Just as Lin Yuan was filled with guilt.
A cold gleam flashed inside the little beggar's sleeve. A dagger slid into his palm and struck like a venomous snake, stabbing viciously toward Lin Yuan's waist.
The strike had been planned long ago and drove forward like a blade splitting bamboo!
The instant the tip pierced Lin Yuan's robe, uncontrollable delight spread across the little beggar's face.
In the next moment, his expression froze completely.
Lin Yuan extended two fingers and clamped down on the dagger like iron pincers.
The little beggar gritted his teeth and pushed forward desperately with all his strength.
The dagger did not budge.
Lin Yuan raised his right leg and kicked the little beggar hard in the chest.
Bang!
The little beggar flew backward, slammed into the ground, and rolled twice.
Lin Yuan looked at the little beggar in disbelief, his eyes full of confusion.
"Why?"
Hadn't the little beggar been intent on learning martial arts?
He had even begun considering taking him as a disciple.
Why had he attacked him?
The little beggar struggled up and knelt on the ground, kowtowing over and over, tears and snot streaming down his face.
"I'm sorry..."
"My little sister died, and I couldn't think straight. That's why I attacked you. Please spare my life, young master!"
Lin Yuan's gaze was utterly cold as he spoke evenly.
"I want the truth."
That ambush had come from a tricky angle and been ruthlessly executed. It had been aimed at taking his life.
Fortunately, he had maintained the vigilance he ought to have at all times.
The atmosphere gradually froze.
A breeze blew in from outside the temple.
The little beggar shuddered all over. His head hung low, hiding his expression.
In fact, this trap had already been laid the moment Lin Shan began searching the entire city.
He had used his sister's death to gain Lin Yuan's sympathy and guilt.
At this point, the scheme had branched into two paths.
He could ask once again to become his disciple.
But he had already been rejected once before.
This time, he might succeed.
The problem lay in that word, "might." Ultimately, it remained uncertain.
The little beggar had only one chance. He dared not gamble.
He wanted to hold the initiative in his own hands.
So he had chosen the second path.
Launch a sudden attack.
As long as he succeeded, that century-old ginseng would be enough to give him something to rely on to turn his fortunes around.
Even taking ten thousand steps back, supposing Lin Yuan didn't have the old ginseng on him.
Could someone who casually produced five thousand taels really have only five thousand taels on him?
Either way, for a beggar like him, it would be a huge windfall!
Fortune was found amid danger!
Had Lin Yuan known the little beggar's train of thought, he probably would have raised a thumb in admiration.
"Young man, congratulations on successfully cutting off your own path."
The plan had been beautiful.
Reality was cruel.
He had never imagined that Lin Yuan would still be on guard under these circumstances.
Even with matters having reached this point, the little beggar still hadn't given up.
He still had a chance!
He raised his head, his face full of sincerity, and spoke haltingly.
"Young master, everything I said was true..."
"For the sake of my dead little sister, please take me as your disciple!"
Lin Yuan was silent. His gaze slowly shifted a short distance away, his tone somewhat sorrowful.
"Thank you for letting me truly see this world clearly."
An ominous feeling suddenly rose in the little beggar's heart.
Lin Yuan stepped forward, his right hand resting on the saber hilt at his waist.
"Sorry, my guilt was only good for one chance."
"You just used it up, didn't you?"
The little beggar gave a bleak smile.
He had witnessed Lin Yuan's strength firsthand. He didn't have the slightest chance to resist.
As he watched that figure draw closer step by step, fear surged over him like a tide.
His legs were as heavy as if filled with lead, and he couldn't muster the slightest strength.
"Can't you let me go?"
"My little sister died because of you!"
Lin Yuan's motion of drawing his saber paused slightly.
Joy appeared in the little beggar's eyes.
There's a chance!
The next moment.
A flash of saber light appeared and vanished.
The little beggar staggered and fell.
Lin Yuan's indifferent voice sounded beside his ears.
"Go on, then. Perhaps she hasn't gone far yet."
