122: Chapter 122 Shocking Changes in the Dark River

Su Qingyao held her breath, her fingertips pressed tightly against her lips, leaving a stark white mark.

She watched Lin Chen nervously, her heartstrings pulled so tight they were almost at the breaking point.

Lin Haoyu gripped his sword tightly, his small frame standing straight as he kept a vigilant watch at the courtyard gate, his silhouette elongated by the moonlight.

Lin Chen's expression grew increasingly grave.

The Spiritual Qi within his body surged like a tidal wave into Qin Ruowei's Dantian, attempting to flush out the lingering energy of the "Withering Spirit Powder."

However, that energy was extremely sinister, as if it possessed a life of its own; not only could it devour his Spiritual Qi, but it could even erode back along the path of his power.

Beads of sweat seeped from his temples and trickled down his cheeks.

This drained his mental focus more than a head-on life-or-death battle with a Cultivator of the same rank.

Just at this moment of stalemate, a sudden change occurred!

"Who goes there!" Lin Haoyu, guarding the courtyard gate, suddenly let out a childish, sharp shout.

Almost at the same time, a ghostly black shadow drifted into the courtyard from the other side of the wall, silent as a weightless fallen leaf.

The moment this figure appeared, a chilling murderous intent enveloped the entire courtyard.

It was not the Spiritual Pressure released during a duel between Cultivators, but a purer, colder aura of death, as if a frigid wind from Hell had blown into the mortal realm.

The intruder was thin, dressed in tight-fitting grey clothing, and wore a plain bronze mask with no patterns, revealing only a pair of emotionless eyes.

His target was terrifyingly clear—not Lin Chen, who was administering aid, nor Su Qingyao, who was acting as Protector, but Qin Ruowei, who lay on the ground, breathing her last!

"You seek death!" Lin Chen roared, forced to abruptly cut off the flow of his Spiritual Qi.

Without suppression, the sinister energy surged back within Qin Ruowei's body, causing her to groan and a trickle of black blood to spill from the corner of her mouth.

Lin Chen could not tend to her; he slapped his hand against the ground, using the force to propel himself up, leaping several yards like a roc spreading its wings to block the path before Qin Ruowei.

However, the Grey Shadow's speed was unimaginably fast. Seeing Lin Chen blocking the way, he did not dodge or evade, instead curling his left hand into a claw and striking directly at Lin Chen's throat with a sharp whistle that tore through the air.

This person was not a Cultivator!

There was not a shred of Spiritual Qi fluctuation on him; this was purely the power and skill of his Physical Body!

In the blink of an eye, Lin Chen slashed his right fingertip across the stone ring on his thumb. A surge of thick Spiritual Qi instantly flooded his right arm, and instead of retreating, he advanced, throwing a punch to meet the claw.

As fist and claw collided, a dull, thunderous boom erupted.

An unimaginable force emanated from the opponent's claw. Lin Chen felt as if his knuckles had slammed into a piece of ten-thousand-year-old black iron, and his entire right arm went numb.

He groaned, his body sliding back uncontrollably for three feet, leaving two deep gouges in the bluestone floor.

The Grey Shadow, however, had also been forced back a step. He tilted his masked head slightly, seemingly surprised that Lin Chen could withstand his strike.

"True Blood Temple?" Lin Chen steadied himself, his voice cold as if tempered in ice.

This aura, these ruthless Moves, were completely different from the Cultivation Techniques of the Danxia Sect; it felt more like an assassin born purely for slaughter.

The Grey Shadow did not answer, but a more intense murderous intent flashed in his cold eyes.

He flipped his wrist, and a pitch-black hooked rope shot out like a viper emerging from its den, bypassing Lin Chen and heading straight for Qin Ruowei behind him.

Just then, a cold, elegant figure flashed into view, holding a jade ruler of emerald green that had appeared in her hand from nowhere, precisely striking the hooked rope.

"Clang!"

Su Qingyao was forced back several steps by the massive force contained within the hooked rope, her face instantly turning pale, but she had managed to block the lethal blow.

"Senior Sister Mo Xuan! You dare to ruin the Sacred Hall's plans!" The Grey Shadow finally spoke, his voice hoarse and grating, like two pieces of metal rubbing together.

Before the words had faded, another figure vaulted into the courtyard from outside.

The newcomer wore a light purple dress and a veil over her face—it was the successor of Tianji Academy, Senior Sister Mo Xuan.

