“Chen’er, don’t act rashly!” Lin Zhan quickly tried to stop him, “Even if you can’t cultivate, I will still protect you!”
Lin Chen looked at his father with gratitude, then slowly shook his head. “Father, I’ve already made up my mind.”
Lin Xu and Lin Hu were stunned at first, disbelief filling their eyes.
Then, joy erupted instantly.
Lin Hu burst into arrogant laughter, “Lin Chen, have you lost your mind? You’re just a cripple, yet you want a life-and-death battle with me? I could crush you with one hand!”
He had seen that punch clearly just now.
At most, Lin Chen’s strength was comparable to a 3rd stage Spirit Realm cultivator, relying purely on physical power.
But he was at the 7th stage Spirit Realm.
The gap between them was like a chasm, impossible to cross.
“Whether I’m a cripple or not, you’ll know after we fight,” Lin Chen said as he stared at him, “or are you afraid?”
“What would I be afraid of!” Lin Hu slammed the table and stood up, thoroughly enraged. “Since you want to die, I’ll grant your wish!”
Lin Chen said coldly, “Good. Half a month from now, at the family training ground, a life-and-death battle.”
The moment his words fell, everyone stared at him in shock as murmurs spread.
“Has the heir lost his mind?”
“He may have injured Lin Song, but there’s no way he can recover enough in just half a month to stand against Lin Hu!”
“Lin Hu is a 7th stage Spirit Realm cultivator!”
“Could it be… he plans to defy fate within these fifteen days?”
…
Lin Xu and Lin Hu looked at Lin Chen, smiles of scheming success spreading across their faces.
This life-and-death battle had been proposed by Lin Chen himself. It was exactly what they wanted.
As long as they waited half a month, they could eliminate Lin Chen openly and seize everything that belonged to him.
“You still have half a month. Cherish it well,” Lin Xu said with a grin.
Lin Chen sneered, “When the time comes, don’t go mad when the old bury the young.”
“You… just wait for your death!” Lin Xu glared at him, then glanced at Lin Zhan before flicking his sleeve and leaving.
For now, Lin Zhan was still the patriarch and a 9th stage Master Realm expert. Even injured, he could still fight to the death. Lin Xu didn’t dare force the issue yet.
Half a month. That was all it would take.
The clan hall gradually emptied.
“Chen’er,” Lin Zhan called out.
“Father.”
Lin Chen turned to look at him.
The man before him was no longer the Lin Family’s strongest expert. Severely injured, his aura was weak, and strands of white had appeared in his hair.
Guilt stirred in Lin Chen’s heart.
If Zhao Wanling hadn’t betrayed him, none of this would have happened.
Zhao Wanling. Li Qingyun.
They both had to die.
“The life-and-death battle between you and Lin Hu…” Lin Zhan sighed.
“Father, don’t worry. I’m confident,” Lin Chen said, giving him a reassuring look.
Once he condensed the spiritual seed and stepped back onto the path of cultivation, with the Chaos Devouring Heaven Art and the Chaos Pearl, he could absolutely reach the 7th stage Spirit Realm within half a month and win the battle.
Inside the Chaos Pearl, time flowed differently.
One hundred days inside equaled one day outside.
Half a month outside meant 1,500 days inside.
Killing Lin Hu would be no harder than slaughtering a chicken.
Lin Zhan looked at Lin Chen’s resolute expression and sighed inwardly. He raised his hand and patted his shoulder. In the end, all his thoughts condensed into a single sentence, “I believe in you.”
Warmth surged through Lin Chen’s heart. Then he asked, “Father, who was the mysterious person who injured you?”
Back when Zhao Wanling and Li Qingyun had stripped away his spiritual root, there had been another person present.
It was that mysterious individual who had severely injured Lin Zhan.
Lin Zhan shook his head. “I didn’t see his face clearly, but he should be around your age.”
Lin Chen’s pupils shrank.
His father was at the 9th stage Master Realm. Yet someone of a similar age had managed to seriously injure him?
Who exactly was that person?
When the time came, before killing Zhao Wanling and Li Qingyun, he would make them explain everything.
That mysterious person had to die as well.
A surge of killing intent flashed through Lin Chen’s eyes, but it vanished just as quickly, buried deep within.
He left the clan hall, walked out of the Lin Family, and headed toward the marketplace of Luoyun City.
The marketplace was a chaotic mix of all sorts.
It wasn’t just the Lin, Zhao, and Wu Families who had businesses there, but also various sects and merchant associations.
After a round through the market, Lin Chen gathered all five required spiritual herbs, five sets in total.
Then he went to the pill pavilion and purchased a medicinal cauldron before returning to the Lin Family courtyard to begin refining.
This was the key to his return to cultivation.
Soon, Lin Chen sealed the courtyard gate, entered the chaotic space, and set up the cauldron.
But he was not alone in that space.
There was also the supreme figure of the Heavenly Realm’s Primordial Sacred Clan.
The Moon Emperor, Xia Qingyue.
Dressed in red, Xia Qingyue watched as Lin Chen prepared the cauldron. A trace of surprise flashed in her eyes.
This boy acted quickly. Once he decided something, he did it immediately.
Suddenly, Lin Chen looked at her, his gaze complicated as he said, “Lend me your spiritual flame.”
To refine the medicinal liquid, spiritual herbs and a cauldron alone were not enough.
Fire was needed. Not ordinary fire, but spiritual fire.
Only a flame condensed from spiritual energy could melt the herbs into liquid.
Xia Qingyue crossed her arms, looking at Lin Chen with a playful gaze as she sneered, “Who gave you the courage to speak to me like that?”
Lin Chen glanced at her calmly. “Will you lend it or not?”
She replied coldly, “No.”
“No?” Lin Chen smiled. “Then we’ll just wait to die together.”
Hearing this, Xia Qingyue’s expression shifted slightly. “How dare you curse me!”
As her voice fell, a terrifying pressure erupted instantly, pinning Lin Chen in place, unable to move.
His life seemed to rest on her whim.
Yet Lin Chen showed no fear. Instead, he smiled.
“A curse? Isn’t it the truth?”
Xia Qingyue’s lashes trembled slightly as her expression darkened. “Do you believe I won’t kill you right now?”
“Go ahead. I’ll take you with me,” Lin Chen said, his eyes filled with fearless resolve, as if he truly intended to drag her down with him.
Xia Qingyue looked at him with a cold, superior gaze. She stared for a long moment, yet did not act.
Lin Chen continued, “I know you’re someone important. But you’ve fallen to this state, and you’re still forcibly drawing my vital essence. I’m guessing you have no choice, like being poisoned by something incurable.”
“You’re courting death!”
Having been exposed, Xia Qingyue flicked her sleeve, sending Lin Chen flying.
Like an arrow released from a bow, he shot across the chaotic space. His blood surged violently within him.
“Hahaha…”
He crashed heavily to the ground, yet let out a cold laugh.
That beautiful woman in red had been angered, yet she hadn’t killed him.
That meant he was right.
To outsiders, he was already a cripple after losing his spiritual root. Yet this woman still forced herself upon him, making him her furnace.
Was it some twisted preference?
Impossible.
He had clearly seen the proof of her first time.
With her beauty and power, countless men would willingly offer themselves as her furnace. Why choose him?
There was only one answer.
She was poisoned, and in her desperation, she needed him to suppress it.
After their first dual cultivation, she still forced him to reach the Master Realm within three months for a second time.
That meant the poison had not been cured.
Most likely, only by dual cultivating with him could she suppress it. Otherwise, with her personality, he would have already been crushed to dust after the first time.