Chapter 97: Endless Aftershocks

The deathly silence on the Dao-discussion platform lasted for a full ten breaths.

Not until Lin Xuan’s figure completely vanished was the solidified atmosphere abruptly shattered; like a pot exploding, the clamor surged straight into the clouds!

"It shattered! Ye Chen’s Thunder-Startling Sword... was shattered by a single finger!"

"What kind of finger technique was that? Chaos Returning to Ruins? Never heard of it!"

"Late-stage Nascent Soul! He is definitely late-stage Nascent Soul, 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 was as if a benchmark of an era had been forcibly snapped, signaling the collapse of the old order and the sprouting of a new one.

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

The old servant beside him looked graver than ever: "Your Highness, this child’s Dao is strange and powerful, unfathomable. His potential is likely not below that of the 'Heavenly Destined' ones, perhaps even... exceeding them. Dealing with him requires extreme caution."

In the area where the Zhao family was located, the atmosphere was even more suffocatingly oppressive. The faces of several high-ranking Zhao members were so gloomy they could drip water. The stronger the strength Lin Xuan displayed, the more intense the killing intent in their hearts grew. The death of Zhao Wuji, combined with the irreconcilable conflict between Lin Xuan and the Zhao family, made it impossible for them to sit by and watch this child grow.

"Pass down the order: activate the 'Dark Star' plan. At any cost, find out his background and weaknesses! Also, contact the Shadow Tower; double the price!" a Zhao family Elder growled through gritted teeth.

The scholar from the Heavenly Mystery Academy stroked his beard and sighed: "The variable has appeared; the heavenly mandate will be in chaos. This child alone is the catalyst stirring up the winds and clouds. How should the Academy... position itself?"

Representatives from neutral forces like the Divine Weapon Pavilion and the Medicine King Valley had flickering gazes, calculating in their hearts how to establish a connection with this newly emerged 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 forces all adjusted their respective strategies because of this battle involving Lin Xuan.

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 looked at the fragments of his Thunder-Startling Sword, his gaze shifting from initial confusion 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 truly a child of destiny blessed with great fortune. Far from being crushed, he captured a glimmer of insight that surpassed his past self amidst this extreme failure.

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

He struggled to stand up and took a deep look in the direction where Lin Xuan had disappeared. There was no resentment, only the realization of having found a goal to move forward. He carefully gathered the sword fragments from the ground and walked off the Dao-discussion platform with a staggering but exceptionally firm gait.

For him, this defeat might be the beginning of a nirvana.

Azure Cloud 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.

Feng Xi landed on the stone table in the courtyard, its cyan-gold eyes watching Lin Xuan as it transmitted a divine sense: "Master, that finger... was very powerful." As a divine bird, its perception was keen, and it could better comprehend the terrifying power contained within that "Nirvana Star Finger" which transcended ordinary laws.

Lin Xuan smiled slightly and stroked Feng Xi’s smooth feathers: "It was merely a preliminary fusion of some insights; the road ahead is still long."

He appeared relaxed, but in reality, he was reflecting on the battle just now. Ye Chen’s Thunder Sword Dao was indeed extraordinary, especially that final Nine Heavens Thunder-Commanding True Art, which had touched the edge of Soul Transformation in the power of heaven and earth it invoked. Had his own Chaos Dao not been of such a 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 my control over the characteristics of 'Nirvana' and 'Devouring'..." Lin Xuan looked inward at his dantian; the increasingly profound Dao Seed rotated slowly, the star light spots and gray mists on it intertwining in an incredibly mysterious way.

"However, the tree desires stillness, but the wind will not cease." His gaze turned cold. "After this battle, I have been completely pushed to the forefront. The Zhao family, the Shadow Tower, and even that mysterious Star Palace will likely not let this go."

He needed to improve his strength as quickly as possible, at least to the point of being able to maneuver or even escape in front of a Soul 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 You Ren. 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 kind of bizarre and grotesque side. Lin Xuan changed into ordinary black tight-fitting clothes and used the "Shadow Concealment Art" and "Turtle Breathing Technique" to restrain his aura to the extreme, moving like a ghost through the intricate alleys and shadows of the Imperial Capital.

According to the records in the jade slip and the general location provided by You Ren, he arrived at an area in the western district of the Imperial Capital known as the "Abandoned Mining Area." This place was once an important source of spirit mines for the dynasty, but it had long since been mined out, 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 emitted a cold, chaotic aura, and the clamor from deep within could be faintly heard.

