Thoroughly Subdued

This time, He Yiliang finally faced reality.

Lin Chen before him was no ordinary person.

Even when he was alive, he probably wouldn't have been able to beat him.

Much less now.

He sighed. "I can share what I know with you. Our enemy is..."

"The Raksha Sect?" Lin Chen cut him off.

He Yiliang choked again. "You know that too?"

He could hardly believe it.

It had taken him more than two years of risking life and limb to uncover even the smallest clue.

Just when he was about to find out more, he'd been silenced.

Only before he died did he learn that the force that had wiped out his entire family was the Raksha Sect.

"Let me guess. You were hunted by people from the Raksha Sect and thrown into that underground space."

Lin Chen didn't give him a chance to speak.

"That Crimson Flame Demon Lord was probably imprisoned there and kept like livestock by the Raksha Sect."

"The Raksha Sect may have ties to the Devil Race. They also have people of their own in the Green Mountain Sect. So, what valuable information do you have left?"

He Yiliang fell silent for a long while.

Still, for his own sake and to get revenge, he wanted to struggle a little longer.

"I also know a secret. It's about the Iron Box..."

"The Iron Box has a hidden compartment that can be activated by the power of qi and blood, changing its form. So the Iron Box is a component of some special object, right?"

He Yiliang was utterly dumbfounded. "You know that too?"

"Heh. It took me only half a month to uncover all this, while you spent three years."

Lin Chen's meaning was obvious.

You're useless!

He Yiliang completely broke down. Even his soul began to grow unstable.

It blurred and scattered, as if it might vanish into thin air at any moment.

It took a full quarter of an hour for him to gather himself again.

"All right. If you help me come back to life, I'll serve at your command for the rest of my life." He Yiliang finally surrendered.

But his words piqued Lin Chen's interest. "You're saying you can come back to life?"

"Yes."

He Yiliang's expression fell as he answered honestly. "The He Family has a secret art. If you've practiced it and haven't been dead for more than a month, a special method can bring you back to life."

"That's incredible!" Lin Chen's eyes lit up. "Can you pass the secret art on to me? I mean, if I learn it, I'll be able to help you better."

"I can, but are you sure you want to learn it? It's extremely painful to cultivate and takes a long time. There's even a risk of dying for good. Aren't you afraid?" This time, He Yiliang really wasn't lying.

But Lin Chen wasn't afraid of that. "Just pass it over."

A speck of light soon gathered inside the Mirror and shot straight toward the space between Lin Chen's brows.

[ Ding. Soul inheritance detected: Lesser Resurrection Art. Cultivating this secret art requires strengthening the physical body so that its vitality remains after death. It also requires cultivating the soul and separating a wisp of it to reside within a Soul Artifact, allowing the user to be resurrected. The requirements are very high, but the host has cultivated the Soul Forging Art and Body Forging Art, and his physical body and soul have long surpassed the basic requirements. He can cultivate it with ease. ]

[ Host, this art has no levels. Ten Spirit Stones are all that is needed to cultivate it successfully. ]

Well, well!

Lin Chen was surprised. "You little system, have you stopped skimming Spirit Stones?"

[ Host, please don't joke. Would you like to exchange? ]

"Exchange!"

If he wouldn't exchange for it when it only cost ten Spirit Stones, he'd have to be an idiot.

Cultivation memories appeared out of nowhere in Lin Chen's mind.

All of it took only a few breaths.

He had already mastered the art completely.

He immediately circulated the secret art, and a rich, pale-green glow emanated from his body.

Waves of vitality gathered, forming a six-pointed star-shaped mark on his chest.

The instant the mark appeared, his soul trembled as well.

Pain crossed Lin Chen's face, and in just a moment, a blurry phantom appeared beside him.

At the sight, He Yiliang's eyeballs flew right out of the Mirror, and his jaw dropped onto its surface.

His soul quivered, and a soul-wrenching scream rose from his throat.

