"Squeak, squeak..."
Lin Shisan glanced back at the little courtyard, still unwilling to give up.
After a sleepless night of deliberation, he had decided to stop here.
His dantian remained utterly empty, without the slightest response.
His faith in the Old Madman's words had crumbled completely.
Rather than persist in something impossible here, he might as well take his father home sooner and live a few peaceful days.
He could also lay his father to rest.
He looked just as he had when he arrived, having taken off his outer sect disciple robes and put on that coarse hemp garment.
His father had sewn it by hand.
"Heh, heh, heh..."
"At least I spent a few days as an outer sect disciple of the Tai Chi Hall. This life wasn't entirely wasted."
Lin Shisan gave a bitter smile.
Yet two tears slipped unbidden from the corners of his eyes.
His father had paid with his life for this chance to enter an immortal sect. With it ending so abruptly, how could he willingly leave?
Bang, bang... thud...
"It's all your fault, you old bastard! You made me come away empty-handed again! I swear I'll kill you today..."
"Please calm your anger, Immortal Lord... please calm your anger..."
A flying sword clanged out of its sheath and pressed against Feng Qingye's chest. "It's all your fault, you old bastard! You cost me a thousand spirit stones!"
"Brother Qingye..."
Lin Shisan had just reached the courtyard to say goodbye to Feng Qingye when he witnessed this murderous scene.
Most likely, this sucker had spent a thousand spirit stones on a Spirit Token.
When his blind box yielded nothing, he had taken all his anger out on Feng Qingye.
Whoosh...
The sucker was a young man.
He had a perfectly square face, thick brows, and large eyes, and cut an imposing figure.
Hearing the voice, he abruptly turned.
His invisible fury seemed to take solid form. He extended his right hand and lifted Lin Shisan into the air from a distance.
Lin Shisan's neck creaked, nearly crushed in that choking grip.
"Please calm your anger, Immortal Lord..."
Feng Qingye scrambled over on his knees and hands, kneeling to plead.
"Please calm your anger, Immortal Lord. He isn't a disciple of the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion."
"If you're still angry, take it out on me. He's just passing through."
"Hmph..."
The young man snorted coldly.
His divine sense power swept across them.
It crushed Feng Qingye flat against the ground, leaving him unable even to raise his head.
"Passing through? Does that mean he can't die? Since he ran into me, he deserves to die-ten thousand times over!"
"You... you moron..."
Pfft...
The young man's ears twitched, as though he had caught Lin Shisan's broken curses.
The flying sword against Feng Qingye's chest changed direction, pointing at Lin Shisan's forehead.
"Are you insulting me?"
"Yes... I'm insulting you... can't you hear me... you moron..."
"You... you dare insult me... I'm furious... ah!"
The young man's face twisted with rage.
He had feared he was imagining things earlier, but now he had heard it clearly.
This dark-skinned brat really was insulting him.
Humiliation turned instantly to fury, and he roared again and again.
He was a dignified outer sect disciple, an exalted existence. Being cursed to his face by this small fry nearly blew his heart, liver, and lungs apart with rage.
"Never mind once... even ten times, a hundred times... I'd still curse you..."
Lin Shisan seethed.
His face had turned blue-purple, his veins bulged, and his eyes protruded. He could barely get his words out.
"Lin Shisan, shut up..."
"Lin Shisan, shut up......"
The young man flew into a humiliated rage.
With a single look, he sealed Feng Qingye's mouth.
Feng Qingye was immobilized where he stood.
Turning back to Lin Shisan, the young man ground his teeth. "You little nobody! Curse me again if you dare!"
With a thud, Lin Shisan fell face-first onto the ground.
After a long while, he climbed up, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and Lin Shisan looked coldly at the young man.
He pointed his right hand at him, every word striking the ground with force as he truly began cursing again.
"You couldn't get any cultivation manuals and combat skills yourself. What the hell does that have to do with Brother Qingye? Someone took you for a sucker. What the hell does that have to do with him?"
"If you've got the guts, go find whoever sold you the Spirit Token! Why throw your weight around in front of small fry like us? Trying to show how great you are?"
