Investiture of the Gods, Four People Missing

After the predetermined death calamity of the Four Sages of Nine-Dragon Island had been completely altered, West Qi's side noticeably quieted down.

Several consecutive attempts against them had all been thwarted.

There was little point in continuing to force the issue.

The Shang camp finally gained a rare chance to catch its breath.

Wen Zhong simply held a celebratory banquet in the camp.

The scale was not extravagant.

They were all cultivators.

Immortal wine.

Spirit fruits.

Along with several plates of spirit beast meat, a rarity in the army.

Yet Wang Mo drank with exceptional delight.

"Come!"

"Junior Brother Lin!"

"This cup is from your senior brother, to you!"

Lin Yuan had just raised his cup.

When Gao Yougan beside him was already displeased.

"What do you mean, from you?"

"You weren't the only one saved these past few days."

Li Xingba said with a dark expression, "If we're counting it that way, I owe him the most."

"If Junior Brother hadn't knocked aside that vein-sealing nail, it would be hard to say whether I could still be sitting here drinking."

Yang Sen rubbed his wine cup and smiled. "Enough, stop arguing."

"Anyway, if Junior Brother Lin has trouble in the future."

"The four of us will go together."

Wang Mo slapped the table.

"Then it's settled!"

"Whoever bullies Junior Brother Lin bullies Kowloon Island!"

Lin Yuan felt warmth rise in his heart.

But seeing the four grow increasingly drunk, he hurriedly reminded them.

"Senior Brothers."

"I'll remember those words."

"Don't renege on the debt later."

"Renege my ass!"

Gao Yougan directly pulled a jade bottle from his sleeve.

"You've been running around with us these past few days, but your cultivation is still a little low."

"Inside are Mysterious Spirit Pills that I happened to obtain before."

"They are just right for Heavenly Immortal and True Immortal cultivation."

"Take them."

Yang Sen also tossed over a piece of azure jade.

"There is some Wind-Thunder Spiritual Essence inside."

"Your escape art has only just entered the door."

"It will come in handy."

Li Xingba was even more direct.

Several spirit herbs were placed on the table.

Wang Mo glanced at the other three.

"What do you mean by this?"

Gao Yougan laughed.

"Senior Brother Wang."

"It's your turn."

"You can't be the loudest one and end up empty-handed, can you?"

Wang Mo's face darkened.

"Who says this poor Daoist is empty-handed?"

He fumbled around for a long while.

In the end, he pulled out a crimson immortal fruit the size of a fist from his sleeve.

"A high-grade acquired spirit fruit."

"Take it and refine it."

"It will benefit the growth of your mana."

Lin Yuan looked at the pile of things on the table.

He could not help but smile.

These senior brothers of his were truly straightforward.

Their way of repaying a favor did not beat around the bush in the slightest.

They did not give him any empty gestures.

They simply stuffed resources into his hands.

"Then this junior brother won't stand on ceremony."

"What is there to stand on ceremony about?"

Wang Mo waved his hand.

"If you truly refused, we would feel uncomfortable instead."

Wen Zhong sat at the seat of honor, watching them make a racket without stopping them.

After these past few days.

The Four Sages of Nine-Dragon Island's attitude toward Lin Yuan had completely changed.

At first, they had merely thought of him as a somewhat renowned young fellow disciple.

Now, they truly regarded him as their own brother.

Wen Zhong was very pleased to see such a change.

The Intercepting Sect had countless disciples.

If everyone could be like this.

Why fear that great undertakings would not succeed?

The banquet ended.

Lin Yuan returned to his military tent.

He did not waste the resources gifted by the Four Sages.

The Mysterious Spirit Pill entered his mouth.

A vast surge of immortal spiritual energy immediately erupted.

The Vajra Immortal Bone and Blackstone Dao Body operated at the same time.

A large amount of medicinal power was rapidly refined.

Ordinary cultivators feared consuming too many spiritual objects at once, lest their foundation become hollow and their mana impure.

Yet Lin Yuan's body and foundation now far surpassed those of others in the same realm.

Especially after continuously obtaining the Four Sages' talents.

His body's capacity to bear power had noticeably increased.

The Supreme Clarity Battle Intent also continually helped him temper the circulation of his mana.

Coupled with the string of actual battles before this.

Lin Yuan's realm had long entered a period of rapid ascent.

In the blink of an eye.

Several months passed.

West Qi no longer frequently sent immortals against the Four Sages of Nine-Dragon Island as it had before.

Lin Yuan simply seized this time to enter secluded cultivation.

Mid Heavenly Immortal.

Late Heavenly Immortal.

Heavenly Immortal Peak.

With such deep accumulation.

The True Immortal barrier barely held him back for long.

