Blackmail

"This..." Zhang Hao hesitated for a moment before finally taking out a jade slip from his person and tossing it to Lin Chen.

Whoosh!

Countless threads surged from his fingertips, catching the jade slip in midair. Lin Chen then used his methods to read the information within from a distance.

To prevent himself from being ambushed, Lin Chen had developed a method for reading the information in jade slips remotely.

The Five Elements Primordial Chaos Method can be cultivated up to the Golden Core Realm? No, that's not right. Though I've only given it a rough look, with my years of experience, there's clearly more to come...

Lin Chen reined in his thoughts and continued looking at Zhang Hao.

"Well? I've already shown my sincerity. Shouldn't you make way now?" Zhang Hao said in a deep voice.

"Not enough," Lin Chen said.

"Is your appetite not a little too large? This is a Golden Core Realm cultivation method!" Zhang Hao's face darkened.

"How do I know whether this cultivation method is real or fake? Besides, Even If it is real, without the corresponding terminology or someone specialized to guide you, cultivating it is highly likely to cause trouble. Are you really taking something that looks lofty but has little actual value as payment because you think I'm easy to fool?" Lin Chen sneered.

"You!" Zhang Hao stared fixedly at Lin Chen, a sharp aura radiating from all around him.

Yet Lin Chen met his gaze expressionlessly, without the slightest fear.

What he feared was luck, not Zhang Hao himself.

Though he had said he would not Make A Move, he could not lack the proper attitude or aura. Otherwise, the other party would take him for a coward, and the balance between offense and defense would reverse!

Besides, although Lin Chen held the unknown workings of luck in awe, that did not mean he lacked the courage to fight against it!

The two faced off for a while before Zhang Hao ultimately chose to compromise.

After all, luck could neither be seen nor touched, but the situation Inside the Room was perfectly clear: he was at a disadvantage.

"Take it!" Zhang Hao Grit Teeth and flung out another jade slip.

"Hmm? The Great Evolution Spirit Dream Art?" Lin Chen caught it and carefully sensed it, unable to keep himself from being surprised.

This method was not only a soul cultivation technique—it could also be cultivated up to the Golden Core Realm!

"That should be enough..."

"Still not enough."

"Don't go too far!" Zhang Hao's face turned utterly gloomy as he shouted angrily.

"Is your life worth only this much?" Unmoved by Zhang Hao's fury, Lin Chen instead turned toward the west and sneered. "Also, people are coming."

Hmm?

Hearing Lin Chen's words, Zhang Hao seemed to realize something and abruptly spun around.

In the dark forest in the distance, streaks of spiritual light flashed one after another. Clearly, during the span of those few sentences, cultivators from other areas had been continuously rushing toward This Place!

"Damn it..." Zhang Hao immediately understood what Lin Chen meant.

Either he offered treasures of greater value to make Lin Chen yield, or they fought to the death—only for him to be surrounded and attacked once more by the cultivators arriving afterward.

His life or his cultivation methods and treasures—this was the choice the other party had given him!

Lin Chen did not know what Zhang Hao was thinking. He merely stood to one side and watched coldly.

Such an opportunity was rare. Naturally, he had to fleece this Protagonist properly!

High-grade cultivation methods were hard to come by, and soul cultivation techniques were even rarer, something one could only encounter by chance. Yet Zhang Hao had casually produced two of them. With an opportunity like this, Lin Chen naturally had to fleece him for all he was worth.

Would doing so offend the other party?

What a Joke!

The one extorting him was an unknown Black-robed Cultivator. What did that have to do with Lin Chen?

Whether it was the improved invisibility art or flame art, Lin Chen treated them as trump cards to be kept hidden away, never displaying them before others unless necessary.

Every cultivator who knew that these tricks were connected to his Real Identity was already dead. What means could Zhang Hao possibly have to learn his Real Identity?

As for accidentally learning it someday in the future, that would be a matter for the future.

Perhaps by then, Lin Chen would already have incorporated this So-called luck into his scientific system.

By that time, this Protagonist, who had risen solely by relying on luck and possessed little of note himself, would be nothing more than a toy in Lin Chen's hands. If he dared resist, Lin Chen would suppress him with a backhand!

Besides, Lin Chen's own luck was poor, and he could not gather many high-grade cultivation methods. Now that he finally had a chance to obtain them, how could he not fight for them?

