Post-Battle Reckoning

Consciousness slowly surfaced from endless darkness and exhaustion.

Lin Xiao felt as though he had had an incredibly long dream. In that dream, he had transformed into an Asura who ruled over slaughter and fought a life-and-death battle capable of destroying heaven and earth against a brilliant great sun that illuminated the world. In the end, he had exhausted every last shred of strength to drag that arrogant sun down from the lofty heavens and smash it to pieces.

And he himself had fallen into an endless abyss after overtaxing his strength.

His body felt as though it had been repeatedly crushed by tens of thousands of siege beasts. Ripping pain surged from the depths of his marrow. The Spiritual Energy within him had run dry, leaving not even a trace he could mobilize. His entire body was like a sponge drained of every drop of water, weak to the extreme.

"Ugh..."

Lin Xiao let out a pained groan and struggled to open his lead-heavy eyelids.

What entered his sight was no longer that hell on earth filled with blood and flames, but a somewhat familiar, dim cave ceiling. Strands of warm sunlight spilled in through the entrance, driving away some of the chill within the cave. The air carried a faint herbal fragrance, along with the elusive, intoxicating scent of a young girl.

"Chief Instructor! You're awake!"

A familiar voice full of surprise and concern rang out beside him.

Lin Xiao slowly turned his head and saw an exquisite face covered in bloodshot fatigue, yet whose beautiful eyes still shone like stars.

It was Su Yue.

She was carefully using a piece of white cloth dampened with clean water to gently wipe the blood and dust from Lin Xiao's face. Her movements were incomparably tender, as if she were handling a peerless treasure unlike any other in the world.

Not far behind her, Shi Lei, Monkey, and every member of Yellow Class Nine lay sprawled across the ground. Their faces were pale, their breaths weak, and blood-soaked bandages covered their bodies, yet they were all sleeping soundly.

The faint smiles still hanging on their lips even in their sleep made it clear just how much spiritual satisfaction and comfort this glorious victory, one worthy of being recorded in history, had brought them.

"How long... was I asleep?" Lin Xiao's throat was as dry as if it had been scraped by sandpaper, and his voice came out incomparably hoarse.

"It has... it has been a day and a night already." As Su Yue spoke, she carefully brought a water skin filled with fresh water to Lin Xiao's lips. "Chief Instructor, you... you lost so much blood then. You looked like you had been pulled out of a pool of blood. You scared us to death."

As she said this, her beautiful eyes instantly reddened, and a glistening mist welled up in them.

Cool water slowly slid down his parched throat and into his stomach, allowing Lin Xiao's muddled mind, which had nearly stopped working, to regain a sliver of clarity.

He struggled to sit up.

A tearing agony, enough to make an ordinary person faint instantly, suddenly surged wildly through every limb and bone in his body!

"Don't move!"

Su Yue's lovely face went pale with fright. She hurriedly stretched out her slender, jade-like hands and gently pressed down on his shoulders.

"Chief Instructor, you... you forcibly used that terrifying martial art beyond your own limits. Your body was already on the verge of collapse! If you hadn't exchanged several bottles of the Third-Order healing holy medicine, Life Creation Pills, from the Merit Hall before, then I'm afraid... I'm afraid you would already..."

She could not continue.

Seeing the girl's tear-filled eyes, brimming with lingering fear and worry, Lin Xiao could not help but feel a warm current rise in his heart.

He slowly raised his right hand, which was still trembling slightly, and gently wiped away the glistening tear at the corner of her eye.

Then, in a voice that was weak yet carried an unquestionable gentle strength, he said:

"I'm fine."

"Don't worry."

Those simple words seemed to carry a strange magic, instantly soothing all the fear and unease in Su Yue's heart.

She nodded heavily. At last, a moving smile bloomed on her pretty face, still stained with traces of smoke and dust—a smile beautiful enough to make all flowers pale in comparison.

"Mm!"

With Su Yue supporting him, Lin Xiao finally slowly sat up against the cold cave wall.

At once, he calmed his mind and examined his body internally.

[System Notification: Host's physical condition is extremely weak. Spiritual Energy is depleted, multiple meridians are damaged, and seventy percent of muscle fibers are ruptured...]

[Warning! Warning! Host forcibly used the martial art "Reversing the Mortal World" beyond his limits, causing slight damage to his martial foundation. If not repaired in time, it may affect future cultivation!]

[Repair plan generated: Requires 5,000 experience points, or a heavenly treasure of Fourth Order or above that strengthens the foundation and replenishes vitality.]

Listening to the string of system notifications filled with crimson warnings in his mind, Lin Xiao's brows furrowed slightly.

The situation was even worse than he had imagined.

Although the move "Reversing the Mortal World" possessed boundless power and had allowed him to accomplish the heaven-shaking feat of slaying a god as a mortal, its backlash was equally terrifying.

