Chapter 127: Entering Seclusion

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The Cloudbreak Mountains, within the Yellow Maple Valley region of the Yue Kingdom.

The first ray of morning sunlight streamed through the window and fell across Lin Yang’s face.

Stung by the light, Lin Yang threw off his quilt, rose from bed, dressed himself, and prepared to go outside.

His movements startled Shui Miao’er beside him awake. Still groggy, she rubbed her eyes.

Lin Yang looked at the breathtakingly beautiful Shui Miao’er lying naked beneath the covers, with only her two jade-white arms exposed.

His soul was stirred once more. He leaned over and kissed her.

“What are you doing in broad daylight?”

Shui Miao’er was annoyed at being roused so early, but her words were so gentle that Lin Yang felt as though his heart had been lightly struck by a pair of tiny fists. The sensation was utterly captivating.

After their playful teasing ended, Lin Yang dressed with Shui Miao’er’s assistance and returned to his secluded cultivation chamber in the Cloudbreak Mountains. By then, he had abandoned his final lingering attachments.

For the next decade or more, he would rely on that Red Lotus to push his cultivation forward with all his strength.

A few days earlier, Lin Yang had gathered every spirit stone from his shops in the Chaotic Star Sea and the Yue Kingdom.

He had amassed a full five million spirit stones, an enormous sum that naturally attracted the attention of many cultivators.

However, the spirit stones had not been brought out all at once. They represented decades of accumulation by two large merchant associations.

Moreover, Lin Yang had used most of the spirit stones to nurture his disciples and his own forces. He had also spent a great many of them continuously exchanging for scarce spiritual medicines.

Together, these factors created the illusion that his income and expenditure were balanced. Otherwise, some ill-intentioned Nascent Soul cultivators might have been tempted to make a move.

Naturally, using those spirit stones to develop his own forces was entirely reasonable. His few family members alone consumed an enormous amount of resources.

Over the course of nearly thirty years, Yun Ting, who had broken through to the Foundation Establishment Realm while still in her teens, had received vast quantities of resources. She had already reached the Core Formation Realm ten years earlier.

The reason she had advanced so quickly was entirely due to the Golden Origin Pills Lin Yang had prepared. Anyone wishing to break through as quickly as possible had to gather rare treasures capable of increasing the odds of success.

Otherwise, one could only painstakingly temper one’s spiritual energy and soul to improve the chances of breaking through.

Apart from Yun Ting, Lin Hu had also reached the Core Formation Realm. Lin Hu was now over fifty, yet he was still younger than Senior Sister Hong Fu had been when she achieved the same breakthrough.

The emergence of two Golden Core cultivators in succession caused the Lin family’s reputation to soar. After all, throughout the entire Yue Kingdom, the Yan family had previously been the only clan known to possess a Core Formation cultivator.

Yet now, the Lin family, established only a few decades earlier, possessed three Core Formation cultivators. Although it had once relied on the support of a sect to develop, this was still astonishing.

Over the past few years, several more disciples had reached the Foundation Establishment Realm. Lin Yang had found all of them in various places. They were talented disciples without influential backgrounds.

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These disciples could be said to belong entirely to the Lin family’s forces. Under the Lin family’s nurturing, they grew up as though they were part of one household, receiving equal treatment without discrimination.

Coupled with Lin Yang’s subtle indoctrination, they now regarded themselves completely as members of the Lin family.

They were the people Lin Yang trusted most after his own relatives.

…

Lin Yang summoned all the nonessential disciples back to the Cloudbreak Mountains and activated the grand formation.

At that moment, he stood amid the summits of four mountains. As he brought his hands together, golden pillars of light suddenly erupted from the four peaks.

The four pillars converged in the sky, gradually merging into a sphere of light. In the end, they formed a golden orb as large as a meteor.

Lin Yang then turned his joined hands downward, palms facing the earth, and struck the ground from the sky with both palms.

The enormous orb dissolved into the clouds covering the mountain range. The white mist that had drifted lazily through the air began to gather, eventually enveloping the entire range.

As the white mist continued to condense, it compressed into dark, roiling clouds.

The clouds began to rotate, generating vast amounts of electrical energy. Countless streaks of purple lightning flashed within the mist surrounding the mountains.

The disturbance startled the beasts below. A tiger hunting at the foot of the mountain suddenly realized that its territory had been swallowed by the clouds.

It hurriedly seized its prey and began making its way back toward its den. But when it was still two miles from the mist, an enormous thunder dragon suddenly burst from the electrically charged clouds.

In an instant, the roar of thunder shook the entire valley. Countless trees were blasted black and charred.

Where the tiger had stood moments earlier, only a pit several dozen meters deep remained, along with a scorched stretch of earth.

Not even a fragment of its body was left. The tremendous thunderclaps and dazzling purple lightning terrified every animal in the vicinity, sending them fleeing in panic.

The lightning continued for a full two miles. Every tree along its path was reduced to ashes.

A completely scorched passage had been carved straight through the forest.

From then on, anyone approaching the mountain range would be subjected to such attacks. Yet this amount of energy represented no more than one-thousandth, or perhaps less than one ten-thousandth, of the grand formation’s total power.

After inspecting the completed formation and seeing its formidable might, Lin Yang nodded in satisfaction.

He then sent his voice throughout the valley. All the disciples who needed to return had already been summoned back.

“The Cloudbreak Mountains will be sealed for ten or twenty years.”

“The formation is now active. No disciple may enter or leave.”

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After speaking, Lin Yang prepared to open the door to his secret chamber. At that moment, Wang Ling’er came running over.

“Ling’er, is something wrong?”

Lin Yang looked at her curiously as she approached.

“Your nephew, Lin Hu, hasn’t returned yet.”

“Didn’t I send word for him to come back long ago? Why hasn’t he returned?”

Lin Yang was somewhat puzzled. Several days earlier, he had already sent word for most of the disciples to return, and Lin Hu had been among them.

“I don’t know. But apparently Sect Master Zhong needed him for something.”

“Then I suppose that matter delayed him.”

Lin Yang found it somewhat strange after hearing Wang Ling’er’s explanation, but after thinking it over, he decided it was probably nothing.

Lin Hu had already reached the Core Formation Realm. Even if he remained outside, there was no one who could easily threaten him.

He could simply stay out there for the time being, though Lin Yang would have to send him another message telling him not to return.

The grand formation Lin Yang had arranged was no ordinary defense.

To ensure absolute security, he had used all his finest materials.

If someone tried to force their way inside while he was in closed-door cultivation, the entire formation would unleash a power so immense that even an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator would be unable to withstand it.

What if Lin Hu attempted to break through the formation and was struck to death?

At the thought, Lin Yang took out a jade pendant and infused it with spiritual energy, sending a message through it.

Once everything was settled, Lin Yang pushed open the door to the secret chamber. Under Wang Ling’er’s reluctant gaze, all that remained of him was a solitary figure disappearing into the darkness.

After Lin Yang entered, the heavy stone door closed with a deep thud, sealing him and Wang Ling’er apart as though it had divided two separate worlds.

…