"With your character and conduct, letting you obtain cultivation manuals and combat skills would be the greatest injustice in this world!"
"You... you deserve it! You deserve to get no Cultivation Manuals and Combat Skills at all! That's your lot, your destiny!"
Lin Shisan found the tirade immensely satisfying.
The more he cursed, the more worked up he became.
He poured out all the frustration he had accumulated these past days.
His curses left Feng Qingye staring in disbelief.
They left the young man trembling all over, his face a purplish brown, as though he had swallowed a toad and could no longer breathe properly.
"...Ah!"
The young man was truly beside himself with rage.
The treasured sword in his right hand spun, gang qi sweeping out like dragons.
He was at the third realm of meridian opening. Crushing Lin Shisan to death would take no more than a turn of his hand.
One strand of sword qi split into another, then another, until there were twelve, all aimed at Lin Shisan's heart.
Ten thousand arrows through the heart.
"Shi... Shisan... Immortal Lord..."
Tears streamed from Feng Qingye's eyes.
Yet he could only watch helplessly as twelve blades of sword qi stabbed toward the immobilized Lin Shisan.
"Heh, heh, heh... ha, ha, ha..."
Come on, let all twelve swords pierce me.
Would I finally be free?
Would I no longer have to agonize over whether to leave the mountain?
Over whether to abandon my dream of cultivation?
An agonizing pain tore through his chest.
Stars flashed before Lin Shisan's eyes. Then he sank into boundless darkness, submerged in that cold, rainy night.
"Shisan... Shisan... you're awake..."
He woke again.
Lin Shisan lay on a simple wooden bed in Feng Qingye's office.
Beside him stood Feng Qingye, his face bruised and swollen, sweat covering his forehead.
There was also a distinct, bloody palm print on his chest.
Clearly, the young man's conscience had awakened in the end.
Otherwise, neither he nor Feng Qingye could have survived.
That man was at the third realm of meridian opening. Killing the two of them would have been as easy as turning his hand.
And so, both Lin Shisan and Feng Qingye survived.
Moreover, Lin Shisan also
changed his mind.
He would not go back. He would stay here and continue as a servant disciple.
Feng Qingye's attitude toward Lin Shisan remained as cold as ever.
But because Lin Shisan had saved his life, he no longer demanded tribute.
More happily still, Lin Shisan's misfortune had turned into a blessing.
Under the crushing divine sense of that young man at the third realm of meridian opening, his dried-up dantian had miraculously revived.
A withered tree met spring; saline wasteland became fertile soil. Little by little, points of light and signs of life appeared.
That jiaolong true spirit also emerged, writhing.
On the second night after the beating, the jiaolong true spirit roared, and Lin Shisan stepped back onto the path of cultivation, reaching the first body tempering realm.
"Huff, huff..."
Lin Shisan was so excited that his breathing faltered.
He watched the jiaolong true spirit continue twisting and soaring, opening up new territory.
Waves of warm power flowed like spring breezes and nourishing rain.
They sent Lin Shisan's heart surging.
His eyes remained fixed on the jiaolong true spirit and the true qi still circulating in his dantian.
Pop...
With the sound of shattering glass, the bottleneck actually broke.
Lin Shisan's cultivation advanced from the first body tempering realm to the second body tempering realm.
Roar...
The jiaolong true spirit roared again.
After glancing at Lin Shisan with those humanlike eyes, it resumed its tumbling movements.
"You... don't tell me... don't tell me you're advancing again?"
Lin Shisan felt as though he were dreaming.
His little heart raced, pounding wildly.
It beat like a drum, leaving his face full of bewilderment and disbelief.
Was it really this powerful?
Even when the sound of shattering glass rang out again, even as another bottleneck broke, Lin Shisan still felt as though he were dreaming.
It was too incredible.
Advancing three realms in moments was simply a tale from the Arabian Nights, a myth or legend.
"...Roar!"
"...Again?"
Lin Shisan went completely numb.
Had his luck truly turned this time? Was he advancing not three realms in succession, but four? Had an unlucky wretch become a fortune bearer?
Before you continue