"L.... Ming, how many times did you fight? The crowd noise could be heard all the way from outside the convoy's camp!" Sun's tongue almost slipped and Lin noticed how Bo An's black eyes squinted slightly when she heard Sun speak, Lin was taking off his dirty clothes to go take a soak in the tub and turned to look at Sun who became fidgety under this calm gaze of his best friend.

"When we're alone, you can call me by my true name buddy, Lin not Ming. Bo An here has accepted me despite knowing absolutely nothing about my background, I say she deserves to know at least that much. As for your question Sun, I fought every cultivator and won every single one of my fights, even the two tyrants ended up losing." Lin spoke casually as he scrubbed his skin clean however he was looking straight at Bo An's eyes, after changing the waters of the tub he gave Sun the answer to his question with a smile, which made the tiger currently in a kitten's form raise his ears, lick his lips, and sway his tail excitedly as he imagined Lin giving all these cultivators a beat down.

Actually, after waking up from the emotional flood Lin gave her before Lantian's attack, Bo An's mind and heart were going at each other in an endless scuffle because of the secret of his mysterious identity.

The first couple of days the caravan was under attack and the timing wasn't appropriate to nag for an answer, after the danger was cleared, Lin needed to seclude himself and meditate. Again, Bo An felt like the timing wasn't right because she was hesitant about asking, in fear of not receiving any answer which would sadden Bo An and allow for more conflicting emotions to burden her chest and unhealthy thoughts to cram in her head.

Last night, while taking Fang Bo and Sun to the south to look for a chance for Lin's beast companion to breakthrough to the devil beast realm, Bo An never stopped getting torn up by the conflicting suggestions from her heart and brain.

Her brain told her that letting the boy do all these intimate things to her body was a mistake, her heart told her that nothing is wrong with accepting Lin as her dao companion.

The brain said that the boy is hiding his identity, the heart countered with every genius has his secrets, even Bo An herself was told by her grandfather from a very early age to always keep her affinity a secret.

That ongoing inner, emotional, struggle was almost decisively won by the girl's brain when Lin started to speak.

'see!, He's not even denying lying to you about his name, he even wants the tiger to mention that name starting with "L" when they're alone.' was the thought Bo An's brain sent and her heart felt cold and jumpy all of a sudden when Lin started to reply his tiger's question.

However, once Lin openly said his name and voiced the troubling thoughts stifling Bo An's chest, she felt her brain's needless worries melt and fade away to nothing as her heart dance and beat in her chest wildly with the tunes of joy and sweet triumph over the stupid brain.

Bo An's eyes welled up with tears and her smile was topped with blushing cheeks when she saw him look at her, such a happy face was brightening the space of the carriage with a smile that outshone daylight.

Fluttering towards Lin, Bo An's dress and underwear fell in this short distance before she stuffed herself into the tub with him.

Unable to contain her happiness for choosing the right person to trust him with her feelings, Bo An knew what she wanted and Lin was squeezed between her arms and showered with kisses and hugs.

"You too need to call me Ming in public alright, only Wei, Lai, Wang and Zhang know my true identity. Fang doesn't worry me because he seems to be extremely careful with his words, unlike you buddy." Lin pinched Bo An's cheek and asked her to keep his secret, Bo An chuckled and nodded while gripping his butt gently in her hands to return his gesture!, Turning to look at the silver puppy and red kitten he remineded them to keep his secret as well, Fang Bo gave Sun an arrogant side-glance with his green eyes when Lin mentioned how superior he's to this talkative tiger, before giving Lin a nod and turning to his corner to take a nap.

Sun ignored Fang's arrogance, the time wasn't yet ripe for teaching him a lesson, he just reached the devil beast realm today while that mercury colored, long snouted little shit is in the pinnacle of the same realm.

Frostine was the only one unaffected at all by the invasion of a couple of humans and a couple of beasts to the carriage's space, standing in place with wings spread out she quietly digested her inherited memories and climbed higher towards the ancestral beast realm, from the very first moment they entered the carriage, Lin covered her small, feathery, white body with whatever he had remaining of soul force to give her a suitably quiet environment to meditate and achieve her breakthrough if possible.

"Bo An, what kind of relationship does your Chentian clan have with the seamless sword sect?" Bo An snuggled with him and used his chest as pillow (exactly just like how she's gotten used to do since a few months ago) once they entered the bed, gently patting her head and caressing her damp hair, Lin saw Bo An close her eyes to enjoy the moment, however, once she heard his question Bo An raised her head and looked up at him with puzzlement clearly visible in her black eyes to this unexpected question.

"Very close, their sect master, uncle DaiLong is my grandpa Ao's close friend and the saintess of the sect is my big sister, we often got to spend time together when my grandpa visited her sect or if they visit my clan, some of my sword talented clansmen get to join the seamless sword sect without having to go through the normal examination process, do you wish to join the seamless sword sect too Lin?" Bo An answered when she saw Lin calmly give her a tranquil gaze with his golden eyes while waiting for her answer, these pupils made her heart melt and she was ready to do everything in her power to make him enter the sword sect if he wanted.

However, she found Lin smiling a sad smile while shaking his head at her last question, before Bo An got to ask anything else, she heard Sun snorting behind her, when she turned her head to look she found Sun glaring at Lin then said : "Next time I see that annoying bitch she'll receive a bite to her fat ass, even if she's still stronger than me I won't hesitate to do it." Afterwards Sun ignored the hard look Lin gave him before he closed his eyes to sleep.

"Eh!, You know big sister Mia?, Why's Sun very angry at her?, What happened?" Bo An received a nod to the first question from Lin which excited her, however, the next ones were met with awkward silence from the boy and he was hesitant about giving an answer at all.

After all, Bo An seems to be close with Mia and he didn't want to say anything that would make her jump into formulating premature conclusions, it would be fair to speak about what happened if Mia was around, so that she can justify her actions to Bo An and Lin.

"Bo An, When was the last time you saw Mia?" Lin pulled this cute girl's head back to rest on his chest and asked while gently and rhythmically patting her back.

"Almost three years ago, she needed grandpa's advice on how to help her beast companion Xiaoxi breakthrough, that was before she led her sect members to the drowned realm, I heard she got schemed by Katherine the holy daughter of the church of light and spent more than two years in the land of forgetfulness before she managed to return to her sect a few months ago. I don't know much details yet and most of them are silly rumors, but Ill know everything when I meet her later." Bo An spoke sadly when she remembered her big sister Mia, they used to sleep together in the same bed and have so much fun walking the streets watching the store fronts or shopping for useless items while laughing at Xiaoxi's idiotic comments.

"I can tell you how I met Mia, however, Bo An you need to promise me to keep an open mind and try to understand that the reason I'm hesitating whether to speak or not right now is because I feel like it would be wronging Mia if we come to a decision or judge her actions without hearing from her personally." Lin sat up and leaned his back on the pillows, while gently supporting the back of the beauty in his embrace with one of his arms and making her lean against his chest while using the other arm to caress her cheek, he looked at her and saw the reflection of his face in her eyes as he spoke and noticed how Bo An's heartbeats quickened.

"En, I promise." Feeling the seriousness of Lin's words, Bo An suddenly became fearful and reflexively tightened her arms around his waist.

"We met a few days right after I reached the age of six and left my hometown to explore the world, Mia was getting chased by two assassins from the guild and because the land of forgetfulness has restrictions on spirit cultivators, she was going straight in the direction of a nest of vultures....." Lin spoke and Bo An learned about his place of birth, how he saved Mia from the vultures then helped her take a rest from the two years chase then corner the assassins and avenge herself from two years worth of living under the shadow of death.

How he and Mia spent time while she taught him this world's common language and a few more things about how cultivation works, how he witnessed her materialize her sword intent and how they joined bath and bed same as Bo An, how their feelings for one another strangely escalated quickly, their promise of meeting again in five years, how he took Mia out of the land of forgetfulness and the great space formation to witness her breakthrough to the tyrant realm, how he ended up blasted with Mia's sword intent fused with her time energy once she broke through, then how he wanted the saintess to leave because Sun never liked her company, he just wanted her to go away because she had to return to her sect, after Sun's tension fades with the years she could always say her reasons later when they meet again.

Alas, somehow, he found himself ending up with a severed penis and a very infuriated Sun after Mia suddenly castrated him then used the advanced space talisman to leave!

Bo An gasped and double checked with her hand on Lin's intact penis, she even pulled at it a few times gently to confirm that it wouldn't come off!

"Big sister Mia was that ruthless?, Say, Lin... do you hate big sister Mia?" Bo An sighed in relief when the boy's penis remained in place, then blushed when she saw Lin raise an eyebrow with a bemused smile at the corner of his lips, burying her face in his chest she asked with worry in her tune.