"This—can't—be—possible—"

"I spent eighteen years cultivating my childhood purity technique and countless resources before I finally succeeded. How can you do it in just a few breaths, without using anything at all? Ah—"

"You're lying to me. You have to be lying to me—"

He Yiliang let out a hoarse, desperate howl.

But none of it could change the fact that Lin Chen had successfully cultivated the art.

The phantom of his soul flew into the Black Token, where it took up residence.

Only then did the Lesser Resurrection Art finally reach completion.

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

Lin Chen closed his eyes and savored the experience. "It seems even easier than you said."

He opened his eyes and looked at the Mirror, only to jump at the sight of He Yiliang inside.

"What the heck have you done to yourself?"

After being scolded, He Yiliang snapped back to his senses. He pulled his eyeballs and jaw back in, returning to his original appearance.

But the shock in his eyes remained.

"Old He, what were you saying earlier?" While talking with the system, Lin Chen had heard He Yiliang muttering for a long time, but hadn't caught a word of it. Unable to help himself, he asked.

He swore to heaven that he really wasn't showing off.

But to He Yiliang, the words sounded completely different.

It was clearly a taunt. No, a mockery.

At that moment, he understood, too.

The rumors that Lin Chen had heaven-defying comprehension were surely true.

Having seen it with his own eyes, He Yiliang thought Lin Chen's comprehension went far beyond defying heaven. He could practically punch a hole through the sky.

He knew firsthand how difficult the Lesser Resurrection Art was to master. It had taken him eighteen years.

He could talk for three days and three nights about the suffering he'd endured.

But what had Lin Chen just done?

He'd finished in a few breaths. Was he even human?

Most importantly, Lin Chen had mastered the art even more thoroughly than he had.

There was no way to argue with that.

He sighed. "I was saying that from now on, I'll follow your lead, Boss. If you tell me to go east, I won't go west. If you tell me to chase dogs, I won't shoo chickens..."

Good grief, he had a whole string of these sayings ready to go.

When someone wanted to change, it could happen in an instant.

At that moment, He Yiliang had surrendered completely.

"All right. Take me to your outer sect and retrieve your things. Then I'll bring you back to life."

Lin Chen naturally wouldn't mistreat one of his own.

"Thank you, Boss!" He Yiliang was overcome with gratitude.

Who would choose to stay dead if they could live?

Besides, he still carried a blood feud.

If he died just like this, he wouldn't rest easy even as a ghost.

Half an hour later, Lin Chen arrived at the outer sect's Spirit Origin Pavilion with the Small Mirror in hand.

He soon found room four, locker four, the fourth row from the left, and the fourth storage box from the bottom.

He entered the mechanism's combination: four fours.

Click!

The box opened.

Inside were three Storage Pouches.

Lin Chen opened them one by one. The first contained more than twenty thousand Spirit Stones.

The second contained all kinds of ore and materials, along with several Magic Artifacts and a pile of talismans.

The third held a pitch-black Alchemy Furnace, as well as various Alchemy materials.

"You sure dabbled in a lot of things!"

Lin Chen spoke to the Small Mirror. "Tell me, where are the rest of your resources?"

"Boss, my master has the rest. You may not be able to get them back."

At He Yiliang's words, Lin Chen raised an eyebrow. "How much is there?"

"I've been in the sect for three years and completed the sect's bounty missions many times. In total, I earned around a hundred thousand Spirit Stones."

He Yiliang sighed. "Apart from what I spent cultivating, I only have twenty thousand Spirit Stones left."

Lin Chen quickly did the math. His master had taken eighty thousand Spirit Stones from him.

Anyone with half a brain could see that they'd been embezzled.

Lin Chen had already looked into it. He Yiliang had been dead for more than half a month, and this master hadn't even asked after him, let alone cared whether he was alive or dead.

What use was a master like that?

"Don't worry. I'll go demand justice for you." Lin Chen strode out. "Tell me, where is he?"

He really was going to demand justice—and he really was going to get the Spirit Stones back.

Spirit Stones were his lifeblood!

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