Nine Heavens Martial Emperor

As Yi Mingcheng stood in stunned silence, Lin Hao had already filtered through at least ten different Cultivation Techniques in his mind.

’Yi Mingcheng’s future Divine Soul will be the Celestial Demon Dog,’ Lin Hao thought. ’The Celestial Demon Dog is known for its speed and agility...’

As he pondered this, his expression suddenly shifted. A specific Cultivation Technique came to mind.

The Cultivation Technique was called the *Ten Thousand Transformations Spirit Skill*.

Lin Hao gave it a brief look. Cultivating the *Ten Thousand Transformations Spirit Skill* could alter the flow of one’s meridians, making the body as light as a swallow. Not only that, but it also allowed one to overcome force with skill...

He didn’t need to see any more. Based on that alone, this Cultivation Technique was the most suitable for Yi Mingcheng.

And most importantly, this technique included cultivation methods for both the Blood Coagulation Realm and the Elemental Realm.

His mind made up, Lin Hao spoke as they walked. "Uncle Cheng, listen closely. The Cultivation Technique I’m going to teach you is called the *Ten Thousand Transformations Spirit Skill*. It primarily develops speed and agility."

Yi Mingcheng’s lips trembled as he nodded. He was too overcome with emotion to speak.

Lin Hao recited the Cultivation Technique, word for word.

After five repetitions, Yi Mingcheng had finally committed it to memory.

While this was nothing compared to Lin Hao’s photographic memory, for Yi Mingcheng, it was a monumental leap.

Before, as a mere mortal, he wouldn’t have been able to memorize the technique in ten repetitions, let alone five.

Now that Lin Hao had awakened his bloodline, the advantages of his improved constitution were already beginning to manifest.

By the time Yi Mingcheng had memorized the Cultivation Technique, War Dragon City was visible in the distance.

Without a word, the two entered the city, one walking in front of the other.

At the crack of dawn, the wide streets of War Dragon City were nearly empty.

The only people out this early were the stewards of various families, who needed to procure supplies.

Almost everyone who passed Yi Mingcheng greeted him. Their expressions were deferential, their eyes holding a mixture of envy and jealousy.

But when their gazes fell upon Lin Hao at his side, they were filled with confusion.

The young genius from three years ago had been forgotten.

Yi Mingcheng noticed their stares, and a flash of displeasure crossed his eyes. Just as he was about to say something, Lin Hao laughed. "It’s fine. It won’t be long before they know that I, Lin Hao, have returned. Besides, my ambitions lie elsewhere."

"Yes," Yi Mingcheng said respectfully.

In his eyes, his Young Master was a hidden dragon, destined to one day soar into the heavens. A small place like War Dragon City could never hold him.

’I can’t become a burden to the Young Master. To follow him, I need immense strength!’

Yi Mingcheng felt a sense of pressure.

He clenched his fists. A new goal had formed in his heart...

The two walked at a steady pace. By the time they reached the Lin family estate, eight guards were already posted before the imposing main gate.

Early morning was when guards were at their most lax, and from a distance, Lin Hao saw them huddled together, whispering amongst themselves.

Lin Hao’s heart sank, and he quickened his pace.

Yi Mingcheng hurried to keep up.

Seeing Yi Mingcheng approach, the guards, who had been lazily slouching, snapped to attention, their bodies ramrod straight.

Yi Mingcheng’s influence in the Lin family was at its peak right now; they couldn’t afford to offend him.

"Why so many people today? Has something happened at the estate?" Lin Hao asked.

He remembered there were usually only four guards. The number had doubled, so something unusual must have occurred.

Though the guards didn’t recognize Lin Hao’s face, he was with Yi Mingcheng, so they didn’t dare be disrespectful. One of them said politely, "Young sir, this is an internal matter of the Lin family. It isn’t convenient for us to speak of it."

"Speak!" Yi Mingcheng roared, furious. He desperately wanted to tell them that this was the true Young Master of the Lin family. But since Lin Hao hadn’t given the word, he didn’t dare.

"Yes, Steward." The man answered respectfully before continuing, "It’s actually nothing major. A handmaiden who was taken to Tian Duan Mountain has now returned."

"Where is she!" Lin Hao surged forward, demanding an answer.

Seeing Lin Hao on the verge of frenzy, the man took a step back before speaking. "She’s gone mad but refuses to admit it. By tradition, she is to be executed in the Lin family’s ancestral hall. The Patriarch has already..."

"Lin Tianhao, if you dare touch a single hair on her head, I will tear you to pieces!" Lin Hao let out a thunderous roar, his hair whipping about as if he were a raging demon.

A terrifying, boundless aura erupted from his body. The next moment, the guards saw only a blur before he vanished.

Yi Mingcheng’s face paled as well. He scrambled to follow, shouting, "Young Master, wait for me!"

But after just a few steps, he spun around and dashed back out the main gate.

The guards stood frozen, only snapping out of it long after Lin Hao was gone.

They exchanged glances, each seeing the fear reflected in the other’s eyes.

The aura that had erupted from the young man had chilled them to the bone, a tremor that seemed to originate from their very souls.

"Who was that demon?" one of them asked, wiping away a cold sweat, his voice filled with lingering fear.

"He dared to call the Patriarch by his full name, and I think Yi Mingcheng called him Young Master," another recalled.

The third guard’s face changed dramatically. "I remember now," he cried out. "He’s Lin Hao!"

"What? Lin Hao! Didn’t he go mad?!"

"So he was just pretending to be mad!"

"I heard he even slapped the Patriarch in the assembly hall yesterday!"

The more the guards chattered amongst themselves, the more alarmed they became. Eventually, they fell into a tacit silence, all of them turning to gaze toward the deepest part of the Lin family estate.