After all, Bo An loves both of them and doesn't want to be in the middle of both of them as they go at each other's throats, as a girl she always knows that this certain male organ for a male is no different in value compared to a woman's face, if someone disfigured her beautiful face Bo An would hate his seven ancestors!

"Hate?, No... I Don't think I have it in me to hate someone, I'm just hurt by what she did and I don't think I deserve this treatment from Mia. She crossed a line and I can't forgive what she did without hearing what she has to say, what about you Bo An?, Do you feel wronged because I didn't tell you about what happened between me and Mia before we... you know?" Lin lowered his mouth to kiss Bo An's cheek then spoke his mind, he seemed more interested in knowing about Bo An's hidden feelings and thoughts directed towards himself than the matter of Mia and him right now to Bo An.

"Of course, very wronged and sad. Lin and Mia are doing naughty things behind my back, oh no!, What should I do?" Bo An cunningly gave Lin a sly look when she felt his care for her feelings, warmth filled her chest with emotions of adoration for the boy who stole her heart and became the center of her attention.

Pushing his body below her's she straddled his waist and leaned over to make her developing chest dangle prominently, she spoke while giving Lin a side of her naughty, mischievous, pranking personality.

Then Bo An lowered her head which caused a tent of her hair which blocked the sight of them kissing from the beasts in the carriage, a while later, Bo An was moaning endlessly while squeezing Lin's head between her thighs and running her fingers through his long hair.

'big sister Mia, our secret childhood promise of marrying the same man actually happened!, did he do the same to you as well?, did it feel similarly good?' Bo An thought about her big sister Mia just before a shivering pleasure overtook her body.

Of course, Bo An learned a lot of secrets about her (cute hero Ming) from Lin's story, yet some things which he said needed additional details for clarifications, however, the timing wasn't appropriate for asking questions about his past.

The mood was just right for some intimacy and she enjoyed this session much more than the previous one, maybe someday she can gang-up with Mia on the brat who has magical moves and dexterous fingers!

Lin rested his head on the pillow and closed his eyes to sleep after satisfying Bo An, feeling her softness on top of his chest, he was glad that his relationship with Mia didn't affect this cute girl whose innocence got forced upon him by the rebelling deadly sins.

.....

Soon after these two humans slept, Frostine folded her wings and opened her eyes, the pressure coming from her body once she exited the small area (which Lin used his soul force to give the white owl a comfortable seclusion) was a rude awakening to Fang and Sun who weren't interested in watching Lin and Bo An wrestle in bed, looking warily at the strutting white owl, the silver puppy and red kitten were holding their breath and watched this tiny owl walk towards them.

"What do you want?" Sun growled at the fresh to attain the ancestral realm (white owl) which Lin received from that formidable raccoon, Sun only met him once personally and never dared to breathe more than enough to keep himself alive in his presence, but even before meeting him (Kai), he was once scared shitless by his pressure alone and never forgotten the experience back in the second furthest island from their home.

However, he wouldn't let this newcomer bully him just because that walking raccoon gave it to Lin, only Lin himself can be allowed a small margin of bullying the tiger which Sun can tolerate, anyone else?, Hell no!

"Fang Bo greets senior." Unlike Sun who was rude to someone stronger, Fang Bo spoke with a gruffy, deep sound full of politeness while lowering his head slightly.

"Hoot." Nodding once towards Fang and blinking her wide blue eyes a few times while waiting for Sun to correct his cocky attitude, Frostine walked towards Sun and slapped him flying outside the carriage from the only open window with one of her wings while hooting lazily, then she flew out like a shadow and pinned Sun's small body underneath her talons and pushed it to the ground, before Sun got a chance to use his bat wings he was restrained by Frostine and she gazed frostily at him from above.

"Get off me, grrrr." Snaring at Frostine and showing his canines, Sun warned her to let go and opened his mouth wide to bite one of her long legs with his sharp teeth when she refused to let go, Sun was by nature quick to anger maybe that was attributed to his fire affinity or how the smell of Frostine wasn't to his liking, not to mention now with this clear act of violence from this stupid white bird.

"Crack...." Sun felt like he's chewing on iron or one of Lin's sturdy concrete formulas instead of a thin leg of a small owl, a layer of white-blue ice was stopping his canines from reaching the feathery talons of Frostine!

"Hoot!" Frostine tilted her head to the side while staring at Sun who stubbornly tried to fight back even though he's weaker than herself, the rules in the place she grew up was for the weak to greet the strong and the strong can teach the weak a lesson if they forgot their place in their presence, after hooting one last time and waiting for Sun to submit, she turned Sun who refused to submit into a white-blue cube of ice and only left his head from the neck up free to move, spreading her wings she gave the restrained dummy a lazy, disinterested last look before flying out to check the area while ignoring his shouts to free him.

"Release me you bag of white feathers."

"This isn't over bitch, fire!"

"Come-on melt it, work dam it."

"This isn't funny, release me right now or Ming will hear of this."

Sun tried to use his fire energy to melt this ice and his fires were almost useless!, How could this be?, He just attained a higher realm of power and reached the devil realm, is the only advantage in this realm that he can run his mouth!

"Buddy, help!" Finally, Sun was tired from calling for the shitty white owl to release him and had to shamelessly call for Lin's assistance, then he saw Fang's head stuck out from the window to give him a wicked grin before using his paw to pull the window shut!

"Fuck you too, both of you are bullies I say," Sun gritted his teeth and cursed Fang, glaring around while fuming with rage, he noticed how everyone was looking at him and stifling their laughter. Snapping at these mortal humans he said : "What?, Never seen a talking tom before?, Humph, figured as much, hurry up and break this ice you idiots, it is seeping through my fur and I feel colder by the second. I'm starting to lose feelings of my paws." Seeing everyone give him the gesture of shaking their heads (which meant we haven't seen a talking cat before) made Sun humph while puckering his lips thoughtfully, then he shouted at them to help since he has no other choice right now.

'Damn it, I need to get strong.' Sun thought as he glared at the white owl circling the surrounding sky, while these mortals raised the white-blue cube of ice surrounding Sun's body to a table then chipped away at the sturdy ice cube carefully layer by layer with their tools all night under the amused smirks of the surrounding cultivators.

.....

Waking up the next morning feeling blessed with Lin's strong arms surrounding her, Bo An found herself obliged to solve the ongoing dispute between the tiger and owl since Lin is asleep, while Fang slyly kept his silence and watched the ongoing drama unfold in the carriage.

Hooting and growling sounds would be heard outside the carriage and Bo An's irritated voice calling for a timeout from time to time in the second day of camping to the kids waiting outside, they were waiting to see the talking cat which their parents told them about how they helped it all night by breaking the ice around it's body, they saw the arm of one uncle which missed a huge layer of skin just by touching that white-blue ice!

However, the reason these kids waited patiently anyway is because that talking cat is said to be young hero Ming's beast companion!

.....

With the second daylight from the time Lin slept like a log, Wei's caravan convoy started to move once again.

Lai was a step away from completely integrating his martial-spirit's hypnotic abilities to his fighting style, Wang gained another great amount of valuable experience after his fight with Lin and managed to consolidate his cultivation in the 8-stage grandmaster, much to Lai's frustration, Wei was like him in the last stage of the spirit grandmaster realm with the only difference being their completely opposite quality of cultivation foundation.

Mercenary leader Yang is firmly in the fourth stage tyrant now after successfully breaking through, his offensive explosive style was upgraded after meditating on his fight with Ming which made him feel excited about getting to know the boy more.

Mercenary leader Fu appeared with his wife Xue when the caravan was about to move and both of them were tyrants!, Chen Fu was 3-stage tyrant and his wife Ning Xue looked much younger, charming, seductive and beautiful when she appeared flaunting her tyrant realm pressure with a devilish smile.

Both of their eyes kept looking towards Lin's carriage seeking to see the boy Ming, after having their wild day in bed, these two talked for a long while about their issues together and how they should be more careful not to cause any embarrassment to one another in public and mind each other's feelings, Ning Xue ended up telling her man what she thinks is the reason that caused this glaring difference in their private affairs.

However, they were disappointed to learn that Ming slept after beating them all and is yet to wake up after more than a day and half!

Zhang returned to his physical training after overseeing his young master Wei's breakthrough to the 9-stage grandmaster, even Wang was scared when he saw how serious Zhang was taking his training this time.

'is he crazy?, Zhang is using the high grade spirit cryastals to cultivate!, When did he become such a wasteful bull?, That's freaking worth ten thousand low grade spirit cryastals in his palm!' Wang thought when he saw Zhang turn from training his physique to spirit cultivation and sit there cross-legged in place, while holding another one of the ten high grade spirit crystals that Lin somehow made Wei give each of them in a rare miraculous occasion of generosity from the money-grubbing merchant.

