552: Respect yourself and leave the city! (5k)

"Hmm?"

"This is..."

Lin Yang's expression couldn't help but subtly change.

He was considering whether or not to tell He Linchuan the truth, but He Linxue's body began uncontrollably absorbing his Life characteristic power like a black hole.

Furthermore, an extremely cold and sinister aura began to surge back towards him, following the Life characteristic power he had injected into He Linxue's body!

Like a suction cup, it was drawing his power back.

"Brother, I... hurt..."

He Linxue also became extremely distressed in that instant; her already pale complexion turned crystal clear and translucent like snow.

"My Lord..."

He Linchuan was greatly alarmed but dared not move rashly, looking at Lin Yang in panic.

"Don't worry yet."

Lin Yang spoke, his gaze serious, and asked the System, "What is going on with her? Why is she forcibly absorbing my power back?"

He did not immediately stop this reverse absorption force.

Although the power was strange, it wasn't strong; he could forcibly interrupt it, but he wanted to understand the situation first.

"Host, this should be a natural reaction of her physique."

The System provided an explanation:

"Although she has never possessed power or cultivated independently, her physique naturally absorbs certain absorbable powers from Heaven and Earth to strengthen itself. However, while the moon viewing sand suppresses the damage caused by sunlight, it also clears out the few weak powers she normally absorbs within her body."

"Her special physique possesses an instinctive craving for power, and this should be her physique's instinctive reaction arising from that craving."

"Your Life power is incomparably pure and unique. Her physique has never encountered such refined and absorbable power, and having been suppressed for a long time, now that it has finally encountered your advanced Life power, it naturally began actively absorbing it through your force."

"Oh..." Lin Yang immediately understood. "My Life characteristic power underwent some peculiar changes after merging with the power of the 'Realm.' It seems now that it must be very useful to her, useful enough that her physique couldn't help but actively absorb it. However, this is essentially drawing my power to strengthen herself, meaning I've become her charging treasure."

Saying this, Lin Yang forcibly interrupted the instinctive power absorption from He Linxue's body.

He Linxue's bodily instinct to absorb power was meant to strengthen her own power afterward.

This meant she was treating his Life characteristic power as some kind of absorbable power from Heaven and Earth for enhancement, which was a huge waste of Life characteristic power.

Because simply absorbing Life characteristic power as a means to strengthen oneself does not achieve a healing effect.

After Lin Yang interrupted the absorption, He Linxue's pain also subsided, and she slowly returned to her previous state, subsequently falling into a deep sleep.

"My Lord, my little sister..." He Linchuan was at a loss, his face full of anxiety and worry.

"Don't worry. The reason she was in such pain just now is that her body hasn't sustained an infusion of power for a long time, making it difficult to adapt."

Lin Yang said:

"Now, because she has some power inside her, and because her body is too weak to handle the existing power, her body's natural protection mechanism has been triggered, causing her to fall asleep to digest that power."

He could explain this directly to He Linchuan without the System's help.

After speaking, he added:

"I also performed some simple healing for her. Once she wakes up, she should be able to move and walk on her own, but only for daily activities; she cannot engage in strenuous activity."

He now understood why, back when He Linchuan's parents were still alive, the experts they consulted said that He Linxue's problem could only be solved by someone in the Guiyuan Realm.

For the Boundary Realm to break through and become the Guiyuan Realm, one needs a certain level of understanding of the 'Dao' or 'Laws.'

Even a preliminary understanding and control can suppress He Linxue's body's intense rejection of sunlight to some extent, and can provide a small infusion of power without affecting her body's natural absorption of power.

Her cold and sinister physique is too formidable; without the power of the 'Dao' or 'Rules,' it cannot be effectively suppressed.

For example, using moon viewing sand is a forceful suppression, and it also eliminates the little power she already has inside her.

Her body has not a trace of power, yet her physique requires power to sustain itself. When power is insufficient, it overdraws her Life force, naturally making her weaker and weaker.

Although Lin Yang has not yet mastered the power of the 'Dao' or 'Rules,' his special Life characteristic power has also played a role.

However, this is the extent of it. As the System said, it can only allow He Linxue to live a slightly more normal and decent Life.

