Chapter 181 - A Hair's Breadth from Death

“Go on then.”

The middle-aged man in black robes was Lin Hantian, the Divine Light Sect’s tenth elder. He had brought Yang Yunji, the head of the Yang family from the Chu royal city, down to Yunfeng prefecture and into Qingshan town to further investigate the whereabouts of the younger of the two men he was trying to find.

And so it seemed that this young man was really some village rascal, as Yang Yunji had so described.

On top of that, according to what he had inquired from around Qingshan town, it was not hard to find out that this boy was a martial invalid at 16 years old.

In the short span of four years, this martial invalid seemed to have come across some strange miracle, but since then, it seemed to have helped him soar into the Primal Core stage; he was a Primal Core adept now!

He took all of four brief years to go from an absolute rookie to becoming a Primal Core adept.

This level of success was, needless to say, unheard of and unprecedented in all of the planet of Ziyun, but it was also unprecedented in all of the histories of the great planets which had a rich history and resources in the practice.

“Which mighty adept would descend upon this deserted little village in all of Ziyun to find such a successor?” Lin Hantian asked himself, as he considered that the chances of this happening were so small that it was nigh impossible.

If he were a mighty adept in search of a successor and had on the chance landed in Ziyun, he would surely have headed straight for the five great sects and picked one of the prodigies amongst their disciples and absolutely not look for a martial invalid in a godforsaken place such as this!

All this while, Lin Hantian had thought, “There’s a huge possibility that this young man named ‘Zhou Donghuang,’ had in fact received the essence from some mighty adept who had come to Ziyun.”

However, for a martial invalid to achieve so much in just a matter of four short years, to enter into the Primal Core stage and become a Primal Core adept, what manner of essence would that mighty adept have left behind?

Dharma? Primordial Soul?

Or perhaps…

Divine Transformation?

At the very least, Lin Hantian thought, even if it were to be an inheritance from a Dharma adept, it would not be possible for a complete martial invalid to become the formidable adept he was in just four years.

There had been the appearance of a Dharma adept before in their own Divine Light Sect, and so he knew some of the Dharma-level techniques.

And so, there could only be one other conclusion: That Zhou Donghuang had attained the essence from a mighty adept of the Primordial Soul stage or more!

Even he would be envious of the level of power that could come from that essence.

“First it was a core formula that would multiply the strength of Qi by 10, and this was surpassed by another formula that would amplify the Qi by 20 times… Our Divine Light Sect’s Alchemist Yu, the top core-forging master in all of Ziyun had said before, that even if he had come from the Primordial Soul adept’s own home planet, he would never have come up with such an advanced qi-gathering core formula.

“It is apparent that this core formula is something that has been left behind by a mighty adept… and that mighty adept would have been an adept beyond the Primordial Soul level and one that would have come from a great planet with an abundance of resources!”

The more Lin Hantian thought about this, the more scorching his look became as he considered Lin Lan.

Now, Lin Lan had to tell him everything.

As long as he could confirm all of his suspicions, he could use the whole group here as hostages to threaten Zhou Donghuang, force him to hand over the essence and have it all for himself to consume.

But of course, after the fact, the Divine Light Sect should not be able to make heads or tails of any of this.

With just the right amount of time, and with the help of the essence of that mighty Primordial Soul adept, he would surely be able to enter into the Dharma stage and become the top adept in all of Ziyun!

“My son told me that everything he has and was now was given to him by his sweetheart… His sweetheart is a Primal Core adept,” Lin Lan said gravely under Lin Hantian’s gaze.

“Sweetheart? Primal Core adept?”

Lin Hantian frowned, what did that all mean?

Did Lin Lan mean that… that Zhou Donghuang was in fact living off a woman and everything he had today, he owed to a Primal Core adept who was his lover?

“Brother Zhou’s sweetheart?”

At Lin Lan’s word, Yang Zixi momentarily lost her sense of panic at being held in mid-air, and looked suspiciously at Lin Lan, her face growing pale, “And… a Primal Core adept at that?”

Even though this was the first time that Yang Zixi had heard Lin Lan say these things, she believed it to be a credible story.

To top it off, she knew for sure that Yun Lu was very important to Lin Lan, and that she wouldn’t put her life at risk at that moment to lie so blatantly before this Primal Core adept.

Because of this, she felt a sting in her heart.

Brother Zhou had a sweetheart now?

And furthermore, one who was a Primal Core adept?

“Humph!”

At this point, Yang Yunji called out coldly from his place on the back of the giant eagle. “Completely absurd! Would a Primal Core adept even take interest in your martial invalid of a son?

“Besides, even if such a respected adept were to be attracted to your son, the complete invalid, he’d be thrown aside after a bit of fun… How could anyone possibly allow him that level of transformation!

“I would never have thought that, even at this juncture, you would dare spread lies about this, Lin Lan.” Yang Yunji laughed coldly.

Yang Yunji’s words seemed to have struck home with Lin Hantian, because everything he said, did seem to make complete sense.

Especially since he himself was a Primal Core adept.

In the eyes of a Primal Core adept, even a Connate-level adept, or any Qi-Gathering adept, much less an ordinary person, would be as insignificant as an ant.

