117: Chapter 117 Secret Talk in the Alchemy Chamber

A chill crept up Lin Chen's spine to the back of his head.

Master Xuefu, an Elder of the Internal Affairs Hall of the Danxia Sect, was a staunch supporter of the Bloodline Theory.

Meanwhile, the mysterious old man in the blood-colored palace in the Southern Region had a boiling blood plasma compass that pointed exactly toward the Northern Region.

Between the two, through this identical pattern, an unspoken connection had been established.

This was by no means a coincidence.

This stone ring had been polished by Su Qingyao herself for him years ago, and it had always just been a memento.

But ever since the trip through the underground river beneath the geothermal fire well, it had displayed bizarre abilities one after another.

First, it scanned that metal fragment, and now it had reacted strongly to this aura of the "Abyss" from the Southern Region.

Lin Chen subconsciously rubbed the face of the ring with his fingertips, the rough texture helping to calm his chaotic thoughts slightly.

He looked out the window; in the courtyard, Su Qingyao was gently comforting Lin Haoyu, whose arms were wrapped in bandages.

The young boy pressed his lips tightly together, and although there was still unwillingness in his eyes, there was even more of the childish affection he felt when cared for by his mother.

The dim light stretched the shadows of the mother and son, making them look warm and peaceful, as if they were in a different world from the heart-stopping confrontation during the day.

This was the root of why he had abandoned the ethereal path of bitter cultivation and chosen this road instead.

Protecting this household light was more real than any Great Dao.

Just then, the courtyard door was lightly knocked three times, steady and unhurried.

Su Qingyao paused and looked at the door with vigilance, while Lin Haoyu subconsciously gripped the sword hilt beside him.

"Who is it?" Lin Chen stood up and asked in a calm voice.

A slightly childish boy's voice came from outside the door: "I am a medicine boy under Elder Master Yaochen, sent by the command of the Grandmaster to deliver a pot of 'seven-heart begonia' to Clan Head Lin, to congratulate your son on his clear Sword Heart and boundless future."

Master Yaochen?

Lin Chen and Su Qingyao exchanged glances, both seeing a trace of confusion in the other's eyes.

During the day's events, although Master Yaochen had offered protection, there was no deep friendship between the two parties, so such a late-night gift was somewhat unusual.

Lin Chen walked over and opened the courtyard door.

Outside stood a fair-skinned little medicine boy holding a pot of a lush, emerald green plant.

The plant's leaves were thick and fleshy, shaped like palms, and in the center, it held a cluster of unopened flower buds, the sepals layered and presenting a strange seven-colored halo; it was indeed the rare seven-heart begonia.

"Thank you, little Fellow Daoist, and please thank Master Yaochen for me." Lin Chen stepped aside and signaled for him to enter.

"The Grandmaster instructed that once the flower is delivered, I should not disturb the Clan Head's rest." The medicine boy carefully placed the flower pot on the stone steps inside the door, bowed, turned, and walked away quickly, soon disappearing into the night.

Lin Chen closed the courtyard door and his gaze fell on the pot of seven-heart begonia.

Su Qingyao walked over; coming from the Qingmu Sect, her sensitivity to herbs and spiritual plants was far beyond that of ordinary people.

She leaned over to examine it closely, her beautiful eyebrows slightly furrowed: "This begonia is full of Spiritual Qi and of excellent quality, but..."

She extended her slender fingers and gently pushed aside the few sepals in the center that had not yet fully unfolded.

In the shadows where the layered petals and sepals intersected, a fingernail-sized, cicada-wing-thin miniature Jade Slip was quietly embedded within.

Had she not searched so meticulously, it would have been impossible to discover.

There was no fluctuation of spiritual power on the Jade Slip, clearly concealed by a special technique.

Lin Chen's eyes narrowed.

Su Qingyao carefully took out the Jade Slip and injected a wisp of pure wood-attribute spiritual power into it.

The Jade Slip flashed with a faint light, and a stream of information silently poured into her Sea of Consciousness.

A moment later, Su Qingyao's expression became exceptionally complex, containing astonishment, regret, and, even more, irrepressible anger.

