Chapter 106: A Gift from Lin Hao

The visitor approaching Gu Yuan’s residence was no stranger. It was Lin Hao, bringing two women with him.

One of them was Pei Qingluo, and her coming made sense. But who was the other woman? Gu Yuan had never seen her before.

"Brother Gu!" Lin Hao called out cheerfully.

Gu Yuan greeted him calmly before leading the group inside.

"It’s been a long time," he remarked.

"Well, knowing you’d be busy after your wedding, I didn’t want to interrupt you." Lin Hao grinned.

"Or were you too busy chasing another woman?" Gu Yuan said lightly, glancing at the unfamiliar woman. She held her chin slightly raised, her pride showing in every line of her posture.

"Hahaha! Have I been found out?" Lin Hao replied, feigning embarrassment before introducing her. "This is Tang Xueli, a member of the Tang Clan, one of the clans under Hundred Clans Peak. She admires the Sun Fairy and wanted to meet her."

Hundred Clans Peak was one of the sect’s four newly established peaks, made up mainly of members from cultivation clans that had psrticipated in the last attack against the Black Desolation Sect.

The name itself was no accident. Word had spread that the sect had deliberately named the peak to make its ambitions clear to the defeated clans that had joined it, as well as other ones.

Gu Yuan shook his head. "Unfortunately, Ji Yan isn’t here right now, so you won’t be able to meet her."

"That’s fine," Tang Xueli replied, though the disappointment on her face was obvious.

"Junior Brother, could we borrow your forging room?" Pei Qingluo asked.

"Yes, feel free to use it."

At his permission, Pei Qingluo led Tang Xueli away, leaving Gu Yuan alone with Lin Hao.

"Coming here, I can’t help comparing this place to your old cave abode. It’s changed quite a bit," Lin Hao remarked, looking around.

"It’s changed a little," Gu Yuan replied with a nod.

The changes were more than a little, though. The walls had been polished, luminous pearls embedded in the ceiling illuminated the room, and a small but comfortable bed occupied one corner. Even the table and chairs had been replaced, their simple wooden predecessors giving way to more elegant furnishings.

Still, by the standards of this palace, his room remained on the plain side. The other rooms were far more luxurious, but this was how he preferred it.

"Anyway, are you sure you want to get involved in Hundred Clans Peak’s affairs?" Gu Yuan asked. "You said yourself that it’s currently the most troublesome of the four peaks."

His words were an indirect reference to Tang Xueli.

"What can I do? I’ve fallen in love..." Lin Hao declared, placing a hand over his heart with a dramatic sigh.

Gu Yuan immediately felt foolish for voicing his concern. Lin Hao paid no attention to his expression and had already begun recounting the story.

Gu Yuan listened for a while, but halfway through the story, he couldn’t help interrupting.

"So, she was engaged to someone else, and you stole her away from him?"

"Don’t put it like that. You make me sound like a villain." Lin Hao gave him a reproachful look. "She already wanted to break off the engagement before I got involved. I merely helped her do it."

If that’s the case, perhaps it’s fine, Gu Yuan thought. He knew Lin Hao well enough to trust that he wouldn’t lie about something like this.

"The man she was engaged to had some problems with his cultivation. He used to be considered a genius, but his cultivation suddenly stopped progressing and even began to regress. He couldn’t even break through to Foundation Establishment, yet he still clung to Tang Xueli, the flower of his clan." Lin Hao shook his head.

"I stepped in and intended to settle things peacefully with him. nstead of accepting the breakup quietly, he declared he was divorcing her and challenged me to a duel ten years later, claiming he’d defeat me by then."

Curious about how things had turned out, Gu Yuan asked, "So, have ten years passed since then? Did you fight him?"

"Of course not. I waited until he was alone and killed him."

"Was that really necessary?"

"Of course it was. He insulted my woman, made his lust for her obvious, and clearly held a grudge. Why should I spare him?"

