As the thick clouds of thunder gradually dissipated from the sky, warm sunlight once again poured down from above, bathing the secluded valley in its glow. When the light fell upon the Heavenly Demon Puppet, a dazzling golden radiance shone brilliantly across the sky.
"So it finally succeeded."
Looking at the golden puppet standing in midair, a fiery glint flashed through Lin Yuan's eyes.
Just now, at the instant the final trace of silver on the Heavenly Demon Puppet transformed into gold, he had vaguely sensed that earth-shaking changes had taken place within its body. It was a qualitative transformation unlike anything before.
"Come back, Heavenly Demon Puppet."
As Lin Yuan's command rang out, the Heavenly Demon Puppet stomped its foot, causing space to distort violently. With a sharp sound, it instantly appeared before Lin Yuan.
A deep and powerful aura faintly lingered around its body.
The Earth Demon Old Ghost had only been dead for a few months, yet the strength of his corpse had already reached a height that would have been difficult for him to attain while alive.
Looking at the dazzling golden puppet before him and sensing its incomparably powerful aura, the corners of Lin Yuan's lips curled upward. This Heavenly Demon Puppet was the first Dou Zun-level combat power he had ever encountered, and more importantly, it was a Dou Zun-level combat power that he completely controlled.
With this Heavenly Demon Puppet, Lin Yuan finally had the confidence to roam freely throughout the northwestern region.
"It advanced. It's actually a Dou Zun-level puppet!"
Watching the puppet advance before his eyes and sensing that powerful aura, even Yao Lao could not help but let out a soft exclamation of amazement.
"A Dou Zun-level puppet."
Hearing this, a fiery glint flashed through Xiao Yan's eyes. He looked at the Heavenly Demon Puppet guarding Lin Yuan's side and subconsciously touched the Storage Ring on his finger.
A Dou Zun-level puppet. He also possessed a puppet with such potential.
Only now did Xiao Yan finally understand why Xun Er had been willing to pay such a great price to obtain this puppet for him.
Medusa, Xiao Yixian, and Qing Lin also looked at Lin Yuan with brilliant expressions in their eyes.
On the stone platform, after completing his preliminary examination of the Heavenly Demon Puppet, a satisfied look flashed through Lin Yuan's eyes.
"Since the Heavenly Demon Puppet has advanced, you now have the qualifications to receive a name from me. From now on, you shall be 'Earth Demon·Puppet One,' or simply Puppet One!"
With a light laugh, Lin Yuan stored Puppet One into his Storage Ring.
Now was not the time to test its various capabilities.
For now Lin Yuan's gaze shifted slightly, landing on the Bone Melting Blood-Replenishing Pill before him.
As though responding to his gaze, dense spiritual energy surged around the Bone Melting Blood-Replenishing Pill. It then transformed into a blood-red little dragon half a meter long and shot rapidly into the distance.
An Eighth-Grade, five-colored pill was already approaching the point of gaining life and had even developed an instinct for survival.
Lin Yuan leisurely glanced at Yao Lao and chuckled.
"Senior Yao, your Bone Melting Blood-Replenishing Pill is about to run away."
Hearing this, Yao Lao casually waved his hand.
"Heh heh, leave it to this old man."
Before his voice had even faded, his figure shot forward. In an instant, he appeared before the blood-red little dragon and struck out with one palm, dispersing its form before firmly grasping the dark-red pill in his hand.
He then moved and flashed back to Xiao Yan's side. Under Xiao Yan's curious gaze, he placed the pill into a jade bottle and stored it inside the Bone Flame Ring.
Another condition for his resurrection had been fulfilled.
Yao Lao let out a long breath, a pleased smile appearing on his face. He turned toward the stone platform, only to see.
Lin Yuan's face had turned slightly pale, his aura weakening considerably as he staggered backward two steps.
Now that the pill refinement was over, the tension supporting him finally relaxed. The nerves that had remained taut throughout the process loosened, and the fatigue that had been forcibly suppressed during the pill refinement and Spirit Ascension immediately surged forth.
Even his head was filled with waves of dizziness.
