6: Chapter 6 Attack on Feiyun Peak

Feiyun Peak was shrouded in clouds and mist.

Lin Yi stood at the foot of the mountain, looking up at the peak hidden within the sea of clouds, his heart filled with a complex mixture of emotions.

He held the dark green-black Medicine Cauldron in his hands, the very one Senior Sister Yun Lan had ordered someone to deliver to him yesterday.

The Feiyun Peak before him was the place where Senior Sister Yun Lan practiced in seclusion. Because she preferred tranquility, she had chosen this peak, which was far away from the core of the Sect.

He looked up at the mountain that towered into the clouds... and could not help but mutter to himself again.

"Do I really have to go up there?"

Lin Yi sighed.

"Forget it. Not to mention the harm it would cause Senior Sister Yun Lan, if she really succeeds in cultivating that Qingxin Manual... wouldn't I be finished?"

Just as he was hesitating, the cold and heartless voice of the System appeared in his mind once again.

"Please, Host, execute the mission as soon as possible and make Senior Sister Yun Lan fall in love!"

"And after she falls in love? Will she kill her husband to prove her Dao?" Lin Yi's mouth twitched.

"This is just sending me to my death!"

However, the System remained silent and did not answer.

Lin Yi was speechless. He was already here, and besides, his current cultivation level was all due to the System's abilities. Since the System kept reminding and urging him, he dared not easily defy it. He had started with a disastrous opening, and if he didn't find a way to improve his cultivation as soon as possible... he might be killed by his enemies at any moment.

Lin Yi took a deep breath and looked down at the Medicine Cauldron in his hands.

This cauldron was indeed a good item. He had been trying to practice Alchemy over the past two days, and although his success rate was pitifully low, every time he successfully created a Medicinal Pill, it was thanks to the stability of this cauldron.

An ordinary Medicine Cauldron would have exploded long ago, but this cloud-patterned cauldron remained completely unmoved.

"How about I return the cauldron first and find an excuse to distance myself? The System only urges me to start the mission as soon as possible... but it hasn't given me a specific time limit, right?" Lin Yi made up his mind, feeling somewhat smug for a moment, thinking he had found a loophole.

After all, he really did not want to get too close to Senior Sister Yun Lan...

According to the analysis of the Qingxin Manual provided by the System, the Cultivation Technique required the practitioner to first fall in love, and then personally sever the ties of affection... severing the very person who made her fall in love.

Senior Sister Yun Lan currently had feelings for him, and this was definitely not a good thing.

Lin Yi stepped onto the stone stairs leading up the mountain. After walking a few steps, he suddenly remembered that he was already at the Ningdan Realm and could fully fly through the air.

However, he hesitated for a moment and chose to walk instead.

Flying up would be too fast, and he had not yet figured out what to say to Senior Sister Yun Lan.

The sides of the mountain path were planted with spirit bamboo, the leaves swaying in the wind and making a rustling sound.

Lin Yi walked while calculating his wording, and before he knew it, he had already passed the halfway point of the mountain.

Just then, a gust of strong wind attacked from behind!

Lin Yi's pupils contracted violently!

His perception as a half-step Ningdan Realm Cultivator issued a warning immediately. He didn't even have time to turn his head, his body instinctively lunged forward, and at the same time, spiritual energy surged out wildly, covering his entire body!

A ray of eerie light grazed the back of his head, cutting off a few strands of hair, and struck the spirit bamboo nearby.

The spirit bamboo instantly withered and turned black, and even the soil at its roots turned a strange purple color.

Spirit bamboo was a unique product of the Immortal Realm; it was not ordinary bamboo, but a spiritual object that could grow by absorbing the essence of heaven and earth, possessing great vitality!

To wither like this, it was clearly...

"This... is poisonous!"

Lin Yi's heart raced, and he flipped up, his spiritual energy forming a layer of golden light film on the surface of his body.

The Golden Scale Art activated automatically, isolating the surrounding air!

His gaze scanned the surroundings like a hawk.

