Chapter 599: Zi Rat Sword Qi

This Teng Yun reacted quite shrewdly, and when he spoke, his expression was mournful, appearing utterly devastated. He didn't speak much, but he covered every loophole he could think of.

If it were an ordinary person, they would likely have been fooled by this person's words to some extent.

Wang Lin coldly glanced at Teng Yun, withdrew his gaze, and stepped forward. Teng Yun's expression subtly changed; he retreated a few steps and stared at Wang Lin, thinking internally: "The Armor on this person is too terrifying, and I can't discern his cultivation. I don't know if he is a Cultivator or a Demon Person from this place… But even if his cultivation is high, once he steps within ten zhang of that corpse, he will surely die. I won't make a sound. After he is killed by the Golden Radiance radiating from that treasure, I will acquire the treasure using my own method, and then even this Armor will be mine!"

Teng Yun sneered inwardly, but on the surface, he displayed an expression of suppressed anger mixed with fear of stopping him.

Wang Lin stepped forward, entering within ten zhang of the Zi Rat's corpse. The moment he entered, Golden Radiance immediately flashed from the Zi Rat's corpse. This Golden Radiance was like ten thousand golden needles, suddenly shooting out in a flash.

Joy and a hint of smugness appeared in Teng Yun's eyes, but immediately, he gasped sharply, and the smugness vanished.

The eyes hidden within Wang Lin's helmet emitted a cold chill. With a wave of his large hand, the Golden Radiance was instantly swept away. Wang Lin already had experience collecting the Sword Qi of the Twelve Sword Sages. At this moment, he calmly stepped out again and arrived beside the Zi Rat's corpse.

His casual step, seen by Teng Yun ten zhang away, was utterly terrifying. Teng Yun thought things were bad, and just as he moved his body, intending to flee, a cold snort entered his ears.

Teng Yun trembled and stopped. He had a feeling that if he insisted on escaping, he would surely die. The shadow of death descended upon his heart.

"You don't want your Junior Brother's corpse anymore?" Wang Lin squatted down without turning his head.

Teng Yun's face twitched. He quickly said, "Senior, if you like it, please take it. This Junior will absolutely not have a single word of complaint. My Junior Brother was a person fated for hardship since childhood. To be able to help a great figure like Senior after death is a blessing he accumulated over eight lifetimes of cultivation. This Junior believes that even if Junior Brother were still alive and knew Senior was interested, he would definitely commit suicide without hesitation. My Junior Brother is just that warm-hearted."

Terrified internally at this moment, he was already speaking incoherently.

Wang Lin looked at the Zi Rat's corpse, his gaze settling on the center of its brow. The Golden Radiance was emanating from the brow.

Wang Lin stabilized his Qi and focused his mind. He decisively chopped with his right hand, separating the head from the Zi Rat's corpse. He grabbed the head in the Void Realm and immediately sprayed out a mouthful of Primordial Spirit Essence Fire.

Colorless flames enveloped the Zi Rat's head, continuously refining and burning it.

Teng Yun, witnessing all this from the side, trembled internally again. He thought bitterly, "It's over, it's over… This person possesses Primordial Spirit Essence Fire, so he's not a Demon Person, but he must be a ruthless Devil Cultivator who won't even spare the dead! I'm unlucky to have witnessed all of this. I just pray this person doesn't kill me to silence me…"

Wang Lin looked at the refined Zi Rat head, his eyes flashing. He sprayed out another mouthful of primordial spirit qi, and the Zi Rat head instantly dissipated, leaving only a streak of Golden Radiance continuously flashing.

Wang Lin took a deep breath, grabbed the Golden Radiance in the Void Realm with his right hand, brought it to his mouth, and swallowed it whole.

Then, he hooked the Zi Rat's corpse with his left foot and tossed it toward Teng Yun, saying, "Here is your Junior Brother's Physical Body! Go and bury him properly."

Teng Yun's face was pale, but his eyes held the look of surviving a disaster. He quickly caught the corpse and repeatedly said, "Yes, thank you, Senior. Thank you, Senior." With that, he hurried away, holding the corpse.

