Chapter 97: The Aftershocks Continue

The deathly silence on the Dao Discussion Platform lasted for a full ten breaths.

Not until Lin Xuan's figure had completely vanished was the solidified atmosphere abruptly shattered; it was like a pot boiling over, the clamor of the crowd surging straight into the clouds!

"It shattered! Ye Chen's Shocking Thunder Sword... was shattered by a single finger!"

"What kind of finger technique was that? Chaos Returning to Ruins? I've never heard of it!"

"Late-Stage Soul Formation! He is definitely at the Late-Stage Soul Formation, perhaps even at the peak!"

"The younger generation of the Imperial Capital is about to change! Where did this monster Lin Xuan pop out from?!"

Exclamations, discussions, and gasps rose one after another. Every face was filled with shock and disbelief. Ye Chen's defeat was not merely a personal failure; it felt as if a benchmark of an era had been forcibly snapped, signaling the collapse of the old order and the budding of a new one.

Inside the viewing box, the jade cup in Huangfu Hao's hand was crushed into fine powder. His face was livid, and deep within his eyes, beyond the shock, lay an indescribable wariness and... a fiery fighting spirit. "Lin Xuan... what a Lin Xuan! This Imperial Prince must have a battle with you!"

The old servant beside him wore an expression of unprecedented gravity: "Your Highness, this child's Dao is strange and powerful, unfathomable. His potential is likely not beneath that of the 'Heavenly Destined' few, perhaps... even exceeding them. Dealing with him requires extreme caution."

In the area where the Zhao Clan was located, the atmosphere was terrifyingly oppressive. Several high-ranking members of the Zhao Clan had faces so gloomy they could drip water. The stronger the strength Lin Xuan displayed, the more intense the killing intent in their hearts grew. Zhao Wuji's death, combined with the irreconcilable conflict between Lin Xuan and the Zhao Clan, meant they could never sit by and watch this child grow.

"Pass down the order: initiate the 'Dark Star' plan. Spare no cost to uncover his background and weaknesses! Also, contact the Shadow Tower; double the price!" a Zhao Clan Elder growled through gritted teeth.

The scholar from the Tianji Academy stroked his beard and sighed: "The variable has appeared; the heavenly mandate will fall into chaos. This child alone is the fuse that will stir the winds and clouds. The Academy... how should it position itself?"

Representatives of neutral factions like the Divine Weapon Pavilion and the Medicine King Valley had flickering gazes, calculating how to establish a connection with this newly risen top-tier prodigy.

As for those gazes hidden in the shadows, they were even more profound and inscrutable. The Star Palace, the Shadow Tower, and even other unknown factions adjusted their respective strategies because of this battle of Lin Xuan's.

On the Dao Discussion Platform, Ye Chen knelt on one knee, coughing up another mouthful of stagnant blood that stained the ground before him. He stared at the fragments of his Shocking Thunder Sword, his gaze shifting from initial bewilderment and frustration to a more pure, more stubborn determination.

Having his flying sword destroyed and his Dao heart shaken was a fatal blow for any sword cultivator. But Ye Chen was worthy of being a Son of Heaven's Mandate burdened with great fortune. Far from being crushed, he captured a glimmer of insight that transcended his past within the depths of his ultimate failure.

"Chaos... Returning to Ruins... Annihilating all laws..." he muttered to himself, the lightning in his eyes reconverging, even purer and more restrained than before. "My Lightning Dao pursues ultimate speed and destruction, yet it lacks tolerance and evolution... After destruction, why can there not be rebirth?"

He struggled to stand, cast a deep look in the direction Lin Xuan had vanished, and felt no hatred—only the enlightenment of having found a goal to move forward. He carefully gathered the blade fragments from the ground and walked off the Dao Discussion Platform with a staggering but exceptionally firm gait.

This defeat, for him, was perhaps the beginning of a nirvana.

Qingyun Cottage.

Lin Xuan returned, his expression as usual, as if it were not he who had crushed Ye Chen and shaken the Imperial Capital on the Dao Discussion Platform just moments ago.

Saintess Yun Yao landed on the stone table in the courtyard, her blue-gold eyes watching Lin Xuan as she transmitted a divine sense: "Master, that finger... was very powerful." As a divine bird, she had keen perception and could better appreciate the terrifying power contained within that "Nirvana Star Finger," which transcended ordinary laws.

Lin Xuan smiled slightly and stroked Saintess Yun Yao's smooth feathers: "It was merely an initial fusion of some insights; the road ahead is still long."

Though he appeared relaxed, he was internally ruminating on the battle just passed. Ye Chen's Lightning Sword Dao was indeed extraordinary, especially that final Nine Heavens Controlling Thunder True Art; the power of heaven and earth it invoked had touched the edge of Spirit Transformation. Had his own Chaos Dao not been of such high essence, allowing him to forcibly swallow and dissolve it with the power of "Returning to Ruins," winning would have required quite some effort.

