Lin Qiye Emerged from Seclusion, Leaving Everyone Speechless

Lin Qiye stared fixedly at the towering god standing amid the chaotic mist. The golden divine eye that opened on his forehead held not a trace of mortal emotion. Only absolute Laws, cold beyond measure, intertwined and evolved within it. Under that gaze, Lin Qiye felt that the resentment and despair he had built up over the past two years—even the secrets buried deepest in his soul—had been laid bare.

Inherit the Heavenly Eye, carry on the warrior's spirit!

Become the enemy of the "great terror" that had destroyed the Heavenly Court!

Had any mighty figure from the Canglan Realm stood there, that terrifying ancient divine might would likely have shattered their resolve. They might not even have dared to look upon the god. But Lin Qiye was different. Two years at rock bottom had not broken his pride. Instead, they had tempered his character like cold iron in an abyss, leaving him steadier and more determined than ever.

"I, your disciple Lin Qiye, am willing to bear your karma, True Lord!"

Without a moment's hesitation, Lin Qiye dropped to both knees upon the golden waves and clasped his fists. His voice was hoarse, but every word rang firm. "Even if a bottomless abyss lies ahead, even if I must make an enemy of the great terror beyond the heavens, I will not retreat a single step! Please grant me your teachings, True Lord!"

"Good!"

In the void, True Lord Qingyuan Miaodao Yang Jian seemed to lift the corner of his mouth, revealing a proud smile that looked down upon all worlds.

The next instant, the mountain-sized black divine hound beside Yang Jian raised its head and let out a thunderous roar. Yang Jian himself slowly lifted his right hand, pressed two fingers together like a blade, and lightly touched Lin Qiye between the brows.

Boom—!!

In an instant, the golden Heavenly Eye erupted with boundless, blinding light. It became a golden torrent of countless arcane symbols and surged into Lin Qiye's forehead.

This was no ordinary inheritance of a cultivation art. It was a karmic imprint from a supreme deity!

Lin Qiye's soul was mercilessly torn apart. Countless fragmented scenes flashed wildly through his mind. He saw the god wielding the Three-Point Double-Edged Blade, battling an indescribable black demonic shadow amid shattered galaxies. He saw blood spill across the heavenly gates as gods and Buddhas throughout the skies turned to ash. And he saw that god, his body broken, still holding his head high as he used the Heavenly Eye on his forehead to pierce the darkness of ten thousand worlds.

Then a supreme art—overbearing, vast, and beyond every ancient Great Emperor scripture in the Canglan Realm—branded itself deep into Lin Qiye's memory like a searing iron.

The Eight-Nine Profound Art!

"Break, then rebuild. Become Indestructible Vajra. Embrace the myriad transformations of the heavens and turn heaven and earth..."

The vast scriptures of the Immortal Dao began to circulate through Lin Qiye's body on their own. At that moment, the transformation of both his flesh and soul brought pain beyond words.

In the real world, inside a dilapidated stone house on Falling Geese Peak.

Lin Qiye sat cross-legged on the bed, his body shaking violently. Large patches of dark red, foul blood seeped from his skin. It was the abyssal demonic poison that had lurked inside him for two whole years and nearly tormented him to death. Now, under the fierce, pure yang golden light of the Eight-Nine Profound Art, the poison that even the Holy Land's Grand Elders had been helpless against melted like lingering snow beneath the blazing sun. It gave off a sharp hissing sound as it was forced from his pores in wisps of black smoke.

The demonic poison was driven out. Next came the rebuilding!

The meridians inside Lin Qiye, long since broken into hundreds of pieces and reduced to mush, began to reconnect and extend at a near-frenzied pace beneath the golden divine power. Each reborn meridian bore a faint dark-gold sheen and was hundreds of times tougher than before. Runes of law from the age of myth flickered faintly upon them.

His shattered Qi Sea turned into a sea of chaos. A tiny cauldron rose and sank within it—the core of power condensed by the Eight-Nine Profound Art, radiating an undying pressure.

The most astonishing change took place on his face.

The skin on Lin Qiye's forehead began to writhe violently. A hair-thin line of blood appeared, but under the restorative dark-gold divine power, it quickly healed. In the end, it became a faint ancient golden mark that looked as though it had always been there.

Who knew how much time passed? When the first light of dawn appeared outside the stone house, Lin Qiye's eyes snapped open.

"Phew—"

He exhaled a breath of stale air that had been pent up for two years. It became a white arrow, almost solid, that shot several yards before striking the stone wall with a crisp thud.

Lin Qiye slowly raised his hands and stared blankly at his palms.

He could see again.

More than that, the entire world looked different to him. The stone house, once dim, now flowed with fine threads of spiritual energy wherever he looked. He could even see through the thick stone walls to the dewdrops sliding slowly down leaves outside, and hear the faint movements of insects crawling through the soil below.

The pain that had tormented him for two years was gone. In its place was a violent power that filled him to the brim. Every ounce of muscle and every bone carried an indestructible strength.

"For two years... my meridians were destroyed, and demonic poison seeped into my bones."

Lin Qiye slowly rose from the bed. His strength had grown so much that when his feet touched the floor, they left two deep prints in the hard bluestone.