Sighing, Wang returned to Wei's carriage and sat to the side listlessly with a dark aura of gloominess, annoyance, and despair surrounding him, all the females in the caravan were rejected by Zhang and Wang has no more options right now to present the stubborn as an ox best friend of his.

Lai and Wei tactfully ignored Wang's troubling issue, one was anxious to reach the next realm before the fat merchant, the other was daydreaming about the wealth he's going to acquire from mercenary city while reviewing the spirit jade full of information on trading accounts to estimate the benefits from this long journey.

.....

Lin didn't wake-up until it was dusk of the first day the convoy moved, habitually, even before opening his eyes Lin stretched out his soul sense to see how far it goes this time.

Even he had to sigh when Lin saw his soul sense stop after crossing a few kilometers beyond the fifty kilometers point.

"Hoot...."

"What did you say about me just now?, I dare you to say it again you little peeper."

"Eihoot...."

"Fuck, you call me an idiot?, Y-y-you're the idiot, your whole family is a bunch of feathery idiots, murrrr."

"Hoot...."

Lin opened his eyes to find Bo An sitting by the window and letting air scatter her hair messily, she looked outside and seemed bored at least a dozen times over by the ongoing clash between Frostine and Sun.

Only Fang Bo was enjoying this argument while acting as if he's asleep on Bo An's lap.

"Enough you two, stop shouting at each other already, even kids wouldn't picker for a day and night don't you ever feel tired-" Bo An spoke sadly then noticed how Lin was watching the sight of her face from the side as she supported her cheek on her palm and absentmindedly looked out, stopping whatever she was about to say abruptly, Bo An smiled and jumped towards Lin and gave him an enormous hug.

Poor Fang Bo was enjoying this theatrical scene of a kitten vs owl while faking being asleep, the next second he was free falling and hit his snout on the floor which caused him to yelp in pain.

In her delightful moment of finding out that Lin is available for her again, Bo An forgot her beast companion, forgot the pickering duo of a tiger and owl, she even forgot whatever she was thinking about earlier and wanted nothing but to throw herself in his embrace.

Bo An really missed Lin, even though it was a bit more than a day since they last spoke and he was always within an arm's reach of her, just spending a day without talking and interacting with him felt wrong to Bo An, it was an addictive feeling how this boy quickly grew on her brain and seized almost all of her thoughts!

"Did these two give you troubles Bo An?" While taking her into his arms, Lin gently asked while patting her back.

However, Sun was the first to shiver under the look Lin gave him and Frostine, the owl was a bit slow to notice the unease inside Sun's eyes but she only gave Lin curious looks while tilting her head to the side and blinking her eyes.

"Frostine bullied Sun and refuses to apologise, they never fought again but used this new way of exchanging insults to give me a never-ending headache." Bo An found her peace in this hug and kept rubbing cheeks with Lin lazily, telling him what happened she felt something tugging at the hem of her dress.

Looking down she found Fang Bo giving her the puppy look with tearful eyes, catching him by the scruff of his neck she raised him up and left him at the edge of the bed, before coldly ignoring the puppy and returning to the fun action of rubbing cheeks with Lin!

Fang Bo looked at this situation and was gaping his mouth in confusion, this move never failed to grab the attention of Bo An before, yet, here he is getting neglected because she's too busy with the brat.

"Kakakaka, serves you right you sneaky bastard, humph, dares to close the window in my face, I never forgotten about that time when you didn't hesitate to kick me when I was down." Sun licked his paw while gloating at the puppy's heart broken sight.

"Shut up pipsqueak!" Fang glared at Sun with his green eyes then Lin heard him talk for the first time, he sounded like person with a sore throat or an alcoholic who damaged his vocal cords with years of drinking the strongest of liquors.

"Hoot...." Frostine was very excited about this new development, she seemed to be fanning the flames between Sun and Fang, that glow in her blue eyes and how her feather ears kept changing shape and angle told Lin awfully a lot about how much she liked her role right now.

"You're enjoying this, ain't ya." Lin suddenly spoke while looking at Frostine in the eyes, these hypnotizing eyes really are capable of affecting those with weak soul force.

"Hoot...." Frostine nodded reflexively and discovered that she gave away her intentions, quick to respond, she shook her head left and right like a rattle drum while hooting.

"Heh, you're a rare smart bird little Frostine, unfortunately I don't have any knowledge of Frostine's species. maybe, she's a descendant of the frost owls or snow owls, or a variant species between the two." Bo An snickered when she saw Lin expose the bird's aim, shrugging she told him that she doesn't know the bloodline of this troublemaker bird.

"You better stop causing trouble for me or my friends Frostine, I know about your days of being a hatchling and I don't want to expose that shameful detail which should stay as your secret. You seem like a smart fellow with a good set of functioning braincells, what do you say?, Will you behave yourself now peacefully or should I need to intervene?" Lin noticed the challenging eyes Frostine gave everyone, when he started to speak he saw arrogance fleetingly pass inside her gaze, however, when Lin mentioned her hatchling days the rippling effect of Frostine's dark pupils shaking beyond her control gave away her shock.

'How did he know?, Was it senior Kai?, No!, Such a mighty person wouldn't waste time on watching how and in what position did I sleep the first few months after I was born. He isn't bluffing, that boy actually knows!' Frostine's thoughts were chaotic, however, she believed what Lin said after one look at his confident eyes.

"Hoot.."

Dropping the arrogant behavior, Frostine lowered her stubborn eyes and looked down at her talons like a kid who received a scolding from his parents.

"Cute!" Bo An felt her heart melt at this sight and before Frostine got to react, the girl was holding her body gently between her hands and hugging the white owl to her chest and giving her soft, feathery body endless cheek rubs.

Sun tried to use this chance to sneak out of the carriage and escape getting his share of scolding from Lin, however, when he stole a glance backwards he saw Lin's gold pupils staring at him.

"Ehehehe.... Whistle ~ " stopping in place and scratching his neck, Sun puckered his lips and whistled softly mimicking Lin when he gets absorbed in creating something.

Lin smiled when he heard that familiar tune and remembered the days he used to work with his father Tai in the forge outside the cave he got born in, these days he didn't know about cultivation and had no worries burdening his shoulders, like helping old Jin, unloading the remaining deadly sins inside his body, helping Kai with whatever he'll demand.

.....

Inside the ring of origin, Kai heard the conversation and was stunned by what Lin just made Frostine do.

Kai moved a finger at air and time moved backwards around him, seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years, decades, centuries!

Trees shrunk in size instead of growing bigger, birds flew backwards instead of forward!

The seasons changed sequence, the sun rose from the opposite direction and everything was confusingly flipped backwards!

"Ahahahahaha..... Kakakaka, what a brat, he never ceases to amaze me." finally Kai moved his finger again and time regained it's natural flow, this time, Kai wasn't standing in the same place but on a very thick tree branch deep inside the great forest Lin and Sun saw before.

In front of the formidable raccoon was a large bird's nest with a couple meters tall, black, female owl watching her eggs, only one almost completely naked hatchling was next to her mom and cutely snuggling her small body in her mom's wing feathers.

With a gentle move of his finger, time moved again and Kai bursted out laughing at the sight of young Frostine unable to sleep while perching like her mom because of her weak legs.

Slumping face down on her face after failing to resist sleeep anymore, the comical sight of young Frostine sleeping naked with no feathers to cover her ass really tickled Kai and his roaring laughter made every beast in the forest shake in fear.

"Heh, when I gave him that revolting bird with the bloodline of the silent owl of eternity, I knew that the accursed bloodline coursing through her veins would make her seek chaos and cause troubles for the fun of it after every major breakthrough especially after reaching the ancestral realm and unlocking a part of her inherited memories, who could've anticipated that such a small fact would turn a descendant of the wise harbringers of doom into yielding without a fight. This is getting interesting, now the second glaring flaw of this owl species will expose itself to you brat, bowing their heads doesn't mean they're under your control yet. Otherwise, they (wise harbringers of doom) wouldn't be said to rival dragon, phoenix, celestial tiger, and immortal turtle, when they submit they want to learn and oh boy, they can do that better than anything and anyone I know of. Heh, let's see how long you can hold without coming to beg me for help." Kai was having so much fun with how things has developed so far, Lin managed to evade his hurdle by containing the chaos Frostine would've caused if left for long unattended, however, in his opinion, Kai saw no hope for Lin to avoid the perfectly disguised hole behind the hurdle (Which is the following tendencies of hunger for information when the owls with the bloodline of the wise harbringers of doom awaken their inherited memories).

....

Lin saw the awkward look inside Frostine's eyes when their eyes met while Bo An held her and felt the owl's unease, he patted Frostine's head to calm her down while beckoning for Sun to come.

