The Prodigies War

Rumble~~

Once a strong cultivator stepped on a golden lotus flower, it began to go forward, braving the wind and waves. The previously tranquil and serene Sinking Sea became violent and hectic, causing waves to undulate vigorously.

Among the cluster of golden lotuses, Lin Xun and Yue Jianming stood beside each other as they operated their cultivation bases. This propelled the lotus boat forward.

“Each drop of water from the sea weighs ten thousand pounds, so the drag it has on the flower is immense. Thus, we will need to use our own power to continue to go forward.

“Encountering any sprays of water will be extremely dangerous. There’s no way to fly. As soon as you get drawn into the sea, you will be sent out.

“However, this seawater is quite odd!”

Suddenly, just as he was familiarizing himself with the power of this trial, Lin Xun’s eyes flashed. He had felt a bizarre and cold force spreading out, and it unexpectedly had started to attack his mind and heart.

Caught off guard, Lin Xun trembled all over as his heart became jittery. His entire body was being affected by this force.

Huuuuu~

Lin Xun took in a deep breath and stabilized his heart. He silently said to himself that it looked like this third trial was testing a cultivator’s heart and state of mind!

The heart was the most wondrous and mysterious aspect of a cultivator.

In ancient times, there were many mighty saints who believed that cultivation was a path in ‘taming the heart!’

If the heart was as strong as a rock, then even if the eight wind points[1] were attacked, the victim would still be able to remain motionless.

However, if the heart was not tranquil, then any little problem would cause the person to worry needlessly.

The dao was hard and full of danger. If the heart was not strong, then that person was destined not to be able to do much. In fact, it’d be extremely easy for an outside devil to invade them, causing a calamity!

The heart involved the seven emotional states and six sensory pleasures. It was extremely easy to suffer a setback there.

If the heart was steady, then even if the cultivator’s aptitude was mediocre, there was still hope for them to step into the great dao.

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However, if the heart was fickle, then even if they had a heaven-defying aptitude and exceptional inheritances, they were still destined to be limited. There was no way for them to walk very far upon the great dao.

In short, the heart was mysterious and was the hardest thing to control.

The best example of this was Xie Yutang. In the past, he was lofty and unyielding and had been praised as one of the elite geniuses of the younger generation in the Ziyao Empire.

However, ever since he had arrived in the Ancient Wasteland Domain and met Lin Xun there, his heart had changed. He was unable to accept the true fact that Lin Xun was stronger than him and instead had been consumed by the shadow of hatred.

He himself had noticed this. However, his heart devil was something that consumed him. If he didn’t get rid of it, then it was destined to shadow over his cultivation forever. 

Unfortunately, Xie Yutang had chosen the wrong method. He didn’t believe the problem lay in himself. Instead, he thought that as long as he got rid of Lin Xun, then he’d be able to get rid of his heart devil. Thus, this resulted in the previous tragedy where he had gotten utterly suppressed by Lin Xun. 

    ……

“Ah——”

“Be careful!”

“No, noooo!”

Before long, within the Sinking Sea, panicked screams rang out one after another, echoing throughout the water.

Many cultivators were acting as if they had become possessed. Some screamed in alarm, while others trembled uncontrollably. Then there were those who acted as if they had become insane, howling and screeching.

Finally, before they could snap themselves out of it, they were swept away by the flying waves and fell off the golden lotuses into the Sinking Sea, disappearing without a trace.

It was obvious that they had been eliminated.

What made Lin Xun’s heart turn cold was that he had realized that while the Sinking Sea didn’t contain any fatal dangers, it could cause an even greater calamity!

This was a trial that specially targeted a cultivator’s heart and mental state. If a cultivator could pass, then they would be able to reach the other shore safely. If they didn’t, then they would drop into the boundless Sinking Sea and be washed out of the realm.

 

“Sinking Sea…the vicissitudes of life...” Lin Xun looked pensive.

Bang!

Suddenly, a large spray of ocean water came towards him from the front. It resembled a heavy clump of snow and the sound it made resembled thunder.

Within moments, Lin Xun’s heart was under attack, and he sank into a nightmare…

“Wenjing, take the child and leave quickly!” Lin Xun could hear a faint, worried voice in his ears. The voice trembled and sounded as if it was begging.

