24: Chapter 24 A New Home in Sunset Valley

A cold night wind blew past. Lin Chen suddenly felt a tightness in his chest; he had forcibly mobilized his Spiritual Qi to end the fight quickly, which seemed to have aggravated his old injury that hadn't fully healed yet.

A rusty, metallic, sweet taste rose from deep in his throat, which he forcibly swallowed back down.

Lin Leyao, in his arms, seemed to sense her father's stiffening body; she stirred uneasily in her sleep, letting out a faint murmur.

Lin Chen glanced down at his daughter, holding her more securely, yet his pace did not slow in the slightest.

Behind him, Su Qingyao's breathing had become somewhat ragged.

After all, she was only at the Qi Refinement Stage, and carrying a heavy load while trekking continuously through the pitch-black, rugged mountain forest for two days and a night had pushed her to her limit.

She wanted to ask Lin Chen to stop and rest several times, but seeing his tense profile and resolute gaze, she swallowed the words back down.

She knew he must have a reason for needing to rush so desperately.

Until the morning of the third day, when the first faint rays of dawn pierced the darkness of the forest, they finally crested a ridge that was nearly vertical.

The scene before them made both of them stop involuntarily.

A secluded valley, shrouded in pale white morning mist, lay silently nestled among the mountains like an unpolished piece of jade.

A clear stream meandered through the valley, emitting a pleasant, bubbling sound.

On both sides were towering stone walls, as if carved by knives and axes, covered in verdant vines, leaving only a narrow and hidden entrance at the ridge where they stood.

Lin Chen's nerves, which had been taut for two days and two nights, finally relaxed slightly upon seeing this isolated place.

A wave of overwhelming exhaustion and sharp pain instantly swept over him.

He could no longer hold on; his figure swayed, and he leaned against a cold mountain rock behind him. His face instantly turned paper-white, and his breathing became heavy.

"Lin Chen!" Su Qingyao exclaimed, quickly dropping the pack on her back and stepping forward to support him.

As soon as her hand touched his left shoulder, she felt a wet, sticky sensation.

By the morning light, she was horrified to discover that the grey martial attire on Lin Chen's left shoulder had long since been stained a deep, fathomless dark red by seeping blood.

"Your wound!" Her voice trembled, and she immediately began to unfasten his collar.

Lin Chen did not refuse; he was currently struggling even to lift his arm.

Su Qingyao carefully tore open the clothing that had adhered to the flesh on his shoulder. The old wound, which had not yet fully healed, had now ruptured again; the flesh was turned outward, deep enough to reveal the bone, a shocking sight.

Her eyes reddened, and she bit her lip. Without a word, she rummaged through the pack for a water skin and a clean cloth, trembling as she used the water to clean his wound. She then took out a jade bottle containing ointment from her bosom, applied it carefully, and finally re-bandaged it using strips of cloth torn from his clothing.

Throughout the entire process, she held her breath, afraid of causing him pain.

"Wah... wah..."

Perhaps sensing the oppressive, tense atmosphere and the aura of pain radiating from her father, Lin Leyao, who had been sleeping soundly, suddenly began to cry softly, her small body twisting uneasily in her swaddling clothes.

"Let me." Lin Chen extended his uninjured right hand, his voice somewhat hoarse.

Su Qingyao handed their daughter to him.

Lin Chen gathered his daughter's soft little body into his arms, gently patting her back with his large palm to soothe her.

The little one's crying gradually ceased, turning into low sobs. A pair of large, black-grape-like eyes looked at her father, wet with tears, as if confirming whether he was alright.

Lin Chen's gaze, however, did not linger on his daughter; instead, he looked past her small head, scanning the terrain of the entire valley as sharply as a hawk.

The entrance was narrow, easy to defend and hard to attack; there was a water source in the valley, lush vegetation, and steep mountain walls on both sides—a natural barrier.

This place was simply a perfect hideout.

Just as he was observing intently, a faint rustling sound suddenly came from behind a bush about twenty zhang to his front right.

Lin Chen's gaze instantly turned cold, his muscles tensed violently, and almost instinctively, he handed his daughter back to Su Qingyao, his uninjured right hand already gripping the hilt of his sword at his waist!

His Foundation Establishment Stage Spiritual Pressure flickered in and out, ready to launch a thunderous strike at any moment.

Su Qingyao was also startled, quickly shielding her daughter tightly in her arms and looking nervously in the direction the sound came from.

The bushes shook, and a figure slowly walked out from within.

It was an old man wearing a tattered animal-skin coat, his hair graying. His face was covered in deep wrinkles carved by wind and frost. He leaned on a polished wooden staff and had a crude hunting bow strapped to his back.

