Two beams of purple-gold light suddenly shone from the depths of his pupils, like two lit lamps, drawing two slender streaks of light in the morning light.
The light struck Xie Tianhong's fist, emitting a very faint buzzing sound. Xie Tianhong's attack stopped a foot away from Lin Fan's chest.
"Buzz!"
The dark red fist force seemed to have struck an invisible wall, cracks spreading outwards from the point of contact, like shattered ice, before finally shattering into countless dark red fragments of the law.
Xie Tianhong was sent flying backward as if struck in the chest by an invisible hammer.
He tumbled several times in mid-air, smashed through two stone pillars, and dragged a ditch more than ten feet long on the ground before finally regaining his balance.
"You..."
He knelt on one knee, coughed up a mouthful of blood, and looked up at Lin Fan with disbelief in his eyes.
He opened his mouth, as if to say something.
But all I tasted in my throat was the metallic taste of blood.
The square was silent for three full breaths, then, like water rippled by a boulder, it exploded with a deafening roar, "Holy crap! What did I just see?"
"He didn't even lift a finger!"
" Double Pupils... that's Double Pupils! One glance shattered Xie Tianhong's full-force punch!"
"You call that 'sun-crushed'? That was clearly crushed with your gaze!"
" Xie Tianhong is a battlefield warrior! Peak Quasi-Emperor! He was sent flying by a single glare?"
"What did I just say? I said there was something strange about the aura surrounding him!"
"You were just guessing."
"So what if you guessed? Even if you guessed right, it's still right!"
"... Give me these two spirit stones."
The discussions surged like boiling water.
Xie Tianhong knelt on one knee in the pile of rubble, reaching out to support himself on the ground, struggling to stand up.
But as soon as he exerted force with his knee, a tearing pain shot through his chest where the Double Pupils' light had struck him, as if countless fine needles were simultaneously piercing his meridians, and his breath involuntarily dissipated.
Lin Fan stood in the center of the square, his hands behind his back.
He didn't look at Xie Tianhong a second time.
His gaze swept calmly across the surroundings, and the cultivators who were watching almost in unison took a half-step back when his gaze fell upon them.
Then he turned around and walked towards the other end of the street.
In the distance, by the window of a two-story teahouse.
Lin Chen sat by the window, holding a cup of tea that hadn't cooled down yet, watching the white-clad figure walk from the Ancient Tower square to the end of the street, a slight smile playing on his lips.
"Good."
He put down his teacup, casually placed a spirit stone on the table, and stood up. "Even more efficient than I expected."
He walked out of the teahouse and followed Lin Fan at a leisurely pace.
The two walked one after the other through several streets and alleys.
Lin Chen spoke, his tone carrying a hint of elder brotherly satisfaction. "Brother Fan, your performance in the square just now was quite good, more efficient than I expected. Let's go back to the Lineage!"
Lin Fan was silent for a moment, then spoke up, "Brother Chen, there's something I want to ask you."
Lin Chen raised his eyelids slightly. "Speak."
Lin Fan asked, "Have you ever heard of a disc?"
Lin Chen winced in pain, but didn't answer immediately, "What kind of disk?"
Lin Fan said, "It's entirely grayish-white, and its surface is covered with ring-shaped patterns, like reincarnation. I saw a scene when I was meditating on the third floor of the Ancient Tower."
That disc lies suspended across the river of time!
"The aura of time and reincarnation was so dense it was almost tangible, as if calling out to something."
Lin Chen tapped the stone table lightly with his fingers, once, twice, and then stopped.
Could it be Reincarnation Disc?
His voice was neither loud nor soft, but carried an extremely restrained seriousness. His gaze lingered on Lin Fan's face for a moment. "Are you sure what you saw was it?"
Lin Fan looked at Lin Chen: "Brother Chen, do you know about this?"
Lin Chen was silent for a moment, then slowly spoke, "Have you heard of the Reincarnation Immortal King?"
Lin Fan nodded. "At the end of the Immortal Ancient Era, there was an Immortal King who attained enlightenment through the Law of Reincarnation. It is said that he single-handedly withstood the siege of three Dark Immortal King."
What happened next?
"Later, he perished." Lin Chen's tone was calm, yet carried an indescribable weight, "He disappeared along with his Reincarnation Disc on the battlefield of the final battle of the Immortal Ancient Era."
No one found his remains, and no one found the disc.
"From then on, the Reincarnation Disc became a legend."
He paused, then looked at Lin Fan: "You should have guessed the origin of the Ancient Tower by now."
Lin Fan's brow twitched slightly. "Was the Ancient Tower left behind by the Reincarnation Immortal King?"
Lin Chen's tone carried a certainty that only Lin Clan would know. " The Ancient Tower itself was crafted by the Reincarnation Immortal King."
He inscribed his lifelong understanding of the Law of Reincarnation into the tower, leaving it for future generations to comprehend.
"That's why you saw the image of the Reincarnation Disc on the third level."
That was no coincidence.
Lin Fan remained silent for a moment.
He glanced down at his palm, where a grayish-white light pattern, not yet completely dissipated, remained faintly visible beneath his skin, like a mark pressed into his body.
"That Reincarnation Disc..."
"It may still exist."
Lin Chen continued, "Moreover, it's related to the Northern Frontier Battlefield."
Lin Fan looked up.
Lin Chen stood up, walked to the old locust tree, reached out and parted a drooping branch, his gaze falling on the gray horizon to the north.
"During the three months you were in the Ancient Tower, news came from the Northern Frontier Battlefield that a ruined altar had been discovered deep within the battlefield."
"The altar's array patterns are extremely ancient, remarkably similar to those from the Immortal Ancient Era."
"And..."
He turned to look at Lin Fan: "Someone sensed the lingering influence of the Law of Reincarnation around the altar."
Lin Fan's pupils contracted slightly.