Hundred-Broken Mountain

As Ye Lin placed the Nirvana Fruit atop the Phoenix Egg, a miraculous sight unfolded: the fruit in his hand began to slowly vanish, while a brilliant crimson radiance surged into the egg.

The life force emanating from within the Phoenix Egg grew increasingly potent. Seeing this, Ye Lin channeled his internal Phoenix Fire, pushing his output to the limit.

A few short minutes passed before Ye Lin collapsed onto the ground, utterly drained. It was gone—truly, not a single drop of energy remained.

Every ounce of spiritual power within his body had been squeezed dry by the Phoenix Egg before him.

"Little guy, you certainly have an appetite. To hatch you, I've expended a vast amount of energy and resources. I hope you don't disappoint me."

Ye Lin lay on the ground, feeling as though life had lost all meaning.

The life force within the Phoenix Egg was now incredibly strong, yet there was still a long road ahead before it would hatch.

Just then, the Phoenix Egg gave a few tremors, as if responding to Ye Lin.

"Fine, little one, sleep soundly here. Once I get my hands on the North Wind Fruit, I'll continue to feed you."

Ye Lin stroked the egg before burying it deep underground; under no circumstances could it be discovered by anyone.

Once exposed, not only would the egg be lost, but he would surely die as well.

One must understand that in the ancient era, divine beasts were the overlords of heaven and earth. Following the great war of antiquity, they had fallen one after another.

This meant that the only descendant of a divine beast in existence was the very Phoenix Egg before him. Given that divine beasts could reign as masters of the world in an era teeming with ruthless powerhouses, their strength was self-evident.

The value of such a descendant was so immense that even an old monster at the Mahayana realm would not hesitate to strike and seize it.

"No, I must wait three days. If I leave immediately after joining the sect, it will likely arouse suspicion."

Ye Lin pondered this, then turned and walked toward his dwelling.

In the eyes of others, he had just escaped the clutches of demons and returned from the gates of hell; leaving the sect before he had even found his footing would certainly alert those with ulterior motives.

It would be better to stay quietly in the sect for three days; it wouldn't be too late to leave once the matter had settled.

In the blink of an eye, three days slipped away. On this day, Ye Lin opened his eyes.

"My foundation at the ninth level of the Qi Refining realm is solid enough, yet I still see no hope of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm."

Ye Lin shook his head and murmured to himself.

"Let me check my fate once more."

Cultivation: Qi Refining, Ninth Level
Fate Grade: Black (Cursed with Bad Luck)
Divination: [Cursed with Bad Luck][Divine Comprehension]
Destiny: One month from now, Lin Zisheng will use the hand of an Inner Sect elder to purge the sword intent from his body. His murderous intent toward you will grow even more severe. When you depart the sect a month later, he will ambush you, and you will exhaust all your trump cards to escape, albeit severely wounded.
Recent Opportunity: None
[Cursed with Bad Luck]: Your luck is poor; for instance, you are guaranteed to trip while walking and be betrayed if you marry.
[Divine Comprehension]: Your comprehension is transcendent. You learn various techniques with extreme speed; for the same technique, while others require three months, you only need a few days.

Looking at his panel, Ye Lin pondered. It seemed the Sword Talisman he used last time had caused Lin Zisheng no small amount of trouble.

"A month from now? Wanting to kill me the moment I leave seclusion—it seems his grudge against me is quite deep."

Ye Lin muttered to himself, a smile playing on his lips.

Since he already knew his future fate, things would be easy to handle. Lin Zisheng was, after all, his current benefactor of wealth.

"Never mind that for now. I'll go retrieve the North Wind Fruit first, then head to the Golden City."

With his mind made up, Ye Lin walked out of the sect.

Hundred-Broken Mountain lay a hundred miles away from the Azure Cloud Sect, outside the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

In a mere three hours, Ye Lin arrived at the mountain. Gazing up at the massive peak before him, he began his ascent.

The Spirit Spring was located at the foot of the mountain, so Ye Lin circled the base, searching for signs of it.

Just then, he spotted a middle-aged man carrying a basket and an axe, heading up the mountain.

Ye Lin hurried forward to intercept him.

"Excuse me, do you know where I might find a spring around the foot of this mountain?"

Ye Lin asked the man.

"A spring? Young man, follow this path for a thousand meters and you'll reach it. But I must warn you, there are demonic beasts lurking in that spring, so you'd best be careful."

Hearing this, Ye Lin nodded and cupped his hands in a gesture of thanks.

"Many thanks for the information."

With that, he followed the direction the man had pointed and headed forward.

After walking about a thousand meters, Ye Lin truly found a spring. To his left stood a high cliff, from which streams of water cascaded into the pool before him.

It was a purely natural mountain spring.

"The panel indicates it's at the bottom of the spring, which looks to be only three or four meters deep."

Standing on the bank, Ye Lin peered through the water. It was crystal clear, making it easy to judge the depth.

Ye Lin then plunged into the water, swimming along the bottom of the spring.

Upon reaching the bottom, Ye Lin discovered half of a wooden box protruding from the soil nearby. He grabbed the box and gave it a tug, pulling it out with ease.

Just as Ye Lin prepared to swim back toward the surface, something suddenly coiled around his right leg.

Ye Lin looked down at his leg to see a python several meters long winding its way up toward his torso.

Seeing this, Ye Lin accelerated his swim toward the surface.

"Hah, a Qi Refining third-layer beast? How dare you."

Once he broke the surface, Ye Lin looked down at his right leg, which was completely constricted by the python. Had he been an ordinary mortal, he would have been done for the moment it coiled around him, let alone managed to swim to the surface.

Ye Lin immediately drew his longsword from his Spatial Ring and struck at the python's head beneath the water; the beast was decapitated instantly.

With a few more slashes, Ye Lin hacked the entire python into several pieces, which slowly sank to the bottom of the spring.

Stowing his sword, Ye Lin climbed onto the bank and sat on the ground to open the wooden box.

Inside lay three silver-white needles, from which wisps of frigid air emanated.

Even with Ye Lin at the ninth layer of Qi Refining, he couldn't help but shiver; the cold radiating from the needles was simply too intense.

"One prick of this, and forget about the Qi Refining realm—even a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator would lose their ability to fight immediately."

Ye Lin took a deep breath, closed the box, and tucked it away into his Spatial Ring.

These three Ice Soul Needles were now his trump card, and he felt a bit more confident about the assassination of Lin Zisheng a month from now.

Ye Lin then stood up and gazed at the towering mountain hundreds of meters in the distance.

"Whew, this Hundred-Broken Mountain is hundreds of meters high. Is it down there, beneath the cliff?"

Staring at the mountain before him, Ye Lin headed toward the summit. The journey was quiet, and he encountered no meddling beasts along the way.

He reached the peak with ease and walked to the edge to look down.

Before him was a nearly ninety-degree vertical cliff, and there were no handholds on the rock face to facilitate a climb.

"I am at the ninth layer of Qi Refining now; even if I jumped from here, I would at most end up severely injured."

Ye Lin pondered for a moment before beginning to climb down the cliff face. As for jumping directly—while it would be easier, he was no masochist.

"I must break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm as soon as possible. Not being able to fly is such a hassle."

Ye Lin grumbled after the arduous climb to the bottom, staring at his reddened hands in speechless frustration.

Surrounding the base of the mountain was a dense, tangled forest.

"Hm? There's a glimmer of light over there? I'll go take a look."

Just then, Ye Lin noticed a light flickering within the thicket ahead, which immediately piqued his interest.

He lifted his feet and began to walk toward it.