The night grew darker.

There were several figures waiting at the top of the hill when Lu Ting arrived.

They were led by a man with cold eyes, who was wearing a scarlet cloak and sitting on a hideous steed covered with flakes. He was no other than the Captain of the village guardians, Lian Rufeng.

"How was it?" He asked the moment he saw Lu Ting.

"Captain, that boy is quite tricky. I was nearly defeated by him." Lu Ting looked ashamed, and was especially reluctant to admit his failure.

Lian Rufeng and the others were all shocked by surprise, as they could not understand how could a 12 or 13-year-old boy beat a man whose cultivation had reached Inner Strong, the second level of Martial Realm.

After he told them about the fight in details, Lu Ting concluded, "Captain, I think you are right about him. He must be the helper invited by that old man, Shiao Tianren."

Lian Rufeng sneered after a long time of silence, "If what you said is true, Lin Xun is merely a kid whose cultivation has reached the level of Inner Strong. Shiao Tianren must be stupid enough to pin his hope on a kid."

He paused, and then waved his hand, "Now that the boy is not a threat, he is no longer worthy of our attention."

"Why don't we take this opportunity to kill him and send Shiao Tianren a warning, Captain?" Lu Ting was not ready to let it go as he felt shame at the defeat.

"No hurry. Let them live for a few more days. The most important thing right now is to blend in and earn us a place in Green-sun Tribe. Only in this way, we will have somewhere to go after we entirely cut our ties with Feiyun."

Lian Rufeng took a deep breath, and continued with glaring eyes, "This is our first priority. After we gain a footing in Green-sun tribe, with its influence and our capabilities, we are bound to make a huge success in Donglin Town!"

Donglin Town was one of the most prosperous cities outside of the Three-thousand Mountains. It was densely populated, and the streets were always crowded. Its traffic lines were extending in all directions, making it an indispensable trading center at the southwest border of Ziyao Empire.

It was said that anyone who could secure a place in Donglin would be acknowledged as an eligible citizen, which would be way much better than living in a perilous badland.

The thought of this set their hearts on fire and made them long for the happy days to come.

"Lu Ting, I need you to stay behind with Qian Qi. His cultivation has reached Viscera Opening, the third level of Martial Realm. The two of you work together, then no one in the village dare to fight against you. Remember, keep a close watch on Shiao Tianren. If you see anything out of place, lock him up first."

Lian Rufeng stared at Lu Ting and another robust middle-aged man in cold eyes and gave them the order in a lowered voice, indicating he would not take no for an answer.

Lu Ting and Qian Qi looked at each other and both agreed.

Lian Rufeng was quite satisfied. He nodded his head and shouted, "Three months! Three months at most! Everything owned by Feiyun will belong to us! By then, we will become rich and win a place in Green-sun Tribe, and the door of Donglin will be open for us!"

"Let's go!"

After these words, Lian Rufeng rode away into the mountains, followed by the rest guardians. They soon disappeared in the darkness.

Lu Ting and Qian Qi, on the other hand, went back to Feiyun.

…

In Lin Xun's cottage, the window was open and cool breeze was gently blowing in.

Bright starlight shone through the window, casting a layer of silver on the desk and an air of mystery on the yellowing scroll and the dark cyan inscribing pen on it.

Lin Xun softly rubbed the scroll and the dull grey inscribing pen with his hand, and muttered, "Master Lu told me, there was a big secret hidden in these two things. Once uncovered, it could change my fate and heal my wound once and for all……"

He had been told when he was a child that he had been extremely lucky to be born with a rare spiritual vein named “Devouring Abyss”.

With such gift, he would have been a natural prodigy in cultivation, the one in a million. As long as he worked hard, he would have been destined to become a formidable legend, whose story would have been told all over the empire.

Unfortunately, his spiritual vein had been ripped off soon after he was born, and he had nearly died because of this.

He had been abandoned afterwards. Though he had survived thanks to Master Lu, he had been left with incurable wounds all over his meridians and acupoints.

Because of this, his meridians had been too fragile and slack to support his pursuit in cultivation, so he had been held up in Inner Strong, the second level of Martial Realm, for years.

According to Master Lu, if the wounds could not be repaired, he would never break through the Martial Realm for his whole life, and his journey of cultivation would stop there.

The good thing was Master Lu had left him with the yellowing scroll and the inscribing pen, shedding a bright light on his dark journey.

It was well known that nothing in this world could cure the wounds after one's Spiritual vein was stripped.

However, Master Lu had told him, if he could unveil the mystery hidden in the scroll and the pen, there was chance to change his fate and gain a new life.

The scroll and the pen were now lying on the desk quietly.

Lin Xun collected his chaotic thoughts, took a deep breath and opened the yellowing scroll.

This was the first time he opened this ancient scroll since the mine prison was ruined.

What striking secret could he discover from it?

He anticipated, but he was slightly surprised when he had a look at the first page.

There wasn't a single character on it, except a Birthwort Spiritual Tattoo which he was quite familiar with.

He had learned it from Master Lu since he was a child, so its structure and specialties had been deeply borne in his mind.

He pondered on it and then turned to the second page, on which he saw no characters but a Gold-piercing Spiritual Tattoo he also had known of.

He kept turning the pages, only to find a different yet familiar spiritual tattoo on each page, which he had learned and memorized since he was a child and could inscribe with his eyes closed.

"How could this happen? Is the secret Master Lu mentioned concealed by these basic spiritual tattoos?"

After reading halfway through the book, he noted nothing special. So he frowned, and was lost in thought.

If the spiritual tattoos had been rare and advanced, he would have found the scroll extraordinary.

But they were the most fundamental and popular kinds in the world, making him wonder.

The ancient scroll with beast-skin covers had been given to Lin Xun by Master Lu when he was dying. The timing was so important that he could not believe it contained no secret but dozens of basic spiritual tattoos that were known to all.

He was unwilling to give up, so he kept looking until he turned to the last page. He stopped and narrowed his eyes.

The last page was quite different with the previous pages.

Instead of some basic spiritual tattoos, there was a peculiar pattern on it. The pattern was incomplete and discolored, made up of messy and intricate lines.

It looked like doodles scribbled by a clumsy kid, so not like a spiritual tattoo.

Yet it attracted Lin Xun's attention at once. Could the striking secret in Master Lu's mouth be buried in this peculiar pattern?

He examined and studied every line of it carefully.

Time elapsed unknowingly. Until his eyes got too tired to see things clearly, he found nothing worth mentioning.

Feeling frustrated, he peered thoughtfully at the pattern.

An ancient scroll with basic spiritual tattoos on almost every page except the last one, which had a peculiar pattern on it, was indeed uncommon.

What did it mean?

Where should he start with to solve its mystery?

All kinds of questions flooded his mind.

As it made Lin Xun rack his brain, he accidently noted the color of the last page differed with that of the previous pages, which looked a bit like dark red.

He took the scroll and held the last page close to the lamp. Something he had never noticed appeared on the thin paper which was made of some unknown material.

Handprints!

Blood handprints, the red color of which had nearly faded away!

It seemed someone had "pressed" on the last page with bloody fingers for many times. After a long period of time, the blood had discolored and the handprints had become mottled.

He also observed that the handprints were of different size and color, clearly from different persons of times.

A wild idea formed in his brain. It might be that the scroll had been obtained by different spiritual practitioners from different times, who had used every means to discover the hidden secret but had made little progress, so they had finally decided to use their own blood as an inducement.

At the thought of this, he bit his finger tip and let one drop of blood fell on the last page.