She did not speak, only handed the Jade Slip to Lin Chen.

Lin Chen took it and did the same.

Instantly, a long list of names and corresponding comments clearly appeared in his mind.

"Zhao Wuji, Ninth Level of Qi Refining, innate Earth-attribute Tyrant Body, assessment evaluation: Bloodline mixed, stopped at the Outer Sect."

"Sun Zhiruo, Tenth Level of Qi Refining, Divine Soul strength far exceeding peers, Alchemy Genius, assessment evaluation: Spiritual Root impure, sent to the chore department."

"..."

The list contained dozens of people, recording all the Disciples of the Danxia Sect over the past hundred years who had been rated as "mixed" or "impure" in Bloodline tests and were ultimately buried or expelled.

Behind every name was Master Yaochen's precise judgment of their true talent; they were all true geniuses!

This list was the heaviest and most direct accusation against the "Bloodline Theory" represented by Master Xuefu.

Master Yaochen handing this to him had a self-evident meaning.

He wanted an alliance.

Lin Chen squeezed the cold Jade Slip, his knuckles slightly white.

He thought of his son's bone-deep wound from the day, thought of those buried geniuses, and an unnamed fire burned in his chest.

This decaying cultivation world, which divided everything by Bloodline, was rotten to the core.

As he was pondering, a line of small print at the end of the Jade Slip caught his attention: "At the hour of Zi, atop Danyang Peak, private Alchemy Room, this slip grants entry."

The night deepened, and the moon rose to the center of the sky.

Lin Chen left the guest courtyard alone and quietly.

Su Qingyao had wanted to accompany him, but Lin Chen had her stay behind.

Today's assessment turmoil was too great, and Lin Haoyu was injured; someone had to hold the fort to prevent any accidents.

Danyang Peak was Master Yaochen's private mountain, and the defense was not strict, as if he were certain that no one would dare to act presumptuously here.

Holding the Jade Slip, Lin Chen traveled without obstruction and soon arrived in front of an ancient Alchemy Room at the peak.

The stone door of the Alchemy Room was tightly closed, and a medicine boy stood at the entrance; seeing Lin Chen, he simply bowed and stepped aside to clear the way.

The stone door slid inward silently, and a wave of heat mixed with rich medicinal fragrance and geothermal fire rushed toward him.

The room was extremely large, with a huge three-legged, two-eared Pill Furnace in the center; the furnace body was dark gold, engraved with intricate flame patterns.

Beneath the Pill Furnace, the crimson geothermal fire was burning fiercely, illuminating the entire Alchemy Room with flickering light.

Master Yaochen was standing in front of the Pill Furnace; he had changed out of his brocade robes and was wearing simple gray cloth, his originally smiling face now completely solemn.

"Fellow Daoist Lin, you have come." He turned around, his slightly plump figure casting a huge shadow under the dancing firelight.

"Why did the Immortal Master invite me in the middle of the night?" Lin Chen got straight to the point, looking directly at the other party.

Master Yaochen did not answer directly but took a yellowed Pill Formula from his bosom and handed it over: "Please look, Fellow Daoist Lin."

Lin Chen took it, and after just one glance, his pupils shrank slightly.

Foundation Establishment Pill!

This was actually a Foundation Establishment Pill Pill Formula, and an ancient one at that, several times more exquisite than the versions circulating on the market.

"Although this formula is good, it has a fatal flaw." Master Yaochen's voice carried a trace of heaviness, "The main ingredient, 'Dragon Blood Grass', has been extinct for thousands of years. Our sect has tried hundreds of substitutes, and none have succeeded. This formula is already a dead formula."

Lin Chen remained silent, waiting for him to continue.

"But I have heard that Madam Lin comes from the Qingmu Sect and is skilled in the Dao of Alchemy. Her 'Dead Wood Meets Spring' technique can catalyze many rare flowers and herbs. I wonder..." Master Yaochen's gaze became burning hot.

