"Three, two..."

Someone in the group started a countdown as the other experts closed in with murderous expressions.

Killing and robbing weren’t only commonplace in the outside world. In fact, it was even more prevalent among the heaven prides who participated in the Dao Lantern Festival.

In order to seize opportunities and blessings, even the King stage old monsters could disregard almost everything.

In this world, things such as rules and restraints had always been exclusive to the weak. The truly strong were above the rules!

This was reality.

Nie Yian's face had become extremely ugly. In the end, he gritted his teeth and decided to give up.

It was only the first test of the Dao Lantern Festival. He would rather lose the seven-petal fire lotus than be eliminated here.

Far away, Lin Xun could not help but inwardly sigh when he saw this scene. It turned out that he had been right.

"Scram and I'll pretend I didn't see anything."

Lin Xun appeared in a flash and cut straight to the point. His cold eyes swept across the group as he began to ‘expel the guests.’

Demon God Lin!

The experts were alarmed, and their expressions changed slightly. They had personally witnessed Lin Xun leave earlier and had not expected him to return.

Nie Yian, who was originally about to give up, was first dumbfounded and unable to believe his eyes. He soon became elated and began to tremble uncontrollably.

In the end, all of his emotions transformed into heartfelt gratitude.

He never imagined that Lin Xun would not only give him the fire lotus but also come to help him in his time of need.

At this juncture, Nie Yian wouldn’t even frown if Lin Xun asked him to jump into a fire.

"Demon God Lin, you'd best stay out of our affairs."

"Don't think that we’re afraid of you because you’re strong. Do you think you alone will be enough with so many fellow experts present?"

The experts sneered. They would not give up so easily.

Clang!

The Broken Blade suddenly flew out and began circling around Lin Xun. A terrifying blade will spread, tearing open alarming cracks in the surrounding space.

"I’ll say it one more time. Scram." Lin Xun’s expression was ice-cold. A mere dozen so-called heaven prides were simply unable to threaten him.

"Demon God Lin, you’ve already offended so many supreme heaven prides and are in a bad situation where disaster will probably soon befall you. Do you still intend to burn bridges with us at such a juncture?"

One of the experts’ expressions darkened as he raised his voice and said, "Don't forget that you’re alone in the West Infinity World. You have no ancient sect to rely on or a strong faction to support you. If you offend us, you will likely be unable to bear the consequences."

"That’s right. You’re merely a cultivator from a lower plane. I advise you to keep a low profile or you won’t even know how you die!"

"Moreover, it’s impossible to kill us in this secret realm. Instead, you’ll only offend us by opposing us. Do you think that’s worth it?"

The group of experts was indeed very fearful of Lin Xun. However, they did have their status and background to fall back on, so they threatened him in hopes of making him back down.

Lin Xun simply spat out five words, "What a bunch of garbage."

Swish!

At the same time, the Broken Blade shot forth, leaving a trail of dazzling and breathtaking light that felt as if it had cut through time itself and arrived from the past.

A bizarre scene immediately followed. One could only watch as space violently rippled around the experts, and they were teleported away one after another!

Nie Yian gasped, utterly shocked by this scene.

The instantaneous exchange was simply horrifying to think about. When Lin Xun attacked, the experts had been teleported away before they could even react.

What did this mean?

It meant that Lin Xun's attack was too powerful. The moment it was released, no one present could block it which would only result in them being instantly killed!

Otherwise, the secret realm’s order power would not have eliminated the experts by teleporting them away.

Lin Xun frowned. The secret realm’s power was simply too god-like. The power seemed to be sentient and omnipresent, forbidding any deaths from occurring within its domain.

Lin Xun immediately put away the Broken Blade, deciding not to test the power any further.

There were five or six experts left who had managed to escape elimination. However, they had already been scared out of their wits and were trembling uncontrollably, looking as if their souls had been frightened out of their bodies.

Lin Xun ignored them and left with Nie Yian. It was only a long while later before they finally parted ways.

"Lin Xun, I...thank you." Nie Yian didn’t know what to say.

"Be a little more careful."

Lin Xun smiled before he turned around and left.

……

Three days later.

Deep in an icy land covered in snow. Lin Xun opened his eyes and awoke from his meditation.

He reached out and gently pressed his hand toward the icy layer above.

Boom!

A cloud of flames that resembled the starry sky surged from his palm. Stars seemed to ignite and explode within it, producing a terrifying burning power.

It instantly burned a giant hole through the thirty-thousand-feet thick layer of ice above, creating a tunnel that reached all the way to the surface!

It was the dao art inheritance Lin Xun had obtained from the nine-petal fire lotus.

Combustion Star River!

The technique was clearly extremely powerful and possessed astonishing destructive power.

"How terrifying. If executed at full power, its destructive power will be overwhelming, to say the least. I don’t even want to imagine how deadly it will be when used against an army..."