"You two can't be willful anymore, everyone here is a friend and we shouldn't fight with one another needlessly. Frostine, apologize to Sun for bullying him, Sun, you know what you have to do. Right!" Taking Frostine from Bo An's hands, Lin brought the kitten and owl close with a gentle push as he spoke.

"Hoot...." Frostine lowered her head and nudged Sun a few times complying with Lin's order.

Sun shivered visibly underneath Lin's gaze then sighed in surrender while saying : "Geez, alright, I forgive her. Here's your kiss. Moah, happy now!" Then he pushed Frostine away from his body with his front paws and continued to say : "You messed up my whiskers Frostine, I don't like it when it happens." Then he worked on grooming his whiskers under the confused eyes of the white owl.

"Bffft.... I'm surrounded by cuteness, come here all of you." Bo An felt dizzy by this scene and hugged the three beasts and Lin all at once, her smile was brimming with satisfaction.

"How long do you think it will take to reach mercenary city?" Lin asked after the three beasts fled the stifling pressure of getting stuffed in Bo An's hug.

After all, Sun isn't comfortable with being stuck to Frostine, her affinity for ice countered his affinity for fire and made him feel suffocated when they were close.

Fang Bo honestly didn't like Sun, Frostine or Lin to be frank, he only endured because Bo An liked the boy that's all.

If it was up to him, he would prefer staying inside the medallion's space to cultivate, after witnessing Frostine reach the next realm his thoughts were focused on doing the same.

"Probably a week or a couple of days beyond that, actually, after reaching mercenary city I will be leaving for my clan. I really wish I could've stayed with you a bit more, but grandpa Ao said that it isn't safe for me to stay in this area of the continent any longer. What about you Lin?, Where are you heading for next?" Staring at nothing as she looked outside the window, Bo An sadly said that while imagining her upcoming days without Lin beside her.

"I'm not exactly sure, there's some materials I have to collect for a friend but don't you worry, Ill make sure to come visit you before taking you to see Mia together, will you be the judge between us?" Lin hasn't told anyone about Jin Bao except for Lily, seeing Bo An being overcome with troubling thoughts, he decided to give her a goal to distract her from this inevitable separation.

"Heh, you're not giving me any easy job, what if I took big sister Mia's side then?" Mischievously squinting her eyes, Bo An spoke while charging her satisfaction to the maximum with a second hug.

"Being impartial can be tough I know, but I trust you'll do the right thing. By the way, Mia kept mentioning the position of the first wife, you can use that chance to steal it away." Lin smiled when he saw Bo An getting overly clingy, while thinking about how much both of the girls has no idea about the weirdness of Lily.

And like he anticipated, Bo An's eyes glittered when she heard Lin's words, deep inside she was planning on competing with her big sister for this high rank which only one woman can get from bonding with Lin.

The rest of the day was spent peacefully, Bo An kept talking with Lin and asked him about the things she wanted to know about his background, except for the secrets of his rebirth, the ring of origin, the seven deadly sins inside his body, senior Kai and old Jin Bao, Lin told Bo An everything without hiding a single detail.

Bo An knew about the Tang clan's previous history and fall, she was slightly shocked to know about Tang Wei and the other's true identity, however, Lin's true age and accomplishments in spirit, soul, body and intent were a severe blow to this Chentian clan's princess, not to mention his twin sister back in the land of forgetfulness!

Feeling better to know the history behind Lin and fearful for her future with the boy who turned out to be the greatest genius she ever heard of, Bo An sat to cultivate inside the advanced spirit gathering formation and hoped to reach the 8-stage grandmaster before they separate from one another in the next city.

......

Inside one of the carriages of the moving convoy, one muscular young man wearing the outfit belonging to the Cheng clan's guards and looking to be between sixteen or eighteen years old sat alone to the side on his bed.

Unlike the majority of his team who slept soundly in their rest time or the few who sat to cultivate to be woke up soon for the next shift of guarding the caravan, the young man covered in hideous crisscrossing scars all over his face and body didn't sleep a wink's worth after his shift ended and kept staring downwards at the thin necklace hanging from his thumb and dangling from his open palm and swaying gently from the motion of the convoy, a tiny ruby red rock was the only thing decorating that necklace in his hand, which is the only material thing he has to remind him of his only known relative in this world, which is a dead mother, other than this necklace, all he has is a few, mostly vague, memories in his head.

"Live, Live and take what's yours by right, remember little..."

Shoulders shaking from sorrow when his mother's last words rang in his head, the young guard squeezed his eyelids shut with all his power and tears fell from the young guard's eyes on the carriage's floor as he weeped in silence while gritting his teeth as his heart weeped tears of grief all the same, the images of the only clear memory, and the last living memory of his mother played in his head.

It was snowing harshly that day, he was around five years of age and almost reaching six years old, shivering from the cold he was squeezed underneath the faint warmth of his mother's body who shielded his body next to a rock outside some city walls which refused to take them in because they had no entrance fees, but his small innocent eyes saw color fade away from his mother's usually pale, sickly skin until it gradually turned blue and her lifeless eyes kept staring down silently at him until he was discovered.

For as long as the young guard can remember, he and his mom were always on the move as if running from something or some one, she would beg for food or a place to stay for the night before they move again to somewhere else, that lifestyle felt normal to him and begging from others was the usual, however, seeing his mother selling her body for some food to ensure he's always well fed and to keep him alive during the cold nights always felt wrong to the young boy and made him feel bad deep inside.

Once, he tried to mention it to his mom that he's no longer a baby and can find something to do or some work to help her, she only smiled and hugged him tighter, however, her eyes were filled up with tears of sadness.

Until that damned night which robbed him of his loving mother, nobody wanted her flesh anymore for months before that night, after years of begging and living in fear she lost her beauty and withered like a lily flower who suffered from getting burdened by the frost of winter, even now he still remember the last words his mother said and the last look of gushing love and unwillingness to separate with her only child, how the people who found him outside the city after the storm passed and the layer of snow covering him and his mother melted, how these people struggled to release him from her frozen death grip!

"Wake up everyone, eh! You're awake Qiang Chi, good spirit, tell the others their shift is about to start." The man who opened the door of the carriage, made the young guard hide the necklace in his level one space ring and turn his face away to hide his tears before quickly wiping down his face, nodding once to the man at the door from the first shift, Qiang Chi got up to nudge his sleeping or cultivating partners to wake them up to go do their job.

As he walked outside with his team, Qiang Chi's thoughts never stopped, he was daydreaming about his childhood years after his mother passed away.

Qiang Chi's martial-spirit awakened while digging the grave for his mother, After burying his mother, he happened to hear from some people about how much the army of that kingdom was paying it's soldiers especially if they were able to awaken their martial-spirits, as it turns out, the kingdom his mother died in was at war with another kingdom.

Hating this kingdom and it's citizens for causing the loss of his only relative, Qiang Chi didn't hesitate to travel for days and months and face great danger just to join the army of the other kingdom!

He wanted to bury this kingdom with his mother, he blamed every soul inside it for the death of his mother.

From the age of six, battlefield became his only home, the scars all over his body was his way of quenching his rage for losing his mother, as if he was punishing himself for being weak and unable to protect his sickly mother with each scar he receives, from a soldier to a captain to a commander of a small detachment of the army to a full fledged general of an army numbering in the tens of thousands, he never rested until he accomplished his wish of doing his best to erase that kingdom from existence.

After personally killing his fair share of the royal family of that unfortunate kingdom with his two hands and overseeing the rest of the living royal family being sent to continue the rest of their lives in slavery, he watched the territories of that kingdom get divided between the rest of the surrounding kingdoms before going to visit his mother's grave for the first time, he cried at his mother's grave for days, not only because he was sad for losing her, but because after this endless carnage, countless battlefields and destruction of that kingdom.

It never erased the sorrow in his chest or brought her back to life, the void inside him only grew with each day and he felt empty and without purpose in life.

Eight years of rage, an endless cycle of killing in the battlefield or demolishing and burning whatever stands in his way, eight years of facing death countless times and rarely taking slight breather before diving again into the mindless killing wrath seemed like enough.

As he grew up, Qiang Chi knew that he was venting his anger and frustrations on the innocent, his mother's death has nothing to do with those whome he's fighting.

And here he's standing next to the grave after accomplishing what his younger self thought was the right thing to do, yet he's now sure that he wasted these years being a pawn in the palm of the kingdom's royal family which hired him and it's members always greeting him as their mighty courageous general with fake smiles and courtesies.

After living in the battlefield for years, his only gain was his intuition and developed instincts which never failed him and made him survive and elude death by the skin of his teeth many times.

"Live, Live and regain what's yours by right, promise me little Chi...."