If he kept holding himself back over this and that, always timid and overly cautious, then what immortality was there left to cultivate? What Great Dao was there left to seek?

In Lin Chen's eyes, cultivating immortality meant cultivating a heart of great freedom and unrestrained ease—a heart that stood alone as the sole immortal above heaven and beneath earth. Even if one chose to lie low, it only meant acting cautiously, not truly becoming like a turtle that did nothing and fought for no opportunities!

"This is the last time. If you still refuse to move aside, then at worst we'll die together!" After hesitating for a while, Zhang Hao finally Grit Teeth, threw out another item, and said coldly.

"What is this?" Lin Chen caught the object and looked closely.

It was a... talisman?!

The talisman was made entirely of jade, crystal-clear and translucent. Upon it was an inscription as crimson as blood, emanating an ancient, long-standing air, as though it had witnessed the vast changes of sea and land through endless years.

Lin Chen tried channeling a strand of true qi into it, but there was no reaction at all.

"This is... an [Instant Thousand Mile Talisman]!" Zhang Hao's voice sounded Beside the Ear. "Once activated, this talisman can instantly teleport you a thousand miles away. As long as the marked location lies within a thousand miles, you can arrive there in an instant. If there is no mark, then it will randomly teleport you somewhere a thousand miles away."

'Instantaneous teleportation?!' Lin Chen's thoughts raced, as though he had remembered something, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

Within a thousand li, instantaneous teleportation—though it sounded easy enough, the significance behind it was far from simple.

Because being able to do this meant that one had, to a certain extent, mastered space!

In his previous life, mastery of space meant an advanced civilization capable of using wormholes and Two-Dimensional Foils.

And in this life, the only ones capable of this were the Void Refinement Cultivators of legend!

This thing was actually a Void Refinement treasure?!

'No, that's not right.'

Though the treasure before him had Lin Chen extremely excited, he had not lost his rationality. In an instant, he realized a problem.

"Since this thing is so powerful, why don't you use it?"

"Spatial teleportation is no simple matter. This talisman is of too high a level; only those in the Golden Core Realm can use it," Zhang Hao said bluntly.

'Is that so...' Lin Chen's gaze shifted slightly. It sounded somewhat reasonable.

Even if one obtained something of too high a level, one would be unable to use it due to one's own limited abilities.

It was like firearms. After fumbling around for a while, primitive people might perhaps figure out how to use them.

But if it became something like missiles or atomic bombs, then it was no longer something one could master just by fumbling around. The user had to possess a certain level of knowledge.

'That does make sense... but how can I be sure he isn't lying to me?'

"How can I be sure you haven't lied to me?" Lin Chen did not hide it and asked directly.

"I've already given you the item. Believe it or not, that's up to you. If you still won't move aside, then at worst, the fish die and the net tears!" Seeing the cultivators drawing ever closer, Zhang Hao forcibly suppressed the fury in his heart and said coldly.

Lin Chen did not reply. Instead, he narrowed his eyes at Zhang Hao, then suddenly smiled.

"Since that's the case, pleasure doing business."

Whoosh!

The moment the words left his mouth, Lin Chen's entire figure dissipated directly like a reflection in a mirror.

Zhang Hao's expression darkened.

Beneath the moonlight, he saw it clearly. The other party had not slipped backward into the forest, nor had he used an Earth Escape Talisman to burrow into the ground. He had simply vanished from the original place.

It felt as though the one who had spoken with him just now had not been a living person at all, but an illusion existing within light and shadow!

'This guy...'

A deep wariness could not help rising within Zhang Hao's heart.

'Unless absolutely necessary, no matter what, I can't provoke this kind of person again. Their methods are too bizarre...'

As his thoughts turned, Zhang Hao glanced at the cultivators approaching from not far away, used an Earth Escape Talisman, and vanished into the vast night.

This book is trying to do something new: aside from the protagonist's main storyline, there will also be another main thread running through the various major maps to supplement the worldview—a dual-mainline format—to avoid the map changes feeling too abrupt. So later on, the perspective will shift to describe the development of certain events. But the author's skill is limited, and it seems I may have overdone it and spoiled the effect.

So in the later chapters, I'll write everything in chronological order, along the lines of "while Lin Chen is doing something, what is happening elsewhere...," to keep everyone from getting confused.

Of course, I'll give it a try first. If everyone truly dislikes this kind of shifting perspective, I'll change it.