Chapter 3049: Erecting a Stele to Declare War |
After a long while, Lin Xun finally withdrew his divine sense, the tension in his heart easing at last. Lin Fan’s and Su Bai’s innate talents had not been completely stripped away. However, they had suffered a certain degree of impact that would inevitably leave its mark on their future dao paths.
If it were anyone else, they would have been completely helpless. However, Lin Xun was different. To one who commanded the Nirvana Law, this was no great problem at all. He merely needed to use its profound essence to reshape their innate talents.
When Lin Xun explained this to Lin Fan and Su Bai, both of them visibly relaxed, joy spreading across their faces.
“Father, I’m sorry for troubling you this time.” A trace of guilt surfaced on Lin Fan’s handsome face.
Lin Xun replied gently, “When I was young, I also relied on the guidance and aid of many seniors. This is nothing. After this experience, you should have a clearer understanding of how terrifying the Eternal Stage truly is. From now on, focus on cultivating well.”
Lin Fan and Su Bai nodded in unison.
“Father, where exactly is this place?” Lin Fan asked.
After being captured from the Eternal True Realm, both he and Su Bai had fallen unconscious. They had only awakened tonight, completely unaware of what had happened.
“The Fortune Dominion,” Lin Xun replied. “The Ji Clan’s territory in the World of the Divine.”
“Master, I have never forgotten your teachings. To enjoy great benefits is to shoulder equally great responsibility and risk. This is nothing, please don’t blame yourself.” Su Bai, who had remained silent, finally spoke up.
“Senior Brother Su Bai is right.” Lin Fan said with a smile.
Looking at the two of them, Lin Xun couldn’t help but think of himself and Yun Qingbai in their youths…One possessed the talent of Grand Abyss Heaven Devourer and the other was born with an innate sword bone…
The difference was that, between these two, there was no enmity. The past drifted away like smoke. With his current status and cultivation, when Lin Xun looked back on his grudges with Yun Qingbai, all that remained was regret and a trace of pity. Fair was never something one could control. How cruel was that…
“Fan’er, Su Bai,” Lin Xun suddenly asked, “now that I’ve wiped out all the Eternal experts of the Ji Clan, how do you think I should deal with the rest of the clan?”
Both Lin Fan and Su Bai were taken aback, immediately realizing that Lin Xun was testing their stance toward the matter.
“Father,” Lin Fan said after a brief silence, “the chief culprit is already dead, and the rest are innocent. We should let them go.”
Lin Xun neither agreed nor objected. His gaze shifted to Su Bai. “And you?”
Su Bai replied calmly, “Today’s matter was settled by Master, so the decision naturally belongs to you. But one day, I will return here and wash away today’s humiliation."
Lin Xun turned back to Lin Fan. “If we follow your decision, what will you do if the surviving members of the Ji Clan seek revenge against our Lin Clan?”
Lin Fan replied without hesitation, “As long as I become stronger than them, they will have no chance for revenge. Besides, we cultivators live amid battle and slaughter all our lives. We are bound to make enemies. Should we be afraid of retaliation?”
After a pause, his gaze hardened. “The existence of enemies will only drive me to keep moving forward and to grow even stronger!”
Lin Xun finally smiled, a trace of satisfaction flashing in his eyes. “You have a kind heart, but you lack experience. You do not yet understand how dangerous and cruel the world can be. Take today as an example. With my strength, I could have swept aside the Ji Clan’s Eternal figures with ease, yet they still dared to target you. Why? First, because they believed they could suppress me. Second, because they had even more powerful backers supporting them.”
Lin Xun’s expression turned grave. “This also means that even if you grow incomparably powerful in the future, what will you do if your children and family are seized and used as hostages by your enemies?”
Lin Fan was stunned by the question and fell into deep contemplation.
Lin Xun then turned his gaze to Su Bai and said, “Your decision is good. Where one falls is where one must rise again. But remember, do not place me too high in your heart in the future. My decisions cannot replace your own will. My master once said that a disciple need not be inferior to their master. But in my view, even if they are inferior, as long as they remain true to their own heart and walk their own path, that is already enough.”
Su Bai shuddered, then bowed deeply. “This disciple has learned a great deal.”
Lin Xun patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t place too much pressure on yourself. Excessive burden will only cloud your heart in the pursuit of the dao.”
Su Bai nodded. It was as if a long-standing shackle had finally been shattered. A sense of ease washed over him, and his heart felt lighter than it had in years.
From the moment he became Lin Xun’s disciple, Su Bai had set his sights on catching up to his master. He feared falling behind, afraid that even the slightest delay would disappoint Lin Xun. Over the years, he pushed himself relentlessly, demanding perfection in all things and measuring every step by whether it brought him closer to his master’s level…
As a result, he had unknowingly placed an immense pressure and burden upon himself. It could not be helped. His master was simply too powerful. No matter how desperately he tried to chase after him, the distance between them only continued to widen…
Lin Xun’s words just now were not lofty truths of the great dao, nor were they profound teachings. They were simple and casual, yet to Su Bai, they struck deeper than any scripture, instantly untying the knot in his heart, like a sudden moment of enlightenment.
