"Die, little thief!"
The Divine Bridge old woman wore a ferocious expression. The spirit-connected weapon in her hand gleamed brightly, radiating an eerie blue light as she charged toward the cave dwelling in the stone wall.
On one hand, she was hostile toward Lin Xian because she could not stand the sect master violating the sect rules and allowing Lin Xian into the Scripture Pavilion to read scriptures and observe divine arts.
That was practically exposing every weakness of a sect to him. If Lin Xian were a spy sent by an enemy sect, then Jade Cauldron Cave Heaven would not be far from destruction.
On the other hand, Lin Xian was simply too young. He had formed a grudge against her, and there was no way to resolve it.
She was already old and powerless to make another breakthrough. If she did not eliminate this hidden danger early, then when Lin Xian reached the Other Shore, neither she nor the lineage behind her would meet a good end.
"Destroy!" the old woman shouted, unleashing Divine Runes one after another and fully manifesting all her Dao arts. Even a lion hunting a rabbit used its full strength.
With a deafening boom, the cave dwelling in the stone wall exploded.
Blood trickled from the corner of Lin Xian's mouth, his face pale as he fled in panic, looking utterly defeated.
"Stay!"
Seeing this, the Divine Bridge old woman was delighted and pressed her advantage, carrying herself with an invincible bearing.
In her eyes, Lin Xian was already half-crippled. As long as she caught up to him, she could kill him within ten moves.
One before the other, two streaks of light broke out of Jade Cauldron Cave Heaven and pursued each other toward the deeper wilderness mountains.
Deep within the ancient forest, the moonlight was tranquil, while the occasional cawing of crows rang out in disorder. The farther the Divine Bridge old woman pursued, the more something felt wrong. She gradually stopped, her expression grave, and muttered, "If he were truly crippled, how could he have run this far?"
"On a moonless night, murder is in the air; when the wind is high, arson is in season. Fellow Daoist, do not delay your journey to the underworld." Lin Xian suddenly turned back, and a droplet of water appeared in his hand. It was the Tranquilizing Mind Divine Spell.
"Not good, it's a trap!" The old woman's expression changed drastically. She recognized the origin of that droplet. Elder Ma Yun had been forcibly controlled by that very droplet for a long time. If she were struck by it, would she not be at another's mercy?
The old woman used all her strength, even sending out her spirit-connected weapon to resist the droplet. Yet she had not expected Lin Xian to flash forward, leaving countless afterimages behind him. Moving like lightning, he flew behind her, delivered an all-out blow, and then fled far away.
"You... how could you be this strong?!" The Divine Bridge old woman was horrified. Like a meteor, she crashed heavily into the ground, utterly unable to resist.
"It is not that I am too strong. It is that you are too weak." Lin Xian did not reveal himself. His voice came from the depths of the forest as he remained wary of any hidden trump cards she might have left behind.
"You were toying with me." A trace of despair appeared in the old woman's eyes. It was like a cat playing with a mouse, step by step entering the carefully laid trap of another. She had believed herself the hunter, only to become the prey.
"I was merely being cautious." Lin Xian smiled faintly, still refusing to show himself.
"Was that really necessary?" The old woman coughed blood, her eyes widening as she swallowed her final breath in unwillingness. She died with her eyes open.
Lin Xian clearly had the strength to kill her head-on, yet he had still arranged everything so carefully. She simply could not understand it.
"The cultivation world is full of killing intent. The day your true strength is exposed is also the day death draws near."
"Unless you are a savage who can break through in battle, a genius whose strength changes by the day, or a prodigy who sings all the way onto the Emperor Path, who would dare reveal their full hand?"
"Even after attaining the Dao, there is still a scheming Phoenix eyeing your Longevity Immortal Essence every day."
"The universe is a dark forest."
Lin Xian shook his head and used Spirit Summoning and Dispatching to capture the old woman's soul, confirming that she was truly dead.
A wisp of black smoke emitting continuous screams, along with a faint glimmer of light, flew from the old woman's mutilated body. It landed in his palm and transformed into a dark Yin Pearl.