"The fusion of the Chaos Dao Seed with the Star Core and Star Iron has significantly improved the quality of my spiritual power and my affinity for laws. Especially the mastery over the characteristics of 'Nirvana' and 'Devouring'..." Lin Xuan looked inward at his dantian, where the increasingly profound Dao Seed rotated slowly, its star-like light spots and gray, misty currents intertwined, incomparably mysterious.

"However, the tree desires stillness, but the wind will not cease." His gaze turned cold. "After this battle, I have been thoroughly pushed to the forefront of the storm. The Zhao Clan, the Shadow Tower, and that mysterious Star Palace—I fear none of them will let this rest."

He needed to improve his strength as quickly as possible, at least to the point where he could maneuver or even escape in front of a Spirit Transformation cultivator. At the same time, he had to take the initiative; he could not always be on the receiving end.

"Ghost Market..." Lin Xuan recalled the information he had obtained from Elder You Wang. It was one of the core strongholds of the Shadow Tower and also the largest information black market in the Imperial Capital.

He decided to go to the Ghost Market tonight to investigate.

That night, the moon was dark and the wind was high.

The prosperity of the Imperial Capital did not fade under the cover of night; instead, it revealed another bizarre and grotesque side. Lin Xuan changed into ordinary black tight-fitting clothes, using the "Shadow Concealment Art" and "Turtle Breathing Technique" to restrain his aura to the extreme, moving like a ghost through the intricate shadows of the Imperial Capital's alleys.

According to the records in the jade slip and the general location provided by Elder You Wang, he arrived at an area in the West City known as the "Abandoned Mining Zone." This place was once an important source of spirit mines for the Imperial Dynasty, but it had long since been mined dry, leaving behind countless bottomless mine shafts and abandoned workshops, becoming a gathering place for all sorts of people and desperate outlaws—the entrance to the so-called "Ghost Market."

Lin Xuan stopped in front of a seemingly ordinary mine shaft covered in vines. The entrance exuded a cold, chaotic aura, and one could vaguely hear the clamor coming from deep within.

He took out a "Thousand Illusion Veil" he had purchased in Black Rock City—which could disrupt one's aura and facial features to a certain extent—put it on, and stepped inside.

The interior of the mine shaft was a world of its own. After winding downward for several hundred zhang, the view suddenly opened up, and a vast underground space appeared before him. It was brightly lit, though not with ordinary lights, but with various colors of phosphorus fire, ghost fire, and glowing crystals embedded in the rock walls, illuminating the entire space in a bizarre and grotesque manner, like a forest of ghosts.

On both sides of the street were dense stalls and crude shops, selling all sorts of things of unknown origin: blood-stained antiques, strange beast eggs, incomplete cultivation jade slips, and even slaves bound by restrictions... The air was filled with a complex scent mixed with blood, herbs, metal, and desire.

All kinds of figures moved through it, most of them concealing their faces and auras, their eyes vigilant and greedy. Soul Formation cultivators were not rare here, and one could even vaguely sense a few obscure, heart-palpitating fluctuations—those were the auras of Spirit Transformation old monsters!

Lin Xuan moved like an ordinary treasure hunter, blending into the crowd, while his spiritual sense spread out like an invisible spider web, collecting information while sensing the cold, dark aura that might be related to the Shadow Tower.

He first visited several stalls selling intelligence, spending some spirit stones to purchase a few pieces of fragmented news regarding the recent abnormal movements in the Imperial Capital and rumors about the Star Palace, cross-referencing them with the information from the Tianji Pavilion jade slip.

Afterward, he headed toward the deeper part of the Ghost Market, the area known as the "Shadow Zone." According to Elder You Wang, the core stronghold of the Shadow Tower was hidden there.

The Shadow Zone was even dimmer and more chaotic, and the buildings were even more dilapidated and strange. Lin Xuan could feel several malicious spiritual senses sweeping over him, but upon detecting the Early-Mid Soul Formation cultivation he deliberately displayed, most of them quietly retreated.

Guided by an extremely obscure mark on his Shadow Compass, he arrived in front of a building constructed entirely of massive black stones, with no windows and only a single heavy iron door. There were no markings on the iron door, but the cold, dead aura seeping from the door cracks was identical to that of the Shadow Tower assassins.

This was the place.

Lin Xuan's gaze narrowed as he pondered how to sneak in.

Suddenly, a warning sign flashed in his heart, and his body shifted half a step to the left without warning!

"Chi!"

A streak of black light, almost imperceptible, grazed his sleeve and silently corroded a large hole in the boulder behind him!

An ambush!