The little beggar's vision gradually blurred.
As he lay dying.
He seemed to see his little sister standing in the sunlight, smiling as she waved to him.
Two tears slipped from the corners of his eyes.
"Little sister, I'm sorry."
"It was all your big brother's fault..."
At last, the little beggar closed his eyes in unwillingness, ending his miserable, brief life.
He had struggled.
Though he had failed, he had left a deep impression in Lin Yuan's heart.
Lin Yuan sheathed his saber and remained silent for a long time.
Sure enough.
No matter which world he was in, he must never underestimate human nature.
For the first time, he saw this world where the weak were prey to the strong with such clarity.
He rubbed between his brows, turned, and left the City God Temple.
His retreating figure looked somewhat desolate.
With roaming bandits running rampant outside the city, many wealthy households were gripped by anxiety and hurried to sell their properties at low prices.
For a mere eight hundred taels of silver, Lin Yuan bought a secluded, peaceful residence with three courtyards in the northern part of the city.
The sun sank in the west.
On the long street.
Lin Jiu and Master Wu followed behind Lin Yuan.
Watching the gloomy figure ahead, the two exchanged glances, their eyes full of confusion.
Ever since Lin Yuan had returned, his spirits had been low, and a chill had radiated from his entire body.
Master Wu poked Lin Jiu beside him.
"Go ask what's wrong with the brat."
Lin Jiu shivered and shook his head desperately.
"I'm only a servant. You're his master. Why don't you ask?"
Master Wu bristled and glared.
The two shoved at each other for a while.
Lin Yuan, walking ahead, suddenly stopped.
He turned around and rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"Enough. You're talking so loudly. It's not like I'm deaf."
The two sheepishly approached.
Lin Jiu asked tentatively.
"Young master, what happened?"
Lin Yuan's tone was solemn.
"I went through some things and thought about some things."
"And then?"
"In this world, if you aren't ruthless, you can't stand firm."
???
The two looked at each other, unable to make heads or tails of it.
Lin Yuan smiled.
"Come on. Let's go to our new home."
At midnight.
The night was deep and quiet.
Lin Yuan awoke from meditation right on time.
His daily allotment of enlightenment attempts had refreshed.
He wanted to see whether collecting over a hundred mortal-grade saber arts could completely remedy the flaws in the Life-Severing Saber.
His consciousness spun in a dizzying whirl.
Lin Yuan once again entered that enlightenment space filled with boundless white mist.
This time, his thoughts instantly manifested as over a hundred phantoms.
Each phantom practiced a different saber art.
With his full attention, Lin Yuan controlled these phantoms, merging them all into the red phantom.
Boom!
The red phantom trembled violently, its body continuously expanding.
In just a few breaths.
Only one red phantom, thirty feet tall, remained.
This phantom was incredibly solid, as though it possessed physical substance.
It slowly raised its right hand, condensing a blood-red saber in its grip, yet remained unable to bring it down.
In an instant.
Countless images surfaced in Lin Yuan's mind.
There were insights into over a hundred saber arts, as well as fragments of memories from his two lives.
In the end, all the images froze on the City God Temple.
The instant the little beggar had suddenly lunged and thrust his dagger!
Lin Yuan's heart shuddered, and inspiration dawned.
Connected to his thoughts, the phantom slashed down fiercely with an unstoppable momentum!
Hum!
A thin red line appeared out of nowhere in the void.
Immediately afterward, that red line rapidly expanded into a thirty-foot-long blood-red saber gleam.
Dazzling red light instantly illuminated the entire enlightenment space.
Crack! Crack!
The space rippled violently, and the scene before him shattered.
Lin Yuan's consciousness returned to reality, and he gasped for breath like a drowning man.
The red light before his eyes flickered wildly.
The hundred-plus saber arts in which he had already reached the beginner level gradually faded, until only one unfamiliar martial art remained.
[Martial art: Heaven-Questioning Saber (earth grade) (incomplete)] [Unlocked moves: First move (Opening Move Shakes Kunlun)]