Lin Yi watched Zi Yue leave the room, her composure calm as always, she bowed respectfully before the door slid shut, leaving him alone once more.
He rose from the table, his blazing red hair and eyes flickering subtly as the full power of the Blazing Ancestral Symbol Pattern receded.
In a silent shift, the color drained from his features, returning him to his natural, unnervingly calm state: the charcoal-robed young man with the deep gray eyes. He had consciously reset his appearance.
The atmosphere in the room was one of profound stillness, a stark contrast to the elemental chaos he had channeled moments earlier. He sat back down on his meditation mat, not to cultivate, but to wait.
The final arrangements were complete. The Yi Pavilion was secured and politically transferred to the Lin Family… a move that would grant them immediate, unassailable financial and political power in Yan City.
His intent was singular and clear, focused primarily on a specific character.
'Lin Langtian,' Lin Yi mused, a cold, predatory light entering his gray eyes. Lin Langtian, the prodigious talent of the main Lin Clan, the current leader of the younger generation, and the one who crippled Lin Xiao.
'It is time for his lesson,' Lin Yi determined. His intention was not merely to defeat Lin Langtian, but to utterly shatter his foundation and prestige, transforming the arrogant prodigy's moment of triumph into his moment of absolute ruin. The lesson would be public, decisive, and irreversible, thereby eliminating a major future threat to his family.
Beyond Lin Langtian, the Tomb held another target, one of profound, long-term strategic value: Ling Qingzhu.
'Ling Qingzhu, the third candidate for my unlimited return talent.' he thought, recalling her detailse was the main character in this dimension, a peerless beauty and an unparalleled genius from the Nine Heaven Supreme Purity Palace.
Lin Yi's interest in her was purely utilitarian, driven by the lure of the Unlimited Return potential. Also, he is eying her formidable spiritual inheritance.
'The Tai Xuan Scripture and the Dao of Clear Heart… the core cultivation methods of the Nine Heaven Supreme Purity Palace. Attaining these techniques is critical for my own progress after the Tomb exploration,' he calculated thoughtfully.
The Tai Xuan Scripture was one of the most balanced, top-tier cultivation methods in this dimension, and the Dao of Clear Heart was a powerful, esoteric mental energy technique.
The simplest, most efficient way to acquire them was through the binding of Ling Qingzhu. He would simply bind her to his unlimited return talent, ensuring her progress generated the critical return he required.
He closed his eyes, his consciousness expanding subtly, not to observe the world, but to feel the imminent, growing ripple of the Nirvana Tomb's true awakening.
…
Few days passed,
The news spread through Yan City with the speed and force of a tidal wave. In the small, close-knit circle of the city's power elite, nothing could have been more shocking, more utterly destabilizing, than the revelation that the Yi Pavilion… the secretive, massively profitable commercial empire… was being handed over, gifted, to the ascendant Lin Family.
The transfer of power, orchestrated with meticulous discretion by Zi Yue, the Mayor's daughter, was publicly framed as an inheritance: the elusive Pavilion Master Yi had taken Lin Yi, the quiet younger brother of Lin Dong, as his personal, closed-door disciple, and the Pavilion was the farewell gift to his new student's family.
The backlash, though contained, was immense.
The major factions… the Liu Family, the Song Family, and the remnants of the now-crippled Blood Cloth Sect… felt a cold dread. The Lin Family, already riding the wave of Lin Dong's victory over tower battle, had instantly become an unassailable behemoth. The pavilion's immense financial power, now coupled with the Lin Family's aggressive recruiting and the implicit, terrifying protection of the 'Pavilion Master Yi,' elevated them from a formidable force to the single, uncontested power in Yan City.
The envy was thick enough to taste. Yue Shan, the leader of the now-subjugated Blood Wolf Gang, raged in his compound. The Ghost Blade Sect leaders, hearing the news just days after their ambush in the foothills had mysteriously vanished without a trace of survivors, were paralyzed by a cold, jealous fury.
The thought of Lin Yi… a seemingly ordinary young man who had been little more than a staff… being taken as a disciple by the mythical master of the Yi Pavilion, while their own sons struggled for crumbs, was a bitter, choking pill to swallow. They were certain the Lin Family had secured a destiny that should have been theirs.
…
As a few more days passed,
Before the city could fully consolidate this new reality, a more profound and hidden secret began to sweep through the entire Great Yan Empire: an ancient tomb of a Nirvana expert had been discovered deep within the rugged, treacherous expanse of the Sky Flame Mountain range, right on the border of Sky fire city and Yan city.
The news was like a thunderclap, instantly diverting all attention away from the local political machinations. Nirvana experts were legendary; their legacies capable of supplying entire empires with resources for centuries. The power and wealth sealed within the Nirvana Tomb were unimaginable.
Immediately, the vast cultivation world of the Yan Empire began to stir. Experts and opportunists from every corner started moving toward the distant, peripheral Tiandu Province, drawn by the irresistible scent of treasure and destiny.
More critically, the young, talented individuals from the Empire's four great clans… the Lin, the Wang, the Qin, and the Lei families… began their journey. They were the true forces of this generation, their presence a clear signal that the struggle for the tomb would be on an entirely different level than any conflict the region had ever seen.
Lin Yi, sitting in the secluded room, felt the subtle but rapid influx of these external, powerful auras with his consciousness range. His gray eyes held a profound calm, utterly devoid of surprise or excitement.
…