Nine Heavens Martial Emperor

In the sect’s assembly hall, after Lin Hao handed over the written Alchemy and Artifact Refining Skills, he didn’t forget the two elders and made a special trip into the secret realm.

When he saw the two elders, Lin Hao couldn’t recognize them at all. They had turned into wildmen.

They had become so engrossed in mining the Flowing Light Divine Stone that they had forgotten to eat or sleep.

When Lin Hao offered to take them out, the two elders refused point-blank, nearly coming to blows with him.

After sensing their auras, however, Lin Hao was stunned. Their cultivation had unconsciously advanced to the Soul Gathering Realm!

In the elders’ own words: "Not only does this place improve our cultivation, but we also get to be the ones to mine the Flowing Light Divine Stone. This is the highest honor."

In the end, Lin Hao had no choice but to give up.

Before he left, Lin Hao left behind the Spiritual Artifacts he had extorted from the powers in the Divinity Realm.

The two elders were shocked beyond words when they saw Lin Hao produce so many Tier Four Spiritual Artifacts.

Tier Four Spiritual Artifacts were far too precious!

Even the four great sects of the Southern Border Prefecture couldn’t produce so many; owning one or two was already their absolute limit.

It was no exaggeration to say that if they, along with Elder Gu and the Sect Leader, were to wield these Spiritual Artifacts and attack now, they could conquer the four great sects of the Southern Border Prefecture effortlessly.

Yet Lin Hao gave them all these Tier Four Spiritual Artifacts simply to use as mining tools.

If the factions Lin Hao had extorted from ever learned that he was using Tier Four Spiritual Artifacts as mining tools, they would probably cough up blood in fury.

This was the height of extravagance.

Even though the two elders had lost themselves in mining the Flowing Light Divine Stone, they still couldn’t help but stare in a daze for a long time at the sight of so many Tier Four Spiritual Artifacts.

As for Lin Hao, he took the Flowing Light Divine Stone they had mined and quietly left the secret realm.

After emerging, Lin Hao went to the Divine Weapon Hall.

Of course, Lin Hao didn’t leave the Flowing Light Divine Stone there. It was far too precious, and besides, no one else knew how to use it for Refining.

Lin Hao stayed in the Divine Weapon Hall for a full day. No one knew what he did in there.

After leaving the Divine Weapon Hall, Lin Hao didn’t say goodbye to anyone and quietly departed from the Heaven-Stepping Sect.

...

Outside the gates of the Heaven-Stepping Sect, Lin Hao stood and stared for a long, long time.

’The next time I return, the Heaven-Stepping Sect will probably be completely different,’ Lin Hao thought, a faint smile gracing his lips.

It was a wonderful thing to look forward to, and Lin Hao was confident it would soon become a reality.

"Stop dawdling. Are you going or not?!" the turtle next to Lin Hao snapped.

Lord Lingdi had been told to wait here, and it had ended up waiting for an entire day.

Even a saint would lose their patience, to say nothing of a magnificent Divine Turtle like itself.

Lin Hao snapped out of it and gave the turtle a kick. Then, he unceremoniously climbed onto its back.

"Let’s go! We’re off to the Sanqing Sect!"

Lin Hao declared with a grand wave of his hand, full of vigor.

"You got it! Let’s go raise some hell," the turtle replied, exceptionally excited. It knew Lin Hao was on the hunt for a supreme Elemental Realm Cultivation Technique.

No sooner were the words spoken than it shot off like the wind, carrying Lin Hao with it.

Clearly, it was the type that just wanted to watch the world burn.

"Raise hell, my ass! We need to keep a low profile! A low profile!" Lin Hao snapped, punching its shell.

He was there to find a Cultivation Technique. How was he supposed to do that if they stirred up a hornet’s nest?

The moment Lin Hao said this, the turtle’s speed dropped.

It was now moving at a crawl, not much faster than a snail.

"What are you doing?" Lin Hao demanded.

