Chapter 164 - Son of God Body

“One sword move? This certainly has to change.”

When he had first met Qin Ya, Lin Yao had been an intermediate martial artist. Although he was very talented, he had only awakened a short time ago, and his capability hadn’t stood out amongst the group of martial artists. In order to create hype for Lin Yao, Qin Ya had created a martial artist image for him based on his ability to defeat every opponent with one sword move.

However, the situation had changed. The Celestial Tree had advanced, and Lin Yao had realized the profound meaning of guardianship. Explosive attacks unleashed through the combination of power and speed were no longer his strongest move. Instead, his defensive and healing abilities had strengthened. Since his forte had changed, their previous agreement about One Sword was no longer valid.

“The earlier agreement is void, but you should try to be as cold and indifferent as possible when facing an enemy and as warm as possible when facing your fans. It would be best if you could smile at them more. Try being cool to your opponents in a battle and warm and bubbly around your friends. People nowadays like this kind of contrast very much.”

“It seems very troublesome.”

“You’ll be able to earn money like that. Although you have money now, it is given to you by other people. Don’t tell me you want to rely on the donations of others in the long run?”

“Of course not, I’ll try to do what you say.”

“Very good, but the moment you will choose a dojo will be delayed.” Afraid that Lin Yao would misunderstand, Qin Ya quickly explained. “The dojos see one another as opponents, and you can only choose one of them. You’ll stand to gain the most if you make your choice at the peak of your fame. Also, we have to change your combat skill teacher. This will have to wait a little…”

As he listened to Qin Ya speak about the various arrangements, Lin Yao had only one thought in mind.

‘It feels great to have a good, professional manager.’

While talking endlessly, Lin Yao and the group returned to Ninghai City.

He had thought Qin Ya hadn’t been affected when he’d said that their agreement was off. However, Lin Yao wasn’t aware of something. Qin Ya had sunk her nails so deep into her palm that she had scarred it.

The distance between Tianhai City and Ninghai City was not that long. However, after the encounter in the morning and the various journey transits, it was about 10 o’clock by the time they returned to Ninghai City.

Lin Yao didn’t return home. Instead, he booked a hotel near the city center. He bathed, rested in the room, and waited for the start of the competition.

After the trip to Tianhai City, Qin Ya was busier than before.

She was contacting the white gloves[1] of the higher-ups of Tianhai City to search for their information and see which ones they could cooperate with. In addition, this was meant to set up the Project Hope charity organization in accordance with Lin Yao’s instructions.

Of course, although Lin Yao was also planning to found a school, he couldn’t name it Project Hope officially. The specific funding mechanism and name had not been discussed. Nevertheless, they needed to first establish a framework. Once this was done, Qin Ya had to look for poor residential areas that were truly in need of primary schools. She also needed to contact the engineering teams and arrange for someone to supervise the work. Otherwise, if there was corruption, the cost of constructing one primary school might be ten times as normal.

After finishing all of this, she also needed to help Lin Yao negotiate with the person “spreading rumors” behind his back to eliminate the impact of his scumbag image.

Afterward, she also had to look for a suitable teacher to teach Lin Yao combat skills and negotiate with the merchants who had reached out to her.

Lin Yao, who had been resting, noticed that Qin Ya had been taking calls continuously, and her gaze had never left her laptop. He experienced a rare moment of shame and wanted to tell her to take a break.

However, before Lin Yao could express his thoughts, Qin Ya received another phone call. This time, after looking at the caller ID, she went outside the room instead of picking up the call next to Lin Yao.

“Hello.”

“Sister Qin, why aren’t you back yet? I… Xiaojing and the rest have already… Besides, Xiaotian… has a problem.”

Qin Ya was next door and didn’t turn on the speakerphone. However, Lin Yao’s various physical attributes had improved tremendously, and he could still hear a small part of the conversation and find out who had called.

