In the secret room, Lin Huang’s curiosity deepened. What exactly was inside the nine squares that caused the Celestial Asura to react so intensely, like a lamb bleating for food?
"Elder Sunn, you may leave first. I want to take another look," Lin Huang said.
With that, he stepped into the Nine Palace Array. Watching the countless dazzling beams of light operating in an arcane rhythm, he slowly closed his eyes. He wasn’t an Array Master, but in his past life, Qin Xuance had inadvertently mentioned how to unravel the Nine Palace Bagua Formation. As his Divine Sense merged into the Nine Palace Array, he recalled the steps to break it.
Inside the array, Lin Huang moved his feet slowly based on his memories, taking every step with extreme caution. If he made a single mistake, the Nine Palace Array would turn into a killing array. Below the Celestial Element Realm, no one would be able to escape death!
Shuffling forward step by step, a fine layer of sweat appeared on his forehead. His nerves were stretched to the absolute limit—he had just narrowly avoided making a wrong step. For a full hour, Lin Huang took one hundred and seventy-two steps and turned sixty-one times within the array. His entire body was drenched in sweat.
"This is... the Celestial Spirit Beidou footwork, walked forwards and backwards eighty-one times each!"
Recalling the trajectory he had just taken, a flash of enlightenment suddenly arose in Lin Huang’s mind. A smile crept onto his lips, and his pace hastened accordingly. Now that he knew the trick, breaking the Nine Palace Array was simple.
Following Lin Huang’s movements, the once orderly array began to halt. The flickering beams of light dimmed one by one before disappearing completely without a trace.
BOOM!
The moment the array completely stopped and was broken by Lin Huang, radiant light surged within the secret room. Waves of powerful pressure swept out, rolling over the entire Great Xia Dynasty like a turbulent tide.
In the dead of night, Lin Beichen jolted awake.
The Emperor of Great Xia raised his eyes, gazing in the direction of the Divine General’s Mansion.
The Martial Artists in the Imperial City all rose to their feet and looked toward the Divine General’s Mansion with grave expressions. "What a powerful aura!"
Meanwhile, in the Qinglong Mountain Range outside the Imperial City, a middle-aged man studying a Spring Palace Painting under the moonlight frowned. Staring at the brightly lit Great Xia Imperial City, a thoughtful expression appeared on his weather-beaten face.
Back in the secret room, the instigator, Lin Huang, was utterly stunned. He stared at the longan-sized, golden-glowing Buddhist bead suspended in mid-air after the Nine Palace Array was broken.
This was... the second Buddha God’s Relic?!
"Legend has it that there is more than one Buddha God’s Relic. It seems to be true," Lin Huang muttered to himself, gazing at the scene before him.
Countless rumors about the Buddha God’s Relics circulated across the Azure Sky Continent, yet no one knew exactly how many there were. It was only known that the power contained within each Relic was entirely different. Nor did anyone know what kind of changes would occur when a person possessed multiple Buddha God’s Relics.
At this thought, Lin Huang stared at the Buddha God’s Relic in front of him and swallowed excitedly. He extended his fair hand toward the Relic.
BUZZ!
As if sensing a foreign power, the Buddha God’s Relic emitted a Buddhist chant and buzzed, about to fly away. Lin Huang frowned. His figure darted forward, chasing after the Relic.
At the same time, the Celestial Asura inside Lin Huang’s body also underwent a change. The Martial Soul flickered with streaks of blood-red light, forming a terrifying vortex in his Profound Sea. A powerful devouring force rippled outward, traveling along Lin Huang’s meridians to his palm and reaching toward the Buddha God’s Relic.
The tyrannical devouring power swept out!
In merely a moment, suppressed by the power of the Celestial Asura within Lin Huang’s body, the Buddha God’s Relic struggled fiercely a few times before it surprisingly began to calm down.
BUZZ!
When the Buddha God’s Relic no longer had the strength to struggle, it hummed and turned into a searing stream of golden light. It flowed along Lin Huang’s hands and plunged straight into his Profound Sea.
