Chapter 2612 Stalemate

In the eyes of all parents, no matter how old or accomplished their child became, they would always be their child, someone to worry over and lovingly guide without end. At this moment, that was exactly how Luo Qingxun saw Lin Xun.

Lin Xun was moved, and after a moment of silence, he said, “Mother, don’t worry, I won’t act unless I’m sure of myself.”

Luo Qingxun smiled softly, and just as she was about to speak, her figure suddenly trembled. Light rippled across her and she began to blur, turning faint and illusory, as if she might vanish at any moment.

Lin Xun’s heart clenched. He realized that Luo Qingxun’s willpower was dissipating.

“Xun’er, the Fortune Sword is hidden in that wooden hairpin. Retrieve the sword and if you ever find yourself in a life-and-death situation, activate it with all your strength. It will take you to the Fortune Dominion. But remember, don’t do anything reckless...” Luo Qingxun said quickly.

Her voice trailed off as the figure disintegrated, fading completely into the void. Only the vast sky and the endless undulating sea remained.

Lin Xun stood there motionless, a hollow ache filling his chest. After a long pause, he let out a slow, heavy sigh. The reunion was too short.

He still had countless questions he hadn’t asked, countless things he hadn’t said. Now all of it had to be buried once more in the depths of his heart.

“Mother, I’ll come find you in the Fortune Dominion...” Lin Xun murmured.

His eyes fell on the bronze box. Resting inside was an elegant wooden hairpin. He reached out and picked it up, only to find it unusually heavy, as though he was lifting a mountain.

With just a glance, Lin Xun could tell that the wooden hairpin was a spatial treasure. When he probed it with his spirit sense, he saw a sword floating within.

The sword was two feet three inches long and no wider than two fingers. Its blade was plain and unadorned, while the hilt was faint and translucent, occasionally casting flashes of brilliant, multicolored light. It was like a fleeting stream of radiance in a dream.

Fortune Sword!

It was this very sword that Luo Qingxun had once used to break through the taboo law power controlled by Nameless Esteemed Emperor. Its power had to be mysterious and unfathomable.

More importantly, this sword was the key to the Fortune Dominion! Lin Xun studied the sword silently for a long time before carefully putting away the hairpin. Then, he let out a breath, turned and guided the small boat beneath his feet across the vast blue sea.

This brief reunion had resolved many of the questions that had long weighed on his heart. Yet, at the same time, it gave rise to new doubts. For instance, if Mister Lu was so powerful, how...could he have been wounded during Yanxing’s pursuit in the lower world? After all, Yanxing was merely an Emperor Ancestor-level figure.

Moreover, in the lower world back then, the laws and order of heaven and earth were extremely oppressive, so much so that terrifying figures like Lone Man were forced to lie low. Yanxing’s power was also severely restricted. Under such conditions, it was very strange that Mister Lu would end up wounded.

“Perhaps I’ll find the answer when I see Mister Lu...”

Upon the boundless blue sea, Lin Xun guided a small boat into the distance and soon vanished without a trace.

......

High above the ninety thousand foot sky.

In the vast and ancient starry expanse, countless stars twinkled and connected, forming a mysterious boundary star road.

Concealed in the shadows near the boundary star road were countless terrifying figures. More than ten of them were Immortal-level cultivators! All of them were enemies of Lin Xun, and they had gathered here to weave a heaven-shaking killing trap.

Their purpose was to utterly eliminate him!

“It’s already been half a year since Lin Xun disappeared in the Fourth Heaven Domain. Given his past patterns, he should have surfaced by now. But he’s still nowhere to be seen. This is far too strange.” A young voice rang out. It came from an Immortal cultivator who looked like an eight- or nine-year-old child, innocent and pure in appearance. However, his eyes carried the desolate aura of ancient time.

Many shivered at the sound of his voice.

Nan Yuanxing!

He was an Immortal from the Nan Clan, one of the Donghuang’s Four Clans, and also one of the most renowned Immortals present.

“There’s been no movement from Fengyan Academy’s side either. I suspect he’s sensed the danger and is too afraid to show himself.” A woman cloaked in black spoke coldly from another part of the void, her figure shrouded in dense primal chaos qi. Her aura was bone-chilling and eerie.

She was Li Wuyan, also an Immortal. She came from the Li Clan which was also one of the Donghuang’s Four Clans.

Silence fell. Around the boundary star road, all the hidden cultivators felt a growing sense of frustration. So many forces from Immortal Imperial Clans had come together, yet they still couldn’t deal with a single descendant of Fangchun Mountain?!

It had already been half a year! Who among them wasn’t a noble figure from one of the mighty Immortal Imperial Clans?

Now, just to kill a single common enemy, they were forced to lie in wait here patiently. The feeling was undoubtedly humiliating and hard to endure.

“If that boy still doesn’t show up, are we really just going to keep waiting like this forever?” someone finally couldn’t help but complain.

No one responded. Even Immortals like Nan Yuanxing and Li Wuyan wore sullen expressions. If Lin Xun’s whereabouts could be easily tracked, would they still be stuck waiting like this?