Like him, they were martial artists under Qin Ya’s wing. It was the team of five.

“I’m coming back soon. I’ve already found out what happened. You guys have assistants, and they are competent enough to handle these things.”

“But we want you… Come…”

Five minutes later, Qin Ya returned to the room to work again. Lin Yao frowned and looked at her.

“Are you going to Shanghai?”

“Of course, that is the headquarters of our company. But please don’t worry, Mr. Lin. I’ll take care of all the arrangements here and get you an assistant before I leave. I won’t delay your development.”

Lin Yao opened his mouth but didn’t utter a word eventually. He kept drawing the guardian mark in his mind.

The practice of a combat skill didn’t end when one realized its profound meaning. Profoundness was merely the fifth level of combat skill proficiency. There was also another level—transcendence—above it. It was all about abandoning the mark of others and creating a profound meaning that belonged to oneself.

Even when it came to profound meaning, there was a difference in power depending on how much one had comprehended.

There was no end to training. While sitting under the windows of the hotel, Lin Yao opened all the windows and basked in the sun. After calming down, he began to draw the runes of the guardian holy seal, which had become more complicated. While drawing, he was recalling the video he had seen earlier. He also thought of the strong willpower of Chinese people, who were united and formed a stronghold in the face of a disaster. This recollection aided Lin Yao in his drawing.

However, soon, the scene in Lin Yao’s mind changed from a fuzzy image to the image of the orphanage he had been to. One by one, the cheers and delighted expressions of the children when they’d received the supplies emerged in his mind.

Sensing the joy of those children, Lin Yao gradually felt more relaxed, and the corners of his mouth also curled into a gentle smile.

Amid this joyful and relaxed atmosphere, one by one, runes identical to that of the guardian holy seal appeared on Lin Yao’s shabby bronze holy garment. After the appearance of the runes, Lin Yao’s holy garment became thicker and heavier.

‘You can count on me to guard your smiles.’

The practice lasted until 11:30 a.m, and Lin Yao, who was immersed in this joyful atmosphere, was awakened by Qin Ya.

“It’s time. Your battle is starting. I’ll be rooting for you.”

“Aren’t you coming?”

Upon seeing Qin Ya remain at the doorstep, Lin Yao didn’t know why he had asked this question. In the past, Qin Ya had never gone to watch a match.

“I’m busy with some things.”

“I see.”

…

Thus, he parted ways with Qin Ya and headed toward the stadium, feeling a little unhappy. The hotel was located near the stadium, so he reached his destination in less than three minutes.

To a certain extent, the youth competition in the city center was comparable to the college entrance examination. Today was the first day of the individual competition between the top 32 players. There were more spectators than he had expected. Each time an elite martial artist made their way into the top 32, they would attract many onlookers.

However, this paled in comparison to Lin Yao.

When he appeared before everyone’s eyes, the venue suddenly became silent for several minutes. Almost everyone was watching Lin Yao, and some people were even rubbing their eyes.

“Damn it! I hadn’t seen him for just one day. Why does he look more handsome now?”

“Damn… I’m a man. Why can’t I help feeling happy when I see him?”

“Buddy, you’re not the only one who feels this way.”

“Something is wrong. My sexual orientation is normal, but I feel extremely at ease when I see him. Is this the ability of his charm?”

Of course, this was not a low-level ability like charm but something called leadership, emotional appeal, or—crudely termed—the Look of God.

The source of Lin Yao’s light attribute abilities was the Celestial Tree, which was derived from the Kabbalah Tree of Life, and the Kabbalah Tree of Life was a sacred tree that belonged solely to the One God religion. This Tree of Life was inhabited by angels. Rumor had it that it contained all the knowledge in the world, as well as a record of the transformation from a human to a perfect person through the Path of the Flaming Sword.

Lin Yao’s Armored Body Of Light was not the upper limit of the Celestial Tree. When it reached the peak, the Armored Body Of Light would transform into an Angel Body, followed by the Son of God Body and then the Holy Spirit Body.