Fortunately, he still had the system, that heaven-defying cheat. As long as he had enough experience points or heavenly treasures, this damage to his foundation—enough to drive any normal genius into despair—was not much of a problem for him.

"Right." As though suddenly recalling something, Lin Xiao raised his head to look at Su Yue and asked in a somewhat grave tone, "How is... Wu Tianxiong?"

At the mention of that name, Su Yue's pretty face, which had only just regained a little color, instantly turned pale again.

She subconsciously glanced toward the darkest corner in the depths of the cave, her eyes filled with an extremely complicated mixture of fear, pity, and satisfaction.

"He... he's still alive."

Su Yue lowered her voice, as if afraid of waking some peerless ferocious beast slumbering there.

"But, Chief Instructor, that palm strike of yours was just too... too terrifying. Not only did it completely shatter all the bones and internal organs in his body, it also used an incredibly strange force to... to utterly cripple the martial foundation he had cultivated to the realm of Half-step Spirit Movement!"

"Forget cultivation. He probably can't even defeat the most ordinary mortal now."

Hearing this result, the heart Lin Xiao had kept hanging finally settled.

That was exactly the effect he wanted.

A dead Wu Tianxiong would certainly eliminate future trouble forever, but the towering wrath it would bring from the Academy's upper ranks and the Marquis Zhenbei's residence in the royal capital was not something he or Yellow Class Nine could bear at present.

But crippling the cultivation of a former "number one prodigy" and kicking him from his lofty altar down into the mortal dust would inflict humiliation and devastation far crueler—and far more satisfying—than simply killing him.

"As for the others from the Heavenly Martial Society..." Su Yue continued, "apart from the dozen or so who were scared out of their wits by you, Chief Instructor, and managed to escape, we confiscated the Storage Bags and weapons of the remaining forty-plus people."

At this point, Su Yue's beautiful eyes instantly lit up, filled with the eager gleam of a little miser gazing upon mountains of gold and silver!

"Chief Instructor! You... you'll never guess how enormous a fortune we made this time!"

As if presenting a treasure, she took out a storage ring from her Storage Bag. It was forged from some unknown golden warm jade, with a lifelike, domineering male lion carved upon it. She carefully handed it to Lin Xiao.

"This... this was found on Wu Tianxiong. The things inside... inside are practically... practically worth half the stockpile of the Merit Hall!"

Lin Xiao took the storage ring, which felt warm to the touch and was obviously immensely valuable, then slowly extended the last trace of his spiritual sense into it.

The next instant, a violent ripple called "shock" finally appeared on his face, which had remained as still as an ancient well.

Within the storage space, as large as an entire room, were neatly sorted heaps of resources vast enough to make any outer academy student gasp and go completely mad!

There were mountains of middle-grade spirit stones, roughly estimated at no fewer than fifty thousand!

There was also a dazzling array of healing, cultivation, and antidote pills ranging from Second-Order High Grade to Third-Order Middle Grade, their total value likely exceeding one hundred thousand merit points!

Beyond that were several cultivation manuals and martial arts secret books radiating powerful Spiritual Energy fluctuations, ranging from Profound Grade Middle Rank to even Profound Grade Upper Rank!

Among them was the complete copy of the Great Sun Burning Heaven Art, the clan-defining ultimate art upon which Wu Tianxiong had built his fame!

Yet what made Lin Xiao's heart skip a beat were the two items lying quietly atop that mountain of resources.

The first was a terrifying beast core, entirely an eerie blood-red, as large as an infant's fist. Within it seemed to be sealed the savage shadow of a wolf roaring soundlessly!

The beast core of a Third-Order Lower Grade Ironback Wolf King!

—High-level B-grade Mission, completed!

The other item was a palm-sized token forged from some unknown black divine iron, engraved with countless ancient, mysterious, and intricate patterns!

On the front of the token was an ancient seal character, written with dragons soaring and phoenixes dancing, brimming with endless iron-blooded slaughter intent—"Profound"!

On the back was a lifelike depiction of mountains and rivers!

The instant Lin Xiao saw this token, his heart clenched violently!

[System Notification: Unknown key mission item discovered—Profound Iron Token]

[Item Information: ???]

[Trigger Conditions: ???]

[Warning! This item contains an enormously powerful unknown karmic connection. Host, please handle it with caution!]

A string of system notifications filled with immense unknowns and warnings exploded through Lin Xiao's mind!

His breathing instantly became somewhat hurried!

He had an extremely strong premonition! The secret hidden behind this seemingly ordinary token was likely far more astonishing than he had imagined! It might even be inextricably connected to the mystery of his origins, which had always been shrouded in layers of mist!

Without revealing anything, he separately placed the Profound Iron Token, filled with unknowns, and the Great Sun Burning Heaven Art, which held immense reference value for him, into his own Storage Bag.

Only then did he slowly withdraw from that storage ring, which could be called a "mobile treasure vault."