Lin Xun could not help but feel somewhat amazed.

This was a dao art!

It was the fusion of dao and technique to produce almost infinite power that could truly burn mountains, boil the sea, and even melt entire worlds!

The most astonishing part was that the Combustion Star River was not the least bit inferior to the Tribulation Dragon Nine Transformations and the Nine Heavenshaking Destructions Art.

Lin Xun muttered to himself, "I can’t believe a reward from the first test of the Dao Lantern Festival is already so amazing. I dare not imagine what kind of earth-shaking blessings are hidden in the Ancient Dao Lantern Tree that can only be reached after overcoming the five tests."

However, the biggest gain this time wasn’t learning the dao art but comprehending the Dao Ripple of Fire through it!

Fire was one of the five elements and one of the most domineering daos. It was extremely ferocious and violent, and possessed shocking destructive power.

"It took only three days for me to comprehend the essence of the Fire Dao Ripple. The power of this supreme-grade dao art is simply magical."

Even Lin Xun himself had trouble believing it.

It must be known that he had faced many difficulties in comprehending the Water Dao Ripple. In fact, it had taken him all the way until right before he advanced to the Cyclic Derivation stage to achieve the Dao Meaning level.

In comparison, a single supreme-grade dao art had enabled him to successfully comprehend the Dao Ripple of Fire!

Although there were uncountable daos in the world, not many were publicly acknowledged as ‘grand daos.’

Among them, the five elements, yin and yang, wind, and lightning were known to all cultivators as first-tier grand daos.

These nine grand daos were also known as the nine first-tier daos.

Although there were also second-tier, third-tier, fourth-tier...and so on, none of them could compare in power to the nine first-tier daos.

For example, sword dao, blade dao, murder dao, destruction dao, and other daos of similar vein belonged to the martial dao category and were a type of method to control dao power.

Lin Xun had also heard that there existed a power above the first-tier grand daos known as the supreme daos.

However, supreme-tier dao power could only be understood and wielded by Saint experts. In other words, there was no supremacy under the Saint stage!

"Since ancient times, the more daos a cultivator has mastered, the more power they would be able to bring out which, at times, could even create a multiplicative effect. Likewise, the deeper the understanding of the dao, the better you would be able to display your power.

"Since I have now mastered the Dao Meaning of Water and the Dao Ripple of Fire, my combat power has undoubtedly improved although it is still far from enough.

"I’ve heard that in the ancient era, there existed supreme heaven prides who could wield wind, lightning, earth, fire, yin and yang. They were masters of numerous grand daos and possessed inconceivable strength.

"If I wish to create a new path, I will need to explore far more in this direction.

"To become a Supreme Life Death King expert isn’t just about vying for the greatest blessing but it also requires foundations and power!"

A fire seemed to burn in Lin Xun’s black eyes. Comprehending the Dao Ripple of Fire had opened a new door in his cultivation journey, allowing him to see new possibilities. It felt like he was being enlightened and awakening to a whole new world.

This was one of the disadvantages of solo cultivation. You had to learn and explore everything by yourself, unlike the successors of the ancient sects who could receive guidance and teachings from their elders.

However, there were also advantages. For example, he could boldly make unconventional changes and find the most suitable path for himself.

Likewise, the guidance received by the ancient sect successors could become shackles and make them only able to follow the path already forged by their elders!

If you followed an old path, you would only ever reach the same heights of your predecessor, which was not what Lin Xun wanted.

His path was destined to be greater than all predecessors! He would forge a path that was unique to himself!

Whoosh!

Lin Xun launched himself off the ground and soared upwards to the surface.

The white land was filled with wind and snow. Since three days had passed, he only needed to survive for four more days to pass the first test.

"I wonder where Yue Jianming is now..."

Lin Xun still had two eight-petal fire lotuses and intended to give them to Yue Jianming and Bai Fengliu. After all, he would not have been able to participate in the Dao Lantern Festival without Yue Jianming’s help.

Likewise, he would not have learned many secrets about the Dao Lantern Festival if not for Bai Fengliu. To repay kindness with kindness was one of the principles that Lin Xun had always stuck to.

The dao arts hidden in the two eight-petal fire lotus would also be extremely powerful and could be rated as first-class.

The only difference between them and the nine-petal fire lotus would be that they did not possess any dao power inheritance.

For instance, Lin Xun had comprehended a sliver of the Fire Dao Ripple after learning the Combustion Star River dao art.

This was only achievable with the supreme-grade fire lotus and that was why it was absolutely unrivaled!

"There’s no point in thinking about it. I’ll use the remaining four days to collect more divinity crystals and divinity herbs..."

Lin Xun took a deep breath and made his decision.

Swish!

In a flash, he disappeared into the falling snow.