"Does the Immortal Master want my Lin Family to improve the Pill Formula for the Danxia Sect and solve the problem of the main ingredient?" Lin Chen's tone betrayed neither joy nor anger.

"No," Master Yaochen shook his head and said word by word, "Not for the Danxia Sect, but for ourselves."

He pointed to the list Jade Slip: "If the Bloodline Theory is not eradicated, the Danxia Sect and even the entire Northern Region will be a pool of stagnant water. I need a force, a force capable of breaking this stagnant water. And you, Fellow Daoist Lin, your appearance and your son's sword have shown me this possibility."

"Improving the Pill Formula is the sincerity I offer. Once successful, we will have the capital to cultivate our own forces and the confidence to stand against Master Xuefu and his group."

Lin Chen was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled.

He didn't waste any more words but walked to a stone table beside the Pill Furnace, where brush, ink, paper, and inkstone were placed.

He picked up the brush and, on the blank space of the ancient Pill Formula, wrote down a completely new set of ingredients with a swift stroke.

"Dragon Blood Grass is fierce in nature, and its function lies in breaking and then establishing. One can use the stamen of the 'Nine-Turn Resurrection Flower', supplemented by the lotus seeds of the 'Ice-Heart Iron Lotus', and refine it with the Samadhi True Fire; one can obtain seventy percent of the medicinal properties."

His handwriting was vigorous and powerful, and the ingredients he wrote were unheard of, yet they vaguely conformed to the ultimate principles of Alchemy.

This was one of the countless improvement schemes automatically deduced by the System's "Family Scripture Pavilion" module based on Su Qingyao's Alchemy experience.

Master Yaochen leaned in to look; at first, he was puzzled, then shocked, and finally, his face was full of ecstasy, trembling with excitement: "Wonderful! Wonderful! Using extremely cold objects to neutralize the extremely Yang Qi, and then reversely catalyzing the medicinal properties... How did I not think of this!"

He looked up at Lin Chen abruptly, his eyes no longer containing any probing, only total respect and recognition.

"Fellow Daoist Lin..."

"The Immortal Master need not say more." Lin Chen interrupted him.

He picked up the Pill Formula he had modified, walked to the burning Pill Furnace, and, in Master Yaochen's shocked gaze, threw this priceless Pill Formula directly into the furnace fire!

The paper instantly turned to ashes, swirling up in the hot air currents.

"You..." Master Yaochen gasped.

"The Pill Formula is in my head, and also in my Lin Family's Scripture Pavilion. But from now on, it belongs only to us." Lin Chen's voice was not loud, but it carried an unquestionable power.

The furnace fire burned fiercely, reflecting on both their faces.

Master Yaochen looked at Lin Chen's calm and profound eyes and suddenly understood something.

He took a deep breath, mimicked Lin Chen, and threw the Jade Slip recording the incriminating evidence into the Pill Furnace as well.

At the moment the Pill Formula and the Jade Slip turned to ash together, the flickering flames cast both their shadows onto the wall behind them.

Whether intentional or accidental, the positions where they stood and the gestures of their hands caused their shadows on the wall to intertwine, faintly forming an ancient Alchemist Blood Oath gesture, symbolizing the highest trust contract.

With the Pill Furnace fire as their oath, the covenant was formed.

"Please." Master Yaochen made a gesture of invitation, leading Lin Chen to the tea table beside the Alchemy Room.

The two sat down as host and guest, and a slender maid walked in silently to serve them fragrant tea.

"This is 'Cloud Mist Tea' that I brewed using the morning dew from the peak of Danyang Peak; it has the effect of calming the heart and focusing the mind. Fellow Daoist Lin, please have a taste." Master Yaochen picked up his teacup, his expression having already relaxed.

Just as Lin Chen was about to pick up his cup, a cold figure suddenly appeared in the shadows to the side.

Su Qingyao had arrived in the Alchemy Room at some point; she had been hiding in the dark and only revealed herself at this moment.

She walked to the tea table without speaking, and under Master Yaochen's astonished gaze, she extended a fair index finger and gently pressed down on his hand as he was about to lift the teacup.

Her movement was light, yet carried an undeniable firmness.

