Chapter 2609 The Truth Inside the Bronze Box

A few days later, Lin Xun arrived at a city. On the streets, in teahouses, restaurants...everywhere he went, people were talking about the Origin Sect Ancestral Court’s plan to recruit disciples.

This surprised Lin Xun somewhat. It didn’t take long before he gathered the full picture and even picked up some shocking rumors about the Four Great Ancestral Courts. Such transcendent powers were really rooted in the Seventh Heaven Domain?

Even the Ten Immortal Giants in the Eighth Heaven Domain reportedly showed them deference and respect. One could imagine the terrifying foundation those ancestral courts possessed.

Despite that, Lin Xun wasn’t particularly interested. As he did in previous years, he quietly began gathering intelligence and news about the Fifth Heaven Domain in the city, preparing for his next move.

It wasn’t until evening that he left the city. By then, he had already acquired detailed information about the major forces operating in the Fifth Heaven Domain.

Unlike the first four Heaven Domains, the fifth was home to numerous Immortal Imperial Clans, and these forces were true overlords of the domain. While they maintained ties with the Immortal Imperial Clans of the Sixth Heaven Domain, they were not subordinate vassals, nor were they like the cultivators who served under those the Sixth Heaven Domain’s Immortal Imperial Clans.

After careful investigation, Lin Xun found that among the many forces in the Fifth Heaven Domain, only one had a direct connection to his enemies: Fengyan Academy. It was an institution that selected and cultivated talents for the Immortal Imperial Clans of the Sixth Heaven Domain. However, its background was rather complicated.

Many descendants of the Immortal Imperial Clans in the Fifth Heaven Domain also trained at Fengyan Academy, turning it into a place teeming with mixed factions, like a true den of dragons and tigers.

The high-ranking figures in Fengyan Academy maintained close ties with Immortal Imperial Clans from both the Fifth and Sixth Heaven Domains, making it nearly impossible to determine where their true loyalties lay. After much deliberation, Lin Xun decided to wait and observe a little longer.

It wouldn’t be too late to make a decision after he had acquired more valuable information. For the next period of time, he traveled like a hurried wanderer, trekking across mountains and rivers, visiting city after city.

In a flash, a month passed. The intelligence he had gathered increasingly confirmed that Fengyan Academy had become a deadly trap. It seemed the enemy forces had long foreseen that he would choose the academy as his next target. They had laid their plans well in advance, mobilizing all available forces to lie in ambush around it.

It was said that even several immortal figures had joined the operation. It was said that to ensure his death this time, an inescapable net had been laid up around Fengyan Academy, and not even Immortals would be able to escape it alive.

It was said...

The rumors were endless. Lin Xun couldn’t be sure of the truth, but if they continued to spread so widely, they likely wouldn’t be entirely baseless.

“They’ve certainly laid out a good plan.” Lin Xun couldn’t help but smile faintly.

Over the years, he had slain many enemies. However, anyone paying close attention would notice that nearly all of them had been subordinates and pawns that served under his enemies.

The enemy likely noticed this, which was why they laid out their plans around Fengyan Academy in advance, because in the entire Fifth Heaven Domain, Fengyan Academy was the most likely place Lin Xun would target.

In that case, there were only two possible outcomes. Either he would be bold enough to charge into that den of dragons and tigers, falling right into the enemy’s trap... Or he would choose to back off, in which case the enemy’s plan might fail, but they would suffer no real loss.

However, Lin Xun didn’t believe that those enemy forces only had this little trick up their sleeves. After all, this was the Fifth Heaven Domain, and just above it was the Sixth. If they let him escape alive, were his enemies not worried that he might one day storm the Sixth Heaven Domain? To concentrate all their forces in an ambush at Fengyan Academy seemed too passive.

Lin Xun strongly suspected that all the recent news surrounding Fengyan Academy was just a smokescreen, and in the shadows, the enemy forces might have already taken action. If he was in their shoes...where would he set the trap?

At that moment, his eyes lifted to the sky.

The boundary star road! More specifically, the entrance to the boundary star road!

“Could it really be there...” He murmured to himself.

In the end, he chose not to test it and instead turned back.

A few days passed.

Deep within the icefield, in a cave thousands of feet underground.

“The current turmoil in the Fifth Heaven Domain may seem treacherous, but it’s all directed at me alone. On the contrary, if you stay here to cultivate, there’s no need to worry about any danger.”

As soon as Lin Xun returned, he made arrangements to settle Nie Qingrong, Leng Qingxue, and Xiaoxi down. Because once he entered the Sixth Heaven Domain, he would be surrounded by countless enemies. If they discovered Nie Qingrong and the others, they would undoubtedly be dragged into the conflict.

On the contrary, although Nie Qingrong and the others had accompanied Lin Xun over the years, they had spent most of their time inside the Limitless Abyss Sword Cauldron. As a result, the enemy remained completely unaware of their existence.

