One month later, deep within the same dense forest, a white-robed Lin Jing was darting rapidly through the underbrush. Silver light flickered beneath her feet, and the faint sound of wind and thunder accompanied her movements. Her speed had reached a level where it was nearly impossible to track with the naked eye.
Not far ahead of her, a green, leopard-like beast weaved swiftly through the trees. Though wind-attributed and known for its speed, the beast was unable to shake off Lin Jing. On the contrary, she was quickly closing in. As silver light flashed again, another fierce battle erupted.
Over the past month, most of the forest's trees had been destroyed in the skirmishes between Lin Jing and the magical beasts. However, with Xiao Yan's Life Spirit Flame at his disposal, restoring the area took no more than a flick of his finger. It was precisely because of this ability that he had chosen this forest as Lin Jing's training ground.
"Boom!"
The battle ended in barely a dozen breaths. A resounding thud echoed through the forest as the peak Creation Rank beast crashed to the ground, a spear piercing directly through its skull, ending its life.
Compared to a month ago, Lin Jing was now an entirely different person. Back then, she would fumble even against a beast weaker than herself. But now, she could easily cross realms and slay a magical beast that was stronger than her by a small boundary. The improvement was unmistakable.
After a month of brutal training, Lin Jing had developed a sharper aura, her demeanor colder and more focused. Each of her attacks flowed smoothly and naturally—clear evidence that she had fully mastered her combat techniques. She was confident that if she fought her old self from a month ago, she wouldn't even need any skills to completely overwhelm her.
Of course, such immense progress came at the cost of Xiao Yan's inhuman training methods. During this time, he had applied every kind of training he could think of to her—making her climb cliffs with bare hands while he dropped boulders on her from above, forcing her to split river currents with her fists… The only reason he hadn't used a jeep was that it simply wasn't available. If it had been, he would've driven it at her just to see if she'd dodge it or die.
"Not bad today," Xiao Yan remarked, nodding slightly at the beast's corpse. He casually tossed over a pill bottle. "Today's training ends here. Rest and recover—don't want your aunt blaming me when she sees you injured."
"Mm." Lin Jing nodded. The one-month deadline had finally arrived. According to the deal Xiao Yan made with Qing Tan, today was the day they were to exchange her for the ten billion Xuan Yuan Pills. She was about to be free.
She felt a mixture of excitement and sadness. On one hand, she was finally done with training and would soon see her Aunt Qing Tan again. But on the other hand, once this was over, Xiao Yan would likely leave—and seeing him again after this might be nearly impossible.
Over the past month, Xiao Yan had thrown her into countless near-death situations, only to rescue her in the nick of time again and again. Over time, she had developed a deep emotional dependency on him. Though she knew full well he was the one putting her in danger, she still couldn't help but develop some strange feelings toward him.
One could say she was exhibiting clear signs of Stockholm Syndrome...
Unlike Lin Jing's complicated emotions, Xiao Yan was rather pleased. Through this, he had proven that his teaching methods still worked. While his approach might leave people half-dead, the results spoke for themselves. Of course, if Lin Jing knew what kind of training his first disciple, Ye Lingyu, had gone through, she'd probably complain quite a bit...
Naturally, Xiao Yan hadn't spent the entire month just training his disciple. Thanks to the various Heavenly Flames and medicinal pills he had on hand, his own injuries had healed by another 20%. He was no longer critically wounded. All he needed now was the ten billion Xuan Yuan Pills, and with a full recovery, he could begin gathering the special energies necessary to break through to Dou Di.
Just thinking about that made Xiao Yan's blood boil with anticipation. Once Lin Jing finished recovering, he brought her back to the Yang Yuan Mine. But as soon as they arrived, Xiao Yan sensed something was wrong. Extracting Yang Yuan Stones typically created significant noise, yet the entire mine was eerily quiet—there wasn't a single sound.
"It's so quiet…" Lin Jing murmured, only for Xiao Yan to immediately interrupt her.
"Don't say that ever again."
"Why not?"
"Because in every normal scenario, saying that is followed by a van pulling up, three men in black jumping out, and spraying bullets everywhere."
"…Huh?"
While Lin Jing stood there puzzled, Xiao Yan grabbed her and leapt into the mine. They hadn't gone far before they saw bodies strewn across the ground. Many of the corpses were familiar to Xiao Yan—former fellow miners. They still held their pickaxes in hand, clearly dying mid-extraction.
After inspecting them carefully, Xiao Yan confirmed that all of them had died—no signs of life, and even their souls had been completely wiped out. Yet their bodies bore no visible wounds. What was even stranger was the peaceful, joyful expressions on their faces—as if they had died in a dream.
This odd phenomenon reminded Xiao Yan of his own Nether Poison Flame. That flame's poison could induce dream-like hallucinations and kill people without them ever realizing they were dying. Could these people have been poisoned?
Xiao Yan took a deep breath and unleashed his immense soul power. In an instant, he blanketed the entire Yang Yuan Mine in a sweeping scan. He quickly located Qing Tan's presence and immediately teleported to her location using spatial power. But when he saw her, he couldn't help but frown.
Qing Tan was quietly seated cross-legged on a stone platform, eyes closed and breathing steady. At first glance, she appeared to be cultivating. But Xiao Yan knew better—she would never choose today of all days to enter secluded cultivation, especially not when they were supposed to meet and exchange Lin Jing for the ransom.
He didn't disturb her immediately. Instead, he scanned the room again with his soul power and soon found something odd—several pitch-black, eight-petaled flowers growing in a hidden corner of the room. A strange fragrance was wafting from them, and Xiao Yan instantly sensed that this scent was the culprit behind the mine-wide deaths.
Even more alarming, these flowers weren't isolated. They were scattered in numerous corners throughout the room. After a quick count, there were well over a hundred.
"That's… the Eternal Illusion Demon Flower?" Lin Jing followed his gaze, and upon seeing the dark flowers, she gasped in shock.
(End of Chapter)
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