Master Yaochen was stunned: "Madam Lin, what is this?"

Su Qingyao remained silent; she only raised her other hand, dipped her fingertip into the slightly cool tea in the cup before her, and then, stroke by stroke, wrote three clear water characters on the smooth black stone tabletop.

"The tea is poisonous."

The water characters quickly evaporated and disappeared without a trace.

Master Yaochen's pupils contracted sharply, his hand holding the teacup froze in mid-air, and a layer of cold sweat instantly broke out on his forehead.

Lin Chen's gaze was cast toward the door immediately.

The maid who had served the tea had retreated to the side of the door at some point and was standing there with lowered eyes and a submissive expression, as if nothing had happened.

But Lin Chen keenly captured that at the exact moment Su Qingyao wrote the characters, the maid's shoulders had a microscopically slight stiffness.

"Deacon Bai Hong, I trust you have been well." Lin Chen's voice sounded indifferent.

The maid suddenly raised her head, her originally gentle brows and eyes instantly becoming sharp, and a cold smile curled at the corners of her mouth.

Her appearance and figure began to change, her bones emitting faint cracking sounds, and within just a few breaths, she transformed from a pretty maid into an ordinary-looking young man.

It was none other than the peripheral deacon of the True Blood Temple, Bai Hong, whom he had met once before at the Baihua Pavilion!

"Clan Chief Lin has good eyes." Bai Hong clapped his hands, his tone carrying a hint of admiration, "However, you discovered it too late. This 'Seven Fragrances Soft Muscle Powder' is colorless and odorless; once it enters the throat, even a Nascent Soul Cultivator would have to obediently lie down for half an hour."

"Is that so?" Lin Chen picked up the tea in front of him and, to the disbelief of Bai Hong and Master Yaochen, drank it all in one gulp.

He smacked his lips as if savoring it: "The taste is not bad. Unfortunately, you miscalculated one thing."

"My wife is the ancestor of using poison."

Su Qingyao pressed her fingertip firmly against her lips until a white mark appeared; this was her relaxation after extreme tension.

As early as when they entered the door, she had smelled a faint, elusive sweet fragrance in the air, mixed with the scent of the seven-heart begonia, making it extremely difficult to distinguish.

That was the trigger for the "Seven Fragrances Soft Muscle Powder," and the tea was merely the catalyst to stimulate the toxicity.

Before sitting down, she had already taken the detoxifying pill secretly prepared by the Family.

Bai Hong's expression finally changed.

He had not expected that his proud poisoning method would be so easily broken.

"It seems you are determined to obtain the position of Master Xuefu." Lin Chen looked at him leisurely, as if he were discussing something unrelated to himself.

Bai Hong's face darkened, knowing that today's business had been exposed, so he stopped wasting words and flickered his figure, preparing to flee.

However, a figure was faster than him.

Lin Haoyu held his long sword, having already guarded the door, and thrust it out; the sword light was like a rainbow, precisely sealing off all of Bai Hong's retreat paths.

"Since you have come, leave your things behind." Lin Chen's voice sounded leisurely behind him.

Meanwhile, inside the guest courtyard.

Just as Bai Hong snuck into the Alchemy Room, another black shadow landed silently on the wall of Lin Chen's Family courtyard like a ghost.

The black shadow's target was clear: it was Lin Chen's study.

He had heard the "high-minded discussion" coming from the direction of the Alchemy Room; that was the so-called "mystery" of the "Lin Family's Secret Bloodline Detection Method" that Lin Chen had loudly spoken of while intentionally luring Bai Hong.

He had been ordered to come specifically to steal this method.

The black shadow was as light as a civet cat, quietly landing outside the study window; he took a long, thin bamboo tube from his bosom, preparing to blow open the window latch.

His fingertips just touched the window lattice.

"Hum—"

A barely audible sound.

On the inside of the window lattice, a silver thread thinner than a hair was instantly triggered.

The next moment, dozens of thin needles quenched with a ghostly blue light shot out silently from all directions of the window like a violent rain of pear blossoms!

