Edited by Ea and Molly
Lin Xuanzhi narrowed his eyes slightly and said, “You should raise the leaf ship up first, and I’ll go and take a look nearby.”
He left behind many of his marks, so as long as he could sense them, he would naturally know the path from before. However, after looking in a circle, Lin Xuanzhi suddenly discovered that things were not as simple as he had thought, because the swamp was also devouring the few trees that seemed to have originated from it. When turning back, Lin Xuanzhi couldn’t even figure out where the others were.
Lin Xuanzhi, “…..”
In a dimly lit palace within the Tomb of Youshan, a man with long hair that could almost hang to the ground was leaning against a tall tree that reached to the heavens. He looked at the crystal jade that covered the entire wall and the image it showed. After a moment, he raised his hand and used his index finger, stirring it from a distance. In an instant, the image on the crystal jade changed.
On the originally calm swamp, whirlpools suddenly formed from various places. The vortexes were small and large, from shallow to deep, as if a stirring rod was stirring it up.
All the emerging trees were destroyed, broken, and submerged within, and many monsters that were still sleeping woke up. They all looked different and didn’t seem very pretty, but each had a thick arua and was capable of evil. They roared and rushed towards those invaders who emitted a rich aura of spiritual Qi. The man looked at the invaders who were in a tight spot after being chased and fleeing. His eyes, which originally looked calm, had a somewhat proud expression. Those invaders, after all, were going to be buried in the hellish land and become the most precious nutrient for the underground spiritual Qi vein. The man was bored to death as he watched everything end.
He thought that these people were no different from those invaders who had overreached past their abilities before, and he also teased them like those invaders. However, just when he was ready to stand up and leave this hall, all of a sudden, the picture on the crystal jade changed again, and a golden teal lotus fell down onto the world. The huge lotus was like a large gorgeous net, spinning and illuminating the entire fallen swamp in the color of the lotus.
All the eyes and skin of the demonic beings were stung by this light, and all the demonic beings that were originally facing and biting at the people gave a painful roar and screamed. At the time, the entire Tomb of Youshan was wailing, like a thousand ghosts weeping. The lotus flower shrunk to a normal size. When the lotus was located in the heart of the swamp it opened, all of the sudden exploding in waves in all directions.
The entire Tomb of Youshan was affected by the sword Qi, and for a period of time, all the monsters panicked and began to run around in fear, stirred up into becoming a group of messes.
The sword intent was threatening, rich and powerful, vast and divine, just like it was becoming tangible. It could let people clearly feel it even when separated by the crystal jade.
The man who hadn’t experienced surprise for thousands of years finally, at the moment when he saw this scene, expressed faint shock.
A moment later, he moved his pale lips and mumbled, “Changsheng.”
It was a sword-style that with one move broke through the air. The area around Yan Tianhen and the others who were attacked by countless monsters instantly quieted. The swamp was still the swamp, but the miasma had faded a lot, and even the surrounding scenery changed. Lin Xuanzhi’s spiritual Qi and physical strength had all been exhausted, and he could barely hold onto the Zhige sword. The spiritual Qi in his body was turbulent, raging wildly within his four limbs, which made him almost unable to keep balance.
The moment when Lin Xuanzhi was about to fall head first into the swamp, Yan Tianhen arrived in time to bring Lin Xuanzhi onto his sword. Lin Xuanzhi saw Yan Tianhen’s expression full of worry and gave him a soothing smile with difficulty, and then passed out. The previous move was actually Lin Xuanzhi’s.
“Exactly what level has his current cultivation attained?” Yin Chongyue poked Lin Xuanzhi’s cheek, and still felt like it couldn’t be him.
Yan Tianhen slapped away Yin Chongyue’s hand and said, “It was naturally him. Don’t take advantage of my Dage while he is unconscious.” After saying that, Yan Tianhen stuffed a medicinal pill in Lin Xuanzhi’s mouth.
Lin Xuanzhi had been in a coma for a long time. Ever since that day, he had no communications with the outside world.
Yan Tianhen and the others escaped from the swamp, crossed a mountain full of corpses, and finally found a safer place to stay. These outsiders got this place by driving away a fairly beautiful and normal bird and forcibly occupying its nest above the tall tree.
Bai Yanqiu and Yin Nian, who unrelentingly wanted to go with him, took the Yin Umbrella, Yang Umbrella, and the peach blossom demon, and went outside to explore the path. Ah Bai and Hu Po bullied the little bird whose power level was not equal with the rest of the Tomb of Youshan. Only Yan Tianhen and Yin Chongyue were left in the bird’s nest, and Lin Xuanzhi, who no one knew when would wake up.
Yan Tianhen’s fingers gently caressed the face that could make heaven and earth pale in comparison. At first, he felt that this person was as beautiful as an immortal walking out of a picture scroll. It was not until he truly saw the unreserved past in his memory that Yan Tianhen suddenly discovered that the person that people praised as the light of Daoism was only just a normal person with human joys and sorrows.
“I suddenly have some regrets about letting him take me to this place.” Yan Tianhen’s fingers stopped at the corners of Lin Xuanzhi’s mouth. There was not much light from the sky, which made his red lips look dim.
“Or rather, I shouldn’t have trusted him blindly.” Yan Tianhen really regretted it, saying, “I thought he could do anything, so when he proposed to come to the Tomb of Youshan, I agreed. But I forgot, with my current cultivation, to come in here was just akin to dragging him down. I should have waited and only come here when my cultivation was similar to his.”