He raised his head and looked at Su Yue's bright eyes, filled with anticipation and excitement. At last, a faint smile from the heart appeared on his face.

"Well done."

"With this enormous fortune, enough to make any force green with envy, the future cultivation path of Yellow Class Nine will be smooth sailing!"

"Once we return to the Academy, I will distribute these resources according to each person's contributions in this battle and their cultivation attributes!"

"I guarantee that every one of you will undergo an earth-shaking transformation in strength in the shortest possible time!"

Upon hearing Lin Xiao's solemn promise, so full of endless temptation, an even more radiant light instantly blossomed across Su Yue's already flushed face!

She nodded heavily, and her beautiful eyes curved into two enchanting crescents with joy.

"Mm!"

Just then.

A set of extremely faint, wary footsteps slowly approached from outside the cave.

Immediately afterward, Monkey's somewhat bedraggled figure flashed in through the cave entrance.

The instant he saw that Lin Xiao had awakened, a look of joyous relief appeared on his face!

"Chief Instructor! You're awake! That's wonderful!"

He hurried over to Lin Xiao, respectfully bowed first, then slowly opened his hand, which had long been clenched so tightly from nervousness that it was drenched in sweat. Within lay another storage ring, likewise entirely black, though its material was completely different from Wu Tianxiong's.

"Chief Instructor, this... this was found on Zhao Wuji, whom you killed in a single move."

An extremely strange expression, filled with confusion and incomprehension, appeared on Monkey's face.

"The things inside are... are very strange."

"Oh?"

Lin Xiao raised a brow slightly. He took the storage ring from Monkey, cold to the touch as though forged from ten-thousand-year frozen iron, and slowly extended his partially recovered spiritual sense into it.

The next moment, his eyes, which had only just regained their calm, contracted sharply once more!

The storage space, though not small, contained none of the spirit stones, pills, or cultivation manuals essential to ordinary cultivators.

Instead, it held only things that looked extraordinarily strange, even somewhat horrifying.

The bizarre skeletons of unknown demonic beasts, long since dried by the wind.

Transparent bottles and jars containing viscous liquids of every color, bubbling continuously with eerie bubbles.

And...

More than a dozen human hearts, completely sealed by some extraordinarily strange black runes, still pounding violently with thump, thump...

At the very center of those more than a dozen continuously beating, bizarre hearts floated an ancient map drawn upon some unknown pale beast hide!

The map depicted the detailed terrain of Cloud Creek Academy and the surrounding mountain ranges!

Three locations on the map had been heavily marked in an exceptionally vivid blood-red cinnabar!

One of them was precisely where they currently were—the Black Wind Mountain Range!

And the other two locations were...

Repentance Cliff, deep within the Academy's forbidden grounds, shrouded year-round by endless lightning and fierce winds!

And...

The Black Stone Great Desert, the uninhabited expanse between Qingyang City and Cloud Creek City known as the "Sea of Death"!

"This... this is..."

Looking at those three bizarre locations heavily marked in blood-red cinnabar, an utterly absurd yet perfectly logical terrifying thought struck Lin Xiao's soul like a bolt of black lightning!

He suddenly recalled the tragic past he had long buried in the deepest part of his memories!

He recalled his parents, who had died horribly, every drop of blood essence in their bodies completely drained away!

He recalled the most fundamental reason he had left Qingyang City and traveled thousands of miles to Cloud Creek Academy!

—Revenge!

"So... that's how it was..."

"So those damned bastards have been hiding by my side all along..."

Lin Xiao slowly closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, the depths of his ancient-well-like eyes had been completely replaced by an endless frost cold enough to freeze heaven and earth!

A towering killing intent, more terrifying and purer by more than tenfold than the one he had unleashed when facing Wu Tianxiong, erupted from his seemingly weak body like an ancient demonic dragon awakening!

The entire cave shook violently beneath that horrifying killing intent!

It was as though even heaven and earth could not bear the endless resentment rising from the depths of hell!

"Chief Instructor?!"

"Chief Instructor! What's wrong?!"

Su Yue and Monkey were scared out of their wits by the sudden terrifying change in Lin Xiao. Their faces instantly turned pale as paper!

They simply could not understand! What had he seen that could make their Chief Instructor, who had not shown the slightest change in expression even while facing Wu Tianxiong at the realm of Half-step Spirit Movement, lose control so horribly in an instant like a god brought low?!

"I'm... fine."

Lin Xiao slowly restrained the terrifying killing intent around him, which had nearly condensed into substance.

Without showing anything, he placed that bizarre map, so significant to him, into his Storage Bag.

Only then did he slowly raise his head and, in a cold voice devoid of any emotion, say word by word to the terrified Su Yue and Monkey:

"Pass on my order."

"All personnel are to cease resting immediately!"

"Within half an hour..."

"We return to the Academy!"