Translator: Larbre Studio
Editor: Larbre Studio
With the Sect’s intel coupled with the various signs occurring around Mount Ba City, it was easy to conclude that the Li family did collude with The Tyrannical Blade Sect. Within the Tyrannical Blade Sect, the Universal Phenomenon Sect had planted their agents. The details regarding the collusion were readily available.
However, the truth behind the Li family’s frequent visits to Mount Ba was still shrouded in mystery. But the issue of entering and exiting Mount Ba was not something the agents could provide aid for. After all, Mount Ba City was a small town under the Universal Phenomenon Sect. Why would the disciples of the Sect sneak into a family within this town directly who was under their charge? That’s using a sledge-hammer on a gnat!
Similarly, agents had been planted by the Ye family and the Bai family. Unfortunately, they were exterminated quickly. Their end was self-evident.
While the crowd mulled over the problem, Lin Qian already knew what the Li family was up to, before he entered the mountains. They were after the Ruins!
In The Land of Martial Souls where Lin Qian now lives, there have been several occurrences of catastrophes causing drastic changes. According to ancient records, the earth had collapsed during these events. The disasters had led to the extinction of many archaic Sects and Guilds.
For this very reason, many relics of ancient ancestral Sects were left around The Land of Martial Souls. The discovery of any ruins, even the smallest, was a great fortune.
In the letter left by Lin Qian’s parents, his Father mentioned the existence of a ruin on Mount Ba. After discovering the ruins, Lin Qian’s Father kept it under wraps. Yet owing to his boredom, he broke through the defensive mechanism within.
Despite his triumphant entry into the ruins, Lin Qian’s Father did not take a single thing away. Instead, he sealed it with the Bloodline Seal.
Quoting Lin Qian’s Father’s, “These playthings do not interest me one bit. Qian’er, should you find yourself bored one day, you can have some fun with the toys inside.”
Thinking of his Father’s words, Lin Qian’s mouth twitched.
Any relic, no matter how small, could command an immediate response from any Soul Practitioner nearby. Most Soul Practitioners craved any of these items manically and would risk their lives to lay their hands on them.
Besides, all the ancient Sect’s Ruins were choke-full of Spiritual Arrays plus defensive mechanisms. When exploring, the Practitioner must be of superior ability and tread with utmost caution. Conventionally, during any exploration of a ruin, enormous groups of Soul Practitioners would be activated. Each group of valiant warriors would take up a part of the work, working in tandem with the others. Yet, his Father, after discovering a ruin, single handedly cracked all the arrays, mechanisms and defences. Moreover, in Lin Qian’s memory, his Father was never injured.
In other words, in search of excitement during his excessive idle and dull time, Lin Qian’ Father tore apart this ruin for entertainment. In the process, not only did he achieve success alone, he made it out unharmed. When facing the treasures that would make the Soul Practitioners go crazy over, he remained indifferent and uninterested. Instead, he left them for his son to toy with.
My goodness, Father and Mother probably had some unimaginable background. I bet their abilities were remarkable and dominating.
As he circulated his Soul Energy, Lin Qian bolted towards the depths of Mount Ba, while his thoughts silently churned. Despite his Soul Energy erupting uncontrollably out of his body, the aura exuding from his body was still feeble. This was the great work of the piece of talisman sticking inside his plain white robe.
This talisman was the exact one that Ye Lin used before!
Having been discovered by the Li Family, Lin Qian had expected to meet guards along his way to the ruins. In a place that was practically a gold mine, it would be no surprise to find a guard or two along the way. Activating this talisman to conceal his presence would potentially half the number of pests he had to deal with along the way.
Consequently, this talisman was seized by Lin Qian from Ye Lin’s hands.
According to the description in his Father’s letter, Lin Qian was quickly approaching the ruins.
Within Mount Ba, countless Soul-Beasts lurked in the depths of the forest. These creatures, like Practitioners, were also able to refine the heaven and earth’s energy into Soul Energy. Surprisingly, as Lin Qian approached the deepest parts of the mountain, the number of soul beasts he met along the way declined. The numbers he met along the way were even countable on his fingers. Owing to the Concealment Talisman’s effects, the venture towards the ruins was a walk in the park.
