The "Truth" No One Cared About

The coachman had run off.

So Lin Chen had to take the reins himself and drive the carriage back to the Lin Residence.

Fortunately, once he let a trace of his aura slip out, the horses grew perfectly docile. The journey cost him little time.

Back at the residence, Lin Chen first told Lin Hai that Hu Yuan the Butcher had been slain, then returned to his courtyard.

He closed the door and laid out the items he had taken from Hu Yuan, sorting through them one by one.

Hu Yuan had been an eighth-level Spirit Martial Realm warrior and the second-in-command of Blackwind Stronghold, after all. Lin Chen had made quite a haul. By his rough count, the spoils were worth over four thousand spirit stones!

"Robbing the dead really is the quickest way."

Lin Chen murmured to himself, his gaze settling on two unusual items he had set aside.

One was a manual. The other was a sealed letter.

Lin Chen picked up the manual first.

Its gray cover bore the words "Shadow Silk Binding Art." It was the strange art Hu Yuan had used in battle: the one that distorted the light and gradually darkened the surroundings, spreading over the mountain woods like a spider's web.

At first, Lin Chen had thought it was some kind of cultivation method. A closer look proved him wrong.

It was not a cultivation method, but a secret art!

An auxiliary art focused on concealment, trapping enemies, and cutting off an area from its surroundings.

A practitioner had to weave invisible shadow threads around himself with spiritual energy. They could slowly bend light and dull an opponent's senses. At a high enough level, they could even form a barrier that briefly blocked spiritual perception.

"No wonder the woods suddenly went dead silent... It wasn't just the sound. The shadow threads were slowly swallowing and warping the light and aura, too." Understanding dawned on Lin Chen. "Too bad my Sword Intent was on a higher level. With sheer force, I broke through every art and smashed it apart."

Having figured out the art, Lin Chen set the manual aside for the moment and turned to the sealed letter.

What he read inside shook his innocent heart to its core. His expression turned peculiar.

Hu Yuan, that towering, brutish man and sworn brother of Li Baichuan, had been having an affair with his sister-in-law!

And Li Qianren was not Li Baichuan's son at all. Hu Yuan was his father!

Lin Chen was dumbstruck. Even if he had two more brains, each the equal of Zhuge Liang's, he could never have dreamed up a scandal like this.

"No wonder... At first I thought he wanted revenge out of brotherly devotion. But it turns out he flew into a rage because his beautiful lover and his own son were dead."

Lin Chen shook his head and sighed.

"What a mess that stronghold was."

"Looked at that way, Li Baichuan's fate was rather tragic. At Blackwind Cliff, he held off two Tenth Level Spirit Martial Realm warriors by himself so the boy he thought was his son could escape."

Blackwind Stronghold had been formed by outlaws who stopped at nothing. Perhaps such a thing was hardly surprising.

After all, desire was hard to restrain, especially when it stirred below the belt!

In the end, Lin Chen sent spiritual energy through the letter, shaking it into scraps that fell to the floor as powder.

The scandal no longer mattered. Li Baichuan was dead, Blackwind Stronghold was gone, and Hu Yuan had been slain. The past was dust; let it scatter.

The Shadow Silk Binding Art, on the other hand, was valuable. Lin Chen intended to learn it.

In the days that followed, Lin Chen kept to his courtyard. Apart from his daily training, he devoted himself to studying the Shadow Silk Binding Art.

At first, he could gather only a few dim shadow threads at his fingertips, each finer than a strand of hair. The slightest lapse in concentration made them dissolve.

But as he kept trying and adjusting, his understanding of the art deepened.

Half a month later, he could spread a thin web of shadow within three feet of himself.

"Still not enough."

Lin Chen was not satisfied.

Several more months passed. At times, a faint darkness shrouded Lin Chen's courtyard. Anyone who stepped inside then would have felt a barely perceptible drag, as though wading through shallow water, with every movement taking a little more effort than usual.

One day, Lin Hai came to the courtyard in person. He was about to push open the gate when he stopped.

A black barrier covered the courtyard, hiding everything within. He could only make out a little through his spiritual perception.

"Chen'er, what secret art are you practicing?" Lin Hai could not help asking.

The shadows in the courtyard quietly dispersed, and the sunlight returned to normal.

Lin Chen opened the gate and stepped out with a faint smile.

"An obscure secret art for concealment, trapping enemies, and separating the inside from the outside. I've only just begun to get the hang of it."

Sensing the increasingly deep and restrained aura about his son, Lin Hai nodded with satisfaction. "As long as you know what you're doing. But don't wear yourself out while training."

"Don't worry, Father. I know my limits."

After seeing Lin Hai off, Lin Chen returned to his room, deep in thought.

With his eighth-level Spirit Martial Realm cultivation, he had made good progress in comprehending the Shadow Silk Binding Art and had already achieved some success.

But reaching the point where it could block prying eyes from either side and cut off spiritual perception would take more time and practice.

Time slipped by quietly, murmuring like a stream as it ran through the fingers unnoticed.

Behind the Lin Residence, in a secluded Bamboo Grove.

Lin Chen sat cross-legged with his eyes closed. His aura flowed deep and steady, faintly merging with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

An invisible black barrier gently enclosed the space for several yards around him.

Like a boundary of its own, it separated the space within from the world outside.

Suddenly, Lin Chen's aura surged, and his dantian Qi Sea expanded once more.

Ninth Level of the Spirit Martial Realm!

After refining three spirit herbs in the Herb Garden, he had not only broken through to the eighth level of the Spirit Martial Realm but had advanced well beyond its threshold. As a result, he had not needed much more experience to reach the ninth level.

After more than half a year of passive cultivation, Lin Chen had accumulated enough experience and used Attribute Allocation to break through.

"I've made good progress with the Shadow Silk Binding Art, too."

"Now I can raise a shadow barrier around myself with a thought and separate the inside from the outside."

Lin Chen looked toward the Bamboo Grove a few yards away.

The bamboo stood tall, its leaves a deep green.

Though he had broken through only a few yards away, the shadow barrier had contained every trace of it. Not a single bamboo leaf had stirred.

"With this, I'll have another tool when I travel. I can keep others from sensing or spying on me."

Lin Chen spoke softly.

The Shadow Silk Binding Art was one of the preparations he had made for his journey to Yunlan City.

Even if he had not found the art on Hu Yuan, Lin Chen had intended to choose something similar from the Martial Pavilion and practice it.

"The experience needed for the final level of each major realm really is substantial. It was like this in the Body Tempering Realm, and it's the same in the Spirit Martial Realm."

"Fortunately, at my current rate of passive cultivation, two or three years in the Miasma Forest should be enough."

"Then, once I reach the Tenth Level of the Spirit Martial Realm, break through to the Profound Martial Realm, and bring Kaiyang City under my control, I can set out..."

Lin Chen murmured as he looked beyond the Bamboo Grove. His gaze seemed to pass through layer upon layer of leaves toward distant mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas.

The path of martial arts was long and full of wonders.

Kaiyang City was only a shallow stretch of water, one he was about to conquer. The true world lay far beyond.