Divine Emperor Demon Emperor

After the Five Great Forces came to an agreement, Luo Feng quickly selected the fifty candidates. His method was actually quite simple: all Core Disciples were to go, while Direct Disciples could volunteer.

That evening, Luo Feng tossed a huge pile of applications from the volunteering Direct Disciples to Lin Yun and left him with a single instruction: "Pick forty people from this pile to go to the Saint’s Relics." With that, Luo Feng casually took his leave.

Staring at the dozens of application forms before him, Lin Yun shook his head with a helpless, wry smile. ’My master is really something else,’ he thought. ’To think he’d just carelessly dump such an important decision on me.’

Tasked with picking forty people from over a hundred applicants, Lin Yun naturally chose Lu Bingning and Lan Xi first. Aside from the two of them, Lin Yun simply ranked the remaining candidates from highest to lowest cultivation.

In the end, the forty Direct Disciples were chosen. Aside from Lu Bingning and Lan Xi, the other thirty-eight all turned out to be at the Ninth Layer of the Primordial Ocean Realm.

Early the next morning, Lin Yun found Luo Feng and handed him the list of the forty people he had selected. Luo Feng took it and put it away without so much as a glance.

"Master, aren’t you even going to look at it?" Lin Yun asked upon seeing this.

"What’s there to look at? They’re just a few spots, right? Besides, I trust you to handle things," Luo Feng said, sounding completely unconcerned.

Hearing this, Lin Yun’s mouth twitched. He then asked Luo Feng for permission to make a trip to Wind City. Luo Feng nodded in agreement. "Go ahead, but you must be back before nightfall tomorrow. We leave early the day after."

Lin Yun nodded. Since time was tight, he didn’t have a chance to tell Lu Bingning or Lan Xi. ’I’ll be back tomorrow anyway,’ he figured. Alone, he set off for Wind City.

He traveled at top speed and arrived in Wind City by evening. This time, Lin Yun didn’t disturb the Bai Family. He had already changed out of his Flawless Palace Core Disciple attire before entering the city.

He entered the city according to Wind City’s regulations and went directly to a side gate of the He Family estate. A He Family Guard, who was already waiting there, respectfully welcomed Lin Yun inside.

He was led to the main hall, where Li Tian and Patriarch He were already waiting, having heard of his impending arrival. Seeing Lin Yun walk in, Patriarch He bowed and said, "Young Master Lin."

Lin Yun gave a slight nod. With him present, the seat of honor naturally fell to him, while Li Tian and Patriarch He took the seats on either side below him.

"The day after tomorrow, I’m going to the Spiritless Wilderness," Lin Yun said after taking a sip of tea.

"Yes, with the Saint’s Relics emerging, you should definitely go. It would be best if you could obtain the Saint’s legacy," Li Tian replied with a nod.

"A Saint’s legacy? That’s useless to me," Lin Yun said dismissively.

For a Martial Artist to become a Saint, they must comprehend their own path of Martial Arts—one that is uniquely their own. Only then is it possible to achieve sainthood. This is precisely why it is so difficult for experts at the Spirit Realm to take that final step.

A Saint’s legacy, to put it bluntly, is nothing more than accepting another Saint’s path of Martial Arts—a shortcut on the road to sainthood.

Lin Yun had his own path, his own way of Martial Arts. Thus, he had no interest in a Saint’s legacy. He would not—and disdained to—accept another’s path. The road Lin Yun was determined to walk was his own, one that no one else would dare, or could ever hope, to complete.

The reason Lin Yun was going to the Saint’s Relics was twofold: first, to protect Lu Bingning and Lan Xi, and second, to see if there were any treasures. It was impossible for there not to be priceless treasures inside a Saint’s Relics. As for the legacy itself, if the opportunity arose, he would do his best to help either Lu Bingning or Lan Xi obtain it.

Seeing that Lin Yun couldn’t care less about the Saint’s legacy, Li Tian dropped the subject and moved on, reporting the results of his investigation into the mysterious organization over the past few days.

According to Li Tian, not many people had ever heard of this organization. He had mobilized top-secret informants from both the He Family and the old network left behind by the Li Family, but he hadn’t found anything substantial. He had, however, uncovered a few leads.

One of the informants originally left behind by the Li Family had fled to Wood City to escape pursuit from the Five Great Forces and had been living there for over a hundred years.

According to the intelligence he provided to Li Tian, members of this mysterious organization had supposedly appeared in Wood City before and seemed to have some connection with a contact from the Death Row Shelter.

"The Death Row Shelter?" Lin Yun murmured thoughtfully upon hearing Li Tian’s words.

The Death Row Shelter was just as elusive. As an organization of assassins, they naturally operated in the shadows, so to this day, no one knew who the true master of the Death Row Shelter was.

"Then is it possible that this mysterious organization is actually the Death Row Shelter?" Lin Yun asked.

Hearing this, Li Tian shook his head. "Impossible. Although the Death Row Shelter is elusive and few know the details of their organization, based on their consistent modus operandi, they would never proactively provoke the Five Great Forces. All of the Death Row Shelter’s actions are built on a foundation of money."

"This new organization, however, is clearly trying to infiltrate Flawless Palace. That’s something the Death Row Shelter would never do."

After hearing Li Tian’s analysis, Lin Yun felt he had a point. Assassins only care about money—that was common knowledge. An organization of assassins would never take the initiative to provoke the Five Great Forces.

’This makes things difficult,’ Lin Yun mused. ’The Death Row Shelter is already a mystery, and this new organization has dealings with them. To investigate the new group, we’ll have to figure out the Death Row Shelter first. The level of difficulty in doing that is anything but low.’

After thinking for a moment, Lin Yun looked up at Li Tian. "What about the other thing I asked you to look into? Have the other Four Great Forces been infiltrated? Do you have any results on that front?"

"Yes," Li Tian replied, nodding gravely.

"According to the intelligence compiled from the other four, it’s not just Flawless Palace. The other Four Great Forces are also showing signs of infiltration. The exact numbers haven’t been confirmed yet, but there is one name that I believe Young Master Lin will be very interested in," Li Tian said with a smile.

"Oh? And who might that be?" Lin Yun asked.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at Lin Yun and said evenly, "Song Tianyang."

The moment that name was spoken, Lin Yun’s expression turned serious. "Are you saying Song Tianyang is also connected to this mysterious organization?"

"It’s not confirmed, but based on the intelligence we’ve received, Song Tianyang is a person of great interest," Li Tian replied honestly.

Hearing this, Lin Yun rubbed his temples. If even someone like Song Tianyang was involved with this mysterious organization, things were about to get very complicated.

After all, Song Tianyang’s status was anything but ordinary. If even someone like him had joined, then the power of this organization was likely...

(This is the thirty-fourth update. Please add to your library, vote with your Monthly Passes, leave a recommendation, and give a tip!)