Ch163 – Directly Skipping Two Levels

A dark and secretive color flashed through Lin Xuanzhi’s eyes, only to disappear immediately.

Lin Xuanzhi gazed at Yan Tianhen calmly, “Ah Hen, you will remember it later. Be sure to tell me when you do.”

Yan Tianhen nodded, “I’m relieved to hear Dage’s words. My lack of memory is probably because I knocked my head silly.”

Lin Xuanzhi rubbed his head with a smile.

During those three days, there were many rumors flying around Sky Peak City. Among them, two were the most striking. One of them was that a genius craftsman emerged out of nowhere and took away four treasures in one fell swoop during the Bai family’s Treasure Appraisal Convention, forcing even the Bai young master to make a personal appearance.

The second was that someone suspected to be from the Divine Devil tribe had appeared in the Yudai Mountains near Sky Peak City and even killed several disciples of Sky Peak Sect.

Only, this statement was not yet confirmed by Sky Peak Sect, so many people believed this rumor to be fake.

“During these three days, five families sent us invitations to visit them.” Lin Xuanzhi said, “However, I wanted to wait until after Ah Hen wakes up and attend them together with Ah Hen.”

Yan Tianhen smiled, “Dage doesn’t need to worry about me. It’s enough to just have Ah Bai and Hu Po by my side.”

Lin Xuanzhi pressed the tip of Yan Tianhen’s nose, “Your words do not match your heart.”

Yan Tianhen touched his nose and stuck out his tongue.

Lin Xuanzhi spoke, “Two days before, Ah Gu entered the city.”

Yan Tianhen was startled, “How did he get in? Sky Peak City’s inspection is so strict, please tell me he didn’t expose himself.”

“He did not enter through the main entrance.” Lin Xuanzhi lightly replied, “Sky Peak City is not an impenetrable fortress of iron and steel. If you want to enter, then you naturally have methods to enter. Ah Gu entered from the location that connected Yudai Mountain and Sky Peak City’s West Mountain. There are only a few patrol teams there, and one can sneak in when the opportunity presents itself.”

Yan Tianhen breathed a sigh of relief, “As expected, our family’s Ah Gu is incredible.”

Yan Tianhen then thought, But, Ah Gu left Yudai Mountain, which means that he lost a natural cover that could easily disguise his tracks. I’m afraid that hiding in Sky Peak City will be uncomfortable for him.

Thus, for a while, Yan Tianhen fussed about where Ling Chigu lived and whether he would be comfortable there. He then asked whether Ah Gu would be lonely these days; it’s redundant to  even mention how worried he was about Ah Gu .

Lin Xuanzhi was so exasperated that he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. This Yan Tianhen really was forgetful, he didn’t even worry about his own situation at all. Even if other people discovered Ling Chigu, perhaps he could fool them by pretending to be dead, but Yan Tianhen’s situation- forget it, fools have a fools’ luck. Actually, the fact that Yan Tianhen was a Divine Devil isn’t such a big deal either. After all, even Yan Tianhen himself doesn’t know that he is one, so he should live on like this: innocent and oblivious.

“No, I don’t think my body is quite right.” Yan Tianhen suddenly paused and clenched his fist. A short while later, he looked at Lin Xuanzhi with unspeakable eyes, “Dage, I found that my cultivation level seems to have improved.”

But…Yan Tianhen clearly only slept for three days!

Lin Xuanzhi repeatedly scanned inside Yan Tianhen’s body many times until he could be certain that he had made no mistakes in his judgment. Only then did he finally reluctantly release Yan Tianhen.

Yan Tianhen looked at Lin Xuanzhi’s complicated expression and asked anxiously, “Dage, don’t tell me that I’ll die soon?”

“Don’t say such inauspicious words.” Lin Xuanzhi looked at him, “Ah Hen, how did your body feel in the past three days?”

Yan Tianhen scratched his head, “I don’t know anything after I fell asleep. I didn’t even dream.”

