Information I

"Yuan Qiuque, a native of Ru Nation, serves as an elder in a One Sword Dao Sect of Ru Nation, North Mulberry Continent."

"Huang Yuerong, a native of Yanglock Nation, Nanyang Province, was the foremost expert of South Flame Continent five thousand years ago. More than sixteen hundred years ago, he mysteriously vanished while attempting to break through to the Great Dao of Earth Immortals, and his whereabouts remain unknown even now. The intelligence obtained on this man... is very strange. He had no father or mother, no wife or children, no brothers or sisters, no relatives whatsoever, as though he had appeared out of thin air. Later, he vanished mysteriously again.

"While he was active, no one could match his cultivation. He was the only publicly acknowledged hegemonic strongest expert in Nanyang Province at the time, without equal."

After reading the intelligence sent back, Lin Xin vaguely formed a suspicion. Then he recalled information the Red Leaf Sword Master had once mentioned to him.

"Huang Yuerong... he truly was not so simple."

This man had been extraordinarily mysterious even in the Netherworld. In the Human Realm, he had apparently appeared thousands of years ago...

And there was the history of destruction, forbidden knowledge—he had never even heard of such things before. It seemed he truly had to make a trip to the main sect to investigate.

Azure Lake Mountain stretched across countless realms, its strength boundless and immense. The records, classics, and information jade slips within it were all kept in the library of Research Headquarters, available for inquiry at any time. One could obtain information corresponding to one's rank merely by spending Contribution Points. This was one of the advantages and benefits of a great sect.

Only by learning many secrets could one prescribe the right remedy, find the key to the crux of the problem, weigh advantages against disadvantages in one's actions, and achieve twice the result with half the effort.

"And Shadow City... the force hidden behind the Nether Prefecture... the one controlling the Nether Prefecture was merely one mighty expert among them. Looking at it this way, Shadow City's strength is likely terrifyingly great..."

Lin Xin's heart chilled.

Since he had already found the whereabouts of the heroic Yuan Qiuque, there was no need to rush. He could first heal his injuries, allocate his attribute points, settle everything, and then seek him out.

As for Huang Yuerong, even the Human Realm could not uncover his origins, and he had appeared thousands of years ago...

This made Lin Xin secretly wary, but recalling Huang Yuerong's conduct in the Netherworld, this man likely pursued only the loftiest and strongest realm.

He paid no heed at all to the force he had established himself. In order to nurture the heroic Yuan Qiuque, he had even indirectly given his own relied-upon Life and Death Demon Blade to him.

"This man's will and resolve must be exceedingly terrifying."

Lin Xin narrowed his eyes.

Putting away the jade slip, he casually infused it with an instruction for Chen Jingsi, Lin Youke, and the others to continue investigating. Then he released it, allowing it to shoot out the window and vanish into the horizon.

"Lie Shan, are you awake?"

The voice of his martial uncle, Dragon Turtle, came from outside.

"Yes, Martial Uncle," Lin Xin quickly answered.

"In two days, your master will depart directly for Four Seas Immortal Mountain. You will go with him then. Gather at Deep Fire Palace, and do not forget."

"Yes."

After he responded, no further sound came from outside.

Only then did Lin Xin sit down again. He took out a jade talisman and sent his consciousness into it.

Messages from Feng Huai flickered continuously, as did those from Yuan Xi. After some thought, he opened Yuan Xi's message first.

His relationship with this man was fairly good. They had eaten together before, and Feng Huai had been introduced by him for them to act together.

"Brother Lin, I heard you went to the Dragon Snake Realm? How is it? How have you been? I only just came out of a secluded cultivation session, and everything has changed beyond recognition."

"Circumstances forced my hand. I had no choice," Lin Xin replied briefly. Yuan Xi was still in the Azure Mountain Realm, so some things were not easy to discuss.

There was no immediate reply from the other side, clearly because Yuan Xi had not seen it right away.

Then came Feng Huai's message. This one was much more intimate.

"Brother Lin, I heard you're short on magical artifacts and are buying them? Why didn't you come to me? I've got plenty!"

"You have Tier Five magical artifacts too? Give me a discount, then. I need quite a large quantity," Lin Xin replied with a smile.

Unexpectedly, the other side replied at once.

"Brother Lin, you're being too distant. Have you forgotten what my Feng Family does? It's our old trade!"

Lin Xin immediately remembered that Feng Huai had mentioned it himself: the Feng Family had originally built its fortune through the magical artifact trade. Looking at it now, he really had been overly formal.

"All right, all right, my apologies. If you're capable enough, then just find me a complete set of magical artifact forging manuals." Thinking that he might need to consume a vast quantity of magical artifacts in the future, Lin Xin simply decided to get the materials and forge them himself.

It was not that he did not know how; he was merely unfamiliar with the Human Realm's methods, runes, and formations.

"You want to forge them yourself?" Feng Huai was somewhat surprised. "That works. I have plenty of that sort of thing here, but techniques cannot be passed on lightly. You'll have to come collect them yourself—it wouldn't be appropriate to have someone deliver them."

"Fine."

Lin Xin nodded.

"In a while, my family will drag me off to be a conscript, to guard the family's Soul Refining Tower. I'm afraid I won't be able to return for quite some time. Is that convenient for you?"

Feng Huai continued.

"What is it? Say it plainly."

Their relationship was different, so there was far less empty politeness between them.