As he stood there weeping like a baby on his mother's grave, Qiang Chi heard his mother's final words which he forgot in his rage-full years, decisively, he left that kingdom that very day and the years of aimlessly wondering under the sky brought him to pearl city.

Joining the Cheng clan for a guarding duty since he had nothing else to do, plus how he couldn't find any lead on "what's his by right" after four years of trying to keep his ears open for any news.

His cultivation wasn't anything great for his age, he's almost eighteen years old and still a spirit apprentice of the 7-stage!

If it wasn't for his special martial-spirit with the rare physical nature, then Qiang Chi would've died long ago and many times over.

'ever since I saw this boy Ming and my intuition is telling me to latch on to him, is it because he's an orphan like me?, No, that isn't it, but how can I get acquainted with the boy if he's always in the company of the fat merchant and the princess of the Chentian clan?, Even when we sparred I didn't get a chance to speak since everyone was watching, I feel like if I miss this chance there won't be another.' Qiang Chi was furrowing his brow as he tried to figure out a way to befriend Lin.

....

Inside another carriage, one man with a fit body who looks to be in his fourties and wearing a blueish-green robe and had a medium sized beard was sitting next to a thin but lovely woman who looked to be of similar age to the man and completely draped in a simple black dress, both of them sat watching a cute girl in a cute, small, white dress as she greedily stuffed her face with sweets enthusiastically.

The three of them wore a matching bracelet on their left hands which altered their auras and effectively managed to hide their identities, even Lin's soul sense didn't discover that they're in fact cultivators not mortals when he spread it to scan the area as the caravan convoy escaped the beast-wave, that was the time his soul force was the strongest!

These two old couple were stronger than Li Yang, Even the cute girl with smudges of sweets on her bulging cheeks had higher cultivation than Lin, despite being exactly five years old this day and currently annihilating her birthday cake, the girl was a 2-stage apprentice and if it wasn't for spending the three months without cultivating once to hide their identities as cultivators from the people in this caravan and disguise themselves as a small family of mortals, she could've reached the 3-stage apprentice!

Lin chatted briefly with the little girl before the sparring matches started and answered her question which wasn't bad for a child her age, of course he noticed the matching bracelets on their left arms and took it as a family tradition or something.

The couple sitting with the girl in the same carriage didn't speak, they held each other's hands and communicated through writing on the palms of one another.

'Zan Shui, do you think the information lady Yanmei gave us was wrong.' the woman in black looked at the man next to her as she wrote on his hand.

Taking a second to think, the man finally shook his head and wrote on the woman in black's soft palm to answer 'Fourth concubine Yanmei has a faint and distant connection of blood to the clairvoyant witches of the moon temple, she had a vision of danger all around princess Mei after the emperor falls from his throne, the first part came to happen half a year ago when her father the emperor got held back from leaving his sickness bed by the personal alchemist of the throne, then her siblings of the royal family started to scheme of pulling their youngest sister to support their claim for the throne and their attitude changed to hostility when her martial-spirit awakened at that startling young age, her mother's decision of sending her secretly to join the same sect like the number one genius is the right thing, we did our best to act like a normal family of mortals so far and safely left the Ling empire's territories, crossed the ocean and almost done crossing the pearl road, from mercenary city we can directly use a transportation formation to the heart seeking sect.' the man saw hesitation still in the eyes of the woman in black's after he wrote that long message on her palm, hugging her, he continued to write with his finger on her palm : 'don't worry Meiyin, even if there's any danger waiting for us in the road, you and I will protect the princess, there's still these mercenary leaders to assist us if anything happened and that orphan boy who proved that he's much more capable than I could've ever imagined.' Zan Shui noticed how the frown on Su Meiyin's forehead eased up when he reminded her of how their safety is assured and their mission of escorting princess Ling Mei was almost over.

"Ah! I ate it all too fast again, but it tasted too good. Yay, I'm five years old now, teheheh." While these two seniors sank deeper into their daydreams, the girl woke up from her eating-frenzy when the previous small mountain of sweets was no longer there on the table, only crumbs, bits and pieces of the cake decorating the smears of colorful sweet-stains was left on the table to confirm how much this little princess Mei just ate.

Patting her bulging stomach with her hand and slight unwillingness in her eyes because there's no more, Ling Mei finally got over her greed then shrugged and said while jumping in joy because she's no longer four but five now!

"Ah Da, your hand left a stain on your dress, you can't be this careless anymore otherwise mommy will have extra chores to do." Zan Shui saw the white dress receive a stain from what the princess did and spoke loudly to make whoever is outside or near their carriage hear what he said, from time to time they would play this game to give the impression of a normal family.

"Sorry father, I won't do it again." Smiling cheerfully, Ling Mei said then licked her fingers clean despite her maid Su Meiyin's glare, the man was her personal guard and the thin woman was his wife and the princess's personal maid and responsible for teaching her how to act like a proper princess.

"Come Ah Da, let's change your dirty garments." Su Meiyin removed herself from her husband's gentle hug, then walked towards the princess who started to run between the furniture while giggling like a naughty girl and pulled her to the bathroom to change.

Shaking his head, Zan Shui got up to clean the table while knowing that the reason his wife was worried was because she liked the princess like a daughter of her own and didn't want to be separated from her.

.....

Inside a certain carriage of Wei's caravan convoy, when Lin woke up from his sleep and stretched his soul sense, runes, inscriptions, and engravings lit up and moved to link together in a complicated formation on the inner walls of the carriage, which could only be seen by the figure in a black cloak sitting in the middle of the moving carriage, that formation made Lin see a normal family of five sitting together to chat while the youngesters played one of their board games when he stretched his soul sense.

The figure in black was sitting cross-legged in front of a bloodred cauldron and placing both hands on each of it's handles to send a constant stream of his spirit energy inside it, the five family members (which Lin saw in the faulty image caused by this strange formation in the carriage when he stretched out his soul sense earlier) were swimming in their own blood around the figure in black, inside the bloodred cauldron was a seething ghastly black liquid which endlessly bubbled as it boiled, from time to time a cloud of green gas would escape that black liquid when a bubble bursts, if these green clouds were given a closer look then a face of one of these five unfortunate family members could be seen inside it screaming in agony yet no sound could be heard at all, quick to swallow the green gas would be the finger-sized red snake which stood on the black figure's left shoulder.

Had Lin been able to look inside the carriage, then the black cloak and the insignia of a maple leaf half cut by a dagger with the stars around it would've made a single organization's name pop up in his head, assassins guild!

He held the strange cloaks of Weisheng and Xiangming in his palms before and there's no doubt that he can never get confused between any other black cloak and one belonging to the assassins guild, not to mention the insignia which belonged to that secretive organization which isn't foreign to Lin.

However, Lin never knew that one of these dangerous guys was actually in the convoy, never knew that he's working some evil scheme underneath his nose, never knew that one family is no longer alive and their open eyes devoid of vitality was staring at the murderer lifelessly as if to curse him for what he did.

"Geheheh, so what if there's a soul cultivator around hiding himself from my senses, blood demon will still finish the job before the princess reaches the safety of mercenary city." An evil sound was coming from underneath the extremely lowered hood of the black cloak, then this figure dipped a pale long finger after covering it with his spirit energy inside the disgusting black liquid concoction bubbling inside the bloodred cauldron then brought it closer to the small finger-sized snake.

As if seeing the most delicious meal, that red snake extended it's forked tongue and licked all of the liquid clean from his pale finger then entwined itself on his long pale finger as if it's a tree branch and gave her owner excited looks with it's small eyes.

"Go on and eat up, the reward from this mission is the primordial-source of a bog python in the beast lord realm. Maybe after refining it we'll reach the 8-stage tyrant and you little one will give me another strong ability." The figure underneath the black hood raised his head up slightly as he spoke which made two red lantern-like eyes appear in the darkness below the hood, somehow, despite the sound being grating and revolting, when that figure spoke to his martial-spirit he was gentle and caring with a very apparent touch of remorsefulness in his words.

As if that small red snake felt what it's owner was currently going through and feeling right now, it licked his fingertip to raise his morale before jumping inside that black liquid concoction.

Removing his arms from the red cauldron, the assassin watched his martial-spirit drink that disgusting liquid concoction and grow larger in size while feeling sorry for what it has become, his martial-spirit originally was transparent and pure like a diamond yet his fate took a severe turn once and he had no chance of living or cultivating normally anymore.

......

Lin sat to cultivate his spirit energy until dawn, Gang did his job fortifying the cleared pathway of the meridian while Lin did his best trying to familiarize himself with the energy of light and his wings.

Each time Gang brought energy to sacrifice for the white and yellow meridian's walls be that of the main or side-branch, the color of the walls wouldn't change but the width of the meridian tunnels would.

