Chapter 174: Assisting Your Ascension

The container door swung open with a boom, and bundles of cash shimmered with a pale, greenish-white luster under the moonlight.

Five ragged men pushed Li Lin out into the open. The fatty leading them twitched his nose, greedily inhaling the scent of ink: "The little girl didn't lie to us!"

Just as Li Lin was shoved into the center of the clearing, a sudden change occurred; the kidnappers abandoned their hostage and lunged toward the money crates like starving tigers.

The fatty grabbed a stack of bills and sniffed them violently, his manic laughter exploding into the night: "Fifty million! I can buy up every storefront on this entire street."

Lin Yu pulled Li Lin back rapidly, a sudden chill crawling up his spine. In the dark alley, Gongsan Pingbalang gently swayed his folding fan, and five gray shadows darted from his fingertips, vanishing into the kidnappers' napes like lightning.

"Crack!" The crisp sound of dislocating bones exploded in succession.

The fatty, who was stuffing money into his clothes, suddenly froze, his whites rolling back as ink-colored mist surged within them.

The five men collapsed to the ground in unison, their limbs twisted at eerie angles, while bestial growls squeezed from their throats.

Lin Yu shielded Li Lin behind him; in his Heavenly Eye vision, the Human Aura had already been swallowed by thick, black fog.

The night wind whipped up the scattered banknotes, slapping them against those inhuman faces like paper money offered to evil spirits.

The five beast-like figures lunged simultaneously, and Lin Yu retreated with Li Lin to the front of Jubao Pavilion.

He pushed her inside with a backhand motion: "Lock the door and find Han Feifei!" Before the words were out, he met the sharp claws.

Inside a sedan in the dark alley, Gongsan Pingbalang gently stroked the twin blades at the waist of the woman in the kimono: "Yan Feng, meet my spirit wife, Kuangguhuzi." Yan Feng's pupils constricted; that jade pendant was the symbol of the highest secret art of the Onmyoji.

By now, Lin Yu was covered in wounds; the ability of the mutated ones to withstand blows far exceeded common sense.

Just as he was about to exhaust his strength, Liu Shengyi appeared like a ghost, throwing all five mutated ones into the walls of Genyue Courtyard in the blink of an eye.

"Brother, be careful; Master can hold his own over there."

Before the words were finished, the bronze door of Genyue Courtyard slammed shut with a boom, and the beastly roars from within made the ground tremble. Lin Yu, however, could not afford to think; his Heavenly Eye wide open, he locked onto the direction where Gongsan was hiding and barked: "Get out here!"

Inside the black sedan, Yan Feng pressed her hand to her sword hilt: "Shall we move now?" Gongsan Pingbalang stroked his prayer beads and shook his head: "Let him hand over the manuscript himself." Before he finished, the girl in the kimono in the back seat had already pushed the door open and stepped out.

Lin Yu's pupils constricted; cold light flashed beneath Zhang Yuru's snow-white sleeves, and the two samurai swords shimmered with an eerie cyan glow.

Even more terrifying was that in his Heavenly Eye vision, the aura around her was like the scorching sun at noon—this was no mortal body!

Clang!

The moment the twin blades left their sheaths, Zhang Yuru had turned into a blur. Lin Yu instinctively leaned back, the blade edge slicing off the stray hair on his forehead.

Before he could even catch his breath, the second strike pierced straight for his heart. As he rolled away in a sorry state, a line of blood sprayed from his left arm.

"Damn it!" Lin Yu flicked out three Silver Needles, but they were shredded into dust by the blade light.

Only now did he realize that Zhang Yuru's movement technique was on par with Liu Shengyi's, each strike accompanied by a piercing shriek through the air.

The moment his back hit a stone pillar, he roared: "Gongsan, if you have the guts, have this Puppet kill me!"

When Dong Xuhui arrived, tearing through the air, he saw Zhang Yuru's twin blades hacking toward Lin Yu's crown.

This tower of a man caught the blades with his bare palms, roaring amidst the sound of clashing metal: "You bastard!"

The blades slid across his bronze-colored chest, leaving only two white marks.

Inside the car, Gongsan Pingbalang trembled with excitement: "Good, Dong Xuhui's hard-body technique is indeed..." Before he could finish, the entire sedan was suddenly flipped over by a massive force.

In the dust and smoke, a blood-soaked Lin Yu held half the car frame, golden light surging in his eyes: "Old dog, it's time to settle the score."

Zhang Yuru was blasted away by an Iron Mountain Lean from Dong Xuhui, slamming heavily into the wall. Dong Xuhui turned to look at Lin Yu: "If it were your ex-wife, she would have breathed her last by now."

But Zhang Yuru actually trembled as she propped herself up, her twin blades tracing eerie arcs as she assumed a Mysterious Gate stance.