The Spirit Ascension method consumed an incredibly terrifying amount of soul power, especially when performed without Soul-Nurturing Dust.
"Lin Yuan, are you all right?"
"Lin Yuan, what happened?"
Two voices, one enchanting and the other gentle, rang out simultaneously.
Xiao Yixian and Medusa moved almost at the same time and arrived beside Lin Yuan. Both of them instinctively reached out, clearly intending to support him.
And then, their hands stopped at the same time.
The wind suddenly fell silent.
The atmosphere instantly became stagnant.
Not far away, Xiao Yan and Yao Lao also unconsciously fell silent. The corners of their mouths curled slightly upward as they looked playfully toward Lin Yuan, who stood at the center of the storm.
Heh, this was what happened when you had too many confidantes!
Looking at the two fair, delicate hands before him, a single word appeared in Lin Yuan's heart.
Danger.
At this critical moment, a voice as beautiful as heavenly music suddenly came from behind Lin Yuan.
"Young Master, are you all right? I have something important to tell you later…"
Before she had even finished speaking, Qing Lin had already flashed behind Lin Yuan. She directly wrapped his arm in her embrace and pulled his body and line of sight toward herself. From a blind spot, she playfully blinked her emerald-crystal-like eyes at Lin Yuan.
A trace of gratitude flashed through Lin Yuan's eyes.
"Something important? All right. We'll discuss it seriously later."
Seeing Lin Yuan's gaze, Qing Lin nodded, a hint of smugness appearing in her heart.
As Xiao Yixian's "little sister" and Medusa's "disciple," Qing Lin practically enjoyed "immunity" in certain matters. Coupled with the excuse of having something important to discuss, her intervention was completely natural, and the tense atmosphere instantly disappeared.
Lin Yuan quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
He looked toward the somewhat disappointed Yao Lao and Xiao Yan, narrowing his eyes slightly.
"Ahem."
Noticing Lin Yuan's gaze, Yao Lao coughed lightly and walked over with Xiao Yan.
"Lin Yuan, thank you for this time. According to our agreement, I'll give you this first."
As he spoke, he formed a series of complicated hand seals. Once the seals came to a halt, his aged finger pressed against the center of his brow.
"Separate!"
With a sharp shout, Yao Lao slowly pulled his finger away from his forehead.
A wisp of pale-white, bone-chilling flame was drawn out with it, while his complexion instantly turned pale.
Yao Lao's soul was extraordinarily closely connected with the Bone Spirit Cold Flame.
"Here!"
Suppressing the weakness caused by separating the flame, Yao Lao flicked his finger and sent the wisp of pale-white flame toward Lin Yuan.
"The soul imprint within this wisp of Origin Flame has been completely erased. You can use it without worry."
"Thank you, Senior Yao!"
Lin Yuan nodded and accepted the Origin Flame.
After a brief pause, Yao Lao continued, "You delivered an Eighth-Grade, five-colored Bone Melting Blood-Replenishing Pill, which exceeded my expectations. I'm not someone who likes to take advantage of others, so I'll give you an Eighth-Grade pill formula as additional compensation. Here."
As he spoke, he took a scroll of an emerald-green pill formula from the Bone Flame Ring and tossed it to Lin Yuan.
"You know how to refine bodies, so this pill should be useful to you."
"Fuling Green Pill. An Eighth-Grade, two-colored pill. It can help those whose strength has deteriorated rapidly recover a certain level of cultivation. Now that you have also learned the Spirit Ascension method, forcibly raising this pill's quality through Spirit Ascension should bring you some pleasant surprises."
Hearing this, Lin Yuan's eyes lit up.
He accepted the pill formula, feeling as though he had obtained something without any effort.
He had originally planned to exchange for the Fuling Green Pill formula from Yao Lao.
This pill was quite useful to Lin Yuan.
Aside from helping the Venerable Tian and others rapidly recover to their peak after resurrection, it would also allow him to achieve sustainable harvesting when cultivating through the combined power of everyone using the "Demonic Flame Spot" later on.