Lin Xuanzhi took a deep breath and said, “You indeed broke through the Fifth Layer’s bottleneck in your sleep. Now, you are already a Refining Qi Seventh Layer cultivator.”

Yan Tianhen, “….”

Yan Tianhen was stunned and felt that it was a little hard to believe.

Nevertheless, no matter no hard it was to accept, the facts in front of them washed away all doubts.

Naturally, Yan Tianhen was delighted to pick up such a big bargain at no cost. The higher his cultivation, the more deadly his techniques, which meant that he could better protect Lin Xuanzhi and ensure his safety.

However, after feeling happy for a while, Yan Tianhen appeared a little worried again.

“Dage, isn’t my recent cultivation speed a little too fast, fast to the point of being a little absurd.” Yan Tianhen touched his nose, “I’m a little scared.”

Ever since he cultivated the 《Imperial Corpse Technique》, his cultivation had been rapidly rising along with it. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that his cultivation speed was fast enough to cover “a in a day, and his speed had far exceeded even Lin Xuanzhi’s speed before his Dantian Sea was injured.

And ever since his sudden insight as he tried to cultivate the 《Ancient Divine Devil Dance》 for the first time, he had broken through two whole layers in his sleep alone, which, in Yan Tianhen’s view, was simply impossible.

However, Lin Xuanzhi did not take it seriously and replied lightly, “Is this considered fast?”

Yan Tianhen was stunned, “This still isn’t considered fast?”

Lin Xuanzhi answered, “On the contrary, I feel that my family’s Ah Hen is so talented and incredible that it would be a perfectly normal occurrence even if his cultivation improved faster.”

Yan Tianhen was suddenly speechless.

To tell the truth, Yan Tianhen really wanted to know where in the world his Dage’s confidence in him came from.

Lin Xuanzhi smiled, “Ah Hen only needs to accept that he is a genius and everything will be easily explained.”

Yan Tianhen scratched his head as he chanted in his heart, I am a genius.

But, he still feels that he’s a waste!

Even though he used a “this is totally natural” attitude to minimize Yan Tianhen’s doubts and worries, in reality, Lin Xuanzhi’s heart was quite uneasy.

“In the end, what’s the cause of Ah Hen’s situation?” When Lin Xuanzhi was alone at night, he still couldn’t resist and called out the Soul Bead. He asked with slight worry, “Is it related to his natural constitution?”

Soul Bead replied lazily, “Even if you think with your toes, you can still tell that they are certainly related. Ten thousand years ago, why did the cultivators in the golden age of Daoism still regard the Divine Devil tribe as their greatest enemy? It’s because the Divine Devil clan’s members are naturally born with the power and cultivation level that a human cultivator can never hope to reach. They don’t even need to work hard and are born with extraordinary power. This good Didi of yours is no exception.”

Lin Xuanzhi frowned, “Will this affect his body?”

“Yeah.” Soul Bead said.

“What?” Lin Xuanzhi became nervous.

“He will become very strong in a short period of time, and it will be very difficult to beat or kill him.” Soul Bead answered cooly.

Lin Xuanzhi, “…..”

He was relieved.

Soul Bead said, “Don’t you forget that your Didi is a Divine Devil. He is not human, and his heart will also be different. Who knows when he will be overcome by the Divine Devil clan’s bloodthirsty nature one day and slaughter indiscriminately. At that time, as the person closest to him, you’ll be the first to be implicated.”

“If it’s me, then so be it.” Lin Xuanzhi’s emotions didn’t fluctuate in the slightest, “As long as he lives well, everything will be fine.”

Soul Bead felt incredulous and also a little angry. “You really are a madman. You’re so docile and obedient towards him that you’ve lost even your common sense and basic judgment. What in the world caused this?”

Lin Xuanzhi said, “It has nothing to do with you.”

Soul Bead was so angry that he couldn’t even speak. After a long time, he finally asked, “In your last life, exactly how much did you let him down?”

Lin Xuanzhi’s heart sank, “I just don’t want to see him dying such a cruel death in front of me as he begged me to end him.”