He raised a hand and gently touched the hidden golden mark on his forehead. At a thought, the terrifying power beneath it—power that could pierce all illusions and destroy heaven and earth—would stir, poised for release.

"It wasn't a dream... Erlang Xiansheng Zhenjun, the foremost god of war of the Desolate Ancient Heavenly Court..."

Lin Qiye drew a deep breath, and two dazzling gleams burst from his eyes. The past two years had tempered him. Even after receiving such a heaven-defying blessing, he did not lose himself in joy. Instead, he grew calmer.

He had not forgotten the heavy burden of karma the god had given him at the end of the dream.

"The Heavenly Court truly existed, and the path to immortality truly was severed. The great terror that destroyed it may now be lurking deep among the heavens... And I am the True Lord of Qingyuan Miaodao's successor in this era."

Lin Qiye walked to the corner of the stone house, where the Broken Sword he had polished yesterday stood quietly.

He reached out with his right hand and gripped its rough hilt.

Boom!

The instant he took hold of the hilt, the Eight-Nine Profound Art within him seemed to sense his will to fight and began circulating on its own. A thread of pure, vast Immortal Dao power, carrying a faint golden radiance, flowed down his arm and into the Broken Sword.

The discarded piece of iron trembled and rang wildly. Rust flaked from its blade inch by inch, revealing tempered dark-gold metal beneath. At the broken edge, a golden sword aura extended nearly an inch, tearing tiny black fissures in the surrounding void.

Lin Qiye said nothing. He swung the Broken Sword behind his back and stepped out of the stone house.

On Falling Geese Peak, the morning sun was just rising.

Golden sunlight fell across Lin Qiye, bathing his coarse hemp clothes in a sacred glow. He stood straight as a sword. Not a trace of his former despondency or frailty remained. Instead, he radiated a sharp will to challenge the nine heavens.

Today, he would descend Falling Geese Peak once more.

Not to prove that he had reclaimed his former glory, but to strike the first blow belonging to the Desolate Ancient Heavenly Court against this broken world!

Meanwhile, at the edge of the Primeval Holy Land, inside the Library Pavilion.

Su Chen stood before a wooden desk by the window, an old parchment scroll in his hands. He appeared to be leafing through it idly.

Yet at the center of his vision, the system's virtual panel flashed with dazzling golden light. A dense barrage of notifications exploded through his sea of consciousness:

[Ding!] Agent "Lin Qiye" has successfully fused with the [Erlang Xiansheng Zhenjun Inheritance Fragment] (fusion rate: 15%). The agent has broken and rebuilt himself, mastered the first level of the Eight-Nine Profound Art, and awakened the primordial light of the Heavenly Eye! Karmic feedback activated. The agent's understanding has undergone a major shift, deeply binding him to mythic karma!

[Mythic influence surges!] The influence of "Desolate Ancient Heavenly Court" in the Canglan Realm has risen from 12% to 25%! Congratulations, host. You have received tenfold karmic feedback from your agent: +18,000 Karma Points! Congratulations, host. Total available Karma Points: 28,900!

"Over twenty-eight thousand Karma Points."

Su Chen looked at his available balance, which had nearly tripled, and the corners of his mouth rose in an inscrutable smile.

He could clearly sense a faint yet extraordinarily high-level thread of divine Laws, carrying the essence of Yang Jian, the god of war, silently entering his body through an invisible karmic chain as Lin Qiye fused with the inheritance.

His flesh had not undergone the earth-shaking transformation Lin Qiye's had. But under the cleansing of that pure divine power, every cell and every wisp of his soul had grown denser and more profound. Before, Su Chen had merely been an observer disguised as an ordinary man. Now, his every movement faintly carried the air of an immortal who governed the Heavenly Dao.

"The first move has been made. Now we'll see how much of a storm this piece can raise on the Canglan Realm's board."

Su Chen went to the window and pushed it open. His gaze passed through layers of cloud and mist toward Falling Geese Peak in the distance.

From that direction, he could faintly sense a will to fight that, though still young, was purely ancient. It rose like the morning sun, seeking to tear through the oppressive Purple Qi hanging over the Primeval Holy Land.

Ji Changkong and the other mighty figures were still searching everywhere for "fragments of the Heavenly Court's Southern Heavenly Gate." They would never imagine that the true inheritance of the Heavenly Court had quietly awakened right under their noses, on a desolate, declining peak.

"Once Lin Qiye descends the mountain, he's bound to draw endless suspicion and scrutiny."

Su Chen closed the parchment scroll. A cool, measured light shone in his gentle eyes.

"With less than a tenth of the inheritance mastered, he isn't ready to face the storm that's about to sweep across the entire Canglan Realm."

"To make this spectacle more exciting, and to let those old monsters who've lived for thousands of years keep letting their imaginations run wild... it's time for me, the one pulling the strings, to unveil the second act of the Canglan Realm's grand myth."

Su Chen clasped his hands behind his back and sank his mind once more into the system's vast exchange shop.

His gaze passed over the second-tier items and settled on a terrifying function in the third-tier exchange section. It required an enormous number of Karma Points to unlock and could reach across countless worlds.

The Myriad Worlds Projection Mirror.

He would use a grand vision spanning the heavens—one that would leave every ancient being in the Canglan Realm and countless surrounding star regions speechless—to protect his agent!