The moment she leveled her blades, her figure suddenly vanished; sharp whistling sounds erupted all around, and sparks flew from Dong Xuhui's body.

"Bang!"

Ultimately, as a Martial Arts Grandmaster whose Fleshly Body Becomes Saint, Dong Xuhui sent Zhang Yuru flying again with a single palm.

At this moment, Gongsan Pingbalang walked out of Jubao Pavilion, pulling Li Lin by her hair, his samurai sword pressed cold against her neck: "Hand over the original manuscript of 'Earth Medicine', or this girl won't live to see tomorrow's sun."

Lin Yu's eyes were splitting with rage: "I'll go get it right now!" He rushed into the Zhongcaotang cellar, retrieved the bronze box, and held the bamboo slips high, roaring: "Release her first!"

"Jiang family boy, you cannot give him that." Just as Dong Xuhui was about to strike, Zhang Yuru's twin blades coiled around him like vipers.

The two clashed, blade and palm, with energy surging everywhere, fighting to a standstill.

Gongsan Pingbalang suddenly exerted force, lifting Li Lin into the air, his blade carving a bloody mark on the girl's leg: "Did you think I couldn't tell this is a fake? The mystery of the 'Severing of Heaven and Earth' that Xuanyuan Hai guarded for half his life—is that something this piece of junk could fool me with?"

"Bastard!" The veins on Lin Yu's hand gripping the bamboo slips bulged; this was clearly the original manuscript his grandfather had entrusted to him on his deathbed. A hoarse voice suddenly drifted from Maiyi Lane—it was Liu Jinyong: "Jiang Balang... is the secret you speak of the 'Severing of Heaven and Earth' guarded by the Xuanyuan family?"

Gongsan Pingbalang sneered: "That's right, the secret of the 'Severing of Heaven and Earth'."

Zhang Song's response drifted from the shadows, wrapped in weakness: "Xuanyuan Hai did indeed study the 'Severing of Heaven and Earth', but he would never have written it into 'Earth Medicine'."

"Idiots!" Gongsan Pingbalang roared violently, his eyes blood-red, "You have no idea of Xuanyuan Hai's value! He could have become a Land Immortal back then, yet he chose Ascension. He was the only person in a thousand years to comprehend the origin of the Profound Gate; the final truth is hidden in the 'Earth Medicine' manuscript!"

The air suddenly froze. In the silence of Zhang Song and Liu Jinyong lay a sense of powerlessness; Gongsan Pingbalang had spent seven days and seven nights setting this trap, both exhausting their combat strength and forcing them to reserve their final strike to protect Lin Yu.

"Sigh!"

Li Lin's sudden sigh caused everyone's breathing to hitch.

A cold light flashed in her palm, and a blinding radiance erupted from her entire body; a snow-white Immortal Crown appeared behind her head.

"A Scattered Immortal!" Dong Xuhui and the others exclaimed in unison.

Lin Yu stood frozen on the spot; the familiar aura in his Heavenly Eye had clearly not changed, so how could his younger sister possess the might of an immortal?

In a flash of lightning, Li Lin turned into a white rainbow and lunged straight at Gongsan Pingbalang. The Night Wanderer pointed its sharp edge at his heart, and she whispered in his ear: "The Pavilion Master has ordered: assist your Ascension."

"Huazi!"

"Xiaoling!"

Two heart-wrenching roars exploded.

Zhang Yuru blocked the two like a ghost; the Night Wanderer pierced and shattered the jade at her neck with a 'ding', but her twin blades had already run through Li Lin's body.

Lin Yu caught the two limp figures, stuffing an entire bottle of Marrow Cleansing Pill into his sister's mouth: "Hold on, big brother is here."

In his Heavenly Eye, Li Lin's life aura was fading rapidly.

Gongsan Pingbalang knelt on the ground, clutching the jade fragments and laughing manically; where the blood dripped, a purple glow surged, and the fragments actually began to heal. The moment the purple Immortal Crown appeared, the entire Miao Street fell into a deathly silence.

An invisible pressure swept across the bluestone of Miao Street like a blade, and cold sweat seeped from the nape of Dong Xuhui's neck.

He roared and leaped up, colliding with Gongsan Pingbalang in mid-air with a boom; amidst the clashing of metal, he bellowed, "Quickly take the people to Maiyi Lane."

Before his voice had even faded, he was drenched in blood and smashed into the brick wall like a cannonball.

Lin Yu felt Li Lin's strengthening pulse with his fingertips, his gaze falling upon the short sword with flowing dark patterns in her palm.

As he pushed the two women into the archway of Maiyi Lane, the night sky was continuously erupting with the booms of Dong Xuhui battling a powerful enemy.