He Linchuan instantly sighed in relief, then repeatedly bowed and thanked him, saying, "Thank you, Senior! Thank you, Senior!!"

He was very shocked.

Lin Yang was actually able to treat He Linxue's physical problem, which only those in the Guiyuan Realm were thought capable of treating!

She could walk normally!

This left He Linchuan overwhelmed with excitement alongside his shock, completely unable to articulate anything, merely thanking Lin Yang profusely.

Although she could only perform daily activities, one must remember that He Linxue had been bedridden for so many years. Forget daily movement, she struggled even to get out of bed and take two steps.

Now, she could live a normal Life!

For He Linchuan, this was simply like a dream!

It was too unreal!

He immediately cried tears of joy and excitement.

Then... *thump*!

He Linchuan immediately knelt on the ground, kowtowed repeatedly to Lin Yang, and spoke through stifled sobs:

"Thank you, My Lord, for your great kindness! Thank you, My Lord, for saving my little sister!"

"Your Lordship's grace is something this junior cannot repay. I know my strength is meager, and I fear I cannot repay even a fraction of your kindness in this lifetime. But, wherever Your Lordship has need, this junior vows to repay it even unto death!"

Lin Yang was instantly dumbfounded and amused. A force lifted He Linchuan, and he said, "I helped you not because I sought any repayment from you, and certainly not for you to die."

"This junior understands."

He Linchuan lowered his head slightly, his eyes red, and said:

"Your Lordship's kindness is something this junior cannot repay. I only have this worthless Life, which perhaps can be used by Your Lordship."

"Sigh, He Linchuan, you should not belittle yourself like this."

Lin Yang knew He Linchuan spoke from the heart. He paused and said:

"Human lives hold no distinction between noble and worthless."

"I helped you because I admire the courage you showed, daring to venture into the wilderness with merely Spirit Realm strength for your little sister."

"And also, your rare optimistic mindset amidst so many adversities."

"Although your talent might not be great, the unwavering courage and a heart that hasn't succumbed to darkness despite the immense pressure of Life are your most valuable qualities."

"Self-respect is precious."

"No matter how others look down on you, that is not important. But you, yourself, must not belittle yourself!"

"If you yourself believe you possess a worthless Life, then others will naturally look down on you and insult you even more."

"Only when you value yourself and become strong will others naturally dare not look down on you anymore!"

"Do you understand?"

He Linchuan's heart trembled instantly.

Lin Yang continued:

"Although talent is useful, it is not enough to determine a person's entire Life."

"Talent is not that crucial."

"After all, in the Endless Spacetime, anything is possible!"

"You do not need to belittle yourself!"

He Linchuan's eyes reddened again: "Thank you for your guidance, My Lord. This junior will bear it in mind."

"Alright, wait here. Once your little sister wakes up, you can go home." Lin Yang waved his hand and entered the inner room.

He Linchuan bowed. Only after Lin Yang entered the inner room did he turn around and look at He Linxue with anticipation. At the same time, Lin Yang's words echoed continuously in his heart, and some of his perspectives were quietly shifting.

"Self-respect is precious. My Lord is right. From now on, I must first respect myself!"

He Linchuan muttered inwardly, but the next moment, he was slightly attracted by the tenfold refined Spiritual Power.

It was hard not to be attracted!

Although the He Family is a large clan, he was not qualified to use multiplied Spiritual Power for advancement.

Even in the past, when his parents were still alive, he never had the chance to use tenfold Spiritual Power for enhancement.

Within the family, using tenfold Spiritual Power depended on one's innate talent and strength.

His talent was poor, so it was never his turn.

Although he was born and raised in Yun Que City, he had never experienced the richness of tenfold Spiritual Power.

Now, he felt incredibly refreshed with every breath he took.

He couldn't help but want to start absorbing it himself.

However, he held back.

Although having more or fewer people absorbing it made no difference.

The usage fee for the Spiritual Power was merely a name for a charge; they didn't actually charge based on how much Spiritual Power was consumed.

The Spiritual Power in the courtyard was condensed through a special Formation Array, and once activated upon check-in, it could be used infinitely.

