Inside the great hall, the last wisp of blue light, like a dying firefly, flickered and vanished, dissolving into the void.
Lin Ying stood frozen, staring at the empty space where the Holy Mother of the Azure Lotus had been. Tears she could not control welled in her eyes and streamed down her cheeks. Though her time with the "Grandmother" had been brief, she had felt a bond that transcended twenty thousand years—a deep, soul-level connection of kinship and boundless love.
"Grandmother…" she whispered, her voice choked. Then, she took a deep, shuddering breath, wiped her tears away with the back of her hand, and a look of solemn resolve settled on her young face, belying her age. She took two steps back, knelt, and kowtowed three times toward the empty air.
Each kowtow was performed with the utmost sincerity, her forehead touching the cold stone floor with a solid thud. It was the highest form of respect she could offer to the ancestor who had given her everything—her legacy, her power, and a new life.
When she rose, her eyes were still red-rimmed, but her gaze was steady. She walked to the massive Sect Master's throne, crouched down, and carefully retrieved the palm-sized, pure-white jade carving of the nine-tailed fox from the hidden socket. The carving was cool to the touch, and it seemed to hold a faint echo of the Holy Mother's aura.
"I will carry on your legacy, Grandmother," she murmured, tucking the carving safely away. Then, with a wave of her hand, she commanded, "Big White! Little Black! Sky Blue! Golden Yellow! Let's go!"
Her army of beasts answered with low growls, forming up around her as she led them out of the great hall. The massive stone doors groaned shut behind them, sealing the silent, legacy-filled chamber once more.
Deep within the Xiya Mountains, at the foot of the nine-tailed fox statue…
Three days had passed. The wind howled, and the sand swirled as it always had.
Lin Che sat slumped against the cold, stone base of the statue, his eyes hollow, his face gaunt and covered in stubble. For three days and three nights, he had not slept, leading his people in a frantic, fruitless search. They had turned the area upside down, yet found nothing. His sister's trail had vanished as if she had never existed.
Hope had slowly, agonizingly, been replaced by despair.
Luo Jiayin knelt beside him, gently pulling him into an embrace. She stroked his back, her heart aching at the sight of his exhaustion. "Lin Che, don't… don't lose hope. Perhaps… perhaps Ying'er truly did stumble upon a great opportunity. Maybe she's safe somewhere."
Her voice was soft, but it trembled. Even she was struggling to believe her own words.
Mao Shiba, Old Ma, and the others stood at a distance, their faces grim. Blood Fiend, in its miniature serpent form, lay listlessly coiled around Luo Jiayin's wrist, too dispirited to even hiss.
A suffocating, deathly stillness had fallen over the group.
Then—
BOOM!
The earth behind the stone statue erupted without warning!
A massive stone door, several zhang high and covered in ancient, esoteric runes, tore its way out of the ground! As the door rose, it swung open with a deafening groan of ancient machinery, revealing a passage filled with swirling light and dense spiritual energy.
From within that brilliant light, a small figure emerged, walking with a calm, measured pace.
It was Lin Ying.
But she was not the same girl who had vanished three days ago.
An aura of immense, oceanic power radiated from her—the unmistakable pressure of a cultivator at the Peak of the Deity Transformation stage! Her every movement carried a natural, unshakable authority that starkly contrasted with her youthful appearance. The Chaos Azure Lotus Mark on her forehead glowed faintly, pulsing with a mysterious light.
Behind her, her army of beasts filed out. Big White, Little Black, Sky Blue, Golden Yellow—each one was vastly more powerful than before, their auras fierce and controlled. They followed her in perfect order, their eyes docile, a loyal imperial guard to their newly ascended master.
"YING'ER!"
Lin Che's eyes, once hollow, blazed with a light more brilliant than the sun. He shot to his feet as if electrocuted and charged toward the figure he had feared he would never see again.
"BROTHER!"
Lin Ying's face broke into a radiant smile. She opened her arms wide.
Lin Che did not stop. He crashed into her, wrapping his arms around her so tightly it seemed he was trying to fuse their bodies into one. The formidable, terrifying master of the Slaughter God Pavilion, the man who had made the Xuantiān Domain tremble, was gone. In his place was a lost child who had finally found his way home. He buried his face in his sister's shoulder and wept—great, heaving, body-wracking sobs that tore from his throat. He cried out three days of terror, of guilt, of desperation, and of despair.
"Waaah… Brother, don't cry!" Lin Ying said, flustered, patting his back awkwardly. "I'm fine, see?"