It wasn't until he was dozens of li away that he finally relaxed, covered in cold sweat. Looking at the headless corpse in his arms, he felt immense hatred, threw it away, and with a flick of his right hand, a large patch of black cloud immediately flew out, enveloping the corpse. In the blink of an eye, the corpse, bones and all, was completely devoured.

"This corpse caused all this trouble! I almost lost my life just now! Although that Senior's cultivation is high, his mind is a bit inflexible; he actually believed this person was my Junior Brother!" Teng Yun spat, still feeling lingering fear as he recalled everything. He looked back once and immediately left.

He did not know that if Wang Lin had truly believed he was the Zi Rat's Senior Brother, what fate would have awaited him.

Having swallowed Ling Tianhou's Sword Qi, Wang Lin stood still, his body slowly sinking until he completely entered the ground, where he sat cross-legged and quietly began refining.

Without a period of refinement, Ling Tianhou's Sword Qi would be difficult to fully integrate for his own use.

While settling into the ground, Wang Lin's Divine Sense moved, and he immediately detected another surge of Sword Qi emanating not far ahead. His eyes flickered. He grabbed into the Void Realm beneath the earth, and the distant Sword Qi immediately struggled, transforming into a massive Rat Beast that roared at Wang Lin.

Wang Lin let out a soft exclamation. As his Soul Transformation cultivation spread out, the Rat Beast formed by the Sword Qi immediately wailed and was forcibly seized.

What appeared before Wang Lin was an ancient great sword, upon which a black Rat Beast turned its pitch-black eyes, staring at Wang Lin.

"The Zi Rat Sword!" A slight smile appeared on Wang Lin's lips. When he killed the Zi Rat previously, his Primordial Spirit had fallen into madness, and he casually tossed this sword away. He felt regret later when he remembered it, but he never expected that today he would not only acquire Ling Tianhou's Sword Qi but also recover the Zi Rat Sword.

"Sword Venerable Ling Tianhou, if one day I, Wang Lin, take out all Twelve Sword Sages' Swords, what expression will you have…" Wang Lin grabbed the Zi Rat Sword, branded it with his Divine Sense, and threw it into his Storage Pouch.

The treasured swords of the Twelve Sword Sages were extraordinary. Although the Sages' cultivation level was insufficient to fully unleash the swords' might, it would be different in Wang Lin's hands.

Underground, where the Zi Rat died, Wang Lin spent a month refining the Sword Qi. This time, he completely integrated it for his own use, unlike the Wei Goat's Sword Qi, which was merely stored inside his body to be unleashed all at once when needed.

After Wang Lin refined the Zi Rat's Sword Qi, he could control its deployment at will. He could even divide the Sword Qi into ten parts, scattering its power evenly. Likewise, if the ten parts were merged into one, it would be the supremely powerful Ling Tianhou Sword Qi!

This made the Sword Qi much more flexible; compared to before, it was a world of difference. Even among the Twelve Sword Sages, the vast majority could only use the Sword Qi once, unable to control its deployment at will.

Wang Lin was able to achieve this because his cultivation had reached the Early Stage of Soul Transformation. Furthermore, Ling Tianhou had erased his own Divine Sense from the Sword Qi he gifted to his Disciples, allowing them better control, making the Sword Qi essentially ownerless.

From this perspective, Ling Tianhou's care for his Disciples far surpassed that of Tian Yunzi! He could give his Disciples extremely powerful Sword Qi, while Tian Yunzi only provided something barely sufficient for survival.

Ling Tianhou could arrange for Tan Lang to enter the Demon Spirit Land for protection, but Tian Yunzi would not do so.

This is highly related to the Dao cultivated by the two of them. Ling Tianhou Cultivates the Hegemonic Dao; his Dao makes him extremely protective of everything belonging to him, which outsiders are forbidden to touch!

