From Fanwu to Xinghai

Chapter 18 Yunzhong City is broken

The twelfth day.

Mornings in Liuhe Town are always quieter than elsewhere. The town is small, with few people, and even the dogs' barking is lazy, as if time itself flows more slowly here.

Lin Chen didn't feel it was slow.

He felt as if every minute and every second was a tightly strung bow.

In twelve days, his cultivation level advanced from the fourth level of the Qi Induction stage of the Spirit Cultivation Realm to the fifth level. It was neither fast nor slow, but each level was several times more difficult than the previous one. The requirements for the solidity of spiritual energy became higher and higher, and the test of the resilience of the meridians became more and more severe.

He still has an injury on his left shoulder.

Murong Xue applied a family-inherited anti-swelling ointment to him, saying it was a secret recipe of the Murong family and had miraculous effects on external injuries. Lin Chen tried it for two days and it was indeed effective, but he noticed that Murong Xue's expression when treating his wounds was more restrained than usual. It wasn't the professional aloofness of a doctor, but rather something suppressed and not allowed to be revealed.

He didn't ask.

Some things can't be rushed.

The turning point came on the afternoon of the twelfth day.

A messenger arrived at Wanbaozhai.

He wasn't from the Dark Blade Pavilion, nor from any cultivation sect, but rather an ordinary-looking boy, sixteen or seventeen years old, with a youthful face but mature demeanor. Before entering, he glanced around to make sure no one was around before walking over, taking a small bamboo tube from his sleeve and placing it on the counter.

"Give this to Lin Chen, Young Master Lin," he said, then turned and left without even glancing at him.

Zhou Quan knocked on Lin Chen's door with a bamboo tube in his hand.

Lin Chen opened the bamboo tube, inside which was a piece of paper folded very small. The paper was of ordinary quality, but the handwriting was neat and the ink was rich, indicating that the person who wrote the letter clearly had a profound skill in writing.

"Brother Lin, how have you been? I am Li Xuanqi."

"The situation is urgent, please excuse my lack of formality."

"My men have learned that Chen Xuanfeng is seriously injured in Cloud City. A level four assassin from the Dark Blade Pavilion is interrogating him about the whereabouts of an ancient artifact. If the news is true, Old Master Chen will not survive more than three days."

"I have a secret passage five miles outside the city that leads to the east of the city, close to where Chen Xuanfeng is being held. But my men can't get in. The Dark Blade Pavilion has set up a special spiritual energy sensing array in that area, and the higher one's cultivation level, the harder it is to pass through."

"Strangely, the sensing array is effective for cultivators below and above the Spirit Cultivation Realm, but it has a loophole in the Qi Induction to Foundation Establishment stage of the Spirit Cultivation Realm, allowing one to pass through silently."

"Brother Lin's current cultivation level falls within this range."

"I'm not saying this to force you. But you must know that time is running out for Senior Chen."

"I'll wait for you outside the city. Will you come? I'll wait until sunset tomorrow."

"Li Xuanqi..."

Lin Chen read it twice, folded the paper, and held it in his palm.

Li Xuanqi.

The Third Prince.

For the first time, they had direct contact in a real sense.

Lin Chen got up, opened the window, and looked towards the distant horizon.

That place is the City in the Clouds.

After hearing what had happened, Murong Xue remained silent for a long time.

"Are you going?" she asked.

"I'm going." Lin Chen said without hesitation. "Uncle Chen is trapped in Cloud City because of me, I have no reason not to go."

"You are now at the fifth level of the Spiritual Cultivation Realm," Murong Xue said, her tone flat and without judgment. "Do you know what the fourth level of the Shadow Realm means?"

"Probably between the late stage of the Spiritual Cultivation Realm and the Core Formation Realm."

"Yes," Murong Xue said, "She's at least four to six minor levels higher than you. In a direct confrontation, you'd die."

"So we won't go in directly," Lin Chen said. "We'll go in to rescue people, find Uncle Chen, and bring him out. We're not going to fight."

"The sensor array has a loophole. You can get through, but what about the people inside? If Uncle Chen is already injured, how are you going to get him out?"

"Take it one step at a time."

Murong Xue stared at him intently.

"You..." She wanted to say something, but in the end she just sighed, "I'll go with you."

Lin Chen shook his head: "You are at the Core Formation Realm, the sensing array will lock onto you."

"I know." Murong Xue stood up. "But I can provide support outside the city, drawing the attention of the Dark Blade Pavilion and giving you a window of opportunity to evacuate."

She paused, looking into his eyes.

"This isn't helping you," she added, her tone somewhat awkward, "it's an exchange; you confirm something for me."

"Is Shadow Six in the city?"

Lin Chen thought for a moment and nodded.

"That's possible."

"Then we all need to go into this city," Murong Xue said calmly, but something was burning subtly in her eyes. "I can't let him out of my sight."

Lin Chen glanced at her but didn't ask any further questions.

Some hatreds don't need explanation, nor should they be touched upon by others.

"Let's go find Zhou Quan and ask him to prepare the necessary things for us."

They set off that evening.

Zhou Quan gave them two things: a "Sinking Qi Pill" that could temporarily suppress spiritual energy fluctuations, and a detailed hand-drawn map of the streets in Cloud City, densely covered with red dots marking every possible location where Dark Blade Pavilion might set up sentry posts.

Lin Chen stared at the map for a long time before looking up at Zhou Quan.

"This map..."

Zhou Quan waved his hand, interrupting him.

