daluo Temple had begun to spread around. Even He Qing, who had been inside the palace walls all this while had heard of the incident about it.
Besides her, Feng Ziqian and Zhao Jingyan found out about it as well.
Evidently, this piece of news had traveled fast and wide.
However, as they were too far from Daluo Temple, by the time news got to them, it was already too late for them to rush over. Otherwise, they would have joined in the fun as well.
“Greetings, Curator!”
The eight visitors, including Feng Ziqian and Zhao Jingyan, bowed to Lin Jin.
Although they were newcomers, they were quick to realize what an incredible figure Curator was. The fact that he could ascend Daluo Peak alone and battle Daluo Temple’s abbot and rectors made their jaws drop.
The abbot of Daluo Temple’s was someone who even premium countries feared to provoke. Each guardian beast he possessed was at Rank 5 and that wasn’t something a regular premium country could handle.
Lin Jin raised his hand, signaling the visitors to be at ease.
“This time, you may ask questions first. As long as they are related to beasts, I can answer them all. After that, I have some questions for everyone as well,” Lin Jin simply said.
Most of them did not have that many questions to ask. Madam Ghost Child mostly asked about Old Turtle’s condition on his behalf. As newcomers, it was only natural for Feng Ziqian and Zhao Jingyan to have the most questions.
But no question posed a challenge to Lin Jin.
Again, as long as it was related to beasts, Lin Jin knew everything.
He held that much confidence in himself.
Feng Ziqian had asked about his companion’s evolution. Lin Jin effortlessly wrote down an evaluation report and tossed it to him. Zhao Jingyan asked for an explanation of the concept of Nirvana, and she made sure to bring her phoenix egg with her.
As Lin Jin was in a hurry to learn about Daojun, he didn’t try to withhold any information when he answered, “For the concept of Nirvana, it’s easy if you think about it as a form of ‘rebirth’. When a phoenix achieves Nirvana, it will rise again from the flames.”
In the past few days, Zhao Jingyan had already guessed that this would be the answer, but Lin Jin’s words still had a great impact on her.
“When a phoenix achieves Nirvana, it will rise again from the flames!”
“It will rise again from the flames!”
As Zhao Jingyan repeated it to herself, she started to understand what would happen soon. Staring at the translucent phoenix egg in her hands that was emitting a faint heat and glow, she couldn’t wait to find a place with exotic fire to toss the egg inside.
Lin Jin was able to read her mind, and he deliberated before reminding her, “Nirvana rebirth requires suitable timing. Compared to forcing it to hatch prematurely, it’s perfectly fine to be a little more patient. However, know that the stronger the flames, the faster the process of Nirvana.”
Subsequently, Lin Jin raised his hand. Using flames as his ink, he wrote a fire edict amulet and launched it into the phoenix egg.
This fire edict amulet contained three types of flames.
One was Xiao Huo’s flames, the second was Dragonfire, and the third was the Golden Crow’s flames.
Prior to this, Lin Jin had been using all three flames individually. Something inspired him to combine the three, which was subsequently used to write this edict amulet.
“You may borrow this fire amulet. Once your phoenix achieves Nirvana, you can return it to me,” Lin Jin said casually.
To outsiders, it seemed like Curator had just invoked a phenomenal fire spell to help the Phoenix achieve Nirvana. Zhao Jingyan thought so too so she quickly bowed in response.
In actual fact, Lin Jin wasn’t helping only her, but himself as well. He hoped that when the phoenix was reborn, the three flames would combine into one to give birth to a new type of fire, which might, in turn, help him and Xiao Huo.
Mainly Xiao Huo.
This Nirvana might be the key to Xiao Huo’s next evolution.
Again, Xiao Huo was different from other beasts. What set him apart from everyone else was his blood pact with Lin Jin. Hence, Lin Jin would try his best to give Xiao Huo a perfect evolution, and only with that could they make up for Xiao Huo’s natural shortcomings.
