In the blink of an eye, eighteen years had passed since Lin Yun was reborn in the Yanhuang Country. By now, he was a handsome eighteen-year-old.
It was worth mentioning that, as if by some fateful arrangement, his father had still named him Lin Yun. His parents' names were also unchanged, just as they had been in the Divine Realm.
The only regret, perhaps, was his Cultivation. The Celestial Spirit Continent was a mortal world beneath the Divine Realm, and compared to the beings there, the people here were nothing more than ants. Even a random Main God from the Divine Realm could become a supreme expert upon arriving on the Celestial Spirit Continent.
Sitting alone in the courtyard, Lin Yun knew Lin Xiaotian and Zhang Jingxiang had forgotten everything about the Divine Realm. He wasn't even sure if they were truly the same parents he'd had there.
However, judging from their appearances and personalities, they were practically identical to the Lin Xiaotian and Zhang Jingxiang of the Divine Realm.
'Divine Emperor…' Gazing at the sky, a deep-seated hatred filled Lin Yun's eyes. His entire family had been executed, all because the Divine Emperor felt Lin Xiaotian's accomplishments overshadowed his own.
Though Lin Yun's heart burned with a deep hatred for the Divine Realm and the Divine Emperor, he knew he still had a long road ahead of him if he wanted revenge.
After his rebirth, Lin Yun's Cultivation had completely vanished. The power he once possessed in the Divine Realm had turned to nothing, and he had no choice but to start over from scratch.
Fortunately, he retained the memory of a supreme Divine Realm technique—the Unparalleled Technique created by the War God Lin Xiaotian himself, known as the War God Technique.
As a Divine Realm Technique, it was naturally unparalleled in power, but it was also extremely difficult to cultivate. Even in his past life, Lin Yun had only barely managed to memorize the verses of the War God Technique; he never had the chance to actually practice it.
"Divine Realm… Divine Emperor… one day, I, Lin Yun, will return! And when I do, you will all pay the price for what you've done," Lin Yun said with conviction.
Just as the words left his lips, Zhang Jingxiang called out from a short distance away, "Yun'er, what are you still doing here? Hurry to the Martial Arts Training Ground, or your father will be angry again."
Hearing this, Lin Yun stood up and replied to Zhang Jingxiang, "Alright, I'm going now." With that, he started running toward the Martial Arts Training Ground behind the courtyard.
Daily training was a mandatory lesson Lin Xiaotian assigned to Lin Yun. After all, as the son of the Grand General of the Yanhuang Country, it would be a disgrace to have no Cultivation to speak of.
'Whether Father and Mother remember or not, the revenge for what happened in the Divine Realm is mine to bear.' On the way, Lin Yun had already come to think of Lin Xiaotian and Zhang Jingxiang as the same parents he'd had in the Divine Realm over these past eighteen years.
But since they had forgotten the Divine Realm, the burden of vengeance naturally fell to him. In his heart, Lin Yun had sworn a solemn vow more than once: since he had been given a second chance, he would one day bring the entire Divine Realm to its knees.
When he ran all the way to the Martial Arts Training Ground, Lin Xiaotian was already waiting for him. Upon seeing Lin Yun, Lin Xiaotian's expression turned cold as he barked, "You're fifteen minutes late."
At his words, Lin Yun obediently approached his father and said with a cheeky grin, "Father, I just lost track of time. It won't happen again, I swear."
Hearing Lin Yun's words and seeing the playful smile on his face, Lin Xiaotian sighed in resignation. It seemed this son of his had no interest in the path of Martial Arts whatsoever.
Ever since he was a child, he'd had to force him to train every single day, and each time, his son would just go through the motions. Over the past decade, some of his peers had already broken through to the Opening Realm, yet Lin Yun was still stuck at the Eighth Layer of Body Refining Realm.
As the days passed, however, Lin Xiaotian's feelings began to change. He started to think, 'If my son doesn't like practicing Martial Arts, then so be it. It's not as if I can't provide for him. As long as our family can live in peace and safety, that's enough for me.'
Lin Yun, of course, could guess what was going through Lin Xiaotian's mind. After all, having lived two lives, he was far more mature than his peers.
However, there were some things he could never tell Lin Xiaotian, such as the fact that he was cultivating the War God Technique, a Divine Realm Technique.
It was a Divine Realm Technique. Setting aside whether Lin Xiaotian would even believe him, a great disaster could befall the Lin Family if even a whisper of it got out. It was better to be cautious.
During the day, under Lin Xiaotian's supervision, Lin Yun went through the motions of his daily mandatory training. After dinner, he returned to his room and waited for two hours. Figuring his parents were now asleep, Lin Yun quietly slipped out of the Lin Mansion and ran toward the mountain outside the city.
As the Grand General of the Yanhuang Country, Lin Xiaotian's duty was to guard the border. The city where the Lin Family resided was a major strategic fortress on the eastern frontier of the Yanhuang Country: Iron Gate Pass.
It was situated right next to the Nan Feng Kingdom, making it a vital chokepoint for the Yanhuang Country.
After stealthily making his way to the back mountain, Lin Yun settled on a hidden cliff and began his true daily training.
He had been coming here every night since he was six or seven years old, cultivating the War God Technique day in and day out. The technique itself was the very reason his progress seemed so slow.
The War God Technique emphasized building a solid foundation. Only with unshakable roots could one support explosive growth later on and reach greater heights.
Sitting cross-legged on the ground with his eyes closed, Lin Yun followed the method prescribed by the War God Technique, continuously absorbing the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi to temper his body.
Normally, Martial Artists in the Body Refining Realm improve through constant physical exercise. War Shepherds, however, temper their bodies using Heaven and Earth Spiritual Power. Though this method takes much longer, its advantages are obvious.
A body tempered by Spiritual Power is on a completely different level from one built through constant exercise. Furthermore, once this tempering is complete, breaking through the Body Refining Realm will grant the body an unimaginably high affinity for Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi. One's future cultivation speed would naturally become astonishingly fast.
That was why Lin Yun never took his father's disappointment or others' ridicule to heart. So what if many of his peers had already broken through to the Opening Realm? What did that matter?
Even now, Lin Yun's physical strength alone far surpassed theirs. Once he broke through the Body Refining Realm and reached the Opening Realm, he would be able to insta-kill them all.
As the Spiritual Qi entered his body, the War Shepherd continuously guided it into every part of his being, including every single meridian. Under the flow of Spiritual Qi, Lin Yun's bones and meridians began to emit a faint, silvery light.
This was the sign that the Spiritual Qi was tempering his body. Bathed in the silver light, Lin Yun's bones looked as pure as Jade, and his meridians were completely free of impurities.
He cultivated until just before dawn, then slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of foul air. Seeing that the sky was beginning to lighten, he immediately started running back toward the city.