He took out a "Thousand Illusion Veil" he had purchased in Black Rock City, which could partially disrupt one's aura and appearance, put it on, and stepped inside.

The interior of the mine shaft was a world of its own. After winding downward for several hundred feet, the view suddenly opened up, and a vast underground space appeared before him. It was brightly lit, 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 ghostly realm.

Along the streets were dense rows of stalls and crude shops selling all sorts of items of unknown origin: blood-stained antiques, strange-looking 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. Nascent Soul cultivators were not rare here, and one could even faintly sense a few obscure, heart-palpitating fluctuations—those were the auras of Soul Transformation old monsters!

Lin Xuan acted 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 aura that might be related to the Shadow Tower.

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

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

The Shadow Zone was even dimmer and more chaotic, and the buildings were more dilapidated and strange. Lin Xuan could feel several malicious divine senses sweeping over him, but upon detecting the mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivation he was deliberately displaying, most of them quietly retreated.

Guided by an extremely obscure mark on his Shadow Compass, he arrived in front of a building made entirely of black boulders, with no windows and only a heavy iron door. There were no markings on the iron door, but the cold, deathly aura seeping from the cracks was exactly the same as that of the Shadow Tower assassins.

This was it.

Lin Xuan’s gaze narrowed, contemplating how to sneak in.

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

"Swoosh!"

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

An ambush!

Lin Xuan turned his head abruptly to see the shadows twisting not far away, and three figures in night-walking clothes, whose auras were of the same origin as You Ren’s, slowly emerged, surrounding him in a triangular formation. The leader’s aura had reached the peak of late-stage Nascent Soul, even a notch stronger than You Ren’s! The other two were also mid-stage Nascent Soul.

"Good reaction." The lead assassin’s voice was hoarse, like metal rubbing together. "To be able to dodge my 'Soul-Eroding Nail,' it seems You Ren’s death at your hands was not unjust."

Lin Xuan’s heart sank; the opponent 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 the 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 to suffer for eternity!"

Before the words had even faded, all three attacked at once!

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

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

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

Since he could not hide, then he would... kill his way out!

He no longer hid, and his vast late-stage Nascent Soul spiritual power erupted! The prototype of his Star-Ghost Domain instantly expanded, enveloping a ten-foot radius around him!

"Star-Ghost... Thunder Prison!"

He gave a low shout, forcibly fusing a trace of the thunder intent he had comprehended while watching the battle between the Azure Phoenix and the Star Palace successor at the border of Green Wood Province with his own Star-Ghost Domain!

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

These thunderbolts not only possessed the violence of thunder but also the suppression of stars and the deathly silence of the netherworld!

The black tentacles unleashed by the two shadow-binding assassins, the moment they touched the dark-purple thunder, were like meeting their nemesis; they charred, snapped, and annihilated! Both men were struck by several thunderbolts, their bodies trembling violently, their protective spiritual light instantly shattered, and they flew backward with screams, their auras wilting.

As for the peak late-stage Nascent Soul assassin who had descended from the sky, the moment his daggers pierced into the Star-Ghost Thunder Prison, he felt a terrifying power of annihilation and paralysis traveling up the daggers, numbing his arms and causing his attack to stall!

In this flash of lightning, Lin Xuan struck!

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

"Pfft!"

The sword light flashed and vanished!

The peak late-stage Nascent Soul assassin’s body froze in mid-air; before the ferocious grin on his face could fade, a tiny hole had already appeared between his brows. The light in his eyes dimmed rapidly, filled with endless horror and unwillingness, and then he fell from the sky like a puppet with cut strings.

One sword strike, instantly killing a peak late-stage Nascent Soul!

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 before they could escape, precisely slicing across their necks.

Two heads soared into the sky, and blood sprayed.

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 corpses and remove all traces. Although the commotion of the battle here had been largely masked by the chaotic aura of the Ghost Market, it was hard to guarantee it wouldn't attract even stronger entities.

He glanced at the tightly closed black iron door, knowing he could not sneak in today. After suffering this loss, the Shadow Tower would inevitably 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.

Although tonight’s trip to the Ghost Market failed to strike at the heart of the enemy, he had killed three strong foes, further intimidated the Shadow Tower, and verified the power of his newly fused "Star-Ghost Thunder Prison."

Returning to Azure Cloud 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 due to his actions in the Ghost Market tonight.