55: Lin Xuan joins the patrol team

Liu Ruyan led her team and sprinted all the way from the western sand sea back to Qingyan City.

Upon entering the city gates, the tense atmosphere finally eased, and each of them was as exhausted as a dead dog, but besides fatigue, their faces showed more of a ghost-like shock and the relief of surviving a catastrophe.

"Captain, what exactly happened just now?" a team member asked, still feeling a lingering fear and with his legs still cramping.

"That wind was too bizarre! The bugs were like piles of sand, they just disappeared with a gust? Even those big beetles shattered?"

Liu Ruyan's brows furrowed into a knot, her expression so solemn it looked like water could drip from it.

She subconsciously touched the jade box at her waist, which contained the core of the Bug General; it was icy cold to the touch, and the lingering evil aura made her heart pound.

"Don't ask! This matter is to be buried! No one is allowed to say a single word about it! Just pretend we were lucky and a sandstorm swept the bugs away!" she issued a strict order.

Such a level of coincidence was terrifying to think about, and spreading it might invite unknown trouble.

The team members exchanged glances, and although they were full of questions, seeing Captain Liu's pale face and serious eyes, they all wisely kept silent.

Anyway, their lives were saved, so who cared if it was a god of wind or a ghost!

Liu Ruyan sent her people to heal and turn in their mission, while she, clutching the hot potato that was the Bug General's core, walked towards the City Lord's Mansion, deep in thought.

Halfway there, she saw Lin Xuan, chewing on a blade of grass, carrying his broken iron sword on his back, leisurely strolling from the direction of his small, shabby courtyard, looking as if time stood still and he knew nothing, completely at ease.

"Oh! Captain Liu! You're back?" Lin Xuan enthusiastically greeted her from afar, his smile genuinely harmless.

"You look dusty; I hope the mission went smoothly?"

Liu Ruyan looked at his handsome, harmless face, then thought of the eerie wind in the sand sea, and felt a strange unease in her heart.

The timing was too coincidental, wasn't it?

But she immediately shook off this absurd thought.

Impossible!

How could an early-stage True Immortal who had just ascended have such ability?

She must have been overthinking it; it was probably just dumb luck.

"It, it was alright," Liu Ruyan said vaguely, not wanting to dwell on the strange incident.

She then looked at Lin Xuan, "Daoist Lin, you're adapting quite well?"

"Not bad, not bad!" Lin Xuan patted the broken iron sword on his back.

"I bought a weapon, so I feel more secure.

It's just that there doesn't seem to be much work I can do in this city?

I can't just wander around aimlessly every day, can I?"

He opportunely showed a look of seeking refuge.

Liu Ruyan was just worrying about the team's significant losses this time; although no one died, equipment damage and immortal power exhaustion were severe, and they needed to recruit new members.

Although Lin Xuan looked like a rookie, he was at least a True Immortal, better than a Void Refinement stage cultivator.

Moreover, this person seemed pleasant, a hundred times better than Zhao Yuanhao.

"Daoist Lin, if you don't mind, how about joining our patrol team?" Liu Ruyan extended an invitation.

"We just happen to be short-handed.

Although the missions are tough and dangerous, you won't be short-changed in terms of merit and resource allocation."

"Really?" Lin Xuan's eyes lit up, and he immediately patted his chest, guaranteeing, "No complaints, no complaints!

It's my honor to work with Captain Liu!

I promise to obey orders and go wherever I'm directed!"

His expression was like a new recruit who had found his organization.

Thus, Lin Xuan, this novice True Immortal, successfully infiltrated Liu Ruyan's team and became a member of the Qingyan City front-line patrol.

Every day, he followed the team around the edge of the Flowing Fire Desert, clearing out scattered sand beasts, driving away small groups of insect scouts, and occasionally venturing into dangerous areas to collect special ores or medicinal herbs.

Lin Xuan played his role with utmost dedication!

Killing a few sand beasts?

He would be out of breath, his swordsmanship terrible, relying entirely on teammates for the finishing blow.

Encountering a small wave of locusts?

He would be flustered, wildly swinging his broken iron sword, narrowly escaping danger several times, all thanks to Liu Ruyan's timely rescue.

Collecting ores?

Clumsy and awkward, almost collapsing the ore vein.

The team members, who initially doubted if a True Immortal could be this weak, gradually came to accept him, thinking, 'Although he's a bit weak, he's a decent and honest person.'

Liu Ruyan often helplessly guided him on some basic combat techniques and immortal power usage, and her lingering doubts about the eerie wind in the sand sea were long dispelled by Lin Xuan's honest, rookie performance.

As for Lin Xuan?

He enjoyed it immensely.