The mountain path was empty, with only the rustling sound of the wind blowing through the bamboo leaves.

"Who is it?! Come out!" Lin Yi roared in a low voice.

However, there was no response.

He could only expand his perception to its maximum range, but there was not a single sign of any living person within a hundred zhang.

The aura of those attackers seemed to appear out of the Void Realm from thin air, and then disappear into thin air.

"It seems the ones who came are not ordinary people..." Lin Yi muttered to himself.

He had seen the methods Xiao Cheng used to frame him, but those at least had traces to follow.

The situation before him was too bizarre; the opponent's concealment methods were so sophisticated that it didn't seem like something an ordinary Disciple could achieve.

Lin Yi made a prompt decision. He kicked the ground hard, his body shot up, and he was about to fly away.

However, the moment he was three feet off the ground, a blinding light suddenly lit up from the ground beneath his feet!

Trails of eerie blue patterns emerged from the soil, interweaving into a complex Formation, trapping him firmly within it.

"A trapping Formation?!"

Lin Yi's expression changed drastically.

The power of the Formation was like invisible chains, wrapping around his limbs and bones.

His spiritual energy circulation became sluggish, and his consciousness began to blur.

What was even more terrifying was that the Formation also incorporated the effects of an illusion Formation.

The scenery before his eyes began to twist and deform; the mountain path, the bamboo forest, and the sky all turned into blurry light and shadows!

"This is... a trapping Formation combined with an illusion Formation... a dual Formation..."

Lin Yi gritted his teeth and persisted, attempting to stimulate his spiritual energy to break through the restraints.

But the power of the Formation far exceeded his expectations; it was a high-level Formation that could only be set up by a Cultivator above the Qi Sea Realm.

His consciousness became increasingly blurred, and his body became heavier and heavier.

The last image he saw was a slender, fair hand reaching out from the bamboo forest, steadily catching the Medicine Cauldron that had slipped from his hands.

Then, everything plunged into darkness!

...

He did not know how much time had passed.

It felt like a long, drawn-out dream; in the dream, there were the shouts of various childhood playmates, and the miserable cries of the villagers... These sounds seemed to always make Lin Yi recall things he did not want to remember, followed by a burst of pain, until his consciousness became clearer and clearer.

Finally... Lin Yi was choked awake by a pungent medicinal smell.

He opened his eyes and found himself lying in a dim stone room.

The stone room was not large, and the four walls were engraved with dense runes. Those runes glowed faintly, isolating the entire space from the outside world.

The air was damp and cold, mixed with the scents of various medicinal herbs... some fragrant, some foul-smelling, and some pungent and stinging.

In the corner, dozens of bottles and jars were piled up; some were jade Medicinal Pill bottles, and others were ceramic medicine jars.

Several strings of dried herbs hung on the walls, and judging by their appearance, they were all rare varieties.

"Is this... the Alchemy Pavilion?"

Lin Yi recognized the relief carving of a Pill Furnace on the wall; that was the unique symbol of the Xuantian Sect's Alchemy Pavilion.

The Alchemy Pavilion was the place where the Sect refined Medicinal Pills. It was heavily guarded, and ordinary Disciples were not allowed to enter.

He wanted to sit up, but discovered that his hands and feet were bound by spirit iron chains, and he could not move!

The spirit iron chains were a type of Magical Artifact specifically used to imprison Cultivators. The chains were engraved with Seal runes, and once locked, spiritual energy could not circulate normally.

Lin Yi tried; the spiritual energy in his body had indeed become much more sluggish, but fortunately, his foundation as a half-step Ningdan Realm Cultivator was still there, and it was not completely sealed off.

"You are finally awake?"

A cold female voice came from the shadows, filled with undisguised hatred.

Lin Yi looked in the direction of the voice.

A woman in black walked out of the darkness. She was about twenty years old, with a beautiful appearance, fair skin, and features so exquisite that she looked like someone who had walked out of a painting.

But her eyes were as sharp as knives.

Lin Yi had seen that kind of gaze before... it was a deep-seated, unforgettable hatred!