Chapter 318

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Chapter 318: He Left

The Yun State, the Five Elements Sect.

The Soul Lamps of the disciples of the Five Elements Sect are placed in a side hall within the inner gate. They are specially guarded by disciples who conduct daily inspections. If anyone’s Soul Lamp goes out, they must report it to the Internal Affairs Hall. The Internal Affairs Hall will then conduct inquiries. If it is a normal occurrence, there is nothing to be said. If it is an untimely death, the Internal Affairs Hall will naturally continue to investigate.

"Report! Deputy Hall Master, Xiao Yi’s Soul Lamp has gone out."

The disciples of the Soul Lamp hall noticed that the golden core Soul Lamp had extinguished and hurriedly went to the Internal Affairs Hall to report.

"Xiao Yi"

After the big battle, he was very unfamiliar with this name, he didn’t even have a single impression.

"Deputy Hall Master, Uncle Zhang····"

The disciple in the Soul Lamp Hall whispered a reminder. He knew Xiao Yi and had no choice but to know which Soul Lamps belonged to whom. Important people naturally needed more attention.

Once the Deputy Hall Master reminded him, he immediately woke up and didn’t dare to stay for a moment. He immediately went to report to Zhang Wanjing.

Zhang Wanjing moved his office next to the main hall of the sect. At that moment, he was reviewing documents when he heard the news. The pen in his hand snapped in half.

"When did you find out?"

Zhang Wanjing asked with suppressed emotions, not even realizing himself that his voice was trembling.

"Just now, no more than fifteen minutes ago."

"I understand."

"Martial Uncle, what about…"

"You can go, I understand."

Zhang Wanjing waved his hand and the Deputy Hall Master dared not say anything more, leaving the place.

Zhang Wanjing no longer had the heart to deal with things. He slowly walked towards the window, his thoughts drifting away. He thought about the first celebration held in Medicine City, about the Internal Affairs Hall, the Outer gate, and the Wilderness.

"Since ancient times, life has been quiet and mysterious."

Zhang Wanjing felt sadness from the bottom of his heart. Among his generation of disciples, there were only a few left. Even if they couldn’t reach the level of Nascent Soul, they would still perish. They would fall just like the golden core cultivators who had already perished.

Looking around, old friends were extremely rare. Today, even his disciples had perished. His lonely thoughts flooded in like the tide, making him very uncomfortable.

After half a day, Zhang Shuhua, who was in a certain place in Central Province, received a message. He suddenly grabbed a young member of the Lin family and angrily asked. What is the Lin family up to? Why have even your ancestors perished?

Zhang Shuhua was very angry. Since the Lin family had gone to the North State, he had been left as a mere figurehead. He claimed to be an envoy sent by the Five Elements Sect to the Lin family, but the main force of the Lin family was not in Central Province. What he had seen was only a fraction of the Lin family.

"Senior Brother Zhang, my Lin family is in great danger now. Many people have died, not just one ancestor."

"You…"

"Senior Brother Zhang, please leave and return to your Yun State."

"What do you want to do?"

"Attack on the Qing State"

"There were only two of you with golden cores, the rest were old and weak."

"So what? The family leader has already ordered it, we have no choice but to die."

Lin Family’s golden core said lightly, the path was hopeless, they were all wasting their time. They decided to give their all while they still could contribute to the family.

Zhang Shuhua sat slumped on a chair, unable to speak for a moment. His mind was filled with memories of Lin Jiang – their first meeting as junior brothers, when Lin Jiang lacked enough merit points from the sect, seeking help and teaming up with him to earn merit points.

At that time, in Zhang Shuhua’s mind, Lin Jiang was just an ordinary junior brother who was skilled at scheming. Their second encounter was when Lin Jiang came to him, wanting to take advantage of the grand celebration in Medicine City. Without much thought, Zhang Shuhua told his father Zhang Wanjing about it.

Afterwards, countless experiences of hundreds of years flooded his mind. A sense of sorrow spread, realizing that even someone as clever as his junior brother couldn’t live to a ripe old age and perished midway.

"What exactly is this cultivation of immortality?"

Zhang Shuhua couldn’t help but ask his soul, do cultivators become immortals, the beings that mortals long for? All he saw was bloody killings, endless killing.

Among all living beings, there are no immortals. Everywhere is filled with monsters.

········

The farthest northern land, called North State.

