The aftermath of the broken knees in the square didn't lead to a celebration. Instead, it led to a frantic retreat. Lin Tian grabbed his son's hand and pulled him into the labyrinth of Stonehaven's back alleys before the Sect guards could descend.
"You shouldn't have done that," Lin Tian hissed, his breath misting in the cool mountain air. "You're a 'White Rank.' White Ranks don't break the legs of Grey Rank disciples with their bare hands."
"They were in my way, Father," Lin Void replied, his voice devoid of the adrenaline usually found in a six-year-old. "In my previous life, I learned that hiding your claws is wise, but letting a dog bite you is foolish. If you don't kick the dog, the whole pack follows."
Lin Tian sighed, looking at the boy who carried the soul of a Sovereign. "Then we can't stay in the inns. We go to the Black-Market Outskirts. There is a place there—the Shattered Cauldron. It's where the 'trash' of the cultivation world gathers. They won't ask questions if we have the coins."
The Shattered Cauldron
The outskirts of Stonehaven were a graveyard of failed dreams. Men and women with broken element cores or stunted growth huddled around charcoal fires. Here, the air was thick with the smell of cheap medicinal wine and the metallic tang of low-grade spirit stones.
As they entered a dimly lit tavern, a massive man with a scarred face and a missing arm looked up. He was a Grey Rank, Tier 9, his aura stagnant and decaying.
"Lin Tian? Is that you, you old fox?" the man grunted. "I heard you died in the Heaven Sea purge."
"Hardly, Borak," Lin Tian said, tossing a small pouch of silver on the scarred wooden table. "I need a room for me and the boy. And I need information on the Spirit-Eating Forest."
Borak's one good eye widened. "The Forest? Are you mad? Only the Yellow Rank sects dare to hunt there. The beasts there don't just kill you; they drain your element until you're a husk."
"The boy needs experience," Lin Tian said grimly.
Lin Void sat quietly, his violet-black eyes scanning the room. He wasn't looking at the people; he was looking at their cores. To his Void-sight, he could see the "leaks" in their power—the inefficiencies in their cultivation.
Pathetic, Lin Void thought. They follow the 'Elemental Truths' written by the Stardust Palace like sheep following a shepherd to the slaughter. They don't realize the elements are just layers of a veil. Beneath the fire, the water, and the earth... there is only the Great Silence.
The First Hunt
That night, while Lin Tian slept the heavy sleep of a man exhausted by years of hiding, Lin Void slipped out of the window.
He didn't head for the town. He headed for the treeline of the Spirit-Eating Forest.
In this world, "Element Masters" grew by absorbing Element Shards from slain beasts. A Fire Master needed Fire Shards; an Ice Master needed Ice Shards. But Lin Void? He was the Void. He didn't need a specific flavor of power. He needed everything.
He moved through the undergrowth like a shadow. Ten minutes in, he encountered his first prey: a Shadow-Leopard, a Grey Rank Tier 5 beast. Its fur was shimmering with dark-green wind energy, allowing it to move almost silently.
The leopard coiled, its eyes glowing. It saw a six-year-old human—an easy meal. It leaped, a blur of green light and claws.
Lin Void didn't move. He didn't even raise his hands.
"Void Domain: Inch-Space," he whispered.
The air three inches in front of Lin Void's chest suddenly folded. The leopard didn't hit him; it hit a spatial distortion. Its head went into the fold, and its body stayed outside.
Snap.
The beast's neck was twisted by the sheer pressure of the warped space. It fell to the ground, dead before it could even realize it hadn't touched its prey.
Lin Void knelt over the carcass. He placed his small hand on the leopard's chest.
"Gluttony of the Nothingness," he murmured.
A vortex of violet-black light erupted from his palm. The leopard didn't just lose its "Wind Shard"—its entire body began to wither. The blood, the bone, the spirit, and the element were all broken down into raw, primal energy and sucked into Lin Void's secondary core.
Thump-thump.
Lin Void's heart hammered. He felt his "False Fire Core" surge. It went from White Rank Tier 1 to White Rank Tier 5 in a single breath.
Too slow, Lin Void thought, wiping a stray drop of blood from his cheek. At this rate, it will take me years to reach the Gold Rank. I need something bigger. I need a Yellow Rank beast.
The Unexpected Witness
"Well, well... what do we have here?"
A voice drifted from the trees above. Lin Void froze. His Void-sense had been so focused on the kill that he hadn't noticed the suppression of a high-level master.
Descending from a branch was a man dressed in tattered green robes, carrying a gourd of wine. His eyes were bloodshot, but they held a terrifying sharpness. He wasn't wearing an Imperial uniform.
"A little brat who doesn't use fire, but eats space," the man chuckled, taking a long swig of wine. "If the Jin Clan saw that, they'd turn you into a research specimen before sunrise."
Lin Void centered his weight, his fingers twitching. He couldn't sense the man's rank—which meant the man was at least an Orange Rank Master.
"Who are you?" Lin Void asked, his voice cold.
"Me? I'm just a drunkard who was kicked out of the Cloud-Sea Sect for saying the Stardust Goddess has a face like a dried prune," the man laughed. "But you... you're interesting. You have the 'Truth' of a dead man and the body of a child."
The man landed softly on the grass. "Don't bother trying to kill me, kid. Your 'Inch-Space' is cute, but I've been folding space since before your father was a 'White Rank' flicker."
He leaned in, his breath smelling of fermented plums. "Tell me... do you want to keep hiding in the dirt, or do you want to learn how to turn that 'Void' into a weapon that can pierce the heavens?"
Lin Void didn't relax, but he didn't strike. In his previous life, he had been a lone wolf. But he knew that in this world, without resources and a "cover identity," he would eventually be found by Lin Wu Ran.
"What's the catch?" Lin Void asked.
"The catch?" The drunkard grinned, showing a missing tooth. "I'm bored. And I want to see the look on the Goddess's face when a 'White Rank' trash from a border town tears her palace down."
The man extended a hand. "The name's Old Man Gu. And welcome to the real cultivation world, brat."