127: Chapter 127 The Opportunity for the Golden Core

This remark was like a block of ice, smashing into the seething martial arts arena, instantly freezing all the clamor.

Deep within Venerable Xueli's sunken eye sockets, two ghost-fire-like gazes locked onto Lin Haoyu on the arena. The pressure of a Nascent Soul Cultivator was no longer held back in the slightest, pouring down like a tangible tide.

The air became viscous, as if even the light was bent under the pressure. Every Qi Refining Disciple felt their breathing hitch, their chests feeling as if crushed by a giant boulder.

Lin Haoyu's small body trembled violently under this terrifying pressure; the wound on his left shoulder split open, blood once again soaking his clothes. Yet, he stubbornly straightened his spine, the broken half-sword in his hand propping him up, supporting his teetering body.

"This seat suspects this child has been subjected to Possession by an evil spirit. He must be taken back to the True Blood Temple to have his soul refined with True Fire to verify his true identity." Venerable Xueli's voice was hoarse, yet every word was like a blade, brooking no doubt.

He slowly raised his right hand, withered like a chicken's claw, fingers splayed, and grabbed at Lin Haoyu from afar.

A giant ghost claw, formed from blood-colored spiritual energy, materialized out of thin air above Lin Haoyu's head, carrying a thick scent of blood and decay, and crashed down!

This grab was not an inspection at all; it was intended to crush Lin Haoyu, body and soul, into dust!

"You dare!"

Su Qingyao let out a shrill scream, wanting to rush onto the arena, but she was pinned in place by that immense pressure, unable to move.

She could only watch helplessly as the blood-colored ghost claw descended, her fingertips pressing hard against her lips until she bit through the corner of her mouth, blood seeping out, without even noticing.

Just at this critical moment, a figure moved so fast it seemed like an illusion, instantly shifting over ten zhang, arriving first despite starting later, and steadily stood in front of Lin Haoyu.

It was Lin Chen.

He didn't even look back at his son, simply shielding him behind his back, his tall, straight figure like an insurmountable mountain.

The blood-colored ghost claw fell without pause.

Lin Chen's gaze was as calm as a deep pool; he didn't channel any spiritual energy, just stood there quietly.

His right hand subconsciously rubbed the rough stone ring on his thumb.

The ghost claw landed solidly on Lin Chen.

However, the scene of blood and flesh flying, as expected, did not occur.

"Crack—"

A crisp sound, like jade shattering, was clearly audible in the deathly silent martial arts arena.

A nondescript Qingmu Sect standard jade pendant, hanging at Lin Chen's waist as an identity marker, exploded in response!

The moment the jade pendant exploded, it didn't turn into dust, but instead erupted with three dazzling, grand, golden-red Sword Qi!

These three Sword Qi, each more solid than the last, each more overbearing than the last, were like sword blades drawn from the scorching sun, carrying a terrifying might that could burn away all evil in the world, flowing against the current to meet that blood-colored ghost claw!

This was... protective Sword Qi left behind by Master Chiyang!

Sshhh—

The blood-colored ghost claw collided with the first Sword Qi, like boiling oil poured on snow, instantly evaporating nearly half of it.

Immediately following, the second and third Sword Qi arrived one after another, tearing through the remaining blood claw like a hot knife through butter, and struck at Venerable Xueli on the high platform with even greater speed!

Venerable Xueli's expression changed drastically; he never imagined that a Foundation Establishment Cultivator would harbor such pure, overbearing Nascent Soul-level Sword Qi.

He hastily raised his hand, sliding a blood-colored bone shield from his sleeve to block in front of him.

The first Sword Qi slashed onto the bone shield, the runes on its surface flashing wildly, emitting a teeth-aching shriek.

Boom! Boom!

The next two Sword Qi struck the same spot one after another, and that bone shield, which clearly appeared to be of extraordinary grade, was forcibly slashed with spiderweb-like cracks.

Venerable Xueli was hit as if by a heavy hammer, his entire body flying backward uncontrollably. With a "clang," he smashed through the sturdy wooden railing of the viewing stand behind him, stumbling back several steps before steadying himself.

The whole crowd was in an uproar!

The Danxia Sect Sect Master and several Elders stood up in shock, their gazes filled with uncertainty as they looked at Lin Chen.