Lin Jiang climbed out of an icy cave. This place was an underground cavern. He and Lin Die had searched this area before for the Extreme Cold Blue Flame, but it wasn’t the same place.

During their previous search, Lin Jiang had noticed that this underground cavern was very complex. There were many hidden underground rivers, all tangled and complicated. But since the Extreme Cold Blue Flame could be found here, there must definitely be energy veins present, and they were high-level energy veins.

Lin Jiang turned left and right, navigating through the underground cavern for an unknown distance, until finally arriving in a relatively spacious cavern. The cavern resembled a karst landscape, with walls radiating colorful hues, while the ceiling was covered in thick layers of ice.

"Well, this place will do."

Lin Jiang sighed and pulled out his flying sword. He shaved down the walls and stalactites, creating a flat surface.

Afterwards, Lin Jiang searched around and found the core of the energy vein. He pierced through it, directing the energy vein into the underground chamber, and set up a protective array formation.

"We need to set up the Spirit Gathering Formation to control the temperature."

Lin Jiang kept making changes to the cave, and after three days, the temperature in his environment became warm and cozy, like spring.

"The spiritual energy in the veins is abundant, and after providing energy for many formations, there is still some left. The accumulation of five days’ worth of spiritual energy is enough for me to use for one day. That should be sufficient."

Lin Jiang felt that the concentration of spiritual energy was barely enough for cultivation, especially since he had a large amount of spirit stones.

"The combined value of spirit stones of various grades is around two hundred million. There are also piles of various types of elixirs and materials for cultivation. The specific value is unknown, but the total value will not be less than five to six hundred million. After all these years of hard work, I finally have enough to spend."

Lin Jiang counted the contents of several storage bags and realized that his wealth was much greater than what Zhou Huaiying, who had known about his wealth, had imagined.

Longmen Trading Company in Xuanmiao City makes several million spirit stones in normal annual profits. This doesn’t include the part of the business they do with Xiaotian City. As for the business in Xiaotian City, he takes a 10% cut, resulting in nearly ten million spirit stones in the first year alone. It’s hard to imagine how much they have accumulated over the past few decades.

However, most of the income comes from speculation. In Xuanmiao City, he took advantage of two opportunities. One was during the rampage of the Blood Demon Ancestor in You State, when many cultivators flocked there. He and a group of opportunistic merchants took the opportunity to inflate prices.

This time it wasn’t as much, only tens of millions of spirit stones, but during the time Blood Demon Ancestor caused havoc in Xuanmiao City, he acquired dozens of houses and shops at one-third or even lower their original price. The least profitable ones earned him over a million spirit stones, and some prime properties and mansions were worth much more than that.

This was also the final reason why Zhou Huaiying killed him. Zhou Huaiying ruled over Xuanmiao City and found out how much Lin Jiang made from this speculation, which made him, as a Void Achieving, unable to bear it anymore and he attacked.

"Lin Wu fell, Xiao Yi died, the external noises and disturbances are no longer my concern. Forget about hatred, forget about the past. In the future, there will only be a lonely immortal."

Lin Jiang took out clothes and tokens with the symbols of the Five Elements Sect and Lin family from the storage bag and burned them all in a fire.

He has already lived up to the Five Elements Sect and Lin family. For the Five Elements Sect, he obtained techniques and earned treasures for cultivation. But he also shed blood, suffered injuries, risked his life, and helped Zhang Wanjing in the transformation. He contributed and worked hard. After the Battle of Yun State, he drifted apart from Five Elements Sect.

As for the Lin family, they gave him life, but Lin Jiang also shed blood and sacrificed for the Lin family. In the Battle of Yun State, he saved many young members of the Lin family. For Lin Batian’s sake, he entered the Divine Kingdom where no one had ever come out, facing great risks. He willingly acted as a puppet for the Lin family, encountering numerous hidden traps in Xuanmiao City, and risking his life to assist in pill refinement.

All those things were the fulfilment of Lin Jiang and their mutual relationship. Now, in the upcoming life, Lin Jiang is going to live for himself.

"Cultivate, cultivate, keep cultivating."

"I won’t leave seclusion until Nascent Soul is achieved, even if it takes a thousand or ten thousand years."

After arranging everything in the cave, Lin Jiang let go of all distractions and started cultivating. He couldn’t intervene in the gratitude and grudges of the Lin family anymore, and he didn’t intend to. It’s time to cultivate.