The black shadow was terrified, his body retreating violently at an incredible angle, narrowly avoiding most of the poison needles, but his left arm and shoulder were still pierced by three thin needles.

A strong sense of paralysis instantly spread through half of his body!

"Thousand Mechanism Pull!" The black shadow was both shocked and angry, exclaiming in a low voice.

This kind of setup, using intricate mechanisms combined with unique guiding techniques, is something only an Inner Sect Disciple of the Tianji Academy would be proficient in!

How could anyone in the Lin Family understand this?!

He did not dare to stay, enduring the paralysis, and turned to flee.

Inside the study, Su Qingyao's eyes were cold; she had long expected that someone would make a feint to the east to attack in the west, and had set a trap here.

Just as the black shadow flipped onto the wall, the mouth of an inconspicuous pouch at his waist loosened due to the violent movement, and a palm-sized black crystal chip quietly slid out, falling into the grass in the corner without making a sound.

The black shadow fled far away injured; only after Su Qingyao confirmed he was gone did she walk out of the study to check outside the window.

Almost at the same time, Lin Chen also returned to the courtyard.

In his hand, he carried a Storage Pouch with its cultivation sealed; it was exactly what he had scavenged from Bai Hong.

"One ran away, but I injured him with the Thousand Mechanism Pull." Su Qingyao came up to meet him and briefly explained the situation.

Lin Chen nodded and was about to speak when the stone ring on his right thumb suddenly erupted with a strong suction force and began to burn intensely!

This suction force was not directed at him, but pointed toward a certain spot in the grass at the corner of the wall!

Lin Chen's heart stirred, and he walked in the direction of the suction.

He searched in the grass for a moment, and soon, he picked up a crystal chip that was pitch-black all over and exuded a cold, sinister aura.

The moment he picked up the crystal chip, the suction of the stone ring increased sharply, actually "snatching" the black crystal chip from his fingers and firmly adhering it to the face of the ring!

"Click..."

The crystal chip began to dissolve at a speed visible to the naked eye, turning into streams of black light, all of which were devoured by the stone ring.

In an instant, it was as if a strange and grand scene had been forcibly stuffed into Lin Chen's mind!

That was a huge altar built above an abyss, the altar piled up from countless pale bones, with a huge blood-colored statue standing in the center.

And on the base of the statue, a complex emblem drawn with boiling blood was emitting an evil light.

That emblem was exactly the same as the one on Bai Hong, on Master Xuefu's jade pendant, and the patterns seen in the palace of the Southern Region!

It is the True Blood Temple!

The image flashed and vanished, but Lin Chen's expression became incomparably grave.

"Dad, what's wrong?" Lin Haoyu walked over; seeing his father's expression was off, he asked with concern.

"It's nothing." Lin Chen collected his thoughts, looked at his son, and suddenly remembered something: "Haoyu, can your [Origin Ancestor Protection] brand track an aura similar to this crystal chip?"

Lin Haoyu closed his eyes, sensed for a moment, then opened them and pointed in the direction of the back mountain of the Danxia Sect: "Yes! It's very faint, but it is definitely there. It is in that direction, looking like an abandoned place."

"Lead the way!"

Half an hour later, led by Lin Haoyu, the three arrived at a remote mountain col behind the Danxia Sect.

The place was overgrown with weeds, and a huge Pill Furnace was abandoned here, its body rusted and having long since extinguished years ago.

The air was filled with a faint, elusive smell of blood, as well as... the cold, sinister aura left behind by the crystal chip.

Lin Haoyu walked to the Pill Furnace and pointed at the ashes at the bottom of the furnace: "The aura is coming from here."

Lin Chen stepped forward and used his sword scabbard to push aside the thick furnace ashes.

Deep in the ashes, a few spots of dark red blood were strikingly visible, the blood not yet completely dried.

And beside the bloodstains, a few shattered jade pieces were lying there quietly.

Lin Chen picked up the broken jade pieces and pieced them together.

The outline of a complete blood-colored jade pendant clearly appeared before his eyes.

It was exactly the one Master Xuefu was wearing during the day!