"Shhh, low profile. We have to keep a low profile," the turtle whispered, glancing left and right as if afraid of being spotted.

Lin Hao was furious.

They were in the middle of nowhere, without another soul in sight. Who was it trying to be discreet for?

The little rascal was clearly doing it on purpose.

"You’re asking for it!" As he spoke, Lin Hao’s fists rained down on the turtle’s shell like hailstones.

Of course, Lin Hao wasn’t using his full strength, and the turtle’s shell was incredibly hard, so it acted as if nothing was wrong.

And so, the man and the turtle bickered and fought their way toward the Sanqing Sect.

When no one was around, the turtle was as fast as lightning. But the moment people appeared, its speed dropped to little more than that of an ordinary tortoise.

Every time this happened, Lin Hao became the subject of widespread gossip. When they encountered someone particularly self-important, he would inevitably face a barrage of taunts and ridicule.

But Lin Hao simply laughed it all off.

After traveling like this for three days and three nights, Lin Hao and the turtle arrived within the Sanqing Sect’s territory.

Similar to the Danling Sect, a small town called Cyan Rock Town lay at the foot of the Sanqing Sect’s mountain.

However, compared to the bustling town near the Danling Sect, Cyan Rock Town seemed especially deserted.

Still, Cyan Rock Town was fully equipped with all the necessary amenities.

It was already late at night when Lin Hao and the turtle arrived in town.

"This Divine Turtle is exhausted! Find a place to rest, quick!" the turtle yelled as soon as they entered the town, promptly bucking Lin Hao off its back.

The longer it spent with Lin Hao, the better the turtle understood his temperament.

As long as it didn’t cross his lines, Lin Hao wouldn’t get truly angry even if it climbed on his head and took a dump.

Thus, the turtle grew more and more impudent.

Being thrown off, Lin Hao naturally didn’t make a fool of himself.

Scenes like this had played out many times before.

In the turtle’s own words, this was its way of keeping Lin Hao on his toes.

Lin Hao couldn’t agree more.

Without bickering with the turtle, Lin Hao headed off.

The turtle’s body abruptly shrank, and with a leap, it landed on Lin Hao’s shoulder... 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Just as Lin Hao arrived in front of an inn with the turtle, his path was blocked.

The one blocking him was a young man.

He wore fine clothes and was flanked by two lackeys—the classic rich young master look.

Except this young man reeked of alcohol.

But it would be a mistake to assume he was just some useless fop.

The young man’s name was Chen Xing, an Inner Sect Disciple of the Sanqing Sect.

An Inner Sect Disciple from this sect carried far more weight than one from the Heaven-Stepping Sect.

Though only fifteen, his cultivation had already reached the Fourth Layer of Elemental Realm.

With such a cultivation level, he would have been a Core Disciple in the Heaven-Stepping Sect. But in the Sanqing Sect, he was merely an Inner Sect Disciple.

This alone showed the vast difference between the Heaven-Stepping Sect and the Sanqing Sect.

However, that gap was now closing.

Thanks to a steady supply of pills and access to the secret realm, the cultivation of the Heaven-Stepping Sect’s disciples had been advancing by leaps and bounds.

But Wu Taichu never mentioned any of this to Lin Hao.

Because compared to Lin Hao’s progress, theirs was like the difference between heaven and earth.

Right now, however, Chen Xing paid Lin Hao no mind.

It wasn’t because he was a disciple of the Sanqing Sect, but because he could see through Lin Hao’s cultivation level at a glance.

In Chen Xing’s mind, there was only one explanation for this: Lin Hao’s bloodline was inferior to his own.

A superior bloodline had a near-Innate suppressive effect on an inferior one. Therefore, Chen Xing wouldn’t fear anyone with a weaker bloodline, even if their cultivation was a layer higher than his.

Since both he and Lin Hao were at the Fourth Layer of Elemental Realm, Chen Xing felt even more confident.