The One God of their religion was perfect, omnipotent, and supreme, and he was the only god in this world.

Regardless of whether this mythology and the disputes between the gods were true, the god of the One God religion was considered the king of kings and the overlord of lords. He was perfect and flawless and was the manifestation of all the beauty in the world. Lin Yao chose this path because he wanted to move closer to the intrinsic nature of the One God, Yahwei, and head toward the truth and goodness of the world.

The Light Adjustment was constantly perfecting Lin Yao, and this was the manifestation of his progress.

As Yahwei’s perfection was the right way of the world, Lin Yao, who was gradually stepping toward perfection, attracted everyone regardless of their gender and age. He would even reach the stage of attracting not only men and women but also living species soon. Every being, including those flying in the sky, walking on the ground, and swimming in the water, would be drawn to such perfection.

This was the attraction of lower life forms to higher life forms. They could see the evolution in Lin Yao.

Of course, in order to achieve this, Lin Yao had to reach at least the Son of God Body. Now, his perfection was still restricted to the differences between race and gender.

At the moment, women still favored Lin Yao, and men would only have positive feelings about him when they looked at him directly.

The improvement of his appearance had attracted everyone’s attention, and soon, a group of reporters rushed toward Lin Yao.

Various kinds of topics bombarded him from a distance.

“Student Lin Yao, rumor has it that you’re dating Yan Yuer. Is this true…”

“One Sword, the two of you stepped out of the hotel one after the other, and you didn’t look too happy. Did something happen?”

“Student Lin Yao…”

The numerous microphones made Lin Yao frown and blocked his way.

In the face of everyone’s inquiries, Lin Yao kept walking without saying a word. Upon seeing this, those people could only make way for Lin Yao by stepping back. However, they pressed on with their questions, hoping to get some information from him.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard they questioned him, he remained silent and continued walking ahead.

Despite this situation, something happened eventually. While everyone was jostling one another, someone at the front was unable to retreat and collided with Lin Yao. Then, a strange scene occurred. When this collision happened, Lin Yao’s body flickered a few times like an illusion and then disappeared without a trace.

“What is this? Refraction illusion!”

“Find out where Student Lin Yao is. His refraction illusion is only one meter away from him!” shouted some people.

However, they soon discovered that something was amiss. The illusion was not within one meter of Lin Yao. When the refracted image had disappeared, Lin Yao had already been 30 meters away.

“Student Lin Yao…”

Very soon, everyone swarmed toward him again.

Following that, while everyone was rushing and closing in on him, that figure dissipated immediately. When they focused their gazes again, Lin Yao’s figure reappeared about 30 meters away from the dissipated figure.

“What is this?”

“His refraction illusion ability has improved.”

“It can’t be. He has improved by more than 10 meters of distance after just one day. Don’t tell me he has used a cheat…”

After the reporters failed to stop him several times, Lin Yao entered the stadium. The tabloid reporters could only halt regrettably.

However, there were still many unethical reporters. Although Lin Yao didn’t say a word right from the start, some of them made up news involving him.

“When he was asked questions about the relationship between the two, Lin Yao didn’t deny it.”

“Sealing his lips… Student Lin Yao has silently admitted to the relationship between the two.”

“Student Lin Yao had a cold and aloof expression on his face. Things don’t seem to have being going smoothly for the two ever since that night.”

…

Silence was consent, and his indifferent expression meant the two of them were not in a nice relationship. Such an analysis was not considered brainless. Some editors even made two or three adaptations of the first version.

“Things don’t seem to be going smoothly for the couple after that night. Could Student Lin Yao be impotent?”

“One Sword is well-known for his fast moves. After that night, the two of them haven’t looked very happy. This…”

[1] The term “white gloves” generally refers to a middleman that launders corrupt money behind a seemingly legitimate front.