Expanding outwards and widening further, the meridian pathways ended up expanding by almost half when daylight arrived, opening his eyes after the session ended, Lin felt disappointment from the light energy strands around him who didn't get a chance to join his dantian.

Smiling ruefully at how the light energy felt like a little kid throwing a tantrum made Lin shake his head at this strange situation, Lin got up and quietly left the carriage when he saw Bo An and the three beasts still meditating.

Lin was slightly hungry right now and Tang Wei had just woke up and his breakfast table was being prepared in his carriage at the very front of the convoy, spreading his wings, Lin flew slowly towards Wei's carriage at low altitude.

"Good morning."

"Thank you for your hard work."

"Good day to you."

Each and every guard would raise their heads up and greet Lin excitedly when they saw him fly over their heads, smiling widely from ear to ear like kids after Lin politely answered their greetings, the majority of the conversations started to get oriented on their gains from sparring with Lin.

Leaving these guards who started to get rowdy behind him, Lin was confused when he found the young man covered in scars hand the reins of his mount (which is a strange bear with overly sized boar tusks) to the guard next to him and jump on the roof of the carriage to his left.

Cupping his fist, that young man opened his mouth to say : "good day to you young hero Ming, this Qiang Chi would like a private word if it pleases you." Then he politely waited for Lin while looking at him with pleading eyes.

Seeing confusion, curiosity, and shock in the eyes of this young guard's team, Lin flew right over Qiang Chi without stopping after saying : "good morning everyone."

Seeing Lin ignore his request, Qiang Chi sighed and was obviously disheartened, yet no signs of anger or blame towards the boy appeared on his face when the rest of his team gave him sneering looks.

'if you have anything to say, let's hear it.' Lin sent Qiang Chi with his soul link technique, which caused the young man full of crisscrossing scars to shudder slightly when he heard Lin's words ring in his head.

His team misunderstood his state of shivering shock as Qiang Chi stifling his anger because Lin ignored him just now, jumping back at his bear mount Qiang Chi lowered his head down to hide his excitement and answered : 'young hero Ming I wish to offer you my service, I was planning to terminate my contract with the Cheng clan after this mission since it isn't benefitting my future to stay anymore, however, after meeting you and witnessing your down to earth's personality, I'm sure I will forever regret it if I didn't join you in your upcoming journey.'

'what makes you so sure?.' Lin smiled faintly while enjoying the feel of morning's fresh air at his face, the young man's request was sudden and if Lin accepted every request similar to Qiang Chi's request maybe Wei would struggle to find anyone to guard his convoy anymore and Lin would find himself responsible for an army of cultivators!

"Ah Da!, Wake up it's time for breakfast." The sound of a woman was heard calling from a carriage ahead when Lin asked Qiang Chi.

"Hrrrmm..... This carriage below me, last time I saw the people inside it they were doing the exact same thing!." Out of curiosity, Lin stretched out his soul sense to take a look at the smart little girl called Ah Da who gave him a good question the day they talked and liked to eat sweets, then stopped when he found this contradicting detail on one of the carriages behind hers, muttering faintly, he kept his silence and waited to see the five family members inside it.

'I just believe it deep down in my gut, I know that my cultivation isn't anything compared to others my age, however, I believe I have superior instincts, intuition, and fighting experience. My martial-spirit's nature and affinity makes me perfect for the job of serving as your personal guard, if young hero Ming would allow it, then the honor would be mine and Ill swear the perpetual pledge of servitude and loyality.' Qiang Chi's answer made Lin smile, because from the look in his eyes, this Qiang Chi has something or a reason which he didn't include in this answer of his.

'well, what would you do if you were in my place?, No offense but, we don't know each other after all. Someone approaches you with a similar request out of the blue, now what?' Lin answered while squinting his eyes, the family of five in the carriage below him were making absolutely no sound at all, something just doesn't add up.

....

Meanwhile, in the carriage where the assassin was overseeing his martial-spirit's grow larger in size as it ate that disgusting liquid concoction, the strange formation was working on it's maximum capacity to confuse Lin's soul sense much to the worry of the figure below the cloak.

....

"Is that some kind of repeated transmission?, That family is a normal family of mortals last time we met! Soul gaze....."

'watch out there's danger near by get away!'

"Crackle...."

Lin muttered faintly when he noticed the slight inconsistency in the actions of the family, seeing Li Yang and Chen Fu coming his way with Ning Xue, Liao Lai, Zhang Wang, and a few other mercenaries, Lin wanted to check this situation with his soul gaze technique out of curiosity just to know how was that small family of five mortals able to confuse his soul sense!

He knew that when these guys arrive he would be momentarily distracted or probably he would lose the chance to get to know how this family did it in the first place, however, once his soul gaze technique was activated the fires in the second heart made a warning sound that made Lin unhesitatingly flap his wings to change his position from above the carriage to fly north and widen the distance from that carriage.

Just before he felt that warning from his fire intent, Qiang Chi's words had already rang in his head through the soul link technique!

.....

Inside the carriage, that assassin was standing up and looking at the approaching mercenary leaders and the Cheng clan's high commanders with a small group of mercenaries, his plans are in the most delicate moment just before his martial-spirit completely digested the secret formula of the demonic soul ash which can -for a small duration- strengthen his soul based spirit attacks to the lord level of strength!

However, suddenly the disguising soul formation which he placed on the inner walls of the carriage bursted after it couldn't block Lin's focused ray of soul sense when he used the soul gaze technique, the inscriptions, runes and engravings lost their colorful luster and dimmed considerably then faded altogether!

Without hesitation, the assassin knew that if he waited and stubbornly tried to finish the mission like he planned, he'll only end up losing the advantage of the factor of surprise and might get surrounded and murdered instead.

"Evil reign." Calling back his martial-spirit from the bloodred cauldron the previously finger-sized red snake and now a few meters long snake entered his left sleeve and vanished below the cloak, he slammed the two handles of the cauldron with his palms and inserted almost a third of his spirit energy all at once to the core formation of the cauldron and initiated this level six evil spirit tool sequence of exploding before jumping outside the carriage and single mindedly fleeing south as fast as he can.

.......

"Eh!" Lai was the first to feel the strange and foreign soul force from that carriage after Lin malfunctioned it's formation, then he saw the figure in black leaving it south and heading towards the territories of beast mountains.

'after him!, He killed the whole family inside that carriage.' then Lin's words woke up Lai from his moment of surprise, not only did he send this hurried message to the blade user, Lin sent it to the two mercenary leaders as well.

Then Lai saw Lin raise the carriage that "killer" just left with his soul force and toss it towards the fleeing black figure!

The killer was obviously a tyrant with quite an accomplishment because within these short moments he was a few kilometers away from the convoy and still going further!

However, Lin's soul force was weak but not that weak to fail him in sending that carriage homing on the black assassin with a much faster speed.

"Booom..." An explosion blasted that carriage a few hundred meters before it reached that figure and a strange cloud of thick and evil looking red clouds started to spread from the location of the explosion!

"Fellow cultivators stop! Don't give chase and protect yourselves, I sense the aura of a devil cultivator from this red energy. Don't let it enter your bodies or it will corrode your spirit energy and affect your minds, hurry and move the convoy north Cheng Wang or the tail will be caught up in this spreading energy. Everyone, stay behind the three of us and be ready to support us with your linked spirit energy, Fu you take the left Ill take the right, Xue you're the to remain between us and give assistance when needed. That's a lord level threat, don't blink or overestimate yourselves and work as a team all the time." Li Yang hurried to stop when he saw the spreading mist cover a mile in a couple seconds from the moment the explosion happened, activating his lightning armor and taking out his insignia of the lightning spear mercenaries the brown wooden spear shaft with a palm sized silver spear-tip, he threw orders to the men and Chen Fu took out an exaggerated hammer made from black metal and it's head was almost the size of Lin's body then activated his earth armor to comply with Yang's orders without delay.

Lin felt the danger and saw the situation inside the carriage once he moved away, when he saw the action of the figure in black before he left at a hurry, he pulled out the five bodies inside it while hurling the carriage towards the assassin, the badge on his chest answered the first question for Lin and nothing good comes from these individuals from that guild and it was better if he kept whatever that assassin choose to leave behind as far away from their convoy that's why he sent it towards the fleeing figure.

The explosion and the following strange red mist which blocked Lin's soul sense and fed it with the screams of agony and torment of god knows how many souls, made Lin sigh inside because that could've been a catastrophic event for the mortals and majority of cultivators in this caravan if they took the brunt of the first explosion from close range, not to mention what this red mist can do to them, he felt like this energy can do a lot more than what Yang said.