Disciples under his School are absolutely forbidden from being bullied by outsiders. Because of this, although the Great Luo Sword Sect is notorious, the cohesiveness of its Disciples toward Sword Venerable Ling Tian is extremely strong. However, precisely because of this, there are few peak experts within the School. A fledgling eagle, if always protected, finds it hard to become a true mighty eagle!

Conversely, the Tian Yun Sect and Tian Yunzi's Dao is to follow heaven's will and act according to fate. He is a typical practitioner of cultivating according to heaven's will. The life and death of his Disciples follow heaven's will, and their strength or weakness follows fate; he rarely intervenes forcefully.

Despite this, Tian Yunzi's method has resulted in numerous experts within his Sect. Simply looking at those publicly known by the title of Tian Yun Seven Sons, every single one is a powerhouse, not to mention those within the School who have undergone countless years of life-and-death tempering.

During the month Wang Lin spent Cultivating underground, a major event occurred in the Demon Spirit Land. This event caused nearly all external Cultivators to leave their respective shelters and rush toward Huoyao Prefecture and Tianyao Prefecture!

Tianyao Prefecture mobilized thirty million troops and formally declared war on Huoyao Prefecture!

Although skirmishes were constant in the Demon Spirit Land in the past, they were all minor conflicts. A massive life-and-death war between two Prefectures like this was extremely rare!

Even the entry of Cultivators, which happens once every 5,000 years, only causes a certain level of nine-prefecture warfare, and does not trigger this kind of life-and-death contest!

Because once the balance of the Nine Tianyao Prefectures is broken, it will cause unimaginable chain reactions.

But for Cultivators, this was a heaven-sent opportunity, the fastest way to gain military merit!

The eight Demon Commanders and eight Vice Commanders of Tianyao Prefecture all stepped forward. The two newly added Vice Commanders were Mo Lihai and Mofei, who was formerly the First Demon General.

Furthermore, the Demon Emperor of Tianyao Prefecture personally led the expedition!

The entire army was divided into three forces, directly invading Huoyao Prefecture from three directions, with the agreement to rendezvous at the Huoyao Imperial Capital!

The day Wang Lin emerged from underground was precisely the moment the Tianyao Prefecture army stepped onto Huoyao territory!

The moment he appeared, Wang Lin immediately sensed a dense, bleak Killing Intent filling the world. This Killing Intent was not emitted by a single person, but by tens of millions of people simultaneously. Under this Killing Intent, even the world itself became dark.

The white clouds in the sky were replaced by dark mist, and bursts of rain began to fall.

Wang Lin looked up at the sky, pondered briefly, and murmured, "The Ancient Demon acts decisively. Perhaps his patience has run out after all these years. If so, I must be careful…"

"However, this war has little to do with me. The most important thing right now is to kill the Sword Venerable's Disciples one by one, collect the remaining ten streaks of Sword Qi, and then refine countless amounts of slaughter qi. By then, even in this Demon Spirit Land, I will have the capital to establish myself!

And I need to continue investigating that Immortal Cave; there might be many treasures!" Wang Lin's eyes flashed, and with a step forward, his body vanished without a trace.

"Sword Venerable's disciples—there were two of them beside Mofei that day. They are my targets. However, Mofei is a bit strange… The Black-haired Man in the Imperial Capital Prison back then looked exactly like him. There might be something sinister going on here…" As Wang Lin teleported, his eyes showed contemplation.

——

I originally planned for three updates today. I stayed up late yesterday and finished a chapter at midnight, but this morning my daughter got sick. I spent the entire day busy at the hospital, running up and down stairs constantly, and even went to the Medical Insurance Hall because we needed to process her hospitalization. The doctor said this could save some money, as the treatment costs several thousand yuan.

However, in the end, although the medical card hadn't expired, it was frozen due to certain regulations, claiming outstanding fees. We couldn't sort it out and had to pay the full amount. I feel very frustrated and angry!

I will continue writing the third chapter, but I cannot guarantee or promise that I will finish it. I am very tired, but I will do my best. Please forgive me.

Also, it's the end of the month. Please cast some monthly votes to give me some motivation.

If anything I have said above is half a lie, may I be struck by lightning and my entire family perish!