Luo Jiayin, Old Ma, and Mao Shiba rushed over, their faces a mixture of shock, overwhelming joy, and sheer disbelief as they stared at the embracing siblings and the girl who now radiated the power of a Peak Deity Transformation expert.
What in the world had happened in those three days?
Half an hour later, in the main hall of the Slaughter God Pavilion…
The atmosphere was… peculiar.
Lin Che, Luo Jiayin, Old Ma, and Mao Shiba—the four core leaders of the Pavilion—sat in a row upon high-backed chairs, their expressions stern, their gazes sharp and interrogating.
In the center of the hall, Lin Ying stood alone. Her hands were clasped behind her back, her head slightly bowed, looking for all the world like a schoolgirl being reprimanded by her teachers. The overwhelming Deity Transformation aura was gone, tucked away so completely that she once again seemed like a harmless child. Only the faint lotus mark on her forehead hinted at the transformation that had taken place.
Ahem.Lin Che cleared his throat, struggling to project an air of fraternal authority, though his red-rimmed eyes somewhat spoiled the effect. "Lin Ying. You… you will explain yourself! Where have you been for the past three days? And this… this cultivation base… what is the meaning of this?!"
Luo Jiayin tried and failed to suppress a smile, but she played along, adopting a severe expression. "Yes! Tell us everything! No omissions!"
Old Ma stroked his beard, his eyes twinkling with curiosity. Mao Shiba simply glowered, the very picture of "the truth will set you free."
Lin Ying peeked up at the four "judges," stuck out her tongue, and then launched into a full, detailed account of her three-day adventure.
She told them everything. The chase after the nine-tailed fox, the activation of the statue, the stone door, the secret realm barbecue, the discovery of the Hall of Ten Thousand Beasts, the encounter with the remnant soul of the Holy Mother of the Azure Lotus, the inheritance, the power boost… She spoke with vivid detail, her voice filled with wonder at some points and tinged with sadness at others, especially when she described the Holy Mother dissolving into motes of light. By the end, her eyes were red again.
As her story unfolded, the expressions of her audience shifted from shock to astonishment, then to sheer incredulity, and finally settled into a profound mix of awe and a chilling sense of what might have been.
"The Hall of Ten Thousand Beasts… the Holy Mother of the Azure Lotus… a twenty-thousand-year wait…" Old Ma muttered, his fingers flying as he performed calculations. "Incredible… simply incredible! This girl has stumbled upon a destiny-defying opportunity!"
"So that's it…" Luo Jiayin let out a long, slow breath, her hand pressed to her chest. Her gaze toward Lin Ying was one of deep relief and complex emotion. "No wonder her aura has changed so drastically. She has inherited the life's work of an ancient powerhouse."
Lin Che's heart swelled with a confusing mix of pride and a lingering, protective fear. Pride that his sister had been chosen for such a destiny. Fear for the danger she had faced alone.
When Lin Ying finished, silence fell over the hall.
After a moment, Lin Ying looked up at her brother, her expression more serious than he had ever seen it. "Brother, I need to use the forbidden chamber in the back mountain."
Lin Che blinked. "The forbidden chamber? What for?"
"I need to go into seclusion," Lin Ying stated firmly. "Grandmother gave me too much—techniques, memories, her insights into cultivation… I've only swallowed it all whole. I haven't digested it yet. I need time to sort through everything, to make it truly mine."
For a moment, Lin Che was speechless. Then, an explosion of pure, unadulterated joy lit up his face.
"OH, GLORIOUS HEAVENS!" he roared, slapping his thigh so hard the sound echoed through the hall. He nearly leaped from his chair, all traces of his earlier despair gone, replaced by a grin that stretched from ear to ear. "Our little glutton… she actually wants to cultivate?! The sun must have risen in the west! A miracle! An absolute miracle!"
Still laughing, he bellowed toward the door, "Quickly! Prepare the forbidden chamber in the back mountain at once! Activate all defensive formations! Double the spirit stone supply! My sister is going into seclusion! No one is to disturb her! Anyone who dares will be executed!"
The command sent the entire Slaughter God Pavilion into a flurry of activity.
Lin Ying watched her brother's ecstatic reaction and smiled. But her smile was different now. It was tinged with the weight of a tremendous responsibility. She touched the two massive spatial rings on her fingers, then the jade fox carving in her robe, and finally, the warm lotus mark on her forehead.
"Grandmother," she thought, "I won't let you down."
This seclusion would be the most important transformation of her life.