Xiao Wu's Terrifying Realization

Of course, Tang San had not forgotten to examine the cause of Lin Tian's death.

After all, Lin Tian's death had been far too strange.

With Lin Tian's skills, could he really have fallen off a cliff by accident and died?

He would not believe such a cause of death even if beaten to death himself.

But it would have been better if he had not examined the body. The moment he did, he was utterly shocked.

When he silently channeled the Mysterious Heaven Skill into Lin Tian's body, he was stunned to discover that although Lin Tian appeared to have died from a fall, every bone in his body had been shattered, and all his internal organs had ruptured.

Those were absolutely not injuries that could have been caused by falling off a cliff.

It was more like someone had struck him to death with a heavy object using some special method of exerting force, then thrown him off the cliff afterward.

And anyone capable of doing that had to be an expert. At the very least, in his previous life, experts who could accomplish such a thing were exceedingly rare. Even across the entire Tang Sect, not one could be found.

At that thought, Tang San subconsciously swept his gaze around and realized that, aside from himself, Xiao Wu, and Lin Yuan, the Soul Scholar—

There was not a single person with Soul Power present.

Could it have been Xiao Chenyu?

Impossible. As far as he knew, Xiao Chenyu's father was merely a Soul Ancestor. A Soul Ancestor alone could never have done this.

The trail had gone cold...

Lin Yuan had no idea what Tang San was thinking. At that moment, he had no mind to pay attention to Tang San at all.

He was simply crying his heart out with the villagers.

At the same time, he did not forget to firmly establish that Lin Tian had died after accidentally falling from a cliff.

Only then would Tang Hao turn his attention away from the people of Bamboo Ridge.

Otherwise, if they wailed about finding the murderer and avenging Lin Tian, who knew what that Tang Hao bastard might do.

Tang San and Xiao Wu left after Lin Tian's funeral ended.

Lin Yuan, meanwhile, remained at Bamboo Ridge.

In his words—

This place held memories of him and "Brother Lin Tian." He wanted to stay here and spend Brother Lin Tian's final days with him.

He asked Xiao Wu to pass a message to his mother and tell her not to worry about him.

Seeing how deeply Lin Yuan cared for Lin Tian, Xiao Wu was moved and naturally agreed without hesitation.

After watching Xiao Wu leave, Lin Yuan forcibly endured the urge to cultivate the two techniques he had obtained from Lin Tian for the next two days.

Instead, he wandered around Bamboo Ridge all day, "mourning" Lin Tian with the appearance of a brother grieving deeply for his sibling.

It was not until the evening of the third day that he went to the back mountain of Bamboo Ridge.

In a concealed spot, he found the tallest Ten-Year Lone Bamboo and dripped in Green Liquid from the Heavenly Vial.

Only then did he enter a hidden cave, light a bonfire, take out Lin Tian's bloodstained clothes, and begin studying the two techniques.

After weighing the pros and cons, he chose the Five Thunder Heavenly Heart Formula first.

There were three reasons.

First, trying to learn too much at once would only lead to failure.

For an outsider like him, it was better to take things one bite at a time.

Second, the Supreme Sacred Heaven and Earth Technique was supremely yang and rigid, leaning toward the fire attribute.

It was not compatible with a plant Martial Soul.

Third, Lin Tian had already displayed it in front of everyone. If Lin Yuan cultivated it and combined it with the Lone Bamboo Martial Soul, it would be far too conspicuous.

People would inevitably grow suspicious.

But the Five Thunder Heavenly Heart Formula was different. If he fused it with the Lone Bamboo Martial Soul, it could instantly mutate into Thunder Bamboo.

It would make up for the Lone Bamboo Martial Soul's lack of offensive power.

Just imagining the Lone Bamboo Martial Soul gaining lightning attributes and becoming unstoppable filled Lin Yuan with excitement.

Meanwhile, after returning to the academy, Xiao Wu was devastated for a full two days. Yet under Tang San's tireless comfort—

She finally returned to her former carefree self.