Lin Xuan turned his head abruptly to see the shadows twisting not far away, and three figures dressed in night-walking clothes, their auras originating from the same source as Elder You Wang, slowly emerged, surrounding him in a triangular formation. The leader's aura had actually reached the peak of the Late-Stage Soul Formation, a notch stronger than Elder You Wang! The other two were also at the Mid-Stage Soul Formation.

"Good reaction," the lead assassin's voice was hoarse, like metal rubbing together. "To be able to dodge my 'Soul-Eroding Nail,' it seems Elder You Wang did not die unjustly at your hands."

Lin Xuan's heart sank; the other party had discovered him long ago and set an ambush here!

"Shadow Tower, truly like maggots on the bone," Lin Xuan said coldly, his Chaos spiritual power quietly circulating.

"Hand over that piece of Star Iron you obtained in the Ancient Green Wood City, as well as the Chaos cultivation technique, and perhaps I can let you die quickly," the lead assassin's eyes flashed with greed and killing intent. "Otherwise, I will extract your soul and refine your spirit, leaving you unable to reincarnate for eternity!"

Before the words had even faded, all three attacked simultaneously!

The lead assassin's figure vanished like a ghost, and the next instant, he appeared above Lin Xuan's head, holding a poisoned black dagger in each hand, stabbing straight at Lin Xuan's crown and heart! The other two were on the left and right, unleashing strange shadow-binding techniques, as countless black tentacles erupted from the ground and the void, wrapping around Lin Xuan's legs and arms!

Their coordination was tacit, and their killing moves were relentless!

Facing the siege of three top-tier assassins, cold light exploded in Lin Xuan's eyes.

Since he couldn't hide, then... he would kill his way out!

He no longer hid, and his massive Late-Stage Soul Formation spiritual power erupted with a boom! The prototype of his Star-Nether Domain expanded instantly, shrouding a three-zhang radius around him!

"Star-Nether... Lightning Prison!"

He gave a low shout, forcibly fusing a trace of the lightning true intent he had comprehended while watching the battle between the Azure Luan Feng Xi and the Star Palace successor at the border of Green Wood Province with his own Star-Nether Domain!

In an instant, within the domain, countless fine, dark-purple, strange lightning bolts erupted amidst the cold star light spots and gray nether aura!

This lightning not only possessed the violent nature of lightning but also the suppression of stars and the dead silence of the netherworld!

The black tentacles unleashed by the two assassins using the shadow-binding technique, the moment they touched the dark-purple lightning, were like meeting their nemesis—they charred, snapped, and annihilated! Both were struck by several lightning bolts, their bodies trembling violently, their protective spiritual light shattered instantly, and they screamed as they were sent flying, their auras withered.

As for the peak Late-Stage Soul Formation assassin descending from the sky, the moment his daggers pierced into the Star-Nether Lightning Prison, he felt a terrifying power of annihilation and paralysis traveling along the daggers, causing his arms to go numb and his attack to stall!

In that split second, Lin Xuan struck!

The Chaos Immortal-Slaying Sword Embryo was unsheathed with a roar! The sword light was gray and misty, yet carried the supreme will to slash through chaos and slay immortals and gods, its speed surpassing the capture of spiritual sense!

"Puchi!"

The sword light flashed and vanished!

The peak Late-Stage Soul Formation assassin's body froze in mid-air, the ferocious grin on his face yet to fade, while a small hole had already appeared between his brows. The luster in his eyes dimmed rapidly, filled with endless horror and unwillingness, before he plummeted from the sky like a puppet with cut strings.

One sword, killing a peak Late-Stage Soul Formation in seconds!

The other two severely injured assassins saw this scene and were scared out of their wits, turning to flee.

How could Lin Xuan let them go? The sword embryo vibrated again, and two gray sword qi streaks arrived first despite being launched later, precisely grazing their necks.

Two heads soared into the sky, blood spraying.

In the blink of an eye, three top-tier Shadow Tower assassins were completely wiped out!

Lin Xuan quickly collected their storage bags and useful magic treasures, casting Chaos Dao Fire to destroy the bodies and erase the traces. Although the commotion of the battle here had been largely covered by the chaotic aura of the Ghost Market, one could never be sure it wouldn't attract stronger existences.

He glanced at the tightly shut black iron door, knowing he couldn't sneak in today. After this loss, the Shadow Tower would surely be even more vigilant.

"It seems the account with the Shadow Tower will have to be settled slowly."

He did not linger, his figure merging into the shadows as he quickly left this place of trouble.

Tonight's trip to the Ghost Market, while failing to strike at the heart of the enemy, had resulted in the killing of three strong enemies, further deterring the Shadow Tower and verifying the power of his newly fused "Star-Nether Lightning Prison."

Returning to Qingyun Cottage, Lin Xuan sat cross-legged, beginning to count his gains and digest the insights from tonight's battle.

The night in the Imperial Capital remained deep. But the undercurrents had become even more turbulent because of his actions in the Ghost Market tonight. ===== CHAPTER 98 =====