But the reason Chen Xing had stopped Lin Hao was because of the turtle.

He was a disciple of the Fifth Elder of the Inner Sect, a man who was anything but low-key and had four disciples in total.

Tomorrow was his master’s birthday, and as a disciple, he was naturally expected to prepare a gift.

However, Chen Xing had yet to find a suitable gift.

The thought of being outdone by his three senior brothers again tomorrow left a foul taste in his mouth, as if he’d swallowed a fly.

Taking the opportunity, two Outer Sect disciples who usually curried favor with him suggested they go out for drinks.

So, he had secretly slipped down the mountain to this town and had been drowning his sorrows for several hours.

Just as he was about to leave the tavern, Chen Xing had accidentally spotted a young man riding a tortoise.

Then, the tortoise spoke, threw its master off its back, and even transformed its size...

’Isn’t this the perfect gift for Master?’

And that led to the current scene of him blocking Lin Hao’s path.

The closer he got to the Sanqing Sect, the less Lin Hao wanted any trouble. Seeing someone block his path, he said nothing and simply tried to walk around them.

But Chen Xing blocked him again.

"Excuse me," Lin Hao said, his brow furrowing.

Chen Xing didn’t move, but one of the men behind him stepped forward and did something.

He tossed a few copper plates—change from the tavern—at Lin Hao.

Lin Hao, of course, didn’t bother to catch them. The copper plates clattered loudly on the ground and scattered everywhere.

The other lackey stepped forward and reached directly for the turtle on Lin Hao’s shoulder.

Lin Hao’s eyes turned icy, but he remained still.

He didn’t move, but the turtle did.

With lightning speed, it ducked into Lin Hao’s robes.

"Hand over the tortoise. We paid for it, so it belongs to our Senior Brother Chen now."

His hand grabbed empty air, but the man didn’t dare attack Lin Hao directly. There was something in Lin Hao’s gaze that made his heart pound with fear.

With Chen Xing behind him, however, his confidence returned, and he spoke with forced bravado.

"You’re courting death," Lin Hao finally spoke, his voice ice-cold.

He didn’t want to cause trouble, but he was being treated like a pushover.

Before the words even left his mouth, Lin Hao had already seized the man who’d just acted by the throat and lifted him into the air.

"Guh... urk..." The man struggled, trying desperately to pry Lin Hao’s hand from his throat, but it was impossible.

Fortunately, he remembered he was a Martial Artist. The next moment, he threw a punch at Lin Hao’s face.

Lin Hao punched back.

CRACK!

With a sharp crack, the man’s arm hung limp.

Choked by Lin Hao’s grip, he couldn’t even scream. His face went purple, and cold sweat dripped from his brow.

Not only was the pain unbearable, but the chilling threat of death washed over him.

His arm was broken, but he still had his legs.

The man kicked out violently, aiming for Lin Hao’s stomach.

Lin Hao didn’t even move, yet another sickening crack of breaking bone echoed out.

The man’s leg had shattered, while Lin Hao hadn’t moved an inch.

Seeing this, the other lackey, who had been about to attack, quietly took a step back.

His cultivation was on par with the man Lin Hao held captive. To charge in now would be suicide.

"H-how dare you! We’re disciples of the Sanqing Sect! Let him go, or you’ll die without a grave!"

Lin Hao didn’t answer. Instead, he threw the man in his grasp at the speaker.

The man tried to catch his companion but was sent staggering back by the immense force.

Chen Xing, who had remained still until now, finally made a move.

But he didn’t attack Lin Hao. Instead, he moved to steady his two flailing subordinates.

As a Sect Disciple, if he allowed two of his junior brothers to be humiliated like this, where would the sect’s honor be?

Chen Xing placed one hand on the back of a lackey. He didn’t take a single step back, but the stone slab beneath his feet cracked and shattered.

Chen Xing’s eyes narrowed, a murderous glint appearing within them.