37: Kill the murderer and avenge the master

“Alright.”

Ao Ling霜 immediately released her Mental Energy and injected it into the young man’s body.

“Boom!”

Lin Yuan’s Aura instantly surged, breaking through the Opening Meridian Ninth Level in an instant and advancing into the Condensing Core Realm.

Song Mian saw the opponent charging at him and was about to mock him for overestimating himself, but before he could speak, the opponent’s cultivation had already increased so much.

“How is this possible!?”

For a moment, he was greatly shocked!

With his knowledge, he had never heard of a secret art that could instantly increase one’s Realm by an entire major Realm. What method did Lin Yuan use?

While he was astonished, the young man had already closed in, swinging his sword to strike him.

“Clang!”

Song Mian immediately raised his longbow, blocking the attack.

“Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.”

A chilling Qi continuously emanated from the blade, and he could even feel the temperature of the entire longbow rapidly dropping.

“Break for me!”

Lin Yuan suddenly exerted force, injecting all his Origin Qi into the Azure Frost Sword, and cleaved down again!

“Ding!”

This time, the longbow finally couldn’t bear the weight and was severed by the sharp blade, splitting into two halves.

Looking at the damaged longbow, Song Mian exclaimed, “No! My Startling Wind Bow!”

“Instead of feeling bad for your Spiritual Artifact, you should worry about yourself first.”

Lin Yuan’s cold voice came, and Song Mian looked up, seeing the silver-white blade reflected in his eyes.

“Whoosh!”

In a moment of desperation, he could only raise his arm to block, but how could a Physical Body contend against a Hundred-Patterned Spiritual Sword?

In just a few moves, he was covered in wounds, and even one of his arms was severed, flying to the side.

“Nephew, please show mercy! Please show mercy! My fault was regarding Qin Ren! I admit my mistake to you, please forgive me this time!”

He desperately begged for mercy while being struck by the sword, but Lin Yuan remained unmoved, his chopping force not weakening in the slightest, but rather growing stronger.

“What’s the use of begging for mercy now? My Revered Master must have begged for mercy from you before he died, did you let him go?”

While swinging his sword, Lin Yuan spoke with strong Killing Intent.

“Arrogant brat! If you want to kill me, then let’s die together!”

Seeing that the opponent was unwilling to stop, Song Mian knew that he was doomed to die today, so he directly detonated his Qi Core, and his entire Aura rapidly expanded!

“Run! He’s going to self-destruct!”

Ao Ling霜 urgently exclaimed.

Upon seeing this, Lin Yuan’s pupils contracted, and he fully activated the Eight Extremes Pulse, flashing backward at high speed.

“Boom!”

Accompanied by a loud bang, a powerful force erupted from the opponent’s body, wildly sweeping in all directions.

A moment later, the aftershocks gradually subsided. Lin Yuan stood on a high tree branch, looking down into the distance.

The original location of Song Mian had turned into a deep pit, the soil charred black, with no trace of vegetation, and no sign of the opponent’s corpse.

He probably was utterly annihilated by the self-destruction energy.

Lin Yuan thought.

“Fortunately, I had the Eight Extremes Pulse to help me, and I narrowly escaped the self-destruction’s shockwave.”

He looked down at his intact clothes and quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

If he had been even a breath slower, he would probably have been caught in the aftershocks and severely injured.

“Go and see if he left any Storage Pouch or spatial ring.”

Ao Ling霜 reminded him.

“Okay.”

Lin Yuan jumped off the branch and entered the charred pit. After searching for a while, he successfully found a Storage Pouch.

“An Outer Sect Elder like Song Mian definitely couldn’t afford a spatial ring; this should be his only relic.”

He deduced.

A Storage Pouch, as a basic spatial tool, generally has a capacity of only one or two cubic meters and costs several hundred Origin Stones on the market.

Lin Yuan also had a Storage Pouch, which was a gift from Qin Ren when he became his Disciple.

Thinking of the Elder who had shown him such great affection, Lin Yuan’s eyes couldn’t help but redden, and he choked out, “Revered Master, your Disciple has finally avenged you. From now on, I will take good care of Mistress. I hope you can rest in peace in the netherworld.”

As Revered Master’s only Disciple, Qin Ren had shown him immense care and concern, during which he received numerous favors from him, which allowed him to advance from Body Tempering First Level to Fifth Level within a year.

“The dead cannot be revived, so you don’t need to be too sad. As long as you strive to become stronger and take good care of your Mistress, I believe he will rest in peace.”