Hearing what Li Yang said about that endlessly spreading red mist, made Lin anxiously watch the caravan redirect itself towards the north as Li Yang took a small detachment of the strongest grandmasters and his two tyrant friends west to ensure that the tail of the convoy remain protected and unaffected by the spreading evil red mist.

Wang activated the spirit barrier around the convoy after redirecting it and stayed next to Wei with Zhang to act as his protectors since Lai was away with the mercenary leaders at the tail of the convoy.

'if you're so worried for them why don't you use your long range attack brat, tsk tsk tsk what an idiot you're! Sin energy is vulnerable to light energy. when will you ever start to use your brain?' Kai's voice made Lin look at the wings symbol on his right hand, remembering how large the effect when he used it against the beast blockade made Lin worry for the convoy instead from the shockwaves if he used that attack at that red mist!

The distance between the convoy and the mist was too short, last time he used that light beam from the symbol to attack the beasts, the beast-wave was four times the distance from the convoy compared to this red mist!

Yet the barrier looked to be strained to resist the following shockwaves, if he used that attack again then the convoy will be within the area of the main attack of the light energy, after that light beam hit the ground it expanded in a large area before vanishing and Lin can't control his energy after it leaves his body unfortunately.

"Seniors, if I attacked this energy can you keep the convoy safe from the aftershocks?" Lin asked Yang and Fu the two strongest cultivators in the group after suddenly appearing next to them, he was watching the mist expand and shrink the distance and seemed at a hurry to know the answer.

"We can do our best, your light energy would be a lot less harmful to us than this evil energy. Every cultivator, hear me out. Join your energies and block towards the south." Li Yang understood what Lin meant, he was amongst those who witnessed it happen before and knew that such an attack would be something which he could only hope to block if faced with Lin, otherwise if he tried to parry or evade it would be an impossible feat for someone like himself!

Yes, despite being one of the fast few, Li Yang knew that Lin's long range technique was fatal to tyrants after seeing the damage it caused to the beasts a few dozens of kilometers away, now that he's planning to use it on something that close they'll have to rely on themselves by creating a shield of their spirit energy behind the caravan's barrier.

Quick to respond, he ordered the cultivators in the convoy to help the two groups of mercenaries in fortifying the defense after giving Lin the green light.

"Young hero Ming's attack might give you some more bruises lads, I say it's much better than some devil cultivator's evil energy corroding my precious spirit energy. I say break a leg or two young hero Ming, these brave mercenaries would take your worst shot and shout again give us one more. Crushing hammer mercenaries has no cowards who fear to take a punch, ain't that right?" Chen Fu knew that the situation was bad when he saw the look inside Lin's eyes, he shouted while augmenting his voice with spirit energy to raise the morale of the men.

"Lightning spear mercenaries will take it, we don't fear to break a limb. Show us your mighty attack once again young hero Ming."

"Yes, last time I reflexively closed my eyes and only saw the big bowl of light energy grow bigger, we'll protect the Cheng clan's respected clients."

Lin didn't hesitate anymore when these few hundred cultivators stand in lines facing south on top of the caravan convoy or on their mounts, everyone linked their energies behind the three tyrants who stood at the first line behind the convoy's barrier.

Raising his right hand he pointed his forefinger towards the center of that incoming red mist and let the light energy exit the symbol and escape his body, Gang was inside the dantian and keeping a close eye on the gold room where the exit of the meridian's side-branch is.

A vortex appeared on the entrance of the meridian high up above the martial-spirit, then the two armies of dark-gold clouds were sucked into that vortex by the heap even if their generals panicked and tried to force their minions into staying they couldn't resist that strange sucking force from stealing their soldiers!

The light energy (which that vortex stole) travelled towards the exit of the meridian's side-branch but didn't take the normal exit which causes the light armor to be activated, the energy fused with the wings symbol itself and right before the light beam exited his finger for the second time.

Lin saw it happen even if it took a very quick moment to appear then disappear just as fast, a circle of light covered his gold symbol of wings and vanished before he got to see it clearly.

"Omm...."

"BOOOMm...."

"This is the moment of truth, hold fast now boys." Chen Fu shouted again before the thick layer of the surrounding terrain moved their way like a moving wave made up of earth instead of water after the light energy got blocked by the convoy's spirit barrier, looking at his two tyrants he gave them a fast side-glance because that barrier can never withstand the second hit, it all comes down to the question, is their combined spirit energy able to withstand an attack of that magnitude?

Lin saw his light energy evaporate the red mist like fire melts butter, from the white vapour that followed the disappearance of this red mist he felt countless words of grateful thanks from the countless souls who escaped their previous torment and his eyes burned in anger at the assassin who caused all this.

.....

"Heh, just how much is his faith energy going to become before he reaches the next stage, but he's still so stupid, I better take the brat here every once in a while and teach him myself, otherwise he'll reach the pinnacle of cultivation after I figured out a way to reach divinity on my own. Sigh, me and my soft heart, it's his seven ancestor's fortune to be personally taught the right way to cultivate the guiding light physique from Kai, kekekeke." Kai dangled a grapefruit in his mouth while lazily reclining on the extremely thick fur of a gigantic beast, he was using the poor fellow as a ladder to reach the fruits of the mountain tall tree then waited there to watch the action outside while completely disregarding the shivering in fear beast below him.

Hearing the evil strand of laughter at the end made the beast shiver more in fear, this little ancestor on top of his head can end his life with a single snap of his fingers after all.

While the beast shivered in dread, Kai was enjoying the massage to his back!

"Still wouldn't act huh, What a cautious girl!, that one is indeed careful just like before. Heh, things are getting interesting now brat, one more bee has come sniffing after your nectar." Cackling, Kai muttered while squeezing a grape for juice in his open jaw.

....

"You have to go help them!, That is all because of me, they're suffering because of me. You're stronger than them, why can't you go help?" Ah Da looked at the scary sight of the incoming wave of destruction made up of soil, sand, rocks, stones. Then she pleaded while looking at her fake mother and father who were evidently hesitating whether or not should they take the princess and leave right now.

"If you're not going to help them I promise to slack in my cultivation when I reach the heart seeking sect, you two can't enter the sect with me anyway. Humph." Seeing them hesitate, Ling Mei puckered her lips and said while looking away at the people who tightened their ranks and prepared to face this earth-wave after the convoy's spirit barrier failed to resist for a few seconds!

However, the youngest princess of the Ling empire's eyes had a sly glint fleetingly pass inside them.

"Sigh, we should go Meiyin." Zan Shui understood that the prophecy of the princess's mother (fourth concubine Yanmei) was on point when he felt the sudden movement behind their carriage, when he felt that little hero Ming throw the carriage with his soul force after the escaping figure and the following explosion he affirmed that the princess was the target and such unexpected attack could've been far nastier than an open assault.

Seeing that evil energy spreading in the air like ink polluting clear water, Zan Shui understood that the princess could've been delayed from a few precious years of cultivation if she fell inside it's effect even if they somehow managed to block the first explosion from affecting their small princess.

Seeing the look inside her husband's eyes, Su Meiyin nodded obediently and removed the "world's apart" bracelet from her arm to go with her husband to assist Li Yang, Chen Fu and his wife Ning Xue.

"Fellow cultivators Li and Fu, allow us to give you a hand of assistance." Zan Shui unleashed his 7-stage tyrant cultivation and Su Meiyin unleashed her 6-stage tyrant cultivation before they stood in front of the two mercenary leaders and linked their energies with the mercenaries.

.....

Lin wasn't interested in using his soul force in eavesdropping right now and was wholeheartedly focused on using it to scatter however much of that dangerous earth-wave, his worry wasn't for the cultivators really but these helpless mortals who innocently can suffer for life if the weakest shock managed to reach them.

Hearing that spirit energy augmented call from these two who should've been mortals made him sigh in relief, it doesn't matter if they were hiding their identities or whatever right now, if they're willing to help then he's grateful anyway.

Seeing Lin give a silent nod to their questioning gazes, the three tyrants and Lai didn't say a word and worked with the two additional tyrants to push back against this mountain's worth of earth moving their way.

Spirit energy attack after spirit energy attack was thrown at this earth-wave from everyone except for Lin who was afraid to use that technique after the second time of using it on a closer target.

With the help of Shui and Meiyin, the convoy managed to reach the safety away from the danger radius of the shockwaves.

"Senior Fu, can I trouble you and your lovely wife in helping merchant Wei and his men in take care of assessing the casualties and giving immediate help to those in need?" Lin took a look beyond the destruction towards the area that assassin was fleeing, then he turned to ask Fu.

"I'm on it young hero Ming, let's go Xue." Cupping his fist, Chen Fu dragged his woman who looked to be very eager to drown Lin in her questions, that was no time to do that, oh no not at all.