"No need to ask," he said, something deep and suppressed in his voice. "Use it if you can."

He paused, then added,

"Chen Xuanfeng... is a good person."

That's all. There's no further explanation or emotion.

Lin Chen nodded, folded the map, and put it into his sleeve.

Five miles outside the city, an ordinary horse-drawn carriage was parked by the roadside.

The Third Prince, Li Xuanqi, was nineteen years old, about the same age as Lin Chen, but he already possessed a maturity beyond his years. He wasn't wearing princely robes, just an ordinary blue robe, and his hair was simply styled; at first glance, he looked like an ordinary member of a noble family.

When he met Lin Chen, the first thing he did was clasp his hands in greeting, and the second thing he did was to lay out the intelligence about Cloud City directly.

"Chen Xuanfeng is being held in an abandoned weaving workshop in the east of the city. The Dark Blade Pavilion has temporarily set up an interrogation point there, with nine guards on a rotating shift system, changing every hour," Li Xuanqi said, his voice low and his pace slow, as if every word had been carefully chosen. "Shadow Four, codenamed Shadow Three, is the key figure in charge of the interrogation. This person... is ruthless."

"How is Uncle Chen doing?"

Li Xuanqi's expression darkened slightly.

"The injuries are serious, but he is still conscious. My people said yesterday that he was still swearing during interrogation."

Lin Chen felt a sense of relief, but then his heart tightened again.

Swearing! That means he still has energy, which is good news.

However, with a three-day limit, time is tight.

He looked at Li Xuanqi: "Where is your secret passage?"

Li Xuanqi pointed to a wasteland on the east side: "There's an abandoned drainage ditch there, extending into the city. It's a fortification from twenty years ago, and the Dark Blade Pavilion doesn't know about it. The ditch isn't very big; an adult can barely climb in, but you'll be fine."

Lin Chen looked at Murong Xue.

Murong Xue had changed into a dark outfit, her long hair tied up, and she looked at the map carefully, marking several key points with her fingertips and memorizing the route.

"Leave the backup and creating chaos to me," she said calmly. "You go in, find the people, give me a signal, and I'll meet you outside the east gate."

"What signal do you use?"

Murong Xue reached out and took out a small pebble from her sleeve. It was an ordinary river stone, round and smooth, but it had an extremely fine spiritual pattern on it. Her cultivation left its unique aura on that spiritual pattern.

"Crush it, and I'll know."

"What is the radius?"

"Within three miles."

Lin Chen took the pebble and put it in his pocket.

Li Xuanqi looked at the two of them with a somewhat complicated expression.

"Brother Lin," he said, "there's something I must tell you beforehand."

"explain."

"Besides the Dark Blade Pavilion, there's another group of people in Cloud City," Li Xuanqi said. "They entered the city later than the Dark Blade Pavilion, and my men haven't confirmed their identities yet, but they... seem to be after Chen Xuanfeng, yet they don't seem to want to take his life."

"It looks like they're trying to save him?"

"It's like they're waiting for the right moment." Li Xuanqi's brows furrowed slightly. "This makes me uneasy. If a third force intervenes, the variables will be beyond my control."

Lin Chen remained silent for a moment.

A third force.

It's not the Dark Blade Pavilion, nor any force within the dynasty... so who could it be?

He remembered the jet-black token and the "mastermind" Shadow Six had mentioned.

I still remembered Sect Master Xuan's letter.

"The Qingyun Sect has been waiting for you for a long time."

"Xuan Qi," Lin Chen began, "do you trust me?"

Li Xuanqi looked at him and thought about it seriously.

"I trust all your actions so far," he said, emphasizing each word clearly and without embellishment. "The rest, we'll have to see what happens next."

Lin Chen nodded.

"That's enough," he said. "No matter who the third force is, there's only one goal tonight: to get Uncle Chen out."

"We'll talk about the rest after we get out."

He looked up at the completely dark night sky, where torches on the city walls burned far away, casting an orange outline on the horizon.

Take a deep breath.

He lowered his head, began to crouch low, and made his way towards the wasteland.

The entrance to the drainage ditch was deep in the grass, smaller than he had imagined, but he could definitely get in. Lin Chen turned to the side, suppressing all his spiritual power to a minimum, compressing his aura to near that of an ordinary person. He had already taken the Qi-Sinking Pill, which greatly suppressed his spiritual power fluctuations, so the sensing array should not be able to detect him.

He climbed into the canal and moved forward.

It was damp, dark, and smelled of years of rotting fallen leaves.

But he didn't stop.

Above your head lies the weight of the entire Cloud City.

In that city, a middle-aged man leaned against the wall of a dilapidated temple, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, still waiting for him.

Lin Chen gripped the pebble tightly.

It'll be soon, Master.

I am coming.

On the wasteland outside the city, Murong Xue straightened up and looked in the direction where Lin Chen had disappeared.

Her hands hung naturally at her waist, in her palm a pair of extremely fine silver needles—her family's heirloom hidden weapon, rarely revealed, but tonight…

Shadow Six is ​​very likely located within the city.

It's been three years; she's waited for three years.

She didn't know if she would see him tonight, nor was she sure if she would lose control if she did.

She lowered her head, looked at the silver needle, took a deep breath, put it back, and secured it again.

Not today.

She told herself.

Tonight's goal is to get Lin Chen and Chen Xuanfeng out.

We'll deal with the rest later.

She raised her head, looked towards the east of the city, and slowly tightened her lips.

But she knew that the score would be settled sooner or later.