It's just that if multiple people absorb energy simultaneously within the same courtyard, it will slow down the cultivation speed of others, which is why few people choose to share rent.

But with his meager strength in the Spirit Realm, even if he absorbed freely, it wouldn't affect Lin Yang at all.

Still, He Linchuan resisted the urge and didn't absorb even a tiny bit.

In his heart, Lin Yang paid for this rental, and he hadn't even charged for treating his little sister; He Linchuan felt he had no way to repay him.

He absolutely couldn't absorb the spiritual energy from Lin Yang's courtyard.

Even though he felt that secretly absorbing some energy here could accelerate his breakthrough to the Breaking Universe Realm, he still refrained from doing so.

“This silly kid...”

Inside the room, Lin Yang shook his head and chuckled.

He had entered the room specifically to give He Linchuan a chance.

But this kid was a bit too honest.

Immediately, he stopped saying anything, closed his eyes slightly to rest his mind, and began planning his trip out of the city to hunt fierce beasts.

He needed to earn money!

Of course, there was another way to earn money that was more profitable than hunting fierce beasts outside the city.

That was accepting bounty missions.

Where there are people, there is conflict.

If one was weak, bullied, and couldn't swallow their anger, what should they do?

Naturally, they would post an assassination bounty!

Yes, that's right.

It was going to Three Watches Rain to issue an assassination order!

There are two modes for hiring an assassin through Three Watches Rain.

The first is paying directly for Three Watches Rain to assign an assassin.

But this method is quite expensive.

The other method is posting an assassination bounty through an external platform provided by Three Watches Rain!

Three Watches Rain can display assassination bounties from different spacetimes within every spacetime where Three Watches Rain is located, allowing more powerful experts to accept them.

However, accepting assassination missions across spacetimes incurs significant costs.

A huge sum of money must be paid first to switch spacetimes.

But, this type of bounty has one advantage: anyone can accept it.

The person posting the assassination bounty only needs to hand the money over to Three Watches Rain beforehand, and then anyone can accept the mission.

Ultimately, whoever makes the kill will receive the money.

Three Watches Rain then takes a commission from the reward.

This method is also the one chosen by most people in the Endless Spacetime.

Because they don't have to bear the costs of spacetime conversion and premium fees.

If they directly ask Three Watches Rain to dispatch an assassin, and the assassin's strength in the current spacetime is insufficient, Three Watches Rain will transfer one from another spacetime, and that cost must be borne by the person hiring them.

But posting a bounty means not having to bear this cost.

The poster only needs to name a price and prepay the money to Three Watches Rain; then, if someone sees the bounty mission, finds the price satisfactory, and possesses the strength to assassinate the target.

Then how to switch spacetimes and how to ultimately complete the kill is up to the skill of the bounty acceptor.

Of course, this method is only suitable for situations where the target does not need to be killed immediately.

Because, in most cases, it might take a long time after the bounty is posted before someone accepts it.

Furthermore, if the target is too powerful, it's not guaranteed that anyone will accept the bounty.

This is also because the targets of the bounties are generally not weaklings, unless they are already in a different spacetime; otherwise, the poster wouldn't need to offer a high reward in Three Watches Rain.

Lin Yang could now choose to find a suitable assassination bounty and accept it.

The bounty rewards are much more generous than hunting fierce beasts in the wild, although the danger is also greatly increased.

However, Lin Yang looked around and didn't find any suitable targets currently available.

First, he needed to set the target in the Mirror Ruins Realm, and furthermore, it had to be within Yun Que City.

This greatly reduced the number of available bounty missions.

There were only a handful of bounties within Yun Que City.

Ranked first was the leader of the underground force Bone Bloom, with a bounty price of five billion mirror ruins coins.

Ranked second was the leader of Ghost Ruins, with a bounty price also set at five billion mirror ruins coins.

The third bounty mission was to assassinate an expert from the City Lord's faction, priced at three billion.

Starting from the fourth bounty mission, the price dropped sharply, falling directly from three billion to several hundred million.

“That's interesting. The leaders of the two strongest underground forces in the city are separately bountied. Could they be posting bounties on each other?”