While slacking off, he observed the true situation of the immortal realm's front line.

Resources were scarce, battles were frequent, and pressure was immense, but grassroots cultivators like Liu Ruyan's team were still persevering.

This further solidified his idea of recruiting Captain Liu to the Star Palace.

Just as Lin Xuan was happily experiencing life in Qingyan City...

In the distant Small Immortal Realm, at the former site of the Heavenly Court.

Emperor Qinglan sat on his newly polished chair, which still exuded the humble air of an outdated Heavenly Emperor, holding a secret letter that had just arrived, sealed with a special encrypted jade talisman.

Below him, a person stood respectfully, his trusted subordinate whom he had sent out for a secret investigation.

"You found out?" Emperor Qinglan's voice betrayed no emotion.

"Reporting to Emperor, I found out!" The confidant replied respectfully, with a hint of gravity in his tone.

"The ones who captured Princess Feng Qiqi in the Divine Phoenix Realm back then, and later pursued Princess Huang Yan, were indeed people from the Divine Phoenix Pavilion of the Small Immortal Realm!

It was the Divine Phoenix Pavilion Master Lie Yang who personally gave the order!

They coveted the pure Divine Phoenix bloodline within Princess Feng Qiqi and Princess Huang Yan, intending to strip it with a secret method and integrate it into themselves, attempting to break through the bloodline shackles!"

Emperor Qinglan's fingers tapped lightly on the armrest of the jade chair, making a dull sound.

Before his eyes, the tragedy in the Divine Phoenix Realm from back then seemed to reappear.

Feng Qiqi, covered in blood, Huang Yan desperately fleeing under the protection of her guards, and then the overbearing scene of Lin Xuan, that fiend, descending from the sky, saving Huang Yan, then invading the Divine Phoenix Realm and pulling the little phoenix out of the dungeon...

"Lie Yang, humph, he deserved to die!" Emperor Qinglan snorted coldly.

That fellow was slapped into ashes by Lin Xuan, his soul scattered, which was a cheap escape for him.

"What about his descendants? And the henchmen who participated in this matter back then?"

"Lie Yang's direct bloodline was mostly purged by Temple Master Lin back then.

But there are still a few collateral branches, as well as the descendants of several Divine Phoenix Pavilion elders and deacons who were responsible for the arrests back then, living incognito, hidden in some remote corners of the lower realms," the confidant reported.

"The list and their hiding places are all in the secret letter.

Emperor, should we follow the old rule and cut the grass by the roots?" He made a gesture of slitting a throat.

Emperor Qinglan was silent for a moment.

If it were before, he might have unhesitatingly ordered a purge.

But ever since he followed Lin Xuan, ahem, ever since he cooperated with the All Heavens Star Palace, he found that he seemed to have become a bit soft-hearted?

Mainly, that Lin Xuan fellow was too protective of his own, and his style of doing things was quite unique.

He picked up the secret letter, his finger tapping on the names of Feng Qiqi and Huang Yan.

"This matter, in the end, is a debt the Divine Phoenix Pavilion owes them," Emperor Qinglan slowly began, a complex glint in his eyes.

"That girl Huang Yan is now with Temple Master Lin; her identity is a bit special.

Feng Qiqi is even Temple Master Lin's direct disciple.

Let them settle this grudge themselves."

He stood up and handed the secret letter to his confidant: "Give this list, and the hiding places of those evildoers, intact, to Huang Yan and Feng Qiqi.

Tell them that these are the remnants of the Divine Phoenix Pavilion who participated in harming their parents and pursuing them back then.

How to deal with them is up to them to decide.

We will not interfere."

"Yes!" The confidant accepted the order, took the secret letter, and with a flicker of his figure, disappeared.

Emperor Qinglan walked to the window, looking at the bustling cultivators outside who were preparing to go to Tianyuan to work or to explore new areas for wealth through the spatialaisle, and let out a long sigh.

"Lie Yang, oh Lie Yang, the evil you committed back then, may your descendants seek their own blessings.

Falling into the hands of Temple Master Lin's precious disciple..." He shook his head, not continuing.

Anyway, the outcome was bound to be spectacular.

All Heavens Star Palace headquarters, Burial King City.

The Merit Hall was still bustling with people.

Huang Yan was buried in a pile of account books, her abacus flying.

She was a very busy person now, managing the entire palace's logistics lifeline, holding great power; even some elders respectfully called her Manager Huang.

Suddenly, a communication jade talisman appeared silently on the desk in front of her.

Huang Yan was startled and picked up the jade talisman.

Was it sent by Emperor Qinglan's side?

She injected a trace of immortal power to read the information.