Boom!

The mana within his body suddenly underwent a transformation.

Early True Immortal!

Yet this was not the end.

The spiritual items sent by the Four Sages were all of considerable quality.

Especially Wang Mo's crimson immortal fruit, whose spiritual energy far exceeded Lin Yuan's expectations.

After another period of refinement.

Mid True Immortal.

Until Late True Immortal.

Only then did his rapidly rising cultivation truly stabilize.

Lin Yuan slowly opened his eyes.

Feeling the mana that had become stronger by an unknowable extent compared to several months ago.

Even he felt somewhat dazed.

When he had entered the Primordial World.

Late Earth Immortal.

Now—

Late True Immortal.

And what had truly changed his combat strength was not even his cultivation.

Innate Spiritual Perception.

Blackstone Dao Body.

Supreme Clarity Battle Intent.

Wind-Thunder Escape talent.

Vajra Immortal Bone.

Battlefield Killing Intent Perception.

After these abilities stacked together.

Lin Yuan could no longer be measured by the standards of an ordinary True Immortal.

"Only four so far."

Lin Yuan muttered softly.

"Up ahead, there are still the Ten Heavenly Lords."

"Zhao Gongming."

"The Three Cloud Sisters..."

The more he thought about it, the brighter his future seemed.

At the same time.

Blue Star.

Jiangcheng No. 1 Transcendent High School.

The monitoring hall once again saw a major shift in the rankings.

The teacher on duty had even become somewhat accustomed to Lin Yuan's name surging upward.

But when that blood-red name rose from twelfth place into the top ten.

Someone still stood up.

"Ninth!"

"It moved again!"

"Eighth!"

"Seventh!"

In the end.

Lin Yuan's name steadily stopped at seventh place among all those nationwide in the same period.

[Lin Yuan]

[Faction: Intercepting Sect]

Seventh!

It had been a long time since Jiangcheng No. 1 High School had produced a student who entered the national top ten at the start of their trial.

What was even more outrageous was that.

This person had chosen the Intercepting Sect.

Chen Qingshan stood before the stone monument.

This time, the silence lasted for more than a full minute.

The teacher beside him finally couldn't hold back.

"Old Chen."

"Still calling it an early-game fortuitous encounter?"

Chen Qingshan's mouth twitched.

"The Investiture of the Gods has only just begun."

"The Intercepting Sect was originally..."

He stopped halfway through.

Even he felt that he had been using this line rather too often lately.

In the end, he could only force himself to add,

"The real danger still lies ahead."

The teacher beside him laughed.

"Fine."

"I'll remember that."

"When he levels up again, I'll remind you to find a different line."

Chen Qingshan's face darkened even further.

At the very top of the student rankings,

Chen Yue still held firmly onto first place.

But when the Explanatory Sect secret realm he was in sent back its stage information, he noticed for the first time that name which had already climbed to seventh place.

"Lin Yuan?"

"He's still alive?"

Chen Yue frowned.

Before entering the Primordial World,

he had never truly regarded Lin Yuan as a threat.

Yet now, the gap between them on the rankings was visibly shrinking.

Primordial World.

Inside the Shang camp.

Lin Yuan had just finished his secluded cultivation.

Urgent footsteps sounded outside the military tent.

Wen Zhong lifted the curtain and entered.

A messenger general followed behind him.

"Junior Brother."

"West Qi has made another move."

Lin Yuan rose to his feet.

"Do the senior brothers from Kowloon Island need to take the field?"

Wen Zhong shook his head.

"This time is different."

"I've invited ten other fellow disciples to come."

Lin Yuan paused.

For some reason, an all-too-familiar premonition rose in his heart.

"Which ten?"

Wen Zhong was just about to answer

when a hearty laugh rang out from outside the camp.

"Fellow Daoist Wen!"

"I, Qin Wan, have come with several brothers to lend you a hand!"

Immediately afterward,

one powerful aura after another descended from the heavens.

Zhao Jiang.

Dong Quan.

Yuan Jiao.

Golden Light Holy Mother.

Sun Liang.

Bai Li.

Yao Bin.

Wang Bian.

Zhang Shao.

Lin Yuan stood at the entrance of the military tent.

With one sweep of his gaze,

there were exactly ten of them.

The Fate-Reversal Inheritance deep within his consciousness also trembled in rapid succession at that moment.

[Detected multiple targets fated to meet death.]

Lin Yuan fell silent for two breaths.

Wang Mo happened to walk over.

"Junior Brother, what are you smiling about?"

"Nothing."

Lin Yuan looked at the Ten Heavenly Lords descending one after another in the distance, pressing down the corners of his mouth again and again.

"I just suddenly feel..."

"The weather is rather nice today."