Soul Bead was speechless and any subsequent questions were met with silence, so Soul Bead simply continued to cultivate in seclusion.

In the following period, Lin Xuanzhi again received many family’s invitations in succession.

Ever since the Treasure Appraisal Convention, Lin Xuanzhi had been in the public’s limelight. Even though Lin Xuanzhi didn’t go out these days, a steady stream of guests still took the initiative to come to Yunlai Inn to visit him.

However, because Lin Xuanzhi needed to craft the magic tool that could disguise the Yin Qi on Yan Tianhen, he entered closed-door cultivation and refused all visitors equally.

If he only refused one or two families, then he would offend some people, but if he refused every single visitor, including Duan Yuyang, who had a good relationship with him, then there will naturally be fewer gossipers.

Perhaps because they found out later that Lin Xuanzhi was busy with other things recently and had no time to spare, but gradually, the number of people who came to invite him over lessened.

Soul Bead really did give Lin Xuanzhi an equipment-crafting formula. This auxiliary item was called “Deceiving Heavens Ring”. If Yan Tianhen wore it, then not only would he be able to disguise his own cultivation level, but it could also be used to create illusions to trick anyone who witnessed his technique into seeing what they want to see by having their brains fill in the exact details.

Lin Xuanzhi couldn’t help but feel that his luck was good. One of the materials used to make this Deceiving Heavens Ring was extremely difficult to find, and that just happened to be the Cold Moon Jade Butterfly that had been exhibited by the Bai family and happened to be in Lin Xuanzhi’s pocket.

As it happens, the Cold Moon Jade Butterfly is a Yin object, so any magic tools crafted from it would gain the illusionary appearance of the opposite Yang side.

Therefore, when attacking, others will see Yang fire instead, which made the disguising effect even better.

Over the next few days, Lin Xuanzhi attempted various methods to craft the Deceiving Heavens Ring. With the help of the hand seals that he had repeatedly practiced for a thousand years in his last life and the forged engraving pen’s detailed inscriptions in addition to soul force, he finally successfully refined the Deceiving Heavens Ring on the eve of the official start date of the Hundred Families Gathering.

The appearance of the magic tool caused the entire Sky Peak City’s spiritual qi to rush towards Yunlai Inn and even the sky, where one could even faintly feel the rolling thunder, became cloudy, but the thunder soon passed away, never making an actual appearance.

Passersby looked in the direction the spiritual force gathered one after another, attracted by this strange spectacle.

Someone couldn’t help but cry out, “Isn’t this the birth of a top-grade magic tool?”

“Top grade!” Someone sucked in a cold breath.

Bai family, “…..”

“The spiritual force gathered towards the west.” Bai Wuya gazed at the sky as he held his hand seals, frowning, “Young Master, this Sky Peak City actually has someone other than the Bai family’s people who can refine top-grade magic tools, and that person isn’t even in Sky Peak Sect.”

“There is always someone better. Even though the Bai family is a craftsmen family, there hasn’t been a genius-level craftsmen born to the Bai family in a hundred years. Besides…” Bai Yichen smiled slightly with a magnificent bearing, “Who told you that this is the birth of a magic tool?”

Bai Wuya was stunned as he asked in disbelief, “Is this not the birth of a magic tool, but a treasure of a higher level?”

“If my guess is correct, then this should be a treasure tool, and it should be either a high-grade or top-grade treasure tool.”

Bai Wuya was immediately speechless.

Magic tools and treasure tools, even though they had only a one-level difference, but the actual difference was sky-high. Ninety percent of craftsmen cannot even refine a single treasure tool in their entire lives.

“But, what kind of person will this be?” Bai Wuya felt extremely puzzled, “Don’t tell me Cangshu descended from the mountain?”

Bai Yichen’s lips revealed a trace of a smile.

“Even though Cangshu can craft a treasure tool, this is most definitely not his work. Every craftsman will trigger a different spiritual force gathering, if they even can.”