From Fanwu to Xinghai

Chapter 25 Undercurrents

After leaving the stone platform, Lin Chen and Qin Mo did not go far.

The two found a secluded bush at the edge of the dense forest, sat cross-legged, and began to recover their spiritual energy while secretly observing the movements in the direction of the stone platform.

"You don't trust him," Qin Mo suddenly said.

This is not a question, but a statement.

Lin Chen did not deny it: "Aren't you one too?"

Qin Mo remained silent for a moment, then nodded gently.

"Senior Brother Xiao Yan...something's off." Qin Mo's voice was very low. "When he recommended me to join the inner sect, his eyes were strange. It wasn't admiration, it was more like...looking at a tool."

Lin Chen felt a chill run down his spine.

He had been pondering Xiao Yan's purpose in approaching him, but now that Qin Mo had said this, he felt more certain that Xiao Yan had designs on both him and Qin Mo.

"Have you noticed the fluctuations of spiritual energy on his body?" Lin Chen asked.

"Fire elemental power. Very pure, but..." Qin Mo paused, "...unstable. It's like it's being suppressed by something, and could go out of control at any moment."

Lin Chen nodded.

During his conversation with Chen Xuanfeng, Uncle Chen also mentioned Xiao Yan, the genius from thirty years ago, who had once lost control while cultivating fire-based techniques.

That was a dark history that the Qingyun Sect deliberately concealed.

Now, it seems that Xiao Yan is repeating the same mistakes.

"We need to be careful of him," Lin Chen said.

Qin Mo didn't speak, but his eyes gave the answer.

Just then, a muffled thud came from the direction of the stone platform.

The entire dense forest was shaking.

Lin Chen suddenly stood up, his gaze piercing through the layers of branches and leaves, looking towards the stone platform—

He saw it.

A crimson beam of light shot into the sky, piercing straight into the clouds.

In the center of the pillar of light, Xiao Yan's figure appeared and disappeared. His right hand was pressed on the alchemy furnace, and crimson flames were surging wildly from his palm, scorching the runes on the furnace.

The runes trembled violently under the high temperature, emitting a piercing buzzing sound.

"He's forcibly destroying the alchemy furnace!" Qin Mo's expression changed drastically. "He's insane! That will trigger the secret realm's restrictions!"

Before he could finish speaking, another loud bang rang out.

But this time, the sound didn't come from the direction of Shitai.

Instead, it comes from the depths of the secret realm.

That's the direction of the forbidden area.

Lin Chen's pupils suddenly contracted.

He could feel it; the Time River mark between his brows was heating up wildly, as if sensing some enormous crisis approaching.

"The forbidden area..." His voice was a little hoarse, "...also happened there."

Qin Mo's face turned pale: "Xiao Yan's actions triggered a chain reaction. The array on the alchemy furnace is the core of the secret realm; he's destroying the array's core!"

"The forbidden area will also collapse."

The two exchanged a glance, both seeing the same thought in each other's eyes: Run!

But just then, a cold voice came from behind.

"Want to leave?"

Lin Chen turned around abruptly.

Three inner disciples dressed in blue robes emerged from the dense forest and blocked their path.

The leader was a tall, thin man with a cold smile on his lips. His cultivation level was at the peak of the Qi Refining stage, a whole realm higher than Lin Chen's.

"Junior Brother Lin Chen, Junior Brother Qin Mo," the tall, thin man said with a smile, "It's the second day of the trial. Have you accumulated enough points?"

Lin Chen did not answer, but silently observed the positions of the three.

There's one at the peak of the Qi Refining stage, and two at the seventh level of the Qi Refining stage. It's a three-on-two situation.

"Don't be nervous." The tall, thin man raised his hand, signaling his companion to stop. "We're not here to fight."

"Then what are you doing here?" Qin Mo asked coldly.

"Let me remind you two junior brothers," the tall, thin man said slowly, "Of the top twenty on the leaderboard, seventeen are inner disciples. This time, fifteen of the trial slots will be reserved for inner disciples."

His gaze lingered on Lin Chen for a moment.

"Junior Brother Lin Chen is the top disciple of the outer sect, and his cultivation is quite impressive. However... the inner sect has its own rules. The top ten belong to the inner sect; you outer sect disciples shouldn't even think about it."

Lin Chen said calmly, "The rules are set by the sect, but there's no rule saying outer disciples can't enter the top ten."

The tall, thin man's expression changed slightly.

"Junior brother, you have quite the nerve," he sneered. "But it doesn't matter, you'll soon learn the rules of the inner sect..."

He paused, a sinister glint flashing in his eyes.

"It's more effective than the rules of a sect."

As soon as the words were spoken, the three of them moved at the same time.

Lin Chen was prepared.

Just before the three made their move, the mark between his eyebrows suddenly heated up.

"Time slows down!"