In an instant, the Profound Sea trembled!
Under the Celestial Asura’s tyrannical power, the Buddha God’s Relic was like a helpless maiden. The golden Sanskrit characters surrounding the Relic acted as her clothes, ruthlessly stripped away by the Celestial Asura. They were finally torn to shreds, transforming into golden text that flew toward the barriers of the Profound Sea and merged into them.
Then, with a shrill screech, the Relic was directly shattered, and an Asura figure subsequently appeared.
The moment the Asura figure appeared, the devouring force emitted by the Celestial Asura suddenly turned frantic, turning the entire Profound Sea into a vortex. The sheer tearing force was incredibly violent, directly yanking the Asura figure into its body.
The two Asura figures began to merge.
As the Profound Sea fluctuated and the two Asuras fused, a distinct aura rippled out. Feeling the changes in his Profound Sea, Lin Huang first furrowed his brow, then relaxed, and finally, his expression shifted into one of unparalleled astonishment and ecstasy.
"Is this... Martial Soul evolution?!"
Lin Huang never would have imagined that the Celestial Asura Martial Soul would evolve in such a manner. He had hypothesized many possibilities for his Martial Soul to grow stronger, but this was the only one he hadn’t considered.
Following that, Lin Huang entered a state of Cultivation.
When Lin Beichen arrived, he only felt that the entire secret room was suffused with a bone-chilling killing intent—frantic and unbridled. Even Lin Beichen, the Great Xia War God who had slaughtered thousands, felt particularly alarmed.
"What kind of Martial Soul is this? To possess such intense killing intent! I have traversed battlefields my entire life, yet I have never experienced this sensation of being at death’s door!"
Sensing the killing intent in the secret room, Lin Beichen thought in shock, "It is clearly only at the Lower Grade of Yellow Tier, yet it makes the Upper Grade of Yellow Tier Martial Soul inside my body afraid to even lift its head, forcing it to submit beneath its pressure!"
After a long while, the surging Primordial Qi in Lin Huang’s Profound Sea finally calmed down. The Celestial Asura within his body also revealed its evolved appearance.
The Celestial Asura seemed a bit better-looking than before its evolution, but its face still exuded a fierce malevolence. Even with its eyes closed, it possessed a Dominance that looked down upon the world. However, the biggest difference from before was that the Asura Martial Soul had sprouted two extra arms.
A four-armed Celestial Asura!
Lin Huang could feel that the Celestial Asura, now with two extra arms, seemed much stronger than before. It was just like ordinary people fighting—two hands were no match for four arms.
Sensing the Tier of his Martial Soul, Lin Huang frowned. His expression was inexplicably strange, caught between wanting to laugh and holding it back, wanting to cry in misery yet unable to shed a tear. He was both happy and bitter!
Upper Grade of Yellow Tier!
The fact that his Martial Soul could evolve was naturally a joyous occasion. However, the difficulty of this evolution was simply too great—it required devouring another identical Buddha God’s Relic. But how could such a thing be found just by asking for it?
According to Lin Huang’s knowledge, the Buddha God’s Relics had only appeared three times in the past ten thousand years. The most recent occurrence was a millennium ago, when it appeared in the hands of the Demon Sect’s Sect Leader, Tuoba Fu. Moreover, even if one were found, obtaining it would be fraught with difficulties.
One had to know that for the sake of a single Buddha God’s Relic, Liu Cangsheng had hunted him down for ten years. There probably wasn’t a single Martial Artist who wouldn’t be tempted by a Buddha God’s Relic.
This was exactly the source of Lin Huang’s bitterness. He couldn’t afford to feed it!
"Grandpa, I accidentally took the item inside here just now..." Lin Huang stood up, his face full of apology.
"It’s fine. If it weren’t for the commotion you caused today, Grandpa would have truly forgotten about this Buddhist bead," Lin Beichen smiled amiably. "Since it is useful to you, Grandpa is nothing but happy."