Though they couldn’t see a thing, they could imagine the tense, confrontational atmosphere that must be brewing there now.

...

Three years had passed, but the layout of the Lin family estate hadn’t changed. Having grown up here, Lin Hao knew it like the back of his hand.

Lin Hao pushed his speed to the absolute limit, his eyes turning a solid, bloodshot red.

Boundless killing intent churned in his eyes. Combined with his hair standing on end from his extreme speed, he looked for all the world like a maddened demon.

Lin Hao was filled with bitter regret. He hated himself for being so careless.

If the mastermind could get a letter to the Treasure Hunting Pavilion, then they could just as easily destroy the letter he had left.

Lin Hao was seething with rage.

If anything happened to Yan’Er, he would never be able to forgive himself.

Without Yan’Er’s diligent care over the past three years, he, Lin Hao, would likely have died long ago.

In Lin Hao’s heart, Yan’Er’s life was more important than his own.

Remembering his promise—"I won’t let anyone bully you again"—Lin Hao wanted to slap himself across the face.

’Lin Tianhao, I don’t care how the Lin family has treated me, but if Yan’Er dies today, I swear I’ll make you regret ever being born!’

A storm of rage brewed in Lin Hao’s heart. He frantically circulated his True Qi, and his speed somehow increased yet again...

At that moment, deep within the Lin family estate.

A grand and imposing building stood tall under heavy guard. This was the Lin family’s ancestral hall, the final resting place of their ancestors.

Dozens of fully armed Martial Artists patrolled the perimeter of the ancestral hall.

Each of them carried a long saber at their waist, their eyes cold and their auras frigid.

As they patrolled, their footsteps thundered on the stone slabs, each step seeming to carry the weight of a thousand pounds.

These Martial Artists, whose long sabers had tasted blood countless times, had been handpicked by the Lin family to guard the ancestral hall. Their cultivation was all at the Peak of the Third Layer of the Blood Coagulation Realm.

To compensate for the shortcomings of their individual cultivation levels, they had trained in a joint attack formation that multiplied their power when used together.

Normally, even Lin Zheng, whose cultivation had reached the Eighth Layer of the Blood Coagulation Realm, had to tread carefully whenever he came to the ancestral hall.

Respect for the hall was one reason, but more importantly, the killing intent radiating from these Martial Artists—mere Third Layer cultivators—was so astonishing that it even made his own heart palpitate.

The ancestral hall was a self-contained courtyard. To reach the inner sanctum, one had to pass through several gates. In the outermost room, two young men were standing.

"Lin Cheng, is there any news?" a richly dressed young man asked, his brow furrowed in a cold scowl.

He was none other than the current Young Master of the Lin family, Lin Zheng.

He had sent out two groups of people, but now they had vanished into thin air, giving Lin Zheng a bad feeling. That was why he had forced Lin Cheng to come out of his closed-door cultivation to investigate.

The encounter at Tian Duan Mountain had been a source of great shame and humiliation for Lin Cheng. The memory of it still sent him into a rage.

’Now that Yi Mingcheng has the Pavilion Master of the Treasure Hunting Pavilion backing him, winning our duel in a month won’t change anything. My only path to avenging that humiliation is to shine at the martial tournament and enter a sect.’

With this in mind, Lin Cheng had gone into seclusion upon his return from Tian Duan Mountain.

He had been forcibly summoned by Lin Zheng last night, but Lin Zheng was the family’s Young Master. Lin Cheng didn’t dare to complain.

Hearing Lin Zheng’s question, Lin Cheng replied respectfully, "Young Master, Lin Hao left the Treasure Hunting Pavilion, but he and that old dog Yi Mingcheng seem to have vanished into thin air. There’s no trace of them."

"Useless trash! Lin Cheng, don’t think awakening your bloodline makes you my superior. In my eyes, you’re just a Spirit Body, an existence as insignificant as an ant! You’re still a slave, so get out and find them for me!"

Lin Zheng’s voice was frigid. A burst of icy killing intent erupted from him, pressing down on Lin Cheng so heavily that he couldn’t breathe and collapsed to his knees with a THUD.

"Yes, Young Master." Lin Cheng lowered his head, a flash of anger and panic in his eyes.

He had indeed gotten a bit carried away after awakening his bloodline. He had never been able to discern Lin Zheng’s true cultivation level.

The aura now erupting from Lin Zheng told him that Lin Zheng had been hiding his true strength all along. He had awakened his bloodline long ago, and it was something greater than a mere Spirit Body!

A constitution that surpassed a Spirit Body... Lin Cheng knew what that implied. He quickly adjusted his attitude, becoming utterly deferential.

"Get up. I, Lin Zheng, am fair in my rewards and punishments. If you find those two, your reward will be substantial. This whole affair is strange. I need to think this through..."

Lin Zheng had used both carrot and stick. After making his verbal promise, his eyes flickered as he fell into thought.

It was at that exact moment that a figure burst into the guards’ patrol area.

"Halt! This is the Lin family ancestral hall! No misbehav—"

Before the guard could finish his shout, a fist tore through the air and smashed toward him.

The fist, of course, belonged to Lin Hao.

These guards may have nominally been protecting the ancestral hall, but they were accomplices to a tyrant. Lin Hao would show no mercy.

The shouting guard never imagined the intruder would attack without a word. He hastily brought his saber across his chest in an attempt to block the punch.

CLANG!

The fist collided with the saber, impossibly creating the sound of metal striking metal. Then, the saber abruptly shattered into countless fragments. Before the guard could even scream, his body exploded...

The power of a single punch was this terrifying!