"I have a... ahem... niece. There's no one to help look after her, so I'd like to leave her with you for a while. Temporarily, only temporarily!"

He emphasized it.

"No problem. But what about your older brother?" Lin Xin remembered Feng Huai's elder brother. He was supposedly the reincarnation of an Immortal, with cultivation potential so high that even their master had looked upon him with interest.

"He's going too. This time, the family is mobilizing most of its people to fight for Qinming Mountain. You could say we're staking even our foundation on it." Feng Huai sighed. "This newly discovered large Black Que Stone mine has too many factions fighting over it. If we don't use our full strength this time, we may not even get a sip of the soup."

"Then be careful yourself." Lin Xin frowned.

Over these years, he had gained a rough understanding of Azure Lake Mountain's forces.

The Six Departments represented the will of the Highest Council.

The Research Institute, Forging Hall, Distant View Tower, Academy of Scholars, Qu Yuan Field, and Golden Crown of Winter.

The leaders of these six divisions together formed the so-called Highest Council.

Whenever something major occurred, it was generally decided through a vote of the Highest Council. The Lord of Winter of Golden Crown of Winter was the only mighty expert possessing two votes.

The Feng Family belonged to the aristocratic lineages that had formed through members holding important positions in the Six Departments and using authority to ride the tide of influence.

Thus, they possessed some degree of power throughout Azure Lake Mountain. But compared with the true giants, they were still lacking.

"This time, my Feng Family is also wagering everything on a single throw," Feng Huai sighed. "Forget it, let's not talk about this. That niece of mine... given the relationship between us, I won't hide it from you. The little one is actually my own flesh and blood, and she was born only recently. In the future, I may have to rely greatly on uncles like you to look after her."

"That is no problem." Lin Xin smiled.

"Good, then that's settled. Don't forget to come collect what you wanted whenever you have time. I may be leaving Azure Lake Mountain in a few months," Feng Huai added.

"Don't worry."

Lin Xin calculated the time. He would first accompany his master on the trip, and there would still be time to collect them when he returned.

The communication ended.

Lin Xin pondered slightly.

Within the incomparably vast Azure Lake Mountain.

The Six Departments were the main threads running through countless worlds, like six veins and roots linking all the worlds under their jurisdiction together.

Thus, in many places, the heads of the Six Departments stood on equal footing with the world lords.

As for Azure Lake Mountain, world lords like Dragon Snake's master were more often derivative branch powers—the new worlds opened up independently by Dragon Snake's master as a member of Azure Lake Mountain.

There were far, far too many worlds like these to manage in general, so Azure Lake Mountain's governance was rather loose.

Aside from some laws that were strictly forbidden, everything else could be done without restraint.

And the enforcers mainly relied on Golden Crown of Winter's countless branches to carry out their duties.

"By rights, a colossal force like Azure Lake Mountain should not have much cohesion." This was the point Lin Xin had never been able to understand.

He did not understand why such an enormous force still had so many factions willing to attach themselves to it.

For the sake of power? There had to be some core, after all.

"Forget it. I'll think about that question later. The most important thing now is to use some attribute points first."

Lin Xin was increasingly aware of how important attributes were to him.

Although cultivation realm was his main path and attributes merely supplementary, the more of such things he had, the better. This time, he had obtained so many attribute points at once. He should be able to greatly strengthen his physical body.

He raised his hand and formed several hand seals, activating the sealing formation around the stone house and isolating everything outside.

Unfortunately, he was not very familiar with the Human Realm's rune system, so the effectiveness of this so-called sealing formation remained uncertain.

What he mainly relied on was still his own evasion attribute points. These attributes could actually conceal him even from evil god servants and shake off the perception of mighty experts. Their effect was practically comparable to the finest special cultivation arts of this kind!

"Evasion attributes... it seems there truly are no useless attributes."

Lin Xin collected his thoughts and first checked his current free attributes.

Lin Sheri—Damage 22411 (23500), Defense 10002 (17102), Evasion 5422 (17102), Constitution 5738 (17102), Free Attributes 66077.

"With these attributes, even among Tier Five body cultivators and descendants with Divine Beast bloodlines, I should count as among the strongest..."

Lin Xin made a rough estimate inwardly.

Back then, he had fought two Tier Five Grand Completion experts alone—Lu Qiaoqiao and Yuansha Mountain Man. The attacks he launched had still been able to break through their techniques, with power remaining to strike at Yuansha Mountain Man.

This already demonstrated that his current offensive killing power, combined with the activation of Supreme Clarity Water, had surpassed Tier Five Grand Completion.

"I just don't know whether it has reached the level of a Tier Six Earth Immortal."

"Moreover, attribute increases are too swift and require no comprehension of realms at all. If I rely solely on attribute points to increase my strength over time, I will definitely suffer a great loss in confrontations between higher realms later on." After warning himself inwardly, Lin Xin began dividing the attribute points evenly among the four major attributes.

Because of his injuries, his attributes had not fully recovered yet. The moment Lin Xin added the points, he felt all the flesh, blood, meridians, and true power throughout his body tremble as they were rapidly nourished, producing an itching numbness.

The first thing he increased was Constitution, naturally so that he could restore his body first.

As he focused on the Constitution column, its original 17102 began to rise slowly. The speed grew faster and faster, more and more urgent.

Before long, it shot upward like a rocket.

In just a few moments, he raised it from 17102 to 27000, an increase of nearly ten thousand points.