Lin Huang scratched his head and then asked probing, "I heard from Elder Sunn that this item was left behind by Lin Changtian?"
"What do you mean ’Lin Changtian’? That is your father!" Lin Beichen scolded with a laugh. "Even though he hasn’t returned all these years, blood is thicker than water. Your father is not a heartless man. Even after being away for so many years, Grandpa believes he must have his reasons."
Lin Huang frowned slightly, paying no mind to Lin Beichen’s defense. Instead, he was curious about what kind of person Lin Changtian really was.
He had left the East Spirit Realm at the age of twenty and was gone for seven years. He did return once after those seven years, which was to bring Lin Cangxue and himself back to the Divine General’s Mansion, as well as to seal the Buddha God’s Relic in their family’s secret room. He wondered if his father didn’t know this was a Buddha God’s Relic, or if he knew but had deliberately done so anyway.
After that incident, Lin Changtian departed once again. This time, he was gone for sixteen years. For sixteen years, there had been no news of him, showing absolute disregard for his own father and children. The ridiculous part was that Lin Huang had never even seen what his parents looked like. As for his sister Lin Cangxue, she probably only had a vague impression as well.
Seeing Lin Huang’s silent expression, Lin Beichen sighed inwardly, "No matter how much I care for Xiaohuang, he still lacks the love of his parents. And that little girl Cangxue—even if she doesn’t say it out loud, she must be filled with complicated feelings."
"Let’s not talk about your father anymore. When that little brat returns one day, Grandpa will back you up and teach him a lesson," Lin Beichen laughed heartily, easing the stagnant atmosphere in the room.
"Mhm!" Lin Huang smiled and nodded.
Looking at Lin Beichen’s greying temples, he also understood in his heart that this Great Xia War God, who had once fought across mountains and rivers, probably only had one greatest wish left in his remaining years: to see his son again. Although Lin Beichen had never spoken of it in front of Lin Huang, how could he not see a father’s longing for his son?
Lin Changtian had been gone for over a decade, yet the small courtyard he used to live in remained spotless, kept exactly as it was when he left. Sometimes, Lin Huang would even see Lin Beichen sitting under the old locust tree in that courtyard, his solitary figure staring blankly into space for an entire night.
"You’d better still be alive, because no matter what, I am going to drag you back to the Divine General’s Mansion!" Lin Huang clenched his fists and swore to himself.
Afterward, the grandfather and grandson walked side by side out of the secret room, chatting as they went. They talked about many things: the life-and-death battle with Crown Prince Lingyun a year from now, Lin Cangxue’s current situation in Piaoxue Palace, the present political climate of the Great Xia Dynasty, the upcoming selection of the Four Sects...
Faced with Lin Beichen’s worries, encouragement, and concern, Lin Huang responded to each one, only hoping to set his grandfather’s mind at ease.
"Xiaohuang, you have already passed your sixteenth birthday coming-of-age ceremony. Do you have any thoughts about taking a master? You should know that on the Azure Sky Continent, it is very shameful for a person cultivating Martial Arts to not have a master. It just goes to show that your aptitude is poor!" As they chatted, Lin Beichen suddenly spoke with a serious expression.
"Take a master?" Lin Huang’s heart stirred, and he turned to look at Lin Beichen.
In his previous life, in order to be with Jun Qingcheng, Lin Huang had traveled the lands for ten years. He had tried multiple times to take an expert as his master, hoping to receive guidance to make his path in Martial Arts smoother. But everyone disdained him for his poor aptitude and absolute lack of background. They were not even willing to take him in as a Registered Disciple.
Over time, Lin Huang’s desire to find a master faded. Ultimately, the path of Martial Arts relied on oneself. Being taken in by a famous master was certainly fortunate, but what did it matter if no one took a liking to him?
Lin Huang looked up, smiling at Lin Beichen, and said, "Grandpa, just tell me straight. Who is this master you found for me?"