At a time like this, settling them in the Five Heaven Domain meant there was little to worry about or any danger. Nie Qingrong, Leng Qingxue and Xiaoxi understood this, but the thought of parting ways with Lin Xun left them feeling reluctant and heavy-hearted.

“Brother Lin, with our abilities, surviving in the Fifth Heaven Domain will be no trouble at all. We’ll take good care of Xiaoxi and won’t let anyone bully her.” Nie Qingrong took a deep breath and said calmly, “So you don’t need to worry about us anymore. What’s more important is...you must take good care of yourself.” Her voice was filled with heartfelt sincerity.

Lin Xun nodded with a smile. At that moment, Leng Qingxue also stepped forward. Her clear eyes fixed seriously on Lin Xun as she said solemnly, “Brother Lin...I mean, if anything happens to you, I will definitely avenge you one day!”

Beside her, Xiaoxi looked up at Lin Xun, eyes brimming with tears. “Brother Daoyuan, will you come back to see us in the future?”

Lin Xun gently patted her little head and said warmly, “Of course.”

“Promise?” Xiaoxi extended her pinky.

“Promise.” He said seriously, linking his finger with hers.

That day, Lin Xun departed quietly.

......

He wasn’t in a hurry to head to the Sixth Heaven Domain. In truth, even though he was eager to take revenge on the Luo Clan, with his current strength, he might be able to suppress most of their cultivators, but if he encountered a powerful Immortal, he would still be in grave danger.

Besides, after waiting all these years, there was no need to rush now. In the days that followed, Lin Xun wandered the Fifth Heaven Domain like a carefree crane, drifting without aim. At times he meditated among the mountains and wilderness, and at others, he strolled through the cities.

The only place he avoided was the area occupied by Fengyan Academy. Several months passed in the blink of an eye.

One day, on the clear blue sea, a lone boat drifted through the night, carried by the waves as it sailed deeper into the vast ocean. Seated cross-legged on it, Lin Xun held a bronze box in his hands. His expression was uncharacteristically tense.

Many years ago, when he was at the Xuan Clan, its patriarch, Xuan Shangchen, had handed him this box and said that it had been left by Lu Boya and contained clues related to his mother, Luo Qingxun.

If Lin Xun failed to break the seal on the bronze box within a hundred years, he must destroy it! Of course, he had never intended to let it come to that. After years of painstaking deducing and effort, he had finally unraveled the layers of seals that shrouded the bronze box.

However, now that the time to open the box had arrived, he was a little hesitant. A strange, indescribable nervousness surged in his heart. Though the secret hidden within the box was related to his mother Luo Qingxun, he had never once met her since childhood!

He had often wondered what he might say if he ever met his parents one day, and had imagined countless scenes of reuniting with them in his mind. In the end, they were all just fantasies.

Now, when he finally had the ability to open the bronze box, he found himself feeling unexpectedly nervous... It was a kind of feeling he had never experienced before. It was subtle but a mixture of excitement and unease.

After all, he had grown up alone. Having never known the warmth of parents or the bonds of family, such things were vague and unfamiliar to him. It wasn’t until a long while later that he finally drew a deep breath, and the light in his eyes turned resolute.

Buzz!

As he exerted force through his hands and fingers, the layers of restriction power covering the bronze box began to dissipate, vanishing one after another like veils being lifted. At last, the box’s true form was revealed. It was ancient, unadorned, and timeworn.

Creak!

With a gentle pry of his fingertips, the bronze box that had been sealed for years slowly opened before his eyes. Inside lay a plain-looking hairpin. It was clearly a woman’s accessory, simple yet elegant. Carved at one end was the word ‘Qingxun’!

Lin Xun was stunned at first, then his heart began to tremble uncontrollably. This wooden hairpin must have belonged to his mother Luo Qingxun. He slowly extended a finger toward the hairpin, treating it as if it was the most precious and fragile treasure in the world, fearful of damaging it.

The instant his fingertip brushed against the hairpin, it was as though a dormant force within his blood awakened, resonating with the aura lingering around the hairpin. Then, a soft, dreamlike rain of azure light suddenly drifted out from the wooden hairpin, gradually outlining the vague silhouette of a slender and graceful figure in the air.

She wore a flowing azure dress, her hair was pitch black, and a gentle smile adorned her fair, delicate face.

Her eyes were bright, brimming with unconcealable excitement and joy. The moment she appeared, her gaze instantly locked onto Lin Xun, and her expression slowly turned dazed and blank, as if bewitched.

At the same time, Lin Xun felt as if his mind had been struck by lightning. Everything went blank. He had often wondered what was sealed inside this bronze box. Was it a keepsake? Or perhaps a clue to his mother Luo Qingxun’s whereabouts?

However, he had never imagined seeing such a scene! How could he not recognize her? This was his mother Luo Qingxun, the one he had longed for countless times since his childhood!