Sensing the lack of Soul Beasts along the way, Lin Qian smiled gleefully to himself. He had the Li Family to thank for this immense ease. During their exploration, the Li family had cleaned up the soul beasts they met along the way. For their convenience, the Soul Beasts nesting near their pathway had even been exterminated.
Despite the complete lack of obstacles, Lin Qian chose to tone down his speed. He knew he was fast approaching the proximity of the ruins. Nearing the target, the probability of encountering a member of the Li family heightened. Should he advance too quickly, he would be compromising his own reaction time.
“Huh?” Lin Qian, who had been zooming forward, suddenly halted his movement. Swiftly, he hid his body slowly behind a thick trunk, squatting in tall grass, half his height.
Condensing Soul Energy onto his pupils, Lin Qian’s eyes glimmered brightly as his vision substantially enhanced. As his gaze pierced through the gaps in the grass, he could easily see the situation from a hundred yards away.
In the distance, at a valley’s entrance, two muscular and tall Soul Practitioners stood, guarding the entrance.
This valley was isolated from Mount Ba City. Finding anyone in such a remote, uninhabited area was rare and suspicious. This could only mean one thing. This valley was of utmost importance to the Li Family. What was within the valley? Without a doubt, it had to be the ruins.
Furthermore, in Lin Qian’s Father’s letter, it was precisely this valley as well.
On the valley’s two sides, a steep slope extended. On each of the sides, several towering ancient trees grew, densely packed together. Towering over the valley, their combined humongous canopy covered the surroundings in its large shadow. Should any laymen see this sight, they would follow their first instinct, going around the slope, before entering the canyon.
However, with his eagle eyes, Lin Qian clearly saw the damages on some tree trunks along the slopes. This was damage from external forces.
“Seems like there are also some guards hidden within the ancient treetops.” Inspecting the canopy, Lin Qian thought silently, weighing the various options that he had. From the shape of the cracks on the bark of the trunk, it was clearly caused by the emittance of a Soul Practitioner’s Soul Energy. If anyone was stupid enough to try and go around the hill, they would have been discovered in no time.
Alas, throughout the entire valley, there was only this one entrance.
What am I gonna do? From the looks of it, it’s impossible to enter and remain undetected by the guards…
Thankfully, the message left by Lin Qian’s Father provided a glimmer of hope. In the letter, a separate method to enter this valley was indicated.
More precisely, the method mentioned by Lin Qian’s Father was not found near the valley at all. The technique was discovered by Lin Qian as he traced a path along the direction the number of soul beasts was declining.
Following his retreat along the original pathway, Lin Qian detoured to a side of the valley.
Looking up at the valley’s side, a colossal cliff stretched till it was unimaginably far away. On both sides of the valley, there were towering vertical cliffs. With Lin Qian’s cultivation, it was, indeed, not too difficult to scale over them to the other side. However, the Li family would have thought so as well, positioning countless lookouts along the length of the valley.
Nevertheless, Lin Qian’s face broke into a cunning smile. His gaze landed on a giant boulder at the foot of the cliff. The boulder was mammoth, more than three zhang in height and around two zhang in width. It was comparable to the size of a little cottage.
“Hoo!” Standing in front of the boulder, Lin Qian took a long deep breath, closing his eyes and collecting his attention. Along with his breath, his palms gleamed as his soul energy condensed on his hands. The moment his gaze flew open, he slammed into the boulder in front of him.
BAM!
The sturdy bolder in front of him was like soft tofu. At the moment, Lin Qian’s forearm to his elbows were buried entirely in the boulder.
Immediately, Lin Qian set his Soul Energy churning vivaciously. Feeling infinite power surging through in his body, his arms were swelling with strength. The next moment, an implausible sight occurred. Lin Qian picked up the boulder the size of a house, lifted by brute force.
Not just that, after lifting the boulder, Lin Qian was not flustered or strained a single bit. As if it was completely normal, he held the rock effortlessly and turned around.
Having evicted the boulder, a deep hole took its place
Bending over the hole, Lin Qian looked down, scrutinizing the contents within. Beyond the entrance, he saw that the opening of the cave was two zhang high and one zhang wide. With the sunlight trickling in, he inspected the interior of the cave. From the first looks, the structure within the cavern was round, and the walls smooth.