While Tang San was happy about this, he could not help recalling the state of Lin Tian's corpse.

On the very day they returned to the academy, he had already told Yu Xiaogang about the suspicious details.

Naturally, Yu Xiaogang did not hesitate to pin the blame on Spirit Hall.

In his own words, Lin Tian had been assassinated because he refused to join Spirit Hall, and they had then staged it to look like an accidental fall from a cliff.

But what puzzled Tang San was that his own case was understandable, since Blue Silver Grass was universally recognized as a worthless Martial Soul.

But Xiao Wu's Martial Soul was not worthless!

They both possessed Innate Full Soul Power. If Spirit Hall had truly made a move, logically, they could not possibly have targeted Lin Tian alone.

"Little San, what's wrong? Why do you look so worried? Tell me quickly. Considering you've comforted Sister Xiao Wu these past few days, Sister Xiao Wu is willing to listen to your troubles."

Xiao Wu said.

Tang San smiled faintly. "It's nothing..." He did not want Xiao Wu to hear about Lin Tian again and become sad.

But women, especially women like Xiao Wu, were often more curious the less one told them. "Quit the nonsense. Tell me."

As she spoke, she put on an expression that said she would get angry if he refused to tell her.

"Fine. I suspect Lin Tian did not die after accidentally falling from a cliff. I think someone deliberately harmed him." Left with no choice, Tang San could only voice his speculation.

"Someone harmed him..." In an instant, Xiao Wu thought of the Clear Sky Douluo, Tang Hao—the man who shared the same name as Tang San's father and possessed the world's number one tool Martial Soul, the Clear Sky Hammer.

Could it have been him?

Tang San did not know what Xiao Wu was thinking and continued:

"I examined Lin Tian's body. Every bone in his body was shattered, and his internal organs had ruptured. This did not look like death from falling off a cliff. It looked more like someone had struck him with a heavy object beforehand, then he fell from the cliff afterward..."

Xiao Wu did not listen to the rest. Her face had already turned deathly pale.

It matched. It all matched.

Everything matched.

No wonder Lin Tian had suddenly gone to the back mountain in the middle of the night.

No wonder he had fallen off the cliff for no apparent reason.

So someone had deliberately orchestrated all of this.

As for the reason, other than someone coveting her Soul Ring and Soul Bone, she truly could not think of any other possibility.

But why had that person not captured her directly? Why had they chosen to get rid of Lin Tian instead?

Time passed in circles, and soon it was time for Nording Academy to begin classes again.

During this period, aside from collecting Green Liquid from the Heavenly Vial and cultivating Lone Bamboo soul beasts, Lin Yuan devoted himself to training in the Five Thunder Heavenly Heart Formula.

Thanks to Lin Tian's plain-language version of the Five Thunder Heavenly Heart Formula—

Which even thoughtfully recorded his cultivation insights and the wrong paths he had taken.

Lin Yuan could tell that their late classmate Lin Tian had been a good student who liked taking notes in class.

So he threw himself into cultivation with all his might.

He had actually managed to cultivate a rudimentary grasp of the technique.

Even so, without using the Heavenly Vial's Green Liquid to improve his Martial Soul's quality, his cultivation speed had increased rather than decreased.

By his estimates, once he returned to the academy and cultivated using the Green Liquid collected by the Heavenly Vial, he would reach level nine Soul Power in less than twenty days.

If he could cultivate the first level of the Five Thunder Heavenly Heart Formula in advance, that time could be shortened even further.

The only pity was that it had rained heavily on and off for several days that month, leaving no moonlight.

Together with the days delayed by Lin Tian's death—

He had collected only three drops of Green Liquid.

Even adding the one drop he had saved beforehand, the Lone Bamboo he cultivated was only a little over four hundred years old.

Still, it was no great issue. When he broke through level ten next time and returned to Bamboo Ridge, he could cultivate it further then.