"System, want a bite of a Divine Bridge cultivator's origin?"
Lin Xian asked with a beaming smile, "Crunchy and tastes like chicken."
System 10086's resentful voice rang out. "Not long ago, you said you would feed me the World Tree, the Universe Seed, and Primordial Chaos Purple Qi. Why is there only Divine Bridge Origin left today?"
"What is wrong with Divine Bridge Origin? This belongs to a cultivator second only to the great figures of the Other Shore." Lin Xian spouted nonsense. "Do you know what the Other Shore is? Those are great figures who trace back and unify part of the past, perceive and contain a portion of the future, connect themselves into a line within the River of Time, and then condense the illusory Great Dao into an Illusory Dao Fruit."
System 10086 said, "Heh."
This Other Shore was not that Other Shore. By the host's logic, the Immortal Kings of Eternal Life and Perfect Immortal Kings were also in the same realm.
"Milk will come, bread will come. Now that we have 'Divine Origin,' will 'Immortal Origin' be far behind?" Lin Xian kept babbling as he tossed up the Divine Bridge cultivator's origin in his hand, Divine Origin for short.
"What Divine Origin? It is clearly a chunk of 'Source God.'" System 10086 muttered, but did not disdain it. It reclaimed the Divine Bridge Origin. No matter how small a mosquito was, it was still meat; it could count as filling the database.
But as it ate, the system increasingly felt that something was off and asked in return, "A few days ago, you asked me to accumulate countless arts and divine abilities. Today, you want me to eat cultivator origins. What are you trying to do?"
"Cough, cough. System, I have always felt that your talent is unmatched and your brilliance unparalleled. You have the bearing of a Heavenly Emperor!" Lin Xian said solemnly. "The human body has limits. Even after cultivating the Heaven-Swallowing Demon Art, one cannot surpass the Heaven-Swallowing Great Emperor. The demonic body imprisons the Great Dao, preventing the evolution of a true Chaotic Body. But I think you can?"
"Ah, I can break through Ruthless's limitations? Seriously?" Even System 10086 was stunned.
Could it be... that I, System 10086, can also become a Heavenly Emperor?
"Give it a try. You are a system, after all." Lin Xian said calmly, "Success would be ideal. If it fails, there will not be much loss anyway. It is only a single deduction."
"If it fails, we can still study Ye Xian's Chaotic Body and mooch off Ye Fan's Chaos Immortal Scripture from his fifth life."
"All roads lead to Rome. As long as you are willing to think outside the box, there are always more solutions than difficulties."
"As expected of you, Host. You truly do not want to suffer even a little." System 10086 mocked him, but did not object. It had comprehended the Emperor Talisman Immortal Characters within the Bronze Coffin. If it could evolve a Chaotic Body, it would be of some help to its future Advanced System architecture.
The lower limit of the Chaos Great Dao was becoming a Dao-Attainer, but no one knew how high its upper limit was. System 10086 only knew that there was something called the Chaos Sea.
After dealing with the Divine Bridge old woman's possessions, Lin Xian summoned a Five Thunder Righteous Method and blasted her corpse into dust, nourishing the mountains and forests.
"A dignified Cave Heaven elder, yet she did not have a single Source Stone on her. What a pauper."
Lin Xian muttered as he put away junk such as Hundred Herbs Liquid. He held the only valuable item, the spirit-connected weapon, in his palm for inspection. It was a small azure bowl.
There were a few Divine Runes upon it. Though they had not formed Dao and principle, they exuded a spiritual aura. It was the primary weapon of a Divine Bridge cultivator, truly extraordinary.
Presumably, the old woman had once been a genius who wished to forge a single great artifact and achieve success late in life. Unfortunately, the result was that she never achieved it at all, wasting her entire life.
Without opportunities, scriptures, or backing, reaching the Divine Bridge Realm was already the limit for an ordinary genius.
Lin Xian did not examine the Divine Runes. Instead, he began studying the process by which the weapon had taken shape.