Yin Wind at the Ravine Mouth, the Furnace Stirs for the First Time

Su Lie's dry cry of alarm was like a stone cast into stagnant water, stirring silent ripples through the group.

Everyone's eyes fixed on the enormous, pitch-black entrance to the rift, as though it could swallow souls whole. The ink-dark yin wind howling out carried bone-piercing cold and mournful wails. Even from a distance, the guards instinctively wrapped their clothes tighter and circulated their true qi to ward off the all-pervading erosion of yin cold.

Fear was the most immediate emotion at that moment.

Quite a few guards had already gone deathly pale. Their knuckles whitened from gripping their weapons too tightly, and their eyes were filled with hesitation and retreat. They were merely Body Tempering Realm martial artists. They could handle ordinary demon beasts in their daily lives, but the presence emanating from Yin Wind Ravine had already exceeded the limits of their understanding. It was a fear born from the instincts of life itself.

Su Lie took a deep breath and forcefully suppressed the tremor in his heart. He looked toward Lin Chen, waiting for this unfathomable "lord" to make a decision. He knew very well that without this lord, they would not merely lack the courage to enter Yin Wind Ravine—they likely would not even dare approach it.

Lin Chen stood at the very front of the group, his gaze calmly fixed on the endlessly churning black wind at the entrance. Unlike the others, he did not feel pure fear. Instead, within that yin wind, he keenly sensed an incomparably pure yet even more violent energy of the yin-cold attribute.

This energy was far purer and far more powerful than the Cold Water Crocodile's source Dao Rhyme and the muddled mist of the Soul Bewildering Mist.

To him, rather than a deathtrap, this place was more like... a treasure land.

The Myriad Dao Fusion Art trembled faintly within him, as though it had developed a trace of longing for the pure energy at the entrance.

He did not turn back to ask anyone's opinion. He merely lifted his foot and walked toward the dark ravine mouth. His movements were steady, without the slightest hesitation.

"Follow him! Stay close to the lord!" Seeing this, Su Lie's heart settled, and he immediately shouted sharply. No matter how terrifying what lay ahead might be, this lord's presence was their only hope.

Though the guards' hearts quailed, seeing Lin Chen's utterly resolute back, they could only grit their teeth and follow him in. Under Su Lie's personal guidance, the carriage cautiously rolled toward that darkness.

The closer they came to the ravine mouth, the more astonishing the yin wind's power became.

Like countless tiny ice needles, it continuously stabbed at the guards' true qi barriers, producing dense hissing sounds. The rate at which their true qi was depleted suddenly accelerated, and many had already begun to feel the strain.

At last, Lin Chen's figure was the first to vanish into the rolling curtain of black wind.

Immediately afterward, Su Lie and the others stepped into the bounds of Yin Wind Ravine as well.

It was as though they had crossed from one world into another in an instant.

The light abruptly dimmed, leaving them in darkness so deep they could barely see their hands before their faces. Only faint daylight reflected from deeper within the rift barely outlined the uneven rocky ground beneath their feet.

Even more terrifying was the yin wind!

After entering the ravine mouth, the yin wind no longer assailed them from all directions. It became a directed, almost tangible impact! Gust after gust of powerful black airflow swept along shattered stones and icy energy, lashing at them like whips and slicing like sharp blades.

"Ah!" A guard was caught off guard and struck head-on by a fierce gust. His protective true qi was instantly torn open, and his chest felt as though it had been smashed by a heavy hammer. He grunted and staggered back several steps, a trace of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.

"Hold steady! Form up! Link your true qi!" Su Lie roared. With his wealth of experience, he immediately directed the guards to tighten their formation. In groups of several, they linked their true qi together to form a larger defensive barrier. Only then did they barely manage to withstand the omnipresent slicing of the yin wind.

Even so, their true qi was being consumed at an astonishing rate, and every one of them looked grim.

The carriage swayed wildly from side to side in the gale, and Su Lie had to use all his strength merely to steady the reins. Inside the carriage, Su Ling'er curled into herself. Her already frail body was suffering even more under the assault of such dense and violent yin wind, and faint moans drifted out intermittently.

Only Lin Chen.

He continued walking at the front, his pace neither hurried nor slow.

The violent yin wind, enough to tear apart the true qi barriers of Body Tempering Realm martial artists, seemed to encounter some invisible barrier when it came within three feet of him—or rather, it was tamed by an even more powerful force.

The ink-dark currents slowed abruptly upon touching the invisible force field around him. Then, like docile streams flowing into a great river, they were broken down into finer strands of energy that silently merged into his body and vanished.

There was no earth-shaking display, no radiant protective barrier.

He simply walked on in calm composure, as though taking a leisurely stroll through a courtyard. The violent, raging yin wind around him seemed... no more than a breeze brushing his face.

At that moment, the Myriad Dao Fusion Art was operating with an efficiency far beyond normal. This pure yet violent yin-wind energy was swiftly broken down, purified, and transformed by the furnace. One portion replenished his own expenditure, while more was absorbed by the furnace and converted into the most fundamental energy reserves. At the same time, that fragment of Water Yin Cold Dao Rhyme was growing and solidifying at a visible rate.

Lin Chen could even feel his understanding and control of yin-cold attribute power continuously deepening.

He tilted his head slightly, and an exceedingly faint, nearly imperceptible gentle energy extended outward once more. Like a veil of gauze, it enveloped the carriage behind him, silently offsetting most of the yin wind's direct impact and easing Su Ling'er's suffering.

Following behind him, Su Lie and the others witnessed the way Lin Chen dealt with the yin wind, and the shock in their hearts had already reached indescribable heights.

That was not relying on powerful true qi to resist it head-on. It was more like... control? Assimilation?

They could not understand it, and could only attribute everything to the unfathomable strength of this "lord." At the same time, they discovered that by staying close behind Lin Chen, the pressure from the yin wind did indeed seem lighter. This let them breathe a little easier and strengthened their resolve to follow closely behind him.

The group slowly advanced through darkness and raging winds along the narrow, rugged ravine path that sloped downward.

The rocks here were a strange shade of black, exceptionally hard, and covered in deep marks carved by Wind Blades. Other than the howling of the yin wind, there was no sound at all. Everything was deathly silent.

After walking for roughly the time it took to burn an incense stick, the passage ahead seemed to widen slightly, and the wind also appeared to weaken somewhat.

Lin Chen stopped.

He raised his head and looked into the deeper darkness ahead.

Though his vision was obstructed, his spiritual senses caught something unusual.

Within the yin wind farther ahead, there seemed to be some... denser, more lively fluctuations of energy.

It was not merely natural yin wind.

It was more like... something born by relying on the yin wind.