After storing the Fuling Green Pill formula inside his Storage Ring, Lin Yuan cupped his hands and said solemnly,
"Thank you, Senior Yao!"
After returning to the Medicine Garden, Lin Yuan went straight back to his room and collapsed onto the bed.
This pill refinement had consumed even more mental energy than his previous attempts. He had continuously incorporated spiritual energy throughout the refining process to raise the pill's grade. On top of that, he had used the Spirit Ascension method to forcibly increase the pill's spirituality, nearly exhausting all of his soul power.
It was not until the following day that Lin Yuan finally woke up.
Although he was still somewhat fatigued, there was something he needed to deal with.
Qing Lin had said that she had something "important" to discuss with him. Although there had been an element of helping him out of his predicament, given that girl's personality, there was certainly something important.
Lin Yuan walked out of his room and found Qing Lin in the courtyard.
At that moment, she was enthusiastically watering the potted plants in the courtyard. Under the brilliant sunlight, her mature and alluring curves faintly showed beneath her green dress, once again confirming something to Lin Yuan.
This girl had truly grown up.
Hearing the movement, Qing Lin turned around. The moment she saw Lin Yuan, her eyes immediately lit up.
"Young Master, you're awake!"
"Mm, I'm awake."
Lin Yuan nodded and softly asked, "Qing'er, didn't you say you had something important to discuss with me? What exactly is this important matter?"
Hearing Lin Yuan's question, a solemn look flashed through Qing Lin's eyes.
She put down the watering can, walked up to Lin Yuan, took out a dossier from her Storage Ring, and handed it to him.
"Young Master, by chance, I discovered that there were some suspicious people within the academy secretly gathering information about your movements. After investigating them, I discovered that they were connected to the Soul Hall. These are the results of my investigation over the past few days."
"This matter involves a Heaven-class Protector from the Soul Hall, Protector Xuan, so I didn't act rashly and alert the enemy."
Because of Lin Yuan's deliberate cultivation and the meticulousness shaped by her experiences during childhood, Qing Lin was exceptionally sensitive and capable when it came to intelligence work.
While habitually setting up the Sky Network within the academy, she had keenly noticed the suspicious individuals and followed the clues until she uncovered the truth.
"The Soul Hall…?"
Hearing those two words after such a long time, a solemn look immediately flashed across Lin Yuan's eyes.
Although he now possessed the Heavenly Demon Puppet, giving him a battle force at the Dou Zun level, when facing the abyss that was the Soul Hall, a mere Dou Zun would not even be able to create a ripple after being thrown into it.
He accepted the dossier and carefully read through it. Only after a long while did he close it and fall into deep thought.
"Protector Xuan's attention toward me began after I refined the Beginning Venerable Pill. Looking at it this way, I've been targeted because of my alchemy skills. Alchemy."
"Come to think of it, the Soul Hall's attitude toward Yao Lao is also rather strange."
"In the original course of fate, even after the Soul Hall captured Yao Lao, they didn't deal him any heavy blows. As for extracting his Origin Soul Energy, rather than coveting it, it seems more like they were using it as a means to force him into submission and make him serve the Soul Hall."
"Outstanding alchemists, the Soul Clan's thousand-year plan, the Imperial Grade Embryonic Pill."
Countless clues connected together in Lin Yuan's mind. At a certain moment, it was as if he had suddenly understood something. His pupils abruptly contracted.
"Could it be, I still need to confirm it further!"
With that thought, he brought Qing Lin indoors. His immense soul power surged outward, completely sealing off and isolating the courtyard, both inside and out.
Then, Lin Yuan flicked his finger. A pitch-black box shot out and hovered in midair.
He curled his finger, and a slight burst of force pried open the black box. A faint black mist drifted out from within, gathering before Lin Yuan into an illusory soul figure.
Looking closely, it was none other than the long-absent Protector Wu.
The instant Protector Wu appeared, he immediately felt a terrifying pressure descend upon him.
It was pressure originating from the depths of his soul, pressure that he had absolutely no ability to resist. When he raised his head and saw the source of that pressure, Lin Yuan, his pupils suddenly contracted.