After reading, Lin Yang made a subtle guess.

Although the prices were high, the leaders of these two underground forces were usually quite mysterious. To assassinate them, one needed not only sufficient strength but also the ability to locate them.

This posed a slight difficulty for Lin Yang at the moment.

As for the third mission, assassinating an expert from the City Lord's faction, that was equivalent to assassinating an official government member.

Assassinating an official without any personal grudge, if exposed, would make it difficult to survive even in Kunyu Country.

Lin Yang estimated that this might be a bounty secretly posted by a major force within the city.

It likely stemmed from a deep personal feud, and the mission probably wasn't intended for someone from Kunyu Country to accept.

Besides these three, Lin Yang had little interest in the rest because the prices were low.

Moreover... “Even if I accept an assassination bounty, I must ensure the target is a wicked person, or one of those scumbags from the underground forces. It is absolutely unacceptable to assassinate kind people just for money.”

Lin Yang mumbled, stating that even when accepting an assassination bounty, he had a bottom line.

Currently, among the bounties in Yun Que City, only the first two met his requirements, but he couldn't complete them temporarily.

“It looks like I still need to make a trip out of the city.”

Lin Yang's eyes flickered.

Leaving the city also meant that he would have to prepare an extra sum of money to be robbed by members of the underground forces.

Regarding being robbed... “According to Brother Yue, although resistance is possible, once you resist, regardless of success or failure, the outcome is death, unless you never leave the city again.”

“Or, your strength is enough to fearlessly face anyone from the underground forces!”

Lin Yang narrowed his eyes slightly:

“The underground forces are only strongest with those two leaders, who are at the limit of the third tier of the Boundary Realm, and might have initially grasped some Dao and rules.”

“With my current combat strength, I might not be able to defeat them both in a fight, but if I focus solely on running, it should be fine.”

“...”

After calculating everything in his mind, Lin Yang decided to leave the city immediately.

At the same time, He Linchuan's voice came from outside the room:

“Esteemed Sir, my little sister has awakened. I will take her back now, lest we disturb your cultivation here!”

He Linxue's voice followed:

“Thank you, Esteemed Sir, for healing me. I am eternally grateful. I haven't prepared anything today, but tomorrow I will prepare a small gift and come back to thank Senior for your kindness in healing my injuries!”

Hearing this, Lin Yang waved his hand and said, “Go back. There's no need to come again. I will be leaving the city for a while, and I'm not sure when I'll return. We can talk when I get back.”

“Then... Junior bids farewell! Please take care, Senior!”

Hearing that Lin Yang was leaving the city, He Linchuan and his sister said no more, respectfully bowed outside the door, and returned to the He Family.

On their way back, He Linxue's condition attracted a lot of attention.

“That girl, He Linxue, can actually walk by herself?”

As soon as the two of them left Lin Yang's courtyard, they were seen by many people.

Although it was night now, for the experts within the city, the night was no different from the day.

Immediately, this matter caused a sensation.

“The He Family's little girl's condition could only be treated by Guiyuan Realm adults, yet that newcomer guy actually cured her?”

Many people were shocked.

Following this, various speculations began to spread.

“Could he be a hidden Guiyuan Realm expert?”

“Impossible, he is definitely not in the Guiyuan Realm. Even if he tried to hide, he couldn't hide that!”

“Exactly. How could a Guiyuan Realm adult hide their identity and live here? If he truly were a hidden Returning Origin adult, he wouldn't expose himself like this!”

“Right, but since he's not a Guiyuan Realm adult, and yet he can cure He Linxue... could it be that he possesses some supreme treasure?!”

“It must be some kind of special treasure! Otherwise, he definitely couldn't have done it!”

“...”

In an instant, all the major and minor family forces and experts throughout Yun Que City once again focused their attention on Lin Yang!

As for Lin Yang, he left the city directly under the cover of night!

Just as he left the city, several sneaky figures stared at his retreating back and sent out a message.

“The target has left the city. We can let him experience the rules of our Yun Que City now!”

“Oh, and he might have some supreme treasure. We must snatch that treasure!!”

“...”