The world seemed to slow down in his eyes.

The tall, thin man's attack was a sharp sword light aimed straight at his throat, but due to the slowing of time, the sword light moved as slowly as a snail.

Lin Chen dodged to the side, extended his right hand, and spun the short knife in his hand, precisely slashing at the wrist of the tall, thin man.

At the same time, Qin Mo also made a move.

His figure transformed into three afterimages, launching attacks on the two inner disciples from three different directions.

"Phantom Movement Technique!" one of them exclaimed.

But his reaction was too slow.

Qin Mo's afterimages were like three sharp blades, leaving three bloody marks on his shoulder and arm before he could react.

"You!" The man clutched his wound, his face filled with disbelief.

Meanwhile, the confrontation between Lin Chen and the tall, thin man had reached a fever pitch.

The tall, thin man's cultivation was indeed superior to Lin Chen's. The peak of the Qi Refining stage was superior to the seventh level of the Qi Refining stage. In terms of spiritual power alone, the difference was at least 30%.

But Lin Chen had time to slow down.

Every time the tall, thin man made a move, Lin Chen could predict his attack trajectory in advance and make the best response in the shortest amount of time.

As a sword thrust came, Lin Chen dodged to the side and countered with a backhand slash.

As a palm struck, Lin Chen retreated and countered by pushing off the ground.

As the punches and kicks clashed, the tall, thin man's face grew increasingly grim.

"What kind of movement technique is that?!" he growled through gritted teeth. "My attack was clearly faster than his, why?!"

He doesn't understand.

Under normal circumstances, he was indeed faster than Lin Chen. However, Lin Chen's time slowing allowed him to continuously accumulate a slight advantage in battle, making him 0.1 seconds faster than his opponent with each dodge and 0.1 seconds earlier with each counterattack.

One tenth of a second is nothing, but what about ten or a hundred? After a few dozen moves, this gap becomes an insurmountable chasm.

"it's over."

Lin Chen's voice rang in the ear of the tall, thin man.

The short knife flashed with a cold light, aiming straight for the opponent's throat.

But at that moment, the ground shook violently again.

The crimson pillar of light suddenly swelled, and a violent surge of spiritual energy swept over, forcing everyone back several steps.

"What's going on!" The tall, thin man steadied himself, his expression changing drastically.

Lin Chen looked up towards the stone platform.

He saw it.

The runes on the alchemy furnace were shattering piece by piece, and Xiao Yan!

Xiao Yan's body is burning.

Crimson flames erupted from his seven orifices, engulfing his entire body in a sea of ​​fire.

But he did not die.

He stood there, looking up at the sky and laughing heartily.

"Hahaha! It's out! It's finally out!"

Deep within the secret realm, the massive stone gate had been fully opened.

Purple light poured out from the door, illuminating half the sky.

A suffocating aura emanated from the purple light, as if something that had been sleeping inside for tens of thousands of years was finally about to awaken.

In Lin Chen's mind, the imprint of the river of time pulsed wildly.

That wasn't ordinary power; it was dimensional power.

It has the same aura as its mother, Su Wan.

"Is the one imprisoned in the forbidden area... a dimensional ruler?" Lin Chen murmured.

He recalled his father Lin Yuan's last words, the history Chen Xuanfeng recounted, and the outline he had worn out from reading it so many times.

The most powerful ancient civilization once ruled the eleventh dimension of the entire universe. They attempted to break through the limits of dimensions and ascend to a higher-dimensional world, but they failed.

The entire civilization was destroyed in the experiment of dimensional ascension, with only a very few individuals surviving by chance and spreading the seeds of civilization to lower-dimensional universes.

And now, one of the sparks has been ignited!

Awakening.

"The forbidden area... has been opened?" The tall, thin man's voice trembled.

He didn't have time to argue with Lin Chen anymore and turned to run away.

The other two inner disciples also scrambled away from the dense forest.

In the blink of an eye, only Lin Chen and Qin Mo remained in the arena.

"What should we do?" Qin Mo asked.

His voice carried a rare hint of tension, an instinctive fear of the unknown forces.

Lin Chen remained silent for a moment.

The forbidden area has been opened.

What's locked inside could very well be the remains of a dimensional overlord, or perhaps an avatar of his mother, Su Wan.

No matter what it is, it's all related to him.

He can run.

But he can too.

"I'll go take a look," he said.

Qin Mo was stunned: "Are you crazy? In there..."

"That's a dimensional ruler," Lin Chen interrupted him, "...related to my parents."

He looked at Qin Mo with a determined gaze.

"I can't run."

Qin Mo remained silent for a long time.

Then, he took a step forward and stood next to Lin Chen.

"My master..." his voice was low, "also studied dimensional power. He said it was the ultimate mystery of the universe."

He raised his head and looked at the purple light shooting into the sky in the distance.

"I'd like to see it too."