Ao Ling霜 comforted him.

Lin Yuan wiped his eyes and cheered up, “Yes, I will definitely live up to Revered Master’s trust and become a strong Cultivator as soon as possible.”

After speaking, he put away his sorrowful emotions, quickly released his spiritual sense, entered the Storage Pouch, and surveyed its contents.

Inside were mostly Origin Stones, along with a few daily necessities, a few Fasting Pill, and a book and a Talisman.

“Around a thousand Origin Stones, such a small amount.”

Lin Yuan was a bit disappointed, then he remembered that Mistress and Revered Master’s savings were only a few thousand Origin Stones, and he felt relieved.

After all, the Sect’s reward ceremony had not yet taken place, so Song Mian had not received any rewards before, and most likely had nothing valuable.

“Something is better than nothing. A thousand Origin Stones isn’t bad… Wait, what are these two items?”

Lin Yuan noticed the book and the Talisman, and chose to take out the Talisman first. On the Talisman, the words “Core Binding Talisman” were written.

“Core Binding Talisman? What is the function of this Talisman?”

He couldn’t help but feel curious.

Ao Ling霜 explained, “The Core Binding Talisman’s purpose is to bind the Qi Core. It is only effective against Condensing Core Realm Cultivators. Those affected by this Talisman will be unable to self-destruct.”

“Unable to self-destruct? Is that its only effect?”

“Yes.”

“Then it seems a bit too useless.”

Like Song Mian, whom he had fought earlier, even if he were to self-destruct, Lin Yuan was confident he could escape without taking damage from the explosion.

Moreover, this Core Binding Talisman merely had the effect of preventing self-destruction; it couldn’t suppress the opponent’s combat power, making it almost useless in combat.

After all, you would only consider using this Talisman if you had already pushed the opponent to the point of self-destruction. If you couldn’t do that, then having this Talisman or not made no difference.

Feeling regretful about this, his spiritual sense shifted to the book. With a thought, he summoned it out and held it in his hand.

At a glance, the cover clearly read “Formation Dao Annotation: Basic Chapter.”

“Formation Dao Annotation?”

Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow, surprised, “Could this be about Formation Dao knowledge?”

As he spoke, he opened the book to examine it.

“Heaven and Earth are born from the Dao, the Dao is seen in Formations, Formations are laid by humans, humans merge with rhythm, then the Dao of Formation lies in human resonance…”

The complex information on the pages gave Lin Yuan a headache. He helplessly said, “Formation Dao is really hard to learn. No wonder this book has almost no signs of being read. Song Mian must have acquired it by chance and never looked at it because he couldn’t learn it.”

Ao Ling霜 parted her lips and said, “None of the four unorthodox paths—Formation, Alchemy, Artifact Refining, and Talisman Making—are simple. If they were so easy to learn, everyone would be a high and mighty Art Refiner.”

For convenience, people group Formation Revered Masters, Alchemists, Artifact Refiners, and Talisman Makers together and collectively call them Art Refiners.

Because these four Dao are not easy to cultivate and rely heavily on talent, each of these sub-professions holds a respectable status among Cultivators.

“Yes, Alchemists and Artifact Refiners can exchange Medicinal Pills and Spiritual Artifacts for large amounts of Origin Stones, and Talisman Makers can also earn money by drawing Talismans. As long as I can become one of them, I won’t have to worry about Origin Stones.”

Lin Yuan exclaimed.

Ao Ling霜 smiled disdainfully, “You are too superficial to only look at the gains. Do you know why Formation Dao ranks first among Formation, Alchemy, Artifact Refining, and Talisman Making?”

“Why?”

“Because Formation Dao is ever-changing. It can generate killing Formations and also evolve defensive methods. Compared to the unchanging three Dao of Alchemy, Artifact Refining, and Talisman Making, Formation Dao has infinite possibilities and is the only sub-profession that can significantly increase combat power through mastery of Dao techniques.”

Lin Yuan nodded thoughtfully, “You are right. Formation Dao is different from the other three Dao. The mastery of Formation Dao can directly manifest in combat power. When a Cultivator fights a Formation Revered Master of the same rank, the Formation Revered Master undoubtedly has a greater advantage.”

Ao Ling霜 responded, “The higher the Formation Revered Master’s rank, the more obvious their combat advantage. So, if you have time, you can try learning it. Perhaps you truly have talent in this Dao.”

“Okay, I’ll look into it when I have time.”