Revenge and Closure

Inside his body, he looked inward at his Dantian. Compared to when he had first advanced to Dou Zhe, the Five-Colored Qi Vortex had shrunk by nearly half and was now only slightly larger than a palm. At the bottom of the vortex were more than a dozen drops of transparent liquid. Sensing the energy radiating from them, Lin Ming was both delighted and shocked. Every single drop contained as much Dou Qi as the total amount he had possessed as a Dou Zhe. No wonder Dou Zhe find it so difficult to defeat Dou Masters. The sheer amount of Dou Qi alone is vastly greater.

Opening his eyes, Lin Ming released a powerful aura. He sensed the changes in his body; his physical strength had increased by nearly thirty percent. With a thought, a Five-Colored Dou Qi Gauze Robe formed over his body. Flames clung to its surface, making him look like a god descending to earth.

Lin Ming punched the stone wall beside him. A Fist Print appeared in the wall, surrounded by cracks. He withdrew his arm and looked at the damage. Even such a simple punch had such power, and with the energy robe protecting him, his fist had barely felt any pain upon striking the stone wall.

At this moment, Lin Ming laughed happily. Less than a year and a half of hardship, from Dou Zhe to Dou Master, had all been worth it.

He cut off the Energy Supply to the Dou Qi Gauze Robe, and the Five-Colored robe vanished. Focusing his mind inside his body, Lin Ming began converting and suppressing the attributes within him again. Before long, the Five-Colored Qi Vortex became a Gold-Green Qi Vortex. Lin Ming summoned his Dou Qi Gauze Robe again, and this time, a fiery Gold-Green Dou Qi Gauze Robe covered the surface of his body.

Lin Ming felt the Gold-Green Dou Qi Gauze Robe and could clearly tell that it was far inferior to the Five-Colored Dou Qi Gauze Robe. Still, it was much stronger than Pei Xiong's. He was not particularly disappointed. After all, he could not expose the energy of the Five Element Effect. He would just make do with this for now. At least it was stronger than an ordinary person's.

Seeing that night was drawing near, Lin Ming decided to spend the night here. Now that he had become a Dou Master, he would find those beasts tomorrow and take his revenge. With that thought, the night passed.

Looking at the stream in the distance, Lin Ming stopped advancing and waited there for the other uninjured Second-Order Harmonious Ape to come down from the trees to drink. He waited for two hours. Only after noon had passed did the uninjured Second-Order Harmonious Ape finally descend from the tree and approach the stream for water.

Seeing that the opportunity he needed had arrived, Lin Ming gripped the Star Dragon Saber and used the Star-Stepping Steps to rush toward the stream. Three breaths later, he was already close to the Second-Order Harmonious Ape drinking by the stream. The other Harmonious Apes that noticed him began screeching wildly, and some even hurled stones at him. Hearing the warning cries of its subordinates, the Second-Order Harmonious Ape by the stream immediately stopped drinking and turned around to face the enemy. It was the ruler of this region, after all. It had been a long time since anything had dared challenge it. Except for that thief last time, who had not only stolen the Spiritual Fruit it had waited so long to ripen, but had also slashed its strongest mate with a single strike before disappearing without a trace. That had dealt a serious blow to its dignity. And now, hearing its subordinates' warnings that something was approaching, it seemed another beast had come seeking death by provoking it. Perfect. It had been far too long since it had tortured other beasts to establish prestige. It was almost forgetting how that felt.

By then, Lin Ming was already thirty feet away from the Harmonious Ape. In one breath, he could reach the Second-Order Harmonious Ape. In an instant, the Gold-Green Dou Qi Gauze Robe covered his entire body. He unleashed the Startling Swan Saber Technique and flew forward with a downward slash. The Second-Order Harmonious Ape turned around and saw the familiar figure charging at it. It was too late to run, and its old and new grudges would not allow it to flee anyway. It swung its fist and blasted it toward the incoming figure.

"Roar!" The imagined thunderous impact never came. Instead, only the pained cry of a magical beast rang out.

A massive ape fist lay on the ground. Beside it was an enormous white ape, but its white fur was now dyed red with blood. A huge wound ran from its neck all the way to its abdomen, and blood poured from it without end.

Seeing this, Lin Ming said to the Harmonious Ape, "Let me end your suffering!" He raised his saber and chopped down at the crying ape's neck. The cries immediately stopped.

When the remaining Harmonious Apes saw that their king had been slain, they scattered and fled at once. Lin Ming spotted the Second-Order Harmonious Ape whose arm he had severed before and immediately chased after it.

Before long, another huge Harmonious Ape lay on the ground. After killing the two Second-Order Harmonious Apes, Lin Ming split open their heads. Both of them actually had Magic Cores—an unexpected gain. As for the remaining Harmonious Apes, Lin Ming did not intend to hunt them down anymore. First, the ones left were too weak to continue causing trouble in this area, and killing them would be meaningless and merely waste time. Second, they had all fled without a trace, and finding them would take far too much effort. He had already been out for four months. In a little over a month, he would have to leave and hurry back to register for this year's Jia Nan Academy admissions.

During that remaining month, the Second-Class Magical Beasts in the forest suffered terribly. A human wandered through the forest searching for their tracks. Before they could even figure out what was happening, they would see a saber slash toward them. Then, for many of them, there was no then—they went straight to the afterlife.

Looking out at the vast world beyond, this was the first time Lin Ming had left this forest since entering the Monster Mountain Range months ago.

He looked back once at the place where he had lived for several months. He would probably rarely return here in the future. After a sigh, Lin Ming walked out of the forest and headed toward the human town ahead. A magical beast the size of a calf, covered in silver scales, followed behind him.