And if he, Lin Hantian, were indeed ever to become attracted to a young woman who was a martial invalid, he was sure that it would be just for a short, fun fling, before he would leave her for good.

It would be impossible for him to spend that much time and energy building up the other’s skills.

That would not only be bothersome but also completely unnecessary.

And if he were to be truly moved?

Would a Primal Core adept, rich in experience, be so easily tempted by a person like that? And what more, by a martial invalid no less?

The possibility of this happening was indeed slim, if not entirely impossible.

“How dare you lie to me?”

Lin Hantian looked into Lin Lan’s eyes again. His gaze was extremely cold, and his face seemed to be covered with a layer of frost. The ice in his voice revealed his anger.

“I am not lying to you!” Lin Lan frantically shook her head as she said, “All of this came from the mouth of my own son.”

Even then, Lin Hantian could not believe a word Lin Lan said. “Since you remain stubborn, I will just have to make an example of this little girl!

“I do hope that you can protect the others after she dies.”

As Lin Hantian coldly declared this, the giant hand which had seized Yun Lu in the sky quickly dissipated, leaving her without any form of support, and she started to fall from the sky, dozens of meters from the ground.

As Yun Lu started falling, the look of panic in her eyes flickered out, and this was replaced with a smile on her delicate, little face.

“Mother! May I come back in another life as your real daughter, and be Big Brother’s actual little sister!” she shouted as she was falling.

Just as Yun Lu finished her sentence, as she was speeding downwards, until she was only 10 meters from the ground.

“Little Lu!”

Lin Lan had subconsciously made a move to catch hold of Yun Lu, however, Lin Hantian had mercilessly flung her aside with the swipe of a hand, and she could only hopelessly watch Yun Lu’s fateful fall to her death.

In the face of death, Yun Lu managed to maintain a brilliant smile on her face as she looked on at Lin Lan.

This, however, caused Lin Lan even more distress. “Little Lu… No! No!”

“Who goes there?!”

As Lin Lan, Yang Zixi and the others despaired, Lin Hantian suddenly shouted out in a grave voice.

At the same time, they all saw a giant black figure swoop down from the sky, and managed to grab hold of Yun Lu a split second and a hair’s breadth away from her death.

At this, Lin Lan and the others breathed a sigh of relief.

“The man who has come to kill you,” a bored voice rang out in response to Lin Hantian.

At the same time, the huge shadow that rescued Yun Lu landed in the front yard of the run-down residence, right beside Lin Lan.

At this, the crowd could see that the man who spoke was a young man in white robes.

The youth in white held Yun Lu’s waist in his arms, and at his feet was a huge, black golden-crowned eagle, its wings apart and spreading over twenty meters.

In comparison, the size of this black eagle was no smaller than the giant eagle that Yang Yunji was riding on.

“Big Brother! It really is you Big Brother!”

The girl in the arms of the young man dressed in white opened her eyes in panic, then her eyes suddenly brightened, and her pink, dainty little face was full of excitement.

“Donghuang!”

“Brother Zhou!”

“Young Master!”

Lin Lan, Yang Zixi, Fu, Leng Hanfeng and the others had all collectively seen the face of the young man in white and recognized him immediately even though his features were more mature now.

Whoosh!

Under the shocked stare of this group of people, Zhou Donghuang emerged from the air holding Yun Lu in the air, as he slowly flew towards Lin Lan and placed Yun Lu beside her.

“Mother, Little Lu, let me deal with this matter first.”

Zhou Donghuang patted Yun Lu on the head and smiled slightly as he said this to Lin Lan, his eyes full of warmth.

“Donghuang, be careful.”

Lin Lan was shocked that her own adopted son had become a Primal Core adept. At the same time, she could not help but remind him as such, afraid of what he was intending to do.

After all, both of them were Primal Core adepts, and no one could say who was the stronger or weaker one.

“Brother Zhou, he’s… he’s a Primal Core adept too?”

“Young Master, he has become a Primal Core adept?”

Yang Zixi, Fu, Leng Hanfeng and the others were completely flabbergasted as they regarded Zhou Donghuang in shock.

They had never thought in a million years that, in just over a year, the young man in front of them have crossed past the Connate stage and become a Primal Core adept.

“You may rest easy, Mother.”

Zhou Donghuang slightly nodded at Lin Lan and then turned and leaped up into sky to face Lin Hantian in mid-air.

“You’re from the Divine Light Sect?”

“That’s right!” Lin Hantian raised his head proudly. “I am the tenth elder of the Divine Light Sect, Lin Hantian.

“Zhou Donghuang, to think that you have returned… This is good, and saves me the trip back to Shenguang Empire to figure out how to flush you out.”

Lin Hantian returned Zhou Donghuang’s gaze, his eyes full of insatiable greed.

“This Zhou Donghuang… How is it that he is now a Primal Core adept too?” Lin Hantian thought.

This time, Yang Yunji finally came back to his senses from the shock and looked into Zhou Donghuang’s eyes again his face full of incredulity and disbelief.

If his memory served him right, this Zhou Donghuang, didn’t he just turn 20 this year?

A 20-year-old Primal Core adept?

In fact, amongst all who were present, the only person who was not at all shocked to find that Zhou Donghuang had become a Primal Core adept, was Lin Hantian, for he already knew about all Zhou Donghuang had achieved.