“If only the Donghuang Clan was willing to lend us the power of the Divine Mirror of Clarity. With just a single sweep, we could instantly lock onto that boy’s whereabouts!”

Nan Yuanxing’s tone was filled with helplessness. “Unfortunately, that mirror is the Donghuang Clan’s ancestral treasure. It’s not something they would bring out lightly, let alone send it out of the Eighth Heaven Domain...”

The Divine Mirror of Clarity!

This was a mysterious and legendary treasure said to possess the ability to reveal anything and anyone in the world its wielder wished to see.

“There’s no point talking about it now. What’s certain is that the boy must be hiding somewhere in the Fifth Heaven Domain. His movements are elusive, and ordinary search methods are no longer effective. At this point, all we can do is wait.” Li Wuyan took a deep breath and continued, “In fact, I suspect he’s already seen through our plan. He clearly intends to drag this out with us to the bitter end. In other words, this battle will come down to who can endure the longest!”

Everyone felt increasingly uneasy.

Keep wasting time like this?

For how long? Who here had time to waste like that?

“There’s just over nine years left until the Origin Sect Ancestral Court begins recruiting successors. I don’t have that much time to waste here,” Nan Yuanxing said with a frown.

The Origin Sect Ancestral Court’s recruitment of successors was an important event in the cultivation world. As an Immortal of the Nan Clan in the Seventh Heaven Domain, Nan Yuanxing clearly regarded that opportunity as far more significant than the matter of killing Lin Xun.

Among those present, many shared the same thought. For a moment, they were each lost in their own thoughts, their expressions heavy with frustration and helplessness.

They had already invested a massive amount of time and energy just to hunt down one man, but even now, they couldn’t do anything to him. Who wouldn’t feel aggrieved?

“Just wait a little longer. I don’t believe that brat won’t show a single trace!” Li Wuyan said coldly, her tone brimming with killing intent.

Everyone knew there was no better option for now. However, the thought of continuing to hide and lie in ambush here for so long left them all deeply frustrated.

Only now did they truly realize how terrifying the Fangchun Mountain descendant had become. The one they had failed to kill outside the Ruins of the Gods back then had now grown into someone who left them all feeling deeply troubled and helpless!

They dared not imagine what kind of disaster would unfold if someone like Lin Xun were allowed to ascend to the Immortal Stage...

......

Time flew by, and a year passed in the blink of an eye.

The Fifth Heaven Domain remained peaceful and undisturbed. No storms. No catastrophes. No signs of turmoil. The stillness blanketing the world was so abnormal that it defied all expectations.

𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Only then did the cultivators of the Fifth Heaven Domain begin to realize that Lin Xun had most likely sensed the danger and gone into hiding and would not show himself anytime soon.

The Immortal Imperial Clan experts lying in ambush near Fengyan Academy and the boundary star road had been tormented over the past year, their patience wearing down bit by bit.

Countless people silently cursed Lin Xun, and many hurled spiteful curses at him. Some, driven by rage, even lashed out publicly, trying to provoke and lure him out with the most insulting language.

However, none of it had the slightest effect.

Lin Xun seemed to have vanished without a trace. No one knew where he was hiding, or what he had been doing during this time.

Fengwu Academy.

This was a force considered only second-rate in the Fifth Heaven Domain, far inferior to Fengyan Academy. Despite that, in the eyes of ordinary cultivators, Fengwu Academy was already regarded as a major power within the Fifth Heaven Domain.

In this world, top elites and powerful sects were always the minority. The billions who lived beneath the heavens were the true foundation of this world. The Fengwu Academy that had been dismissed by the Immortal Imperial Clans was regarded as a sacred land of cultivation by the common cultivators of the world.

The city closest to Fengwu Academy was Fengwu City.

For the past year, Lin Xun had lived there in seclusion. By day, he roamed the city streets, quietly observing the world and experiencing the lives of ordinary people. By night, he meditated, steadily deepening his comprehension of the dao.

No one knew that the young man who wandered the city was none other than the legendary Menace Lin who had long shaken the Eternal True Realm.

“Almost two years...”

On this day, Lin Xun stepped out of the courtyard he had bought at great expense. He looked up at the sky, and as if reminded of something, he smiled quietly to himself. Since reuniting with Luo Qingxun, he felt more at peace. He no longer felt the urge to hurry on his journey or rush to the Sixth Heaven Domain.

He knew that as long as he remained alive, his enemies would be far more anxious than he was! Withdrawing his gaze from the sky, he clasped his hands behind his back and walked leisurely out of Fengwu City. Wandering through scenic mountains and rivers, he soon arrived before a vast, undulating mountain range filled with vitality.

This was where Fengwu Academy was rooted. Its mountain gate was nestled deep within the range. Beneath an ancient red maple tree, its leaves blazing like fire, Lin Xun stood in silence, gazing into the distance.

He didn’t have to wait long. Soon, through his spirit sense, he saw Leng Qingxue stepping out of the academy gates, dressed in robes whiter than snow, her dark hair tied with a golden ribbon. Beside her was Xiaoxi, graceful and radiant, exuding youthful vitality.

The two flew side by side, vanishing into the depths of the distant mountains.