From Fanwu to Xinghai

Chapter 28 Inner Disciple

The inner sect of the Qingyun Sect is located in the middle of the main peak.

Ascending from the outer gate, one must traverse three stone steps and cross two waterfalls before reaching a cluster of well-arranged pavilions. The concentration of spiritual energy here is three times that of the outer gate; with each breath, it feels as if fine threads of spiritual energy are seeping into one's lungs.

Lin Chen stood in front of the stone archway at the entrance to the inner gate, looking up at the two large characters "Inner Gate".

The characters are ancient and the engravings are deep. It is said to be the work of the founder of the Qingyun Sect, and it has a history of two thousand years.

"Standing at the door in a daze, is that a hobby of you outer disciples?"

A lazy voice came from the side.

Lin Chen turned his head and saw a man with a long sword at his waist and half-disheveled hair leaning against the stone archway, idly picking at his fingernails. He looked young, in his early twenties, but there was a sense of weariness in his eyes, as if he had lived through many years.

"Who are you……"

"Chu Li," the man lazily announced his name, "an inner sect elder, responsible for introducing you new recruits."

He took a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Lin Chen.

"Beginner's Guide: Read it yourself."

Lin Chen unfolded the paper, which was filled with rules: Inner disciples must pay a certain number of spirit stones each month, and can exchange merit points for pills and cultivation techniques. There will be a cultivation assessment every ten days, and a sword duel on the fighting platform once a month...

He glanced through it, his gaze lingering on the last line.

"This is a restricted area; unauthorized entry is prohibited."

"This is the second time you've written it like this." Chu Li leaned over for a glance, then snorted. "You're that outer sect brat who trespassed into the forbidden area?"

"Um."

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"You've got guts." Chu Li sized him up. "Entering the forbidden area, coming out alive, and still ranking seventh—you've got something."

He put his hands behind his back and walked in lazily.

"Come with me, I'll take you to your lodgings."

The residence of inner disciples is called "Cloud Abode".

Each inner disciple has a private room, which is not large, but includes a private spiritual array for cultivation and a cultivation platform that can adjust the concentration of spiritual energy.

Chu Li led Lin Chen into a room numbered "Yun She · Ji Qi".

"Here it is." He pointed through the crack in the door. "Put your points card inside, and your assets will be transferred in as well. Each inner disciple receives a basic monthly stipend of 300 spirit stones. Your current points..." He pulled out a jade token, glanced at it, "73 points, which translates to Rank D. That means you can receive an extra 150 spirit stones per month."

Lin Chen took the jade token and looked around his new residence.

The room was small, but clean and tidy. The window faced a cliff overlooking Qingyun Peak, with clouds and mist swirling below and the distant mountains faintly visible.

"Where is Qin Mo?" Lin Chen asked.

"Ji Liu, that's next door," Chu Li said lazily. "He's already inside; he's probably cultivating."

Lin Chen nodded, then asked, "Where's Lin Yuan?"

Chu Li's expression changed slightly.

The change happened in an instant, and he quickly masked it with an even lazier expression.

"That child..." he paused, "is in A1."

A1.

Lin Chen knew what this number meant. It was the highest-level residence for inner disciples, located next to the core cultivation area of ​​the main peak, and exclusively for the sect's key genius disciples.

"The treatment for first place?"

"No." Chu Li turned around and said casually, "It was Elder Shen Qingluan's decision. She said that child... is somewhat special."

He stopped there, offering no further explanation.

"Alright, my mission is complete." He waved his hand. "If you need anything, find the inner gate guards. I'm not responsible for answering questions."

He took two steps, then suddenly turned back and gave Lin Chen a subtle look.

"By the way, I have a suggestion."

"What?"

"That Lin Yuan," Chu Li's eyes became somewhat complicated, as if weighing whether to speak or not, "stay away from him."

Why?

Chu Li did not answer, but turned and walked into the clouds.

Lin Chen stood in the empty corridor, the wind blowing from the edge of the cliff, carrying a refreshing spiritual energy.

Stay away from him.

Why?

Lin Chen's hand unconsciously touched his brow. There, the lingering warmth of the river of time had not yet dissipated.

He recalled the look Lin Yuan had given him.

There was something in those eyes. Not unfamiliarity, not scrutiny, but something else...

identify.

It's like confirming something you already knew the answer to.

"Father," Lin Chen murmured the word in his heart, "Did you have another child?"

No one answered him.

The night wind blew, and the clouds and mist churned.

Lin Chen couldn't sleep on his first night in the inner sect.

It wasn't because of the unfamiliar environment, but because of the time compass.

Since emerging from the forbidden area, the Time Compass has maintained a subtle state of activation. It is neither completely dormant nor actively speaking; it simply exists, like a silent observer.

Lin Chen sat cross-legged on the cultivation platform and sank into his sea of ​​consciousness.

Deep within his consciousness, a time compass floated in a river of time. On its surface, twelve pointers pointed neatly in different directions, three of which were already glowing with a pale golden light. These were the abilities he had already mastered: time perception, time prediction, and time deceleration.

The remaining nine remained dark.

Shi Ying did not appear, but the inscriptions on the edge of the compass were slowly rotating, like some kind of silent prompt.

"What did you sense?" Lin Chen asked.

silence.

Then, the Time Compass vibrated slightly.

The fourth pointer lit up with a faint glimmer of light. Just a glimmer, like a candle flame flickering in the darkness.

Lin Chen stared at that sliver of light, and a vague understanding in his mind gradually became clear.

The fourth pointer represents the resonance of time.

