Chapter 136 – Middle-aged scholar
As soon as Qingxuan finished speaking, a female cultivator standing on a flying sword suddenly became agitated after hearing the words “Ma Liang.” She clenched her teeth, stopped, and turned around. This woman was extremely beautiful, but her expression was extremely ugly when she arrived.
This woman was the person Ma Liang could not forget even on the foreign battlefield, his junior apprentice sister Xu Si.
He greeted Qingxuan, then looked at Wang Lin with an ugly expression and cold eyes as he said, “Where did this evildoer come from? You dare to pretend to be a disciple of the War God Temple? Brother Qingxuan, please help me kill this person.” With that, he slapped his bag of holding, and a two-inch-long black rain needle appeared in his hand. He gently flicked his wrist, and the rain needle fiercely struck Wang Lin.
Strands of gray light spread out from the needles, creating a rain of needles. The rain of needles covered the sky, then rained down on Wang Lin.
Qingxuan was shocked. She didn’t act, but took a few steps back. She stared coldly at Wang Lin without saying a word.
Wang Lin’s expression was calm as he sneered inwardly. He reached out, forming a giant hand with his attraction technique, and easily caught all the needles. He swept his divine sense over them, snorted, and then casually put them into his storage bag.
The young woman’s beautiful face suddenly paled as a stream of blood flowed from her red lips. Her body trembled, and the flying sword beneath her feet lost its luster. She stared at Wang Lin with an expression of disbelief. In her memory, Ma Liang couldn’t possibly possess such power. Not only was he able to stop her magic treasure, but he was also able to wipe out her senses so easily. Her heart churned as she thought of this.
Just at this moment, three sword lights emerged from the midst of the cultivator army. When they arrived, they revealed three young men. One of them was Yang Xiong.
He glanced at the woman once, then turned to Qingxuan and said, “Sorry to bother you, Brother Qingxuan. Junior disciple Ma Liang is indeed a disciple of the War God Temple. Thank you for guiding him here.”
Qingxuan gave them a meaningful look. He chuckled, shook his head, and left. After a short distance, he turned around and saw Yang Xiong showing great respect for Ma Liang. This surprised him. After a moment of contemplation, he changed direction and headed towards the He Tu Sect.
Yang Xiong ignored everyone around him and whispered to Wang Lin, “Do you know Feng Luan’s ancestor? The person on the five-colored phoenix chariot is him. He ordered me to take you to him.”
Wang Lin looked up to see the army of cultivators constantly moving. In the center was a five-colored phoenix chariot, and standing on it was a woman wearing a palace gown. She seemed to notice Wang Lin’s gaze and glanced at him.
Wang Lin’s expression was calm because he knew what was going on. This Ancestor Feng Luan was the same middle-aged woman who had come to collect Zhou Zihong’s Soul Essence Blood. After pondering for a moment, he moved toward her with Yang Xiong. When he passed Xu Si, he gave him a sharp glance and secretly placed a wisp of his divine sense on him.
This divine sense would activate after a month, and then the girl would die. After experiencing the events in Zhao, Wang Lin decided to eliminate anyone who intended to harm him, both men and women. He would stop them before anything else happened. Since Xu Si had struck first, he couldn’t blame him for being ruthless.
Yang Xiong led the way and whispered, “While Lin Tao was making a copy of the map, he was caught by Ancestor Feng Luan, so the map is now in his hands. Lin Tao was also punished. If it weren’t for the migration, he would have been imprisoned for ten years.”
Wang Lin’s expression seemed casual, but he became more cautious and followed Yang Xiong to the five-color phoenix chariot. Yang Xiong stopped after arriving near the chariot, but Wang Lin passed by. He arrived in front of ancestor Feng Luan, clasped his hand, and respectfully said, “Wang Lin pays his respects to the senior.”
The woman turned her gaze away from the battle and looked at Wang Lin. She asked softly, “Wang Lin, your real name?”
Wang Lin nodded silently. Wang Lin’s name was too common, so there was no need to hide it. If he were caught lying about his name, it would be disastrous.
The woman looked at the advancing cultivator army. She pondered for a moment before saying, “Right now, the country of Hou Fen is in danger. Once we reach Xuan Wu, there will be another great battle. So, we can put this matter behind us, so you don’t have to worry. If someone bullies you, I can protect you, but only once. Once I help you, I no longer owe you for saving Zihong.”
Just as Feng Luan finished speaking, the sky suddenly darkened. On the distant battlefield, ten enormous volcanoes were uprooted from the ground and thrown aside by ten Nascent Soul cultivators. All the fire beasts scattered, but some of them were hit by the impact and turned into paste.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the army of cultivators charged through the gap and broke through the army of approximately 20,000 fire beasts chasing Wang Lin.