Just then, a clear sword hum came from above the Nine Heavens.

The sound was at the horizon a moment ago, but the next instant, it was right beside their ears.

A sword light, cold as autumn water, fell straight down from the firmament like a blade tearing through a canvas.

Its target was not Venerable Xueli himself, but the distorted shadow he cast on the ground under the sunlight.

"Halt!"

The sword light pinned itself with pinpoint accuracy onto the heart of Venerable Xueli's shadow.

An incredible scene occurred.

The place where the shadow was pinned actually seeped out wisps of foul-smelling black blood, just like a real flesh-and-blood body!

"Ah!"

Venerable Xueli let out a suppressed groan of pain, his face instantly turning deathly pale, as if it wasn't his shadow that had been pinned, but his soul.

"Guhongzi's 'Shadow-Pinning Sword'!" Master Yaochen exclaimed, "How could he be here?"

As the words fell, a cold, middle-aged man in gray Daoist robes, carrying an ancient sword on his back, appeared silently at the edge of the martial arts arena. He simply stood there, his entire person like a peerless sword hidden in its scabbard, his sharpness restrained, yet impossible for anyone to ignore.

Loose Cultivator of the Golden Core stage, Guhongzi!

"The Heaven Patrol Division is on official business." Guhongzi's voice was not loud, but it clearly spread across the entire arena, "Xue Li, you Cultivate evil arts like the 'Blood Shadow Incarnation', do you know this is a crime punishable by total extermination of your Sect?"

Venerable Xueli's face was so gloomy it could drip water. He stared fixedly at the sword light on the ground; as long as his shadow was pinned, the power of this Incarnation would continue to drain away.

The standoff reached its Peak at this moment.

It was also at this time that the stone ring on Lin Chen's right thumb suddenly transmitted a burning, stinging pain.

Before he could react, the rough stone ring that had accompanied him for many years unexpectedly detached from his finger without warning, slowly floating in mid-air in front of him.

Hum—

The ancient patterns on the stone ring lit up one by one, projecting a massive, illusory screen of light composed of countless ancient runes. The light screen, like a contract sealed by time, slowly unfolded in the air.

Most of the runes were obscure and difficult to understand; only one line of terms, the moment the light screen unfolded, bloomed with brilliant golden light.

The five large characters formed by the golden light, written with dragon-and-snake-like strokes, contained an awe-inspiring Dao rhyme that made one's heart tremble—

Bloodline Is Nothing to Fear!

The instant these five characters lit up, a profound resonance instantly swept across the entire martial arts arena.

Hum, hum, hum, hum—

In an instant, the swords and Magical Artifacts at the waists of thousands of Disciples on the field, the horsetail whisks and jade ruyi in the hands of the Elders, and even the ancient sword on Guhongzi's back—all the Lifebound Treasures of the Cultivators, at this moment, all emitted violent, uncontrollable tremors and humming!

It was as if they were responding to the call of that ancient contract, or perhaps bowing to a supreme monarch!

This shocking scene left everyone dumbfounded.

Venerable Xueli was even more terrified; he could feel his Lifebound Treasure, the Blood River Banner, frantically crashing inside his Storage Pouch, trying to break the seal and submit to that ring!

"What... what is this?!" His voice was hoarse, revealing fear for the first time.

No one could answer him.

Just as everyone's attention was drawn by the phenomenon in the air, in the spectator stands, Su Qingyao, who had been silent all along,

took a small pill bottle from her sleeve and crushed it in her palm without hesitation!

Inside the bottle was not a Medicinal Pill, but a pinch of dark purple pollen with a strange fragrance.

She raised her hand and, with all her spiritual energy, slapped the palm filled with pollen shards towards the direction of the high platform.

A gentle gust of wind swept up the pollen, like a purple mist, drifting towards Venerable Xueli.

"Petty tricks!" Venerable Xueli was busy resisting the disturbance of the artifacts and gave a disdainful cold snort upon seeing this, his protective spiritual light shaking, intending to blow the pollen away.

However, the moment the pollen mist touched his protective spiritual light, it was not blown away. Instead, it seemed to be catalyzed by something, exploding with a boom to form a huge, translucent light screen, like a mirror, clearly reflecting Venerable Xueli's figure within it.