Yin Chongyue yawned. “What’s the use of you saying such things now? And it’s not like you didn’t know Lin Xuanzhi. If he wants to do something, it’s useless even if immortals try to block the way. Besides, he didn’t do things he wasn’t certain about. The previous move, to tell the truth, even though I have lived this long, I have never seen it. It was definitely not any one of the moves in 《Teal Lotus Nine Styles》. The cultivation Lin Xuanzhi displayed at that time was definitely not the cultivation of someone in Earth Realm’s Small Perfection Stage. He was at least in Earth Realm’s Major Perfection Stage. If he was a bit more powerful, he might have even reached Earth Realm’s Grandmaster Stage.”
Yin Chongyue would never forget the scene when he knelt down alongside those monsters. Major Perfection was already a conservative estimate, and Yin Chongyue himself was at the Major Perfection Stage. If it was someone of the same level, or even slightly higher, the pressure he felt would not have been that great. Grandmaster Stage was the most likely.
However, nowadays, among the Nine Lands, those who could reach the Grandmaster Stage could be counted on one hand. Even if Lin Xuanzhi cultivated in the soul plate for a thousand years in his past life, if he was not talented, he would not have become so powerful so fast in this life.
He’s only lived for how many years?
At the very most, it could not be more than 40 years.
Such talent was truly frightening.
Yin Chongyue suddenly realized this was the reason that those old foxes at the Myriad Dao Academy listened to Esteemed Lan Yue’s words and directly brought Lin Xuanzhi into the sect, treated him with the highest standard of etiquette with virtually no investigation, and chose him as the Hall Master of Sword God Hall — although he had no way to easily guess.
What else could make a sect that had stood tall for thousands of years value him so highly? Yin Chongyue’s expression was unpredictable. After a few moments, he seemed to have guessed something, but he didn’t dare be certain.
Yan Tianhen’s thoughts were all on Lin Xuanzhi for the next few days, feeding him medicinal pills from time to time, expelling the miasma in his body, and just like this a period of time passed.
Lin Xuanzhi was still in a coma.
Yan Tianhen became uneasy and more and more discouraged — all the methods he had thought of, he had already tried, but Lin Xuanzhi still showed no signs of waking up and had no communication with the outside world. No matter what was done to him, there was no reaction, Yan Tianhen suddenly feared that just like this, Lin Xuanzhi would never wake up.
Yin Chongyue was calm at first, but after a long time, he panicked. Yin Chongyue said, “Even if the spiritual Qi was turbulent and the tendons are broken, they should have been repaired by now. He should not continue to sleep.”
Bai Yanqiu had also checked Lin Xuanzhi’s pulse for a diagnosis. His eyebrows tightened and he said, “His pulse is stable, his spiritual Qi is abundant, and he doesn’t have any internal injuries. How could it be like this?”
Yin Umbrella asked, ”It’s not an out-of-body experience, is it?”
Once he heard this, Yan Tianhen gave the Yin Umbrella a fierce look and said, “Shut your jinx of a mouth.”
Yin Umbrella was startled and said, “What are you doing attacking me? I’m only guessing his possible symptoms. With your fear of facing the unpleasant reality, you would never be able to cure him.”
Yang Umbrella immediately pulled Yin Umbrella and said, “Say a few words less.”
Yan Tianhen’s expression looked like he was about to cry.
If it was really that his soul was damaged, Lin Xuanzhi may not wake up, and even if he did, he may not be the same Lin Xuanzhi as before.
In reality, it wasn’t that Yan Tianhen hadn’t thought about this reason in the many days that passed, but once he thought about it, he would shiver all over, become so afraid that he couldn’t do anything, and become speechless and feel scared and helpless. He remembered the image of Feng Jingyu searching for Ling Chigu’s soul throughout heaven and earth. After all these years, Feng Jingyu had only found a few pieces of his soul, and Ling Chingu couldn’t even remember who he was. What if Lin Xuanzhi became like this?
It was impossible for him to let Lin Xuanzhi become a corpse puppet, and it was even more impossible for him to let anyone control him as a puppet — even himself.
“Going on like this is also not a solution. It would be better to…” Yin Nian suggested, “Let’s bring him out with us first. After we get out, we can find someone to treat him.”
“Since you’ve already entered, why leave?” A voice that was a bit hoarse, as if it had not been used for many years, came through the air.
When Yan Tianhen heard this strange voice, he immediately tightened his nerves, took his weapon and stood up, blocking in front of Lin Xuanzhi. The little bird who had been playing with Ah Bai and Hu Po, screamed and frantically ran to the deepest part of the bird’s nest and buried his head under his wings.
Ah Bai and Hu Po also laid prone on the ground, making a submissive posture. The peach blossom demon, who was eating peaches, silently turned into a little flowering peach tree, pretending he was just a tree and was still unable to turn into human form.
This person was very powerful.
His legs were wrapped in vine branches, and he was lifted up to hundreds of meters in the air. He was on even level with the bird’s nest. His eyes were dark green, like the most penetrating extraordinary stone. Even when it was dark, people could still see his eyes clearly, just like an elf.
His long blond hair was an unknown length, it was intertwined with branches and vines and extended toward the ground. It was like his entire person was growing on a tree.
His face was expressionless, and had a steady tone of voice, but made a person feel fear from the bottom of their heart and had to acknowledge him.
Yan Tianhen knew the moment he saw him that he was no match for this person. This unknown thing was more powerful than all the monsters he had encountered before.
“Thing?” The dark green eyes raised slightly, and the man said, “So reckless, you don’t want to live anymore?”
Yan Tianhen froze and asked, “You can see my thoughts?”
The man didn’t reply, and he didn’t care about Yan Tianhen’s great disrespect to him in his thoughts. “Why did you all come here?”
Yan Tianhen swallowed with difficulty said, “We came to look for the blood cypress sap.”
Originally, the man had a calm complexion, but in an instant, his eyes turned severe. As soon as he raised his hand, Yan Tianhen was sucked over by a wind. He was like a little chick, and his throat was held by a incomparably cold hand with clear joints.