Flying swords charged into the gap one by one. Once the gap opened, the cultivators had already won. After all, their goal wasn’t to eliminate the fire beast, but to escape.
Feng Luan stared at the battlefield. The phoenix chariot suddenly shot forward and broke through as well.
The sixteen giant fire beasts were held back by the Nascent Soul cultivators. They roared repeatedly, but eventually stopped and stared coldly at the fleeing army of cultivators. Then, they clasped their hands together in a strange wave, and the same roars as before erupted from their mouths.
Shortly after, red lines emerged from their foreheads and formed a ring of fire. As the ring of fire appeared, the 16 giant fire beasts revealed expressions of devotion and let out mournful growls.
Their bodies shrank rapidly as a burst of crimson energy entered the ring of fire.
This process lasted for over an hour. Several cultivators noticed the change and came to stop them, but as they approached, they were turned to dust by the destructive force. Seeing this, no one dared to approach.
An hour later, the bodies of the sixteen giant beasts had disappeared. They had all merged with the ring of fire. The ring no longer expanded, but its color was now a deep red. Finally, it silently shattered into tiny red specks and disappeared.
At this moment, all the fire beasts within Hou Fen stopped moving and knelt on the ground, simultaneously emitting mournful sounds. Suddenly, one of the fire beasts fell to the ground and began to twitch. If one looked closely, they would see a speck of red light on its forehead. Its body expanded rapidly, and in less than an hour, it had grown to ten feet tall.
Soon, one fire beast after another was touched by the red spot, and their bodies rapidly expanded. In less than two hours, all the fire beasts in Hou Fen seemed to have undergone a transformation. Their strength had also increased tenfold.
The transformed beasts flew into the air and chased after the army of cultivators. More and more transformed fire beasts joined the chase. The scene was incredibly terrifying.
As for the cultivator army, of the ten Nascent Soul cultivators who returned from battle, four returned to the War God Temple group. One of the pale-faced old men swept his war chariot and locked onto Wang Lin. His voice was cold as he asked, “Was this junior the one who lured the fire beasts here?”
Wang Lin looked at the old man coldly and then nodded.
The old man snorted coldly a few times, then his large hand reached out toward Wang Lin. Feng Luan’s face darkened slightly as she slapped the five-colored phoenix chariot. A five-colored phoenix appeared and chirped. It flapped its wings, and five-colored light spread out.
The old man withdrew his hand. He glared at the woman and shouted angrily, “Feng Luan, what are you doing? This person not only possessed a disciple of our War God Temple, but also lured the fire beast here. You should know that over 1,000 Hou Fen disciples died in that battle.”
Feng Luan showed a stern expression and said, “As long as I’m here, you won’t be able to kill him.”
Zhou Jin stared at Feng Luan with a gloomy expression. He pondered for a moment, then said, “This person isn’t Ma Liang, so he’s not a disciple of my War God Temple. Even if I can’t kill him, he can’t stay here either.”
Feng Luan turned to Wang Lin and asked, “Wang Lin, are you willing to become my honorary disciple?”
Wang Lin immediately thanked him and nodded.
Zhou Jin’s eyes narrowed and turned cold. Feng Luan’s cultivation level was the same as his, at the early Nascent Soul stage, but her cultivation partner, Yang Sen, was at the middle Nascent Soul stage. It wasn’t appropriate to offend two Nascent Soul cultivators over such a small matter. Zhou Jin snorted and said, “Since Junior Apprentice Sister Feng Luan is willing to take this person as her disciple, then I naturally won’t pursue this matter any further. This person’s identity aside, considering there are still many battles to come, with his mid-Foundation Establishment cultivation level, it will be difficult to ensure his safety.”
After that, he waved his sleeves and left.
Of the three remaining Nascent Soul cultivators, only one flew toward Feng Luan. The other two smiled wryly and scattered. The one flying toward Feng Luan appeared to be a middle-aged scholar. He was the mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator Zhou Jin feared, Yang Sen.
He looked at Wang Lin and frowned. He then sighed at Feng Luan and asked, “Little sister Luan… why are you doing this?”
Feng Luan stared coldly at the middle-aged scholar and said, “If it weren’t for him, Hong Er would have died in the foreign battlefield. If it weren’t for you instigating him, how could Hong Er have entered that dangerous place?”
The middle-aged scholar turned toward Wang Lin and bowed deeply. After finishing, he took out a piece of jade and rubbed it against the jade. He threw it toward Wang Lin and said, “This jade is a Nascent Soul level treasure I crafted many years ago. I have already imprinted my divine sense into it. Once you imprint your divine sense, you will be able to use it to protect yourself in the upcoming battle.”