“Once the matter of the Ji Clan is settled, I’ll take you two somewhere interesting.” As Lin Xun spoke, he flicked his sleeve, dispersing the Seal of Temporal Restriction, and led Lin Fan and Su Bai away into the distance.
……
A quarter of an hour later, the three Divine Rank laws that had shrouded the Ji Clan’s Fengqi Sacred Mountain, along with the vast wealth accumulated by the Ji Clan over countless ages, were all taken by Lin Xun.
The Ji Clan paid a devastating price. All Immortal-level figures were slaughtered, while the Emperor-level cultivators were crippled one after another. Their fate was no different from that of the Eternal Divine Clans of the Ninth Heaven Domain.
This was Lin Xun’s stance and his way of doing things. Witnessing all of this, Lin Fan and Su Bai each harbored different thoughts and emotions in their hearts.
Lin Xun did not question them about it. He had never expected his son or his disciple to share his exact views or methods. It was enough that they could take something away from tonight’s events.
Deep in the night, Lin Xun departed from the World of the Divine with Lin Fan and Su Bai, heading toward Fortune Divine City. When he became the Lord of Fortune Divine City, he was only at the Heavenly Longevity Immortal Stage. Although he could control and wield the city’s principle power, he was unable to comprehend its true mysteries.
Now, everything was different. Having reached the pinnacle of the Law Transcendence Eternal Realm, he was finally qualified to comprehend the true mysteries of the laws governing Fortune Divine City.
Chen Linkong had once said that, as the city lord, once Lin Xun attained eternal enlightenment, he would be able to take away the Precious River Map, the supreme treasure guarding the Fortune Divine City. This was a priceless treasure left behind by Chen Xi, Chen Linkong’s grandfather!
……
At dawn, news of the Ji Clan’s annihilation spread like wildfire. The entire Great Zhou Domain was thrown into upheaval, waves of shock rolling endlessly outward.
The Ji Clan! A divine clan ranked among the top three of the Fortune Dominion was eradicated in a single night. Who could remain unmoved by such news?
“Who…did it?”
“They survived the destruction of an epoch, yet couldn’t escape a slaughter that struck overnight. The mighty Ji Clan really fell just like that?”
“The heavens are changing!”
The news continued to spread. Wherever it reached, it stirred a tremendous uproar, with countless cries of shock and astonishment echoing without end. This alone showed just how earth-shattering the collapse of a colossus like the Ji Clan truly was.
Amid the uproar of discussion, a group of figures arrived at the place where Fengqi Sacred Mountain had once stood. However, Fengqi Sacred Mountain had long since been refined and taken away, leaving the land bare, empty, silent and desolate.
“They really met with catastrophe…”
The expressions of everyone present shifted at once. They hailed from the Divine Gaoyang Clan and the Divine Jiang Clan. Leading them were two beings at the Creation Eternal Realm. One was Gaoyang Huai, clad in black robes, with ink-black hair and a slender frame. His features were strikingly youthful and refined.
The other was Jiang Tao, clad in a dark battle robe, his hair and beard bristling like halberds, his gaze cold and sharp. At this moment, even the two Creation Eternals stood stunned, their minds reeling.
They had come to discuss how to divide Lin Xun’s fortune after capturing him. Who could have imagined that upon arriving, they would be met with such a scene? For a time, no one spoke. Expressions flickered between shock and dread, and an oppressive silence weighed heavily on the air.
“There’s a stele erected there!” Gaoyang Huai suddenly spoke, his gaze locking onto the distant land.
Amid the shattered ground and collapsed ruins, a lone stele stood upright like a sword driven into the earth. Upon the stele carved a line of ancient, unadorned writing.
Jiang Tao, who had also noticed the stele, read aloud, “Within one month, I, Lin Xun, will await you all in Fortune Divine City, to settle every debt and grievance. Should you fail to come, I will personally pay you a visit after one month…”
Everyone’s eyes narrowed.
“It was Lin Xun!”
“Without question it’s him!”
The core figures of the two divine clans all revealed expressions that said, just as expected. However, in the very next instant, an even greater shock surged through them like a raging tidal wave.
The Ji Clan had been guarded by four Creation Eternals and twelve Law Transcendence Eternals. Its foundation was in no way inferior to that of the Gaoyang or Jiang Clans. Despite that, in a single night, Lin Xun had trampled them! How could anyone not be shocked?
“It’s been less than a hundred years…how could that boy have become so powerful?” someone said shakily.
The others looked no better. In their minds, Lin Xun was still the man who had left Fortune Divine City as nothing more than a Heavenly Longevity Immortal. Now, everything that had happened to the Ji Clan proved beyond doubt that Lin Xun already possessed the terrifying power to slaughter Creation Eternal Stage beings!
The Divine Ji Clan had fallen in a single night. If it had been the Gaoyang Clan or the Jiang Clan instead, could they have withstood such a massacre? Just thinking about it made their hearts tremble, leaving them restless and unable to regain their composure.
“What should we do now?”
In an instant, all eyes turned toward Gaoyang Huai and Jiang Tao, the two Creation Eternals present.