Gu Yuan opened his mouth, then closed it again. He couldn’t exactly argue with Lin Hao’s reasoning, especially considering the sort of world they lived in. Rather than pursue the matter, he tactfully changed the subject.

"How are things around the sect?"

"Bad."

What is it this time? Gu Yuan wondered, calmly waiting for Lin Hao to continue.

"During your wedding, the sect was on high alert. Anyone who showed even the slightest sign of causing trouble was immediately arrested. But something like that can’t be maintained forever."

Lin Hao sighed before continuing. "Now, all four peaks are causing trouble in one way or another."

"And the sect is just letting them get away with it?" Gu Yuan asked.

"They’re being subtle about it. That’s what makes them difficult to deal with."

Lin Hao paused briefly before adding, "On top of that, rumors have spread that the Moon Fairy’s strange behavior recently was related to the sealed treasure. As a result, spies have been appearing again, and even stronger forces are making moves against our sect."

Lin Hao still remembered when he had first joined the sect more than a hundred years ago. Even back then, rumors about the heavenly treasure sealed within Hidden Gate Peak had circulated. Those rumors had led to numerous battles, and now, after all these years, the situation was repeating itself.

"Do you know what sealed treasure all these forces are after?" Lin Hao asked, leaning closer and lowering his voice.

"Do you really want to know?" Gu Yuan chuckled.

Lin Hao froze for a moment before shaking his head. "No, forget it. On second thought, it’s better if I don’t know."

Gu Yuan laughed lightly, but Lin Hao paid him no mind and continued.

"Anyway, I came here because of my woman’s former fiance. He had quite a few good things on him, and one of them was this ring."

Gu Yuan took the ring and examined it, turning it over in his hand. However, he couldn’t find anything particularly special about it.

"The soul of an ancient cultivator is sealed inside. It went dormant after defending him, or something like that. Anyway, I don’t feel like keeping it. Do you want it?"

The offer was far too casual. Sensing something was off about the ring, Gu Yuan decided to appraise it.

[Soul-Nourishing Ring]

[Grade: Immortal Grade]

[Description: Forged from Dreamveil Sand and other precious materials, this ring can house a soul and slowly nourish it.]

[Fearing pursuit by his enemies, Shang Bujin, who had once reached the Mystic Immortal Realm, abandoned his plans to reconstruct a physical body. Instead, he concealed himself within the ring before descending into the Cangchen Mortal World.]

[His original plan was to find a talented cultivator, attach himself to them, and gradually restore his soul while waiting for the right opportunity to seize their body. However, his plans were disrupted by Lin Hao.]

[Unable to let go of his grudge, Shang Bujin bound the ring to Lin Hao and now intends to devour Lin Hao’s soul to restore himself.]

"Senior Brother, have I done something to offend you? Why are you trying to harm me like this?" Gu Yuan asked as he returned the ring.

"Hahaha! I really didn’t mean it like that." Lin Hao laughed awkwardly, though he still made no move to take the ring back. "But you have the Heavenly Twin Stars as your wives. Couldn’t they deal with it?"

They probably could. But why should I involve them? Gu Yuan pondered for a moment before shaking his head and storing the ring directly inside the Orb of Creation.

"Forget it. I’ll take the ring," he said.

Lin Hao stared at him in astonishment.

The ring couldn’t be stored away. He had tried before, but it simply wouldn’t work. Even when he threw it away, it would somehow return to him after some time.

Yet Gu Yuan had stored it just like that?

"What?" Gu Yuan asked, noticing his strange reaction.

Faced with that question, Lin Hao decided to come clean and explain what had happened with the ring.

Gu Yuan’s expression changed slightly as he listened, but in the end, he decided to keep it anyway.

No matter how abnormal the ring was, once it was stored inside the Orb of Creation, it couldn’t do anything to him.

He would leave it there until he was strong enough to deal with the soul inside. Only then would he take it out.