"Seniors, I think one of you should go take care of "Ah Da" while the other should join me, senior Yang and Lai on chasing that wicked person from the assassins guild, decide quickly on who stays and who leaves we have no time to waste here or the assassin will escape my senses. Right now he's wounded, that's our best chance to capture him alive and interrogate him for information." Lin looked at the two middle-aged couple and spoke in a tune that wouldn't take no for an answer.

Yang noticed how Lai was standing behind Lin silently like a follower and kept his silence as the boy spoke and looked at these two fellow cultivators to see how they'll react to a boy giving them orders with a shadow of a smile in his eyes, of course as a veteran mercenary he caught the hint inside Lin's words and put two and two together after seeing shock inside the eyes of the female cultivator when she heard Lin stress the words "Ah Da".

"You go Shui, he's the strongest individual." The woman in black squeezed the hand of her husband and spoke, her man nodded and took a step forward.

"Good, keep these men in a state of high alert senior Fu, who knows if there's others waiting for the strong to leave the pack." Lin turned and flew away while helping Lai fly with his soul force to keep up with these two tyrants, his words made most of the mercenaries (who just celebrated prevailing on young hero Ming's mighty attack) jump from fear at his warning, they tightened their grip on their weapons and heightened their senses.

"Y...young hero Ming-" the man called Shui tried to speak however Lin stopped him by interrupting rudely : "Senior "Shui" you and I have no previous enemity or grudges, however, the lives of these helpless mortals was endangered twice previously. Once, by the hands of that assassin and thankfully I was able to prevent it at the cost of making them face the consequences. It was either by getting their pure souls contaminated by that evil mist, or getting them buried by the aftereffects of my own technique if we couldn't protect them. I was betting on them getting buried alive instead of living while losing the only thing they have, the innocence of their pure souls." Stopping to give the middle-aged man time to understand the hidden struggle Lin had been facing all this time, he continued : "The price was heavy in the case of failure yet I would've carried it on my shoulders and moved on, I just hope it was worth it for you to endanger all these lives in exchange for one. Next time it wouldn't hurt to be careful, maybe extra more careful and give us a heads up wouldn't hurt. At least when I speak for myself, I'm glad to help but I don't want to make that hard choice once more." Seeing the middle-aged man blush in shame, Lin stopped and said no more.

"Much appreciated young hero Ming, this Shui understands." Zan Shui noticed how this boy was very different from what he thought he is, speaking with him felt like speaking with an elder not a brat who should be reeking the smell of breast milk.

"Good, the assassin is thirteen kilometers that way and wounded, you guys handle the grown-ups business and Ill do my best to save you if things got dangerous. Lai will be the support in case that assassin insisted on resisting the option of captivity." Lin nodded then pointed out the location of the assassin in hiding, then he patted Lai's shoulder encouragingly before freeing him from his soul force.

After all, the man was a powerhouse in the aspect of blade intent.

Unsheathing his long blade, Lai's eyes burned in fighting spirit as he followed behind a peak and mid grade tyrants to face another tyrant, right now, he needed that valuable fighting experience to reach the tyrant realm more than secluded cultivation, the ten high grade spirit cryastals are more than enough to give him the last push.

.....

In a natural crack of the rocks of this dwarf mountain, blood demon was gritting his teeth and hissing in pain as he struggled to remove that burning light energy from his body.

His martial-spirit would enter his body then come back out to spit a glope of red energy covering a ball of light energy, the light energy despite being the smaller of the two energies would ram the red energy and evaporate it as if in doing that is the funniest, most pleasurable game ever!

Of course, each time blood demon's martial-spirit did that (helping it's owner expell the light energy from his body) it's size would shrink and surprisingly, it's red color would fade.

However, the pain blood demon currently is feeling and going through, surpassed the degree of pain which he felt when he got kidnapped by that man after finishing the mission he received from his sect, that incident feels like it happened to him in another life now that he completely had to change into a drastically different personality.

"Hisss...." His martial-spirit's hissing warning woke him up from his daydreams, staring up at the two individuals who knew exactly where he's hiding and cautiously approached his temporary hideout.

"They caught up very fast, I should've taken your advice and left when the sin cloud gave us the perfect cover to escape, I got too greedy and bitten more than I could've chewed this time. With that soul cultivator it seems like you and I have met the last enemies of this journey, what do you say little one, wanna make it a worthy fight?" Blood demon's words were unburdened as he spoke with his martial-spirit as if it was a person, taking out a set of bloodred sword twins and holding one in each hand he ignored the remaining light energy inside his body and fearlessly exited the place of his hiding, one step after another he stood face to face with Li Yang and Zan Shui.

"Blood demon, one star spirit-pearl assassin." Silence ruled the atmosphere when the assassin spoke, he looked at the two tyrants who kept giving him strange looks then looked at the blade user on the ground below and frowned.

"They disdain exchanging words with someone like you, soul lock." Lin said that to himself then initiated the technique with an incomplete inscription, he didn't aim for anything like a complete submission but he aimed for an opening which these three could take advantage of.

"Hissss...." Lin felt a severe headache split his head when his soul force gathered around his third eye, then he saw that small red snake on the assassin's shoulder stretch out it's tiny forked tongue to hiss when his technique was activated.

It's two eyes glowed in silver light and Lin felt a strong soul force trying to resist the effect of his technique.

"Aaghhhaa.... Die!" Blood demon knew that Lin was the damned soul cultivator who foiled his plans and drove him to this corner, gritting his teeth and resisting the painful soul pain he pushed against air and dashed towards him while ignoring the two tyrants.

One sword coming from the right and the other from the left, his suicidal thoughts and completely offensive style of combat which left no room for defense is dangerous both to himself and for his enemies.

His bloodshot eyes was the only thing seen from that complete darkness below the hood of the cloak.

"Currents of the deep." Zan Shui wouldn't let that assassin ignore his existence and directly go for young hero Ming, the boy that saved the princess has to be repaid this favor by Zan, since he wanted this assassin called blood demon to be caught alive then he's going to do his best.

Next to Zan Shui, a cluster of blue water energy surrounded a blueish-green seahorse which spat one water bullet after another on that assassin's back, each bullet would expand just by absorbing the moisture from the surrounding water energy.

Li Yang twirled his spear in his right hand and dashed towards the left then fed his lightning energy to his spirit tool and unleashed a bolt of purple lightning to cut the path on that assassin, if he still aimed to continue his attack on Lin then he's going to receive both his and Shui's from behind and his left flank.

Lai smiled when he saw that assassin overestimates himself, tightening his grip on his blade's handle he was grateful for the thoughtful brat, at least he knows that during a high class battle between tyrants someone like Lai would struggle to keep up, that's why he sent him live feed with his soul sense.

Charging his blade with intent and energy, Lai waited for the right moment to make his move.

'wait... wait.... wait..... Now!' Lai held his eagerness then sent a golden crescent slash upwards when the assassin started to make his move on Lin.

"Kakakaka die!" Blood demon activated his trump card, an ancient talisman which he found in one fortuitous encounter a pure soul targeted creation.

"Hisss...." However, his martial-spirit lost a split second too early as it seems, yes he managed to use that nameless talisman on the boy, but he's now faced with three attacks coming from behind, below and from his flank.

If that boy hadn't trapped his martial-spirit in a confrontation of soul force, blood demon was sure he could've used it's other abilities to play with these three for a while even if he was injured and his body riddled with light energy to hinder the flow of his demonic cultivation.

"Don't kill him." Before the three attacks hit his vitals, and as blood demon was enjoying his small victory before perishing, since he managed to kill the most promising individual among the group despite the existence of two tyrants and one peak-perfection grandmaster while being injured.

He saw his sword attacks being stopped by the blade user below just at the moment his crisscrossing slashes were about to be unleached forward, the lightning bolt from Li Yang's left hand thrust met with the nameless talisman's soul force and pushed it to the side causing it to miss Lin's body, while Zan Shui's bullets which are the slowest of the three attacks covered blood demon's body like sticky glue and hardened like dry ice with the stunned assassin inside it.

Had Lin gave the death sentence from the beginning, these bullets wouldn't have just stopped at hardening and trapping this assassin.

"Now that we're done, let's go back or Bo An would start to worry about me." Wiping his sweaty forehead, Lin gave the restrained assassin one last look before taking Lai by the arm this time and hurrying back, his soul force was really spent after using his soul sense to scan more than once and his soul gaze a couple of times then stressing his remaining balance with a final use of the incomplete soul lock technique.

"Are you alright?" Lai asked with visible worry in his eyes when he saw Lin breathe hurriedly.

"See what happens when you fight on an empty stomach!" Lin gave the blade user a side-glance then smiled teasingly while giving him that silly answer just to enjoy seeing him frown in regret for even caring to ask.