Chapter 426 History & Mark

Elder Lin flew over to Lin Lee and landed gently on the ground. "Hold still," he instructed. Then, he raised his hand and patted Lin Lee’s chest, releasing a warm, green spiritual aura that flowed directly into the wound. The sword slash healed immediately, closing up completely. At the same time, the minor cracks on the jade in the Great Elder’s hand disappeared, leaving it looking smooth and flawless.

The Great Elder put away the restored jade. Meanwhile, Elder Yao, the middle-aged man with the calm face, flew down to start handling the bodies of the two disciples.

The Great Elder turned back to look at Lin Lee. "Let’s go," he said, his voice firm and steady. "You are not permitted to leave the sect until we finish this investigation."

Lin Lee nodded solemnly, accepting the restriction, which was exactly what he wanted. He held out his hand, and the powerful, glowing spirit sword that belonged to the original Luo appeared. He stepped onto it and flew away without hesitation, heading toward the distant, towering heart of the sect, and moving toward the cave belonging to Luo as he followed the man’s memories.

After a short while,

Lin Lee descended into the heart of the sect, his movements fluid and perfectly mirroring the reserved, slightly distant behavior of the late Luo Shen. The core area was distinct; the spiritual pressure here was stronger, and the architecture was made of rare spirit-wood and jade that seemed to pulse with a low, steady energy. He walked along the winding paths until he stood before his assigned cave residence.

Following the fragmented memories of the man whose life he had taken, Lin Lee reached into his storage pouch. His fingers grasped a cool, smooth piece of jade, which was carved with intricate, swirling runes that felt slightly warm to the touch. With a steady hand, he pressed the object against the shimmering layer of the invisible shield protecting his entrance.

Flicker!

The defensive barrier shivered, dissolving into tiny motes of light that disappeared into the stone wall. Lin Lee stepped inside, and the jade vanished back into his pouch. As he crossed the threshold, the protective shield instantly reappeared, sealing the entrance behind him and muting the outside world into a tomb-like silence.

He looked around the room. It was simple... containing only a plain wooden bed and a small meditation desk, with nothing else. Yet, the air was filled with a high density of Heaven and Earth energy that would make an ordinary disciple jealous.

He moved quickly, sitting down on the wooden bed in a cross-legged position. He closed his eyes, diving deep into the memories he had taken from Luo Shen.

’First, I will examine what I gained from Luo Shen,’ Lin Lee thought, his mind breaking down the foreign information with precise focus.

He had not expected the original Luo Shen to belong to such a powerful clan in the "Main World." He belonged to the family that was ruling the whole east asia, his grandfather was one of the first source walkers and now one of the top ten strongest in the main world.

The history he discovered was even more shocking. It mirrored his own past life on Earth, right up until the twenty-first century. Then, something unimaginable happened. Everything began with the disappearances.

The people started unexpectedly disappearing, first in Asia, then all over the globe. Chaos, confusion, and fear gripped the planet until the dark dots appeared. Then amidst the global sensation these dots expanded into full fledged portals in different places on the planet... some inside the apartments, some on the rooftops, and others in the rooms beside the beds. Coincidentally, all of these portals appeared in the same places where those people disappeared.

Then, amidst the mixed emotion of people around the world, the event of return happened. The first Source Walkers emerged through the portals, the very same peoples who disappeared and all of them were wielding unimaginable powers that could even rival the modern weapons.

Lin Lee skimmed the details, his focus becoming sharper. The first source walkers then revealed the truth about the marks to the world, showing the marks on their backhands, which was the main reason for their disappearance. Then, in just a few months, almost fifty percent of the population of the planet gained the Marks, men had it on the left hand, women had it on the right hand. These marks, named as the Source and Origin Marks and wielders were named as Source and Origin Walkers. These marks were the keys to the origin worlds, granting access to the Origin Space and the promise of granting any wish, provided one earned enough Origin Points.

"So, the mark is the real reason behind such a change in the Main World," Lin Lee muttered thoughtfully, his brow furrowing as he analyzed the logic. "These Origin Seekers can travel to these origin worlds, achieve, conquer, and collect... but they cannot bring the power they gained in these realms back with them. All their achievements are transformed into Origin Points. Then, these points are used to gain power that is suitable for the main world."

His gaze grew deeper, more suspicious, and colder. ’Why do I feel that this whole scenario is artificially created by someone?

He raised his left hand, staring at the back of it. There was no mark. There was no sign of the seal that tied the other walkers to this cosmic game. Yet, he knew he possessed the essence of it... he had received Luo Shen’s mark through the Boundless Heaven Art.

"I cannot see it, nor can I access it here in this realm, but I can feel it, I have successfully taken away the mark of Luo Shen" he realized something, feeling the other gains he had made and muttered. "I wonder what kind of source talent I will awaken after venturing into the Main World. I could not copy Luo’s source talent directly... I thought I would inherit everything from him, but I only inherited the mark... anyway, it is more useful than a mere source talent. Even if I cannot awaken a suitable source talent later, I will simply take one away from someone in the main world."

A faint, predatory smile touched his lips. ’Also, my boundless art missed the source talent, which means there are still some flaws in it. I must perfect it further. I will take anything I desire from anyone, without any restriction and without any limitations.’

He raised his head, staring through the solid stone of the cave wall toward the wider sect, his eyes glittering with ruthless anticipation.

’I have to ransack this sect. I will strip it of every resource, every artifact, and every drop of spiritual essence. Then, I will return to the main world... Other origin seekers cannot bring anything to the main world from these realms, but I am different.’

He extended his hand, and a crystal appeared in his palm, swirling with an ethereal, shifting light. It was the Return Crystal given to him by Wang Yi. Before, when he was just a rogue cultivator in this realm, the crystal had been dormant, and he could not sense its return function. Now, with the Source Mark integrated into his soul, he could feel it resonating. It hummed with the potential to pierce through the veil of this minor realm.

’Now, with the mark and this crystal, I can leave this realm and visit the main world at any moment I want,’ he mused.

He did not rush. The sect was still reeling, the Great Elder was still distracted by the "investigation," and the core of the Red Sky Sect was ripe for the taking. He closed his eyes, the Boundless Heaven Art beginning to churn, ready to tear apart the foundation of this world to fuel his own rise to power.

He centered his focus, allowing the Boundless Heaven Art to hum within his meridians. The technique didn’t just cycle his internal energy; it expanded, reaching out like an invisible, hungry hand into the environment.

Almost immediately, the cave underwent a violent transformation. The high-density Heaven and Earth spiritual energy, previously stagnant, began to stir. It surged toward him not in a trickle, but in a torrent, rushing in from every direction as if pulled by a vacuum.

In the center of his dantian, the flawless golden jindan... the condensed crystallization of his cultivation... began to rotate. It started as a slow, deliberate spin, then rapidly accelerated, turning into a blur of blinding gold. Like a leviathan of the deep, a whale opening its massive maw, the core began to inhale the spiritual essence. It drank greedily, sucking in massive amounts of energy until the sheer velocity of the intake caused the air in the room to whistle and shriek.

Lin Lee maintained his absolute focus, his mind guiding the deluge of energy. After a while, his concentration wavered, startled by an unexpected sight within his own spiritual sea.

A light, ethereal shade of purple had begun to bleed into the golden surface of his core.

... Chapter End ...