When she saw the content, the focus and competence on her face instantly vanished, replaced by an uncontrollable, icy killing intent!

Her fingers, clutching the jade talisman, turned white from the force!

A list!

A list of Divine Phoenix Pavilion remnants!

And the hiding places of the descendants of those who participated in pursuing her, killed her parents, and almost killed her and little Qi Qi back then!

"Lie Yang, Divine Phoenix Pavilion..." Huang Yan's voice was like the cold ice of the Nine Nether, squeezing out a few words through gritted teeth.

The memories of blood feud, which she had deliberately sealed and buried deep in her heart, erupted like a volcano!

Her parents' figures falling in a pool of blood, her own despair of being hunted, and little Qi Qi's cries in her swaddling clothes...

Scene after scene, as clear as yesterday!

Just then, a scorching aura emanated from outside the door.

Feng Qiqi bounced in, her small face flushed, filled with excitement: "Sister Huang Yan! Look!

I just roasted this Golden Armored Beetle King leg with Chaos Nirvana Fire!

It's so fragrant! I brought you one!"

In her hand, she held a giant insect leg, thicker than her arm, roasted golden brown and dripping with oil, emitting an enticing aroma.

As she handed over the insect leg, she keenly sensed the extreme, suppressed icy killing intent emanating from Huang Yan, and the ominous jade talisman on the table.

"Sister?" Feng Qiqi's smile froze, her golden pupils looking at Huang Yan.

"What's wrong?

Who made you unhappy?

Tell me, I'll burn him!"

The little phoenix was now a late-stage Integration Realm expert; once the Chaos Nirvana Fire was unleashed, even Void Refinement level Asuras couldn't withstand it.

Huang Yan took a deep breath, forcibly suppressed the surging killing intent, and handed the jade talisman to Feng Qiqi, her voice trembling imperceptibly: "Qi Qi, look at this."

Feng Qiqi took the jade talisman doubtfully and scanned it with her divine sense.

Instantly, the innocent cheerfulness on her face vanished without a trace!

A wave of fiery aura, far more violent and terrifying than Huang Yan's, erupted!

The temperature of the entire Merit Hall suddenly soared!

The jade slips on the counter groaned under the unbearable heat!

"Divine, Phoenix, Pavilion!" Feng Qiqi enunciated each word, her golden pupils instantly filled with crimson-gold flames!

The insect leg in her hand sizzled and was burned to ashes by the uncontrolled Chaos Nirvana Fire!

The cold darkness of the Divine Phoenix Realm's dungeon, the tragic sight of her Imperial Father and Mother being besieged to death, were branded deep into her soul like an imprint!

This hatred had never disappeared!

"Sister," Feng Qiqi looked up at Huang Yan, the flames in her eyes burning fiercely, yet her voice was unusually calm, "Give me the list."

Huang Yan looked at the all-consuming flames in Feng Qiqi's eyes, and her last trace of hesitation vanished.

She copied the detailed list and coordinate information and handed it to Feng Qiqi.

"Qi Qi, are you going?" Huang Yan asked.

"Yes," Feng Qiqi nodded heavily, her small face filled with an icy killing intent unfitting for her age.

"The revenge for Imperial Father and Mother, our revenge, it's time to settle it.

I will collect this debt with my own hands!"

"I'll go with you!" Huang Yan said without hesitation.

Although she was mainly in charge of logistics, her cultivation had also reached the late-stage Soul Transformation Realm due to resource accumulation and Lin Xuan's occasional guidance.

This blood feud was equally etched into her heart!

"Good!" Flames danced in Feng Qiqi's eyes.

She looked out of the Merit Hall, at the surging demonic mist above Burial King City, as if she saw the names on the list that were about to turn to ashes.

"Heaven Splitting!" Feng Qiqi called out in a clear voice.

Whoosh!

The figure of a red-haired little boy instantly appeared at the door; it was the Lie Tian Divine Tiger in human form.

"Sister Qi Qi, what's up?"

"Come on a long trip with me! To the lower realms!" Feng Qiqi's voice was cold.

"To kill people! And set fires!"

Upon hearing 'kill people and set fires,' Heaven Splitting's ruby-like tiger eyes instantly lit up, and he licked his lips: "Awoo! Tiger Lord loves doing that the most!

Let's go!"

He had been stifled; being a nanny in Burial King City was nowhere near as fun as going out to fight!

Without alarming too many people, Feng Qiqi, Huang Yan, and Heaven Splitting, three small figures, silently passed through Burial King City's cross-realm teleportation array and disappeared in a flash of light.

Their destination: the lower realms!

The remnants of the Divine Phoenix Pavilion!

The reckoning had begun!