He seemed not to have expected anyone to be here. Seeing the disheveled appearance of Lin Chen's Family of three, especially the freshly bandaged wound on Lin Chen's shoulder and his eyes filled with caution and murderous intent, he was visibly stunned for a moment.

Immediately, as if realizing something, he slowly placed the wooden staff on the ground to show he had no hostile intent, then bowed slightly and spoke in a simple, cautious tone: "This master, madam, this old man is a hunter in this Luoxia Valley, surnamed Shi. Looking at you, you've encountered some trouble?"

There was not much curiosity in his eyes, but rather the unique simplicity of a mountain dweller and a trace of subtle sympathy.

Lin Chen did not release his hand from the sword hilt, but the Spiritual Pressure that was ready to strike was quietly withdrawn.

He could feel that there was no trace of Spiritual Qi fluctuation on this old man; he was just a Mortal.

"Passing by, looking for a place to rest." Lin Chen nodded, his voice still cold and hard.

Old Man Shi's cloudy eyes swept over them, finally landing on the infant sobbing softly in Su Qingyao's arms, and he sighed: "This mountain forest is not peaceful. If you go deeper into this valley, near the bottom of the western mountain wall, there is a cave. It's quite dry and can shelter you from the wind and rain. It's just a bit deep, and wild beasts sometimes go there to drink water. This old man's shack is on the east side of the valley entrance, and I live alone."

He paused, then added: "If you don't have anywhere to go for now, you can stay in that cave. This Luoxia Valley is very remote; except for me, ordinary people simply cannot find the way in."

Lin Chen was silent for a moment, then cupped his hands: "Many thanks, old man."

Under Old Man Shi's guidance, they soon found the hidden cave behind a patch of dense vines on the western mountain wall.

The entrance was not large, but the interior space was unexpectedly spacious, at least thirty paces deep. There were several natural cracks in the cave ceiling that let in some daylight, dispelling the gloom inside.

The ground was very dry, scattered with some gravel and dead leaves.

At the deepest point, there was a basin-sized puddle, catching the clear water dripping from the cracks in the rock wall drop by drop.

This place was a hundred times better than that abandoned Mountain God Temple.

Lin Chen felt relieved and decided to settle here for the time being.

He had Su Qingyao take their daughter to rest in a well-lit area near the cave entrance, while he himself, enduring the recurring sharp pain from his left shoulder, drew his Dharma sword.

Driven by his Foundation Establishment Stage Spiritual Qi, the sharp blade sliced through tree branches as thick as a bowl like cutting tofu.

He spent the better part of the day collecting enough thick branches and tough vines to build a sturdy, simple fence gate inside the cave entrance, sufficient to keep out ordinary wild beasts.

Afterward, he cleared the gravel out of the cave, used Sword Qi to cut large patches of dry grass to spread on the ground, and covered it with the old cloth they had brought. A simple yet warm "home" began to take shape.

At dusk, Old Man Shi appeared silently at the cave entrance, carrying a steaming clay pot and several roasted wild potatoes that were charred yellow.

He set the items down without asking a single question, only saying that since it was cold, the child should have some hot water, then turned and left.

Su Qingyao wiped Lin Leyao's body with the hot water, changed her into clean swaddling clothes, then soaked a cloth with the remaining hot water from the clay pot, firmly shoved it into Lin Chen's hand, forced him to drink most of it, and then broke open a roasted wild potato and handed it to his mouth.

Late at night, the low chirping of unknown insects and the rustling of wind through the treetops drifted from outside the cave.

The Family of three huddled on that warm bed of dry grass. Lin Chen lay with his eyes open, listening to the steady and even breathing of his wife and daughter beside him, and the string in his heart that had been pulled taut for days finally relaxed completely.

For the first time, he felt so vividly that even having entered the Foundation Establishment Stage, which countless Loose Cultivators dreamed of, he was still walking on thin ice in this cruel world of cultivation; one wrong step, and it would mean total destruction.

For the next few days, Lin Chen did not step out once, focusing on healing his injuries inside the cave.

Su Qingyao demonstrated her talent in the Dao of alchemy.

Using the medicinal materials they had brought as the main ingredients, supplemented by several herbs for stopping bleeding and regenerating flesh that she collected in the valley under Old Man Shi's guidance, she re-brewed an ointment with better medicinal effects.

Every day, besides circulating the basic Cultivation Technique of the Qingmu Sect to heal his wounds, Lin Chen practiced the Spirit Nourishing Technique.

Perhaps it was because the Spiritual Qi in the valley, though thin, was exceptionally pure, or perhaps it was the peace of mind, but his recovery speed was far faster than he had anticipated.