At the present stage, for a Rank 4 Xiao Huo to achieve the next perfect evolution, he required a unique type of flame. The Dragonfire Lin Jin had refined was somewhat lacking and he hadn’t gotten used to phoenix and Golden Crow fires yet. Now that Zhao Jingyan required flames to help her pet beast achieve rebirth, it was a convenient opportunity for Lin Jin to kill two birds with a stone, so why not take it?
After receiving Curator’s advice and guidance, Zhao Jingyan was more than satisfied.
Previously trapped in utter despair, ever since she entered the Visitation Hall, Zhao Jingyan regained her confidence.
In fact, there was something she hadn’t told anyone else.
Zhao Jingyan couldn’t stay at Phoenix Palace anymore. She had to lay low for now, as the traitors at Phoenix Palace would hunt her down should the opportunity ever arise.
While she had tried her best to conceal her identity, the world was such a vast place that she had no idea where she would go.
She heard that Curator had a disciple in Jade Dragon Kingdom, and after giving it much thought, she set forth on her journey to Jade Dragon Kingdom.
She wanted to meet Curator.
Since she couldn’t find Curator, she could seek his disciple. She figured that by following his disciple, she would bump into Curator sooner or later.
Now that Zhao Jingyan was told that she needed a place with an exotic fire source, she was even more convinced that Jade Dragon Kingdom was her next destination.
That location was right inside Jade Dragon City. As Zhao Jingyan used to be the great commander of Phoenix Palace, she had access to a vast array of hidden information and it further strengthened her resolve to head to Jade Dragon Kingdom.
She didn’t tell anyone about her plan. Stubborn as she was, once Zhao Jingyan decided on something, she would see it through regardless of whether her actions were right or wrong.
After Lin Jin had finished answering her questions, he dived right into the main topic.
He wanted to get as much information on Daojun as possible.
Lin Jin was confident that he could leave this responsibility to his visitors. As they came from different regions and had diverse backgrounds, the amount of information they could gather was surely sizable.
Right now, Lin Jin needed to widen his scope of capture.
“Everyone, I need every information you can gather on Daojun. Also, if you possess any books, methods, or items related to or passed down by Daojun, you may hand them over to me. In return, I shall guarantee you the greatest reward thus far,” Lin Jin said.
Daojun!
Most of them had heard of the name before. Of course, there were a few who weren’t familiar with Daojun, like He Qing and Old Tian.
One spent most of her life within the palace walls, and her knowledge of the outside world was unsurprisingly minuscule. The other possessed an unexceptional background and lived deep inside the mountains. Although he was known as a thief and bandit, he didn’t actually join the villain’s community.
Other than these two, the rest were much more knowledgeable on the topic.
Black Crow was the first to speak up. “Curator, you want information on Daojun? Here’s what I know about him. He’s a figure from several hundred years ago and apparently, he was a pretty high-level expert. Like you, Daojun loves wearing masks and his proficiency in spell-casting was unrivaled. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he was the world’s strongest man, a hundred years after he made his mark in this world, he vanished. There were tales that suggested that he passed away…”
“I heard that several hundred years ago, Daojun once defeated more than ten highly capable villainous experts all by himself, and it was how he came to reign over the villain’s community. The rules we uphold in the community today were mostly set in stone during Daojun’s reign. The villain’s newspaper was also something Daojun invented,” Madam Ghost Child chimed in.
Under his mask, Lin Jin was visibly shocked by the word ‘newspaper’.
Ye Yuzhou supplemented, “I have a biography of Daojun in my collection of books that is said to have been written and arranged by the villainous experts of that era. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring it with me today.”
“Old Ye, please send it to my disciple tomorrow morning,” Lin Jin instructed. He was pleased to hear there was a biography of Daojun.
Ye Yuzhou nodded.
After giving it some thought, the phantom thief Jiang Ziqi opened up.
“I heard that Daojun was second to none when it came to controlling beasts, but I’m not sure if it’s true.”