How long had it been? And this person had already progressed to such a terrifying level?
From the bottom of his heart, Protector Wu knelt on one knee and respectfully said, "Wu Ying greets Your Excellency. Please give your orders."
"Protector Wu." Lin Yuan looked at him calmly and said indifferently, "Answer my question. Has the higher echelon of the Soul Hall ever issued any orders related to alchemists?"
Protector Wu fell into thought for a moment. After organizing his words, he finally began to explain.
"Your Excellency, although we Protectors are relatively weak, we are the most basic nodes of the Soul Hall and are also responsible for collecting souls and maintaining informants. There are quite a few orders within the Hall that are issued directly to the Protectors by the higher-ups. Among them are special orders concerning alchemists."
"The higher-ups have ordered that whenever we encounter or discover an exceptionally talented alchemist, we are to capture them if possible. If capture is impossible, we must report their information."
"Oh?" Lin Yuan raised his eyebrows and asked in detail, "Is there a specific standard for what qualifies as 'exceptionally talented'?"
Although Lin Yuan was still asking, the moment he heard the words "exceptionally talented," he could already conclude that he definitely met the standard established by the Soul Hall.
An alchemist who had reached the Eighth-Grade before the age of twenty was a talent that even the younger generation of the Yao Clan would find difficult to surpass.
Outside the Yao Clan, there was also Dan Chen of the Central Plains, who had become an Eighth-Grade alchemist at eighteen. In terms of soul talent, she might be able to keep pace with Lin Yuan.
However, if Dan Chen's fate remained unchanged, she was destined to lack sufficient potential in the later stages, and her cultivation would become her greatest limitation.
As alchemy progressed to higher levels, both soul power and Dou Qi needed to flourish together. If either side had an obvious weakness, one's future achievements would be severely restricted.
As for the combination of the two, Lin Yuan was confident that his talent was the strongest.
Even without the support of Dou God bloodline, he had plenty of ideas for creating his own "cheats." Although, if absolutely necessary, he might have to resort to some ruthless methods, overall, it would not be much of a problem.
Once he reached the summit, all problems could be solved.
As for the path to the top, if he succeeded, he would be the one writing history. If he failed and died, whatever chaos followed afterward would no longer matter.
Lin Yuan never hesitated to show goodwill toward others or toward the world, but when the time came to strike ruthlessly, he would not hesitate in the slightest.
However, displaying his talent was also a double-edged sword.
On one hand, this talent would bring him tremendous fame and influence, allowing him to thrive after arriving in the Central Plains.
On the other hand, to the Soul Hall and the Soul Clan, a genius with supreme alchemy talent but no powerful background was undoubtedly the perfect prey.
As long as the Soul Hall and Soul Clan had a need for alchemists, being targeted by them was almost inevitable.
Soon, Protector Wu's answer confirmed Lin Yuan's speculation.
"The standard given by the higher-ups is that anyone who reaches the Sixth-Grade before twenty, the Seventh-Grade before twenty-five, or the Eighth-Grade before forty is considered a mandatory reporting target!" Protector Wu said cautiously.
"Just as I thought!" Lin Yuan slightly furrowed his brows and thought to himself, "It seems there will be quite a few troubles ahead."
He surpassed these standards by far, so it was almost certain that once Protector Xuan reported his information, someone like him, who had no significant background, would become one of the Soul Hall's key targets for surveillance and attention.
Given the way the Soul Hall and Soul Clan operated, their tacit understandings, rules, and reputation meant absolutely nothing when it came to restraining them.
If the Soul Hall was gathering alchemy geniuses in order to advance a plan related to the Imperial Grade Embryonic Pill, then with the talent Lin Yuan had currently displayed, neither his status as the Grand Elder of Jia Nan Academy nor even the protection of Mang Tian Chi would be enough to stop the Soul Hall from making a move against him.
"Troublesome, but now that things have come to this, I have no choice but to face them."
After thinking for a moment, Lin Yuan said solemnly, "Protector Wu, tell me about your reporting process."
----
For additional chapter's
Join pateron.com/Translaterappu