Subsequently, Lin Qian brought the boulder towards the hole. Stepping back towards the cave, he descended bit by bit into the pit, until the rock hit the cliff. Gently lowering it, he obstructed the entrance, sealing himself in the cave.
Within the cave, Lin Qian withdrew his arms and patted the dust off his shoulders. Having relaxed his shoulders and arms, Lin Qian ventured deeper inside. Activating his cultivation method, he pushed his Soul Energy to its limit. Quickly, a white and clean aura materialized and surrounded Lin Qian’s body. With the warm glow, it illuminated the whole cave.
“Obviously, this cave is man-made. Probably, made in one shot too.” Looking around the cavern, Lin Qian scrutinized his surroundings. While looking around, his mind could not help but come up with a peculiar scene. A tyrannical Soul Practitioner violently shooting a spear out like a dragon. As it streaked through the air, thick and dense Soul Energy spiralled around the spear, crashing together directly onto the valley. In one clean motion, it penetrated the walls quickly.
It was then, a childhood memory flashed back vividly in Lin Qian’s mind. The fluid motions of a wooden spear, a tall man gracefully sweeping it through the air. It was a memory of his Father’s expert handling of the wooden spear. Unfortunately, the spear had disappeared one day. As his thoughts brewed in his mind, Lin Qian’ eyes suddenly caught a glimpse of a familiar object on the ground. It was a broken, wooden rod. For some reason, Lin Qian felt an unexplainable connection to that rod.
The wooden rod was not very lengthy, just as long as the forearm. Its front half was wholly destroyed and shattered.
Swallowing his saliva, his gaze shifted onto the end of the rod. A single character, Qian, stared back into his eyes.
“I knew it… It’s the same wooden spear Father executed his martial arts with in the past…” Seeing this character, all of Lin Qian’s doubts were immediately vanquished. This rod, it had to be his Father’s spear.
After all, the Qian character was personally engraved by Lin Qian as a child. He did it out of boredom at that time. But now, seeing his own work in this cavern, Lin Qian could be sure that this tunnel through the valley was the work of his Father. Not only that, he punched a hole through the mountains with just a wooden spear.
“Father, just how powerful are you?” Flinging the rod onto the ground, Lin Qian continued to walk further while shaking his head in disbelief.
Having witnessed his Father’s overwhelming abilities, Li Qian was dying in his heart, wanting to know the true extent of his Father’s abilities and of course, his true identity.
Initially, his mysterious Martial Soul had not surfaced in his body, and Lin Qian had yet to begin his cultivation. At that time, Lin Qian was oblivious to how strong his parents were.
As his past memories were recalled one by one, Lin Qian could appreciate in retrospect. Having understood them better, his heart balled into a tight bundle. His parents in this life were unfathomable.
As Lin Qian mulled over his complex emotions, his face suddenly froze. In the direction which his Father struck, a bright streak of light shone through!
According to his Father’s letter, there was a cave on the side of the valley. However, both of its ends were blocked by megaliths. How could there be a light shining inside here?
“Did the Li family discover the existence of this cave?” Lin Qian warily thought through various possibilities. Gathering Soul Energy onto his pupils, he inspected the area at the front of the cavern.
Surprisingly, he only saw an empty valley. Not a single soul was to be seen, not even a guard was positioned at the entrance of the cave.
Besides, no waves or fluctuations of Soul Energy radiated from there. Very clearly, no Soul Practitioners were within. Still, he adhered to the idea of being cautious with every step. Lin Qian suppressed his Soul Energy back into his body but was continually maintaining a state of preparedness at all times.
Gripping onto the Concealment Talisman, he pumped in the maximum Soul Energy, camouflaging into the surroundings as much as possible. Having taken all the precautions, he tread out of the cave.
Leaving the exit, the sight of an azure blue lake sparkling gorgeously under the warm sunlight met his eyes. On the left side, the roar of a crashing waterfall slamming into the lake echoed in his ears. Lin Qian’s eyes lit up as the tranquil scenery relaxed his tense mind.
“Am I overthinking?” Lin Qian’s brows puckered slightly, muttering to himself.
At this moment, Lin Qian’s instincts blared aloud. Every hair on his body sprang upright, as he swiftly ducked down, rolling into a corner without hesitation.