She landed without a sound, holding a palm-sized bronze fragment, and looked at the Grey Shadow with a grave expression: "Grey Shadow, you have crossed the line. This is the Danxia Sect, not a slaughterhouse for your True Blood Temple."

The Grey Shadow cackled strangely: "Danxia Sect? It won't be for long. Tianji Academy's reach is far too long!"

He stopped wasting words, his figure flickering as he transformed into three identical shadows, lunging at Senior Sister Mo Xuan from three different directions.

Senior Sister Mo Xuan's expression changed; she clearly hadn't expected the Grey Shadow's strength to be greater than rumored.

She held the bronze fragment to her chest and rapidly formed hand seals, weaving mysterious runes into a net before her.

But the Grey Shadow's target was not her at all!

Of the three shadows, two were feints; the real killing Move was the hooked rope that shot out again. This time, it did not coil around Qin Ruowei, but towards Senior Sister Mo Xuan's ankle!

Senior Sister Mo Xuan was defending her upper body with all her might and could not possibly defend her lower body in time.

Just as she was about to be ensnared by the hooked rope, Senior Sister Mo Xuan shouted, "Clan Chief Lin, catch!"

She threw the bronze fragment in her hand with all her might toward Lin Chen!

This object was the Grey Shadow's true target!

Seeing this, the Grey Shadow was furious. With a flick of the hooked rope, he abandoned Senior Sister Mo Xuan, drawing a strange arc in mid-air to coil around the fragment flying through the sky.

At that critical moment, an incredible scene unfolded.

The trajectory of the bronze fragment in the air suddenly twisted without warning, as if plucked by an invisible hand, narrowly dodging the hooked rope. Its speed increased rather than decreased, turning into a streak of light that shot straight towards Lin Chen.

Lin Chen instinctively reached out to catch it.

"Sizzle—"

As the fragment entered his hand, an indescribable, burning pain instantly shot from his palm.

He opened his palm and was shocked to find that the bronze fragment was like a red-hot branding iron, searing a primitive and mysterious pattern into his palm—the exact same pattern as the stone ring on his thumb!

Before he could react, the Grey Shadow had abandoned Senior Sister Mo Xuan and lunged at him again like a maggot on a bone, his eyes filled with undisguised madness and greed.

"Hand it over!"

Lin Chen shielded Su Qingyao and Qin Ruowei behind him and was about to face the enemy when the courtyard ground suddenly shook violently.

Rumble!

The ground beneath his feet collapsed without warning, revealing a bottomless black hole.

The sound of rushing water came from the bottom of the hole, accompanied by a pungent smell of sulfur and damp earth.

It was that secret chamber! This was the work of Master Yaochen!

Caught off guard, Lin Chen, Su Qingyao, and the heavily injured, unconscious Qin Ruowei all plummeted into the suddenly appeared underground river.

Senior Sister Mo Xuan cried out in alarm and also leaped down after them.

Only the Grey Shadow stopped at the edge of the hole. He looked at the rushing underground current below and let out an angry roar.

"You want to run?!"

He formed a strange hand seal, and a ball of ink-black flame rose from his palm.

"Black Fiend River Incineration!"

He violently hurled the black fire into the underground river.

The icy river water instantly swallowed Lin Chen and the others.

Lin Chen wrapped one arm around Su Qingyao and grabbed Qin Ruowei tightly with the other, struggling desperately to stabilize his position in the rushing current.

Just then, the black fire landed in the water.

Bizarrely, the flame did not extinguish upon contact with the water; instead, it was like pouring boiling oil onto a raging fire. It exploded with a roar, instantly igniting the entire surface of the underground river!

Black flames burned fiercely on the surface of the water, and the river water boiled at a visible rate. Billowing waves of scorching steam rose upwards, almost boiling them alive.

Even more terrifyingly, these black flames did not flow downstream; instead, they formed a massive, counter-rotating vortex on the water's surface, generating a terrifying suction force intended to drag everything under the water into it and burn it all to ash.

"It's a counter-current vortex! He wants to suck us back up!" Senior Sister Mo Xuan's voice rang in Lin Chen's ear, laced with urgency.

Su Qingyao coughed repeatedly, choked by the scorching steam, her face turning paler.

Qin Ruowei had completely lost consciousness.

