chsdbacks Chapter 119 Idols
Chapter 119 Idols
Lin Yan followed Chen Yi out of the Lin residence.
Neither of them spoke, and they walked quietly on the bluestone path.
Lin Yan initially just habitually looked down at the bluestone bricks under his feet, but soon his attention fell on Chen Yi's steps in front of him.
From the moment Chen Yi started, his body leaned forward, his shoulders as if they were fixed in place without swaying an inch. Lin Yan watched him from behind the whole way, but didn't hear a single footstep.
Even if the road was covered with cotton wool, Lin Yan knew he couldn't walk silently.
He tried to use the "Aura Observation" skill to probe Chen Yi's aura. Since breaking through to the third rank, his perception of true qi fluctuations had become much more acute than before, but he still couldn't sense the flow of true qi on Chen Yi's body.
His body was as if veiled, his true energy condensed on the surface of his skin without dissipating, unlike the leakage of energy that is common among martial artists.
The sense of danger Chen Yi brought to Lin Yan was even stronger than the day he presented the pill formula at the Juwu Pavilion.
Could it be that Chen Yi's cultivation level is still higher than the observation range of his [Qi Observation]?
Or did Chen Yi also break through in just over a month and reach the fourth-grade Qi Transformation Realm?
But in any case, Chen Yi is someone he can't handle in his current state.
The scene of Chen Yi subduing the man in black at Juwu Pavilion in just a few moves is still vivid in my mind.
The two walked through two narrow alleys and turned onto a quiet stone-paved road.
The shops along the street were not yet open, and the early morning wind made the oil lamps under the eaves rattle.
"This isn't the way to the East Palace, is it?" Lin Yan said.
Chen Yi, who was walking ahead, suddenly stopped.
Lin Yan also stopped, the two of them standing five steps apart.
Chen turned his head to the side, his pale face still expressionless.
"Your Highness's mission cannot be abandoned halfway. If General Lin has any concerns, it is not too late to explain now."
Lin Yan's heart sank.
Mother, Xiuer.
When he left, he didn't tell them where he was going, only that it was official business of the Defense Department and he would be back in half a day.
Chen Yi's words made Lin Yan realize that something was wrong.
It seems this trip...
It would be great if they could give us a heads-up beforehand.
Forget it, it's better not to tell, so that Mother and Xiuer won't worry.
Lin Yan lowered his eyes and gently stroked the hilt of the Zhenyue Blade.
"Lead the way."
Chen Yi didn't say anything more, turned around and continued walking forward.
The road became increasingly remote, and they eventually left the city along a side path.
The original bluestone road was turned into a gravel road, then into a dirt road. The houses on both sides changed from brick and tile houses to simple wooden sheds. Finally, even the houses became sparse, and only some low weeds and shrubs remained on both sides of the road.
After walking for about the time it takes to burn two incense sticks, a small pavilion, not very tall, appeared faintly in the woods ahead.
The two-story wooden structure has no windows on any of its four sides, except for a single door facing south.
Lin Yan secretly activated his Qi Observation skill, and the situation within a hundred paces appeared in his mind.
There were at least twenty people around the attic, hiding in the bushes.
There were four or five guards patrolling the gate, each wearing golden armor and with their swords drawn three inches from their sheaths.
These guards walked with heavy footsteps, making the gravel under their feet crunch. Their powerful auras indicated they were third-rank martial artists.
Four or five Unending Realm beings are guarding the gate here.
That's quite a grand affair.
Chen Yi walked to the door of the attic, pushed it open, and glanced back at Lin Yan.
Lin Yan smiled and stepped over the threshold into the room under the scrutinizing gaze of the guards.
Bang!
The moment I stepped inside, the door was slammed shut behind me.
Several oil lamps were lit inside the room, emitting a dim light.
Lin Yan glanced around. The room wasn't large. In the center was a long table with a statue of a deity and an incense burner on it. Three sticks of incense were burning in the burner, and wisps of smoke rose and swirled around the statue.
The statue was made of bronze and was about ten feet tall. Its slender phoenix eyes were half-closed and half-closed, and the corners of its mouth were slightly upturned to the left, revealing a smile. The statue held a coiled dragon halberd in its right hand, pointing it straight to the sky. A huge python was tightly wrapped around its body in a constricting posture, with its head hanging on its shoulder, flicking its tongue and licking the tip of the halberd.
Lin Yan did not recognize which god this was, or rather, he did not think it was a god, but rather it seemed like an evil god.
Several rows of chairs were placed in front of the table, and many people were sitting on them.
As Lin Yan walked in, more than a dozen pairs of eyes fell on him.
There were eighteen people in the room, including him.
Some were leaning back in their chairs with their eyes closed, some were wiping their long knives with their heads down, some were picking at their nails, and some were staring blankly at the statue on the table with their hands tucked into their sleeves.
Everyone's clothes were different. Lin Yan saw some wearing military officer robes like him, some wearing martial arts attire, some wearing heavy armor, and even a man wearing an animal skin vest, who looked like someone who had spent many years in the mountains.
Each person has a different expression and different clothes, which means they come from different places, but these people have one thing in common.
Lin Yan only needed to use his [Aura Observation] skill to scan the auras of these people and he could get a general idea of their presence.
Without exception, all eighteen of them were at the third rank of cultivation.
Eleven individuals at the third-grade Body Cultivation Unceasing Realm and seven at the third-grade Spiritual Cultivation Enlightenment Realm.
Including him, there are eighteen people at the third rank crammed into such a cramped room. Who knows what kind of trouble awaits them?
Lin Yan found a chair in a corner and sat down, placing the Zhenyue Blade in his hand beside his lap.
A young man dressed in a light blue outfit glanced at him as he sat down, as if he wanted to say something to him and ask what was going on. But after looking around and seeing that no one else was making a move, he swallowed hard and continued to rub the calluses on his hands without daring to speak.
No one spoke.
The eighteen people in the room were clearly strangers to each other.
Lin Yan also followed the example of the man next to him, leaning back in his chair and tucking his hands into his sleeves.
The Crown Prince sent someone to urge him to break through to the third rank, probably for this very reason.
When these people were summoned, they were probably just like him, not knowing what they were supposed to do.
But with such a lineup, eighteen third-rank officials, each of whom could easily become the commander of an army, the Crown Prince's scheme was by no means trivial.
Lin Yan secretly considered what would happen next, and what he should do: run away immediately or wait for the right moment...
If he runs away, Chen Yi will still be outside the door. What are his chances of escaping unscathed? His mother and sister are still in their hands. No, he can't run...
After an unknown amount of time, Lin Yan heard footsteps outside the door, and it was more than one person's footsteps.