On the evening of the fifth day, when he unwrapped the bandage on his shoulder, the hideous wound had basically healed, leaving only a faint pink scar.

That very night, just as his injuries were fully healed and the Spiritual Qi in his body had become smooth and unobstructed again, the long-absent System notification sound rang in his mind without warning:

[Detected that the host has recently experienced a life-or-death crisis, and the Family Luck has fluctuated violently. Passive function [Vague Crisis Pre-warning] has been initially activated.]

[Vague Crisis Pre-warning: When significant malice or a crisis targeting the host or direct Bloodline is imminent, there is a low probability of producing vague premonitions such as heart palpitations or unease. Note: This function is triggered probabilistically and cannot provide specific information.]

Lin Chen's heart sank slightly.

The appearance of this new function was not a good thing.

It clearly indicated that the crisis had not gone away; it might even be quietly brewing in some corner unknown to him.

After recovering from his injuries, Lin Chen immediately began planning for the future using the System.

He opened the System panel and brought up the [Family Luck Visualization] interface.

The milky-white aura representing the Lin Family's Luck, above the region of Luoxia Valley, was still thin, but its form was much more stable and pure than it had been on the outskirts of Liuyun Market, no longer drifting about like rootless duckweed.

He had made a decision in his heart.

This place must be built up secretly as the true Foundation of the Lin Family.

He rummaged through the Storage Pouch of Outer Sect Deacon Wang Heng and found a simple message transmission Talisman.

This type of Talisman was one-time use and could only convey a short message of a few dozen characters.

He injected a trace of Spiritual Qi and wrote on the Talisman paper: "Are you safe? Any unusual movements in the town?"

The Talisman turned into a faint light and vanished silently at the cave entrance.

Half a day later, a faint light flew back and condensed into a Talisman before him.

A-Tu's crooked handwriting appeared: "Master is safe! The town is peaceful. A few days ago, some strangers were asking about Master outside the town. Their accents were not local, and they left after asking a few questions. The spiritual fields are growing very well. Mr. Zhou asked me to tell you that everything is as usual."

Lin Chen's brows furrowed.

The strangers' inquiries were ninety percent likely to be scouts sent by the Wang Family or the Blood Crow Tower.

They didn't investigate deeper in Black Stone Town—was it because the clue he faked about a "Fire-attribute Foundation Establishment Middle Stage Senior" had worked, or were they brewing a bigger move?

He decided to take the initiative.

He walked out of the cave and found Old Man Shi, who was tanning animal hides, and expressed his wish to live here for a long time. He was willing to pay a small bag of millet as payment, asking him to help keep an eye on the movements at the valley entrance, and incidentally, to teach the couple how to identify edible wild game and herbs in the vicinity.

Old Man Shi's cloudy eyes looked at him for a long while; he did not decline, but silently accepted the bag of millet, which was incredibly precious to a mountain dweller, and said in a deep voice: "This valley is quiet, and this old man gets bored living alone. You masters clearly look like people of ability; it is fate that you can stay here. Rest assured, this old man will go over to the valley entrance twice a day to check."

A few more days passed, and A-Tu's second message Talisman arrived on schedule.

This time, the message was even shorter, but it made Lin Chen's heart tighten violently.

"The Zhao shopkeeper of the rice shop in town said that a couple of days ago, some Cultivators passed by and chatted, mentioning that there is a Wang Family near the Qingmu Sect who have recently closed their doors to visitors, and their disciples rarely go out—it's very strange."

Lin Chen put down the message Talisman, his gaze becoming incomparably grave.

Retracting forces, closing doors to visitors?

This absolutely did not fit the logic of revenge that a Family should have after losing a direct descendant.

This looked more like they were waiting for some order, or... fearing something!

He immediately recalled the black-robed figure and the words "branch division" that had flashed through Wang Long's broken memories.

The Wang Family might not be the masterminds.

They were very likely just an insignificant tentacle extending from the "Blood Crow Tower," a massive organization hidden in the shadows.

The real threat was still lurking in deeper darkness, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Lin Chen walked out of the cave and looked up; a dreamlike evening mist had gradually risen in the valley.

He knew he had to become stronger faster, and make this newly budding Family grow stronger faster.

Before that, Luoxia Valley was the fortress they had to defend to the death, and also the Foundation they had to operate in secret.

He took a deep breath, turned, and walked back into the cave.

The top priority was to use this rare peace to raise his cultivation to the Peak of the first level of the Foundation Establishment Stage as soon as possible.

He had a vague premonition that when the next crisis arrived, it would definitely not be as simple as the ambush in the dark alley.