Lin Chen was anxious. He tried to use his Spiritual Qi to manifest a protective barrier, but before this bizarre black fire, his barrier was as fragile as a sheet of thin paper, burned through the moment it appeared.

At this desperate moment, from the pocket of Qin Ruowei's tattered fighting suit, which Su Qingyao was supporting, a few unremarkable beads rolled out.

These beads were only the size of rice grains, grey and dull, looking like some kind of Medicinal Pill.

As soon as they hit the water, they were caught by the counter-current vortex and began to spin rapidly.

"It's the Qingling Beads!" Su Qingyao's eyes lit up, as if she recognized the item.

The beads were spinning rapidly in the center of the vortex; instead of being incinerated by the black fire, they seemed to be under some kind of pull, slowly arranging themselves into a miniature star map within the turbulent current!

The Big Dipper!

And the direction the handle of the star map pointed to was exactly an inconspicuous depression at the bottom of the riverbed, beneath them!

"There!" Senior Sister Mo Xuan also noticed the anomaly and immediately pointed to that depression.

The situation was urgent. Lin Chen had no time to overthink it; gritting his teeth, he led the three of them as they dove forcefully toward the depression.

The dark river was pitch black, with only the black fire burning on the water's surface casting an eerie and distorted light.

Lin Chen's right hand had been injured in the previous clash, and now, soaked in the icy river water, thin trickles of black blood were constantly seeping from the wound.

The blood was as black as ink, devoid of any scent of blood, but instead carried a faint smell of burning.

Just as they approached the riverbed, a miracle occurred!

The moment the strand of black blood seeping from the wound on his right arm touched the surrounding river water, it emitted a faint yet clear, eerie light!

This light was a deep, dark blue, not blinding, yet it possessed a strange penetrative power, instantly illuminating the waterway within a three-foot radius.

"This is... Abyssal Light?!" Senior Sister Mo Xuan exclaimed in shock. On her veiled face, those beautiful eyes suddenly narrowed, her pupils filled with disbelief. "Tianji Academy archives record that only existences whose Physical Body has touched 'void crystal essence' will have blood that manifests 'Abyssal Light' in an environment isolated from Spiritual Qi!"

Lin Chen was shaken. void crystal essence? He had never heard of such a thing.

But now was not the time to look into that.

Relying on this eerie "Abyssal Light," he finally saw the riverbed clearly.

That depression was not naturally formed but was a stone groove carved by someone, its size almost perfectly matching the bronze fragment he had just obtained.

Without any hesitation, Lin Chen used his last ounce of strength to bring the three of them to the depression, then reached out his left hand and pressed it toward the stone groove.

His thumb, wearing the stone ring, landed precisely in the center of the stone groove.

Hum—!

A hum, as if from the primordial era, rang directly in his mind.

The stone ring on his thumb suddenly became scorching hot, hotter than any time before!

The next moment, an incomparably brilliant beam of light projected from the surface of the ring, instantly piercing through the dark river water and the black fire burning on the surface, shooting straight into the sky!

The Grey Shadow on the shore was blinded by the sudden, intense light, his eyes aching sharply. He let out a painful roar, instinctively wanting to retreat.

But he immediately saw the source of the beam—that ring!

"It's it! It's it!" The Grey Shadow's eyes were instantly replaced by endless greed and madness. He roared recklessly, leaped down, and frantically lunged toward Lin Chen in the beam of light.

However, he was fast, but the changes within the beam of light were faster.

Just as the Grey Shadow was about to touch Lin Chen, a towering, blurry, and magnificent phantom slowly emerged from the sky-piercing beam of light.

The phantom's face could not be seen, yet it carried a supreme pressure, as if looking down upon all living beings and controlling the ages.

He merely raised his hand casually and lightly struck out with a palm toward the lunging Grey Shadow.

What made the Grey Shadow's Soul tremble the most was that on the phantom's thumb, there was clearly a coarse stone ring identical to Lin Chen's!

Boom!!!

The Grey Shadow couldn't even let out a scream; his whole body felt as if it had been hit head-on by a primordial divine mountain. His body twisted and deformed at an incredible angle, and like a cannonball, he was fiercely blasted away, slamming heavily into the rock wall on the opposite bank of the dark river, his fate unknown.

The beam of light and the phantom vanished in a flash.

The counter-current vortex subsided, and the black fire on the water's surface, as if having lost its Foundation, quickly extinguished.