He had seen this term in Shi Ying's memory fragments, but had never activated it. The so-called time resonance refers to the resonance between the imprints of two people with the bloodline of the Time Guardians when they are close to each other.

Lin Chen, and Lin Yuan.

Today, at the moment their eyes met, time resonated, and it beat faintly once.

Lin Chen let out a long sigh and closed his eyes.

He didn't know who Lin Yuan was, where he came from, or why he shared the same name as his father.

But there is one thing he is certain of.

The boy named Lin Yuan had the same blood flowing in his veins as him.

At dawn, as the first rays of sunlight pierced through the clouds and shone into the Cloud House, Lin Chen had already completed his first round of cultivation for the day.

Having reached the seventh level of the Qi Refining stage, his cultivation had become completely stable after breaking through seven levels in seven days. The next step was the eighth level of the Qi Refining stage, then the ninth level, and then the Foundation Establishment stage.

The long road of cultivation has only just begun.

He stepped out of the room, and Qin Mo was already standing in the corridor.

"Did you sleep last night?" Lin Chen asked.

"No," Qin Mo answered directly, "I'm looking at cultivation techniques."

He held a thin booklet in his hand, the cover of which read "Twelve Styles of Afterimage".

"Was this left behind by your master?"

"Hmm." Qin Mo put the booklet into his pocket. "He said that only if I can enter the inner sect will I be qualified to learn the next six techniques."

Lin Chen remembered that Qin Mo's afterimage movement technique only used the first six moves, but it was already close to the limit of his Qi Refining stage. The last six moves obviously required a much deeper foundation of cultivation.

"What are your plans for life within the inner sect?" Lin Chen asked.

"Cultivation." Qin Mo thought for a moment and only said these two words.

Lin Chen nodded and said, "I'll go find Lin Yuan."

Qin Mo's eyes narrowed slightly. "That kid..."

"You also think there's something wrong with him?"

"Last night, I was sensing the fluctuations of spiritual energy around me." Qin Mo paused for a moment, "Over there at Jia Yi's place, there was a very strange aura. It wasn't spiritual energy, it wasn't killing intent, it was... a sense of time."

Sense of time.

Lin Chen's heart tightened. "You can sense time?"

Qin Mo shook his head. "It's just a vague hint. My master said that when the Time Guardian is present, the flow of time around it becomes slightly unstable. He experienced it twice."

He paused, then added, "Once was thirty years ago, and once was... last night."

Thirty years ago.

That was during the time when Uncle Chen and Chen Xuanfeng were studying at the Qingyun Sect.

Lin Chen's father, Lin Yuan, was also in the Qingyun Sect at that time.

Thirty years ago, the Qingyun Sect had a Time Guardian.

Thirty years later, the Time Guardians reappeared in the Qingyun Sect, and there were two of them.

This cannot be a coincidence.

"I'll go see him," Lin Chen said.

Qin Mo didn't try to stop him, only saying, "Be careful."

The No. 1 Cloud House is three times larger than Lin Chen's No. 7 Cloud House. It has a separate courtyard with its own cultivation stone platform, and several spiritual herbs that are already a hundred years old are planted in the courtyard.

Lin Yuan was sitting on a stone bench in the courtyard, with a book in front of him that looked quite ordinary.

"Senior Brother Lin Chen." He heard footsteps but didn't look up. "I knew you'd come."

Lin Chen stopped two steps away from him and sized up the boy.

He had a handsome face, gentle eyes, and a deliberately suppressed composure. That wasn't the demeanor of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy.

How did you know I would come?

Lin Yuan looked up, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"Because you felt it too." A faint smile played in his eyes. "A resonance of time, right?"

Lin Chen's heart skipped a beat.

He knew about the resonance of time.

"Who are you?" Lin Chen asked directly. "What is your relationship with my father?"

Lin Yuan closed the book, his eyes looking at Lin Chen with a complex mix of emotions: nostalgia, regret, and a touch of inexplicable guilt.

"Lin Chen..." he said softly, "your father is the person I respect most."

"Have you seen him?"

"I've met him." Lin Yuan paused, his voice slightly hoarse, "A long, long time ago."

"how long?"

Lin Yuan did not answer directly, but instead looked at the century-old spiritual herb in the courtyard, his gaze distant.

"You know, time, for people like us..." he said slowly, "sometimes doesn't flow in one direction."

Lin Chen's brows slowly furrowed.

This sentence means...

"You didn't come from now."

Lin Yuan turned his head, and for the first time, a genuine emotion surfaced in his eyes. It wasn't feigned gentleness, but real, deep weariness.

"It's not time to tell you where I came from," he said softly, "but there's one thing I can tell you first."

"explain."

"A fifty-year countdown..." Lin Yuan's gaze fell on Lin Chen's brow. "That's not enough."

What?

Lin Chen suddenly looked up.

"What did you say?"

Lin Yuan didn't continue speaking, but simply picked up the book, reopened it, and looked down at the pages.

"It's time," he said calmly. "Your cultivation lesson is about to begin, Senior Brother Lin Chen. No need to see me out."

Lin Chen walked out of Cloud House No. 1, his steps unsteady.

Fifty years is not enough.

This sentence is like a stone thrown into a calm lake, creating ripples that spread outwards.

He met his mother in the secret realm, and Shi Ying told him that the countdown was fifty years. However, just one day later, a boy of unknown origin told him that the number was no longer valid.

It's invalid now, but how many years has that been?

Forty years? Thirty years?

Or even less?

Lin Chen clenched his fist and looked up at the sky above the clouds.

There, you can't see stars, you can't see dimensions, you can't see anything at all.

There was only a clear blue sky, so quiet it seemed to know nothing.