The improved version of the seven-heart begonia pill powder was not toxic in itself, but it could produce a strong reflection effect on specific auras under the catalysis of spiritual energy!

Within the light screen, Venerable Xueli's figure was revealed in minute detail.

People clearly saw that inside the cuff of his wide blood-colored robe, a black Talisman engraved with countless twisted ghost faces was hidden!

The cold Soul Power fluctuation emitted from that Talisman faintly connected with the aura of Jin Feng, who had passed out and been crippled on the arena, and even the death-sworn soldiers Qin Ruowei had identified earlier!

"Soul Control Talisman! It's the Soul Control Talisman used by the True Blood Temple to manipulate death-sworn soldiers!" Master Yaochen pointed at the light screen, his voice like a bell, filled with anger, "Human evidence and material evidence are both here! Xue Li, what else do you have to say!"

Open plots, killing schemes, framing... everything, at this moment, had the most direct and irrefutable evidence!

Venerable Xueli's face instantly turned into the face of a dead man.

"Good... a good Lin family!" He swept a venomous look at Lin Chen, Lin Haoyu, and Su Qingyao, then glanced at Guhongzi, his gaze as if saying, just you wait.

He bit the tip of his tongue violently and spat a mouthful of his lifeblood onto his shadow.

"Explode!"

The Shadow-Pinning Sword pinning his shadow was knocked away by a huge force and flew back into Guhongzi's hand.

Venerable Xueli, borrowing the power gained from this self-mutilation, turned his body into a streak of blood light, ignoring the Danxia Sect Sect Master, and shot straight into the sky, fleeing into the distance without looking back.

With the powerful enemy retreated, the suffocating pressure on the martial arts arena dissipated.

Lin Chen's taut nerves finally relaxed.

And at this very moment, the spiritual energy in his body, which had been seething violently due to the series of events, suddenly calmed down without warning, like a rushing river merging into the sea, instantly returning to a strange, perfect, and seamless silence.

He looked down and opened his left palm.

There, on his palm, five spiritual patterns representing the Origin of the Five Elements had quietly appeared, unknown when, interlocking and slowly rotating to form a profound and perfect cycle.

The reward for the Secret Realm qualification battle was supposed to be the "Five Elements Foundation Establishment Pill" distributed by the Sect after the battle to help Disciples consolidate their Dao foundation.

But at this moment, after experiencing the pressure of life and death, witnessing his son proving his Dao with blood, and feeling the awe-inspiring Divine Might of the stone ring, his internal Dao foundation had been catalyzed in advance and reached Perfection on its own.

The Golden Core opportunity had arrived.

Three days later, Danxia Sect, guest courtyard Meditation Room.

Lin Chen sat cross-legged, his breath long and steady.

After three days of regulation, he had suppressed the urge to Breakthrough and adjusted his state to the Peak.

Today was the day for seclusion.

Before secluding, he had one last thing to do.

He calmed his mind and looked at his right thumb.

After displaying its Divine Might that day, the stone ring had returned to its plain and unadorned appearance, only the feeling in his hand seemed a bit more warm and moist than before.

Lin Chen carefully took it off and examined it in his palm.

He discovered that on the originally smooth inner wall of the ring, a circle of extremely fine, almost imperceptible new patterns had appeared.

These patterns were neither text nor Talismans; when combined, they looked like an incomplete map.

Most of the map was blurry, with only a few marked points clearly visible.

One of the marked points was circled by a special symbol, the shape resembling a small blade of grass swaying in the wind.

Lin Chen's mind was completely immersed in it; he always felt this marked point looked familiar.

He suddenly remembered something and took out a Jade Slip from his Storage Pouch, pressing it to his forehead.

This was the Pill Formula prepared by Su Qingyao for refining the Foundation Establishment Pill, which detailed the medicinal properties and Origins of various auxiliary herbs.

His Divine Sense swept through the Jade Slip rapidly, and finally, it locked onto an extremely rare medicinal herb.

Barrier-Breaking Golden Scale Grass.

In the Jade Slip, the description of the Origin of this herb completely overlapped with the circled marked point on the stone ring map in terms of location and terrain!

Lin Chen's breathing suddenly hitched.