The dark river returned to darkness and deathly silence.

Lin Chen gasped for air, his whole body drained of strength. Everything that had just happened felt like a dream.

"Lin Chen, your hand!" Senior Sister Mo Xuan's urgent voice pulled him back to reality.

Lin Chen looked down and saw that the mysterious runes on the bronze fragment now seemed to have come alive, transforming into thin, dense blood-colored threads. They were spreading rapidly along the newly branded mark on his palm, following his blood vessels up his arm!

A piercing pain arrived, as if countless ants were gnawing at his flesh and Meridians.

"Don't Move!" Senior Sister Mo Xuan immediately grabbed his wrist, her fingertips glowing with a pale golden halo, attempting to use the secret techniques of Tianji Academy to cut off the movement of those runes.

However, as soon as her fingertips touched Lin Chen's skin, she was violently repelled by a domineering, unparalleled force, which left her fingertips numb and her Qi and blood surging.

"It's no use..." Senior Sister Mo Xuan's face turned deathly pale. "These runes... they are resisting any power other than that ring of yours!"

Just as she finished speaking, those blood-colored runes had already spread to Lin Chen's forearm. They were moving faster and faster, seemingly wanting to devour his entire being.

Just then, the stone ring on Lin Chen's thumb trembled slightly again.

A cool aura surged from the surface of the ring, instantly flowing throughout his entire body.

Those blood-colored runes that were spreading wildly, the moment they touched this cool aura, seemed to have met their nemesis; they immediately stopped moving and slowly faded beneath his skin, disappearing from sight.

The severe pain vanished.

Lin Chen slumped on the cold riverbed, the exhaustion of having survived a disaster washing over him like a tide.

"We... must leave here immediately," he said, gasping for breath. Master Yaochen and the people from the True Blood Temple could catch up at any moment.

Senior Sister Mo Xuan nodded, lifted the unconscious Qin Ruowei, while Su Qingyao helped Lin Chen.

The four of them followed the current of the dark river, moving forward with great difficulty.

I don't know how long it had been, but finally, a glimmer of light appeared ahead.

It was the exit of a natural karst cave. Outside, the daylight was bright; it was clearly the next morning.

The four of them climbed out of the dark river in a disheveled state and stopped to rest in a hidden mountain cove.

After confirming that the surroundings were safe, Lin Chen opened his palm and looked at the bronze fragment, which had returned to looking unremarkable.

Its surface remained ancient, but looking closely, one could see that a few extremely subtle, new scratches, as if just carved on, had appeared.

Senior Sister Mo Xuan immediately took out a palm-sized, compass-like precision instrument from her bosom and carefully placed it on the fragment.

The instrument's needle began to spin rapidly, projecting complex screens of light to measure and analyze the newly appeared scratches.

A moment later, the instrument's needle stopped suddenly.

Looking at the line of coordinates finally displayed on the light screen, the color drained from Senior Sister Mo Xuan's face instantly; even her veil could not hide the shock and fear in her eyes.

"How could it be..." she muttered to herself, her voice trembling. "These coordinates... point to Tianji Academy's Forbidden Ground, the 'Starfall Platform'."

She suddenly raised her head and stared fixedly at Lin Chen: "But this is impossible! The Starfall Platform... had already sunk into the endless Void Realm during a spatial storm ten years ago!"

Lin Chen's heart also sank to the bottom.

The coordinates of a long-vanished Forbidden Ground appeared on a mysterious fragment, and this fragment had developed such an eerie connection with his stone ring of unknown origin.

What kind of earth-shattering secret was hidden behind all of this?

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away at the Danxia Sect, on the summit of Danyang Peak.

Master Yaochen, who was meditating with his eyes closed, suddenly opened his eyes. He looked toward the direction of the guest courtyard with a sense of premonition, his brows locked in a frown.

"Out of control?" he muttered to himself. For the first time, his slightly chubby face lost its harmless smile, replaced by a deep gloom.

On the other side, in a secret room deep within the Internal Affairs Hall of the Danxia Sect.

Master Xuefu was raging at a shattered "tracing blood compass" when suddenly, as if sensing something, he took out another smaller, more exquisite Bloodline compass from his bosom.

His gaze cast coldly toward the direction of the Lin family's guest courtyard, a cruel smile curling on his lips.

"Lin Chen... even if you run, your seed is still here."