Upon arriving in Stone Horse Town, people hurriedly moved aside at the sight of Yin Lin. It was a magical beast, after all. Although this town made its living by hunting magical beasts and its people often saw them, those were either dead or bound up and unable to harm anyone. But this magical beast was swaggering behind this man as though it were a pet he had raised. Yet no matter what, it was still a magical beast, and it looked to be at least First-Order High-Rank. Many of these mercenaries were only mid-stage Dou Zhe, or even low-stage Dou Zhe. If the beast suddenly attacked them, they would be seriously injured even if they did not die. It was better to keep their distance. It was like seeing someone walking a large dog in his previous life. Even if you knew the dog was leashed and probably would not bite, what if it did? You would still be afraid.

"Young Master Lin! Young Master Lin!" As Lin Ming walked down the street, a voice called out to him. He turned and saw several people running over, with the leader still calling his name.

"What do you need?" Lin Ming asked as he looked at the people who had come before him.

"Young Master Lin! You're out. We are from the Stone Beast Mercenary Group. Our leader specifically instructed us to invite you to rest at the Stone Beast Mercenary Group when we saw you come out," the leader said.

"No need. Please thank your leader for me. I will rest at this inn for one night before leaving town, so there is no need to trouble him." Since they were not here to cause trouble and had kindly invited him to stay with their Mercenary Group, there was no reason for Lin Ming to be rude. He politely declined, then started walking toward an inn.

The man became anxious when he heard Lin Ming's refusal. If the leader found out that he had encountered Young Master Lin but failed to invite him back to their Mercenary Group, he would surely receive a severe scolding. After thinking for a moment, he said to Lin Ming again, "Young Master Lin, of course there is no problem with you staying at the inn. But if your magical beast stays down here, it would be troublesome if some fool provoked it. Naturally, with your strength, you could easily deal with it, but such matters are always a hassle. It would be different if you stayed with our Stone Beast Mercenary Group. We would definitely take proper care of your magical beast as well."

Lin Ming felt that the man had a point. If someone provoked Yin Lin, it truly would be troublesome, and feeding it here would not be very convenient either. Besides, he would be taking Yin Lin back to his family this time. He could bring Yin Lin to say goodbye to Shi Shanshan; after all, she had taken care of it for some time.

"Lead the way," Lin Ming said.

"Ah, yes. Young Master Lin, please come this way." The man pointed in another direction and led Lin Ming onward. Along the way, Lin Ming asked the man his name. The man said his surname was Wu, and his given name was Hua. That amused Lin Ming, and he teased him by saying he sure talked a lot—his name had the opposite meaning.

After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Lin Ming arrived at the Stone Beast Mercenary Group. Looking at the two enormous stone lion beasts at the entrance, Lin Ming thought, Well, no wonder they're called the Stone Beast Mercenary Group.

At that moment, a couple arrived at the entrance with two young people behind them. Lin Ming recognized them at once. They were the couple he had seen after killing Pei Xiong. Of the young people behind them, one was Shi Shanshan, while the other was presumably the son mentioned in the information he had read.

"Young Friend Lin, we have been waiting for quite some time after hearing that you had come out of the Monster Mountain Range. Please, come inside." Shi Lin spoke as he invited Lin Ming into the main hall.

After entering the hall and exchanging pleasantries, Shi Lin told Lin Ming that they had converted everything seized from the Pei Family Mercenary Group into Gold Coins and intended to give it all to him. He then ordered someone to retrieve it. Lin Ming stopped them, saying that he had already said that whatever they found belonged to them. After some back and forth, they only gave up when Lin Ming said that if they continued, he would leave and refuse to stay there. Lin Ming did not lack this bit of money anyway, and he had said before that it could serve as payment for Shi Shanshan's care of Yin Lin.

"Big Brother Lin, are you asleep?"

At night, Lin Ming heard Shi Shanshan calling from outside his room. He got up and opened the door. Outside, he saw Shi Shanshan, who had dressed herself up carefully, and asked what she needed. He had not understood such things when he was in the forest, but now that it was late at night and she had come after dressing up, he would be an idiot not to understand. But even if he understood something now, he had no other intentions. They would not belong to the same world in the future, and they had only met by chance. He could not bring himself to be the kind of scum who deceived a woman into giving herself to him and then left.

"Big Brother Lin, you are leaving tomorrow. Shanshan came to say goodbye to you," Shi Shanshan said as she looked at him.

"Then come in and sit." Since she had said so, Lin Ming invited her into the room. However, he did not close the door and left it wide open.

"Big Brother Lin, I know you came from a Great Family to gain experience. To someone like you, our little place is merely a stop along your journey... I wish you a bright future, Big Brother Lin!" Shi Shanshan said many things in one breath, while Lin Ming simply listened.

After Shi Shanshan finished, Lin Ming sighed. People were not stones; they had feelings. So Lin Ming made a suggestion to her. "Shanshan, it is not convenient for me to speak of my background, but I will be going to Jia Nan Academy later. Although you are past Jia Nan Academy's age requirement, your strength exceeds their standards by quite a bit. You can try taking part in this year's admissions and see whether you can enter Jia Nan Academy."

Hearing Lin Ming's words, Shi Shanshan looked as if she had seen hope. She said, "Big Brother Lin, I will definitely take Jia Nan Academy's entrance examination this time!" With that, she got up and ran away.

"Ah... I hope so," Lin Ming sighed. He did not know whether Jia Nan Academy accepted applicants over the age limit. He could only make the suggestion; whether it worked out would depend on fate.

Everything concerning this training journey had been settled. Tomorrow, he would set off for home.