Another voice, full of pain, sighed, “It’s too late now…”

Following that, Lin Xun managed to open his eyes after struggling fiercely. He saw a beautiful woman’s face, which was full of worry. 

And he had been bundled up in a swaddle. The woman was cradling him tightly close to her chest.

This…

Lin Xun was flustered. He had become an infant?

“Why, why does it have to be like this?!” shouted a man mournfully.

Lin Xun turned his head and saw a handsome and heroic-looking man on the side. The face was familiar to him, but it was full of pain and suffering.

In the distance, flames blazed and roared. In the dark night, it was especially glaring.

In addition, he heard mournful screams, desperate cries, angry howls…they all mixed together, creating a backdrop to the fiery blazes.

Was this couple his own father and mother, Lin Wenjing and Luo Qingxun?

Lin Xun’s heart was shaken.

Suddenly, a slim youngster rushed towards them. He was bruised all over with bloodstains on his face. He shouted in a panicked manner, “Young Master, it’s not good! The clan leader and the other…the others…”

It was Uncle Zhong!

Lin Xun felt his heart tremble. Wasn’t the youth who was covered in blood the man known as the White Casanova, Shen Jinglun? In the future he changed his name to Lin Zhong and became a servant of the Lin Family.

However, the Lin Zhong in front of him was much younger than the one Lin Xun knew.

“What’s wrong?” asked the man quietly.

“They’ve all died!” sobbed the slim youngster. His eyes were red with hate.

Within seconds, the man became so enraged that his eyes looked as if they were going to pop out of their sockets. His expression had become ashen and scary as he spat out, “Is that guy trying to do everything he can do to extinguish the Lin Family?! What an intolerable bully!”

“Wenjing, he has come for our child.”

At this time, however, the woman had become extremely calm as if she was numb. “I had long known that this day would come, but I just didn’t expect for it to come so soon. The fact that it is because of our child means that I have caused the Lin Family to suffer…”

As she spoke, she lowered her head to gaze at the baby in her arms. Her delicate and pretty face looked complicated.

Lin Xun felt his heart squeeze painfully. He opened his mouth in an attempt to speak yet he could only babble and gurgle. This made him feel an unprecedented amount of helplessness, and he became angry and anxious.

He was already certain that the two people in front of him were his parents!

“What nonsense! Our child has just reached one month in age, so how could he cause all of this? Qingxun, just what are you trying to say?” asked Lin Wenjing angrily.

“You still don’t understand? When he was born, he was not like the other children. In fact, he has a very special Origin Aeth Artery…” Luo Qingxun sighed. 

  

Before she could finish, Lin Wenjing interrupted her, “I know all of this. But how could a naturally born aeth artery cause such a disaster?”

“You still don’t understand!” Luo Qingwen took a deep breath before saying, “You already know that the reason why I had been wandering around this world was to avoid the killers chasing me.”

She then continued, “Later on, I bumped into you. I had thought that by hiding in this broken little world, I’d be able to avoid my fate. However, I didn't expect that trouble would come to find me again…”

“Do you know why?” he asked.

A bitter and painful smile appeared on Luo Qingwen’s face. “It’s because I'm not someone who is from this world!”

Lin Wenjing frowned and said, “I know, you’re from the Ancient Wasteland Domain.”

“No!” Luo Qingwen shook her head. “I’m also not from the Ancient Wasteland Domain. I’m from…the other side of the cosmos.”

Other side of the cosmos?

Lin Xun felt his mind go numb. She was not from the lower world and also not from the Ancient Wasteland Domain. Instead, she had come from another place that could not be imagined?

What was the other side of the cosmos?

Bang!

The earlier discussion was interrupted by a frightening boom.

Lin Xun saw the scene before him change rapidly. Within a sea of flames, Lin Wenjing was hollering, “Run! Quickly run! Take our child and go——!”

He looked incredibly anxious and angry at the same time, as if he was about to go insane.

“I won't run. If I escape this time, then it will still come to find me in the end. That won’t be as good as dying with you. In the future…I won’t have to experience more hardship anymore.”

Luo Qingxun had a tranquil expression as she looked down at the baby in her arms. Her face then contorted with guilt and sadness as she muttered, “Child, you shouldn’t have come into this world. I have let you down as your mother…”

Pit pat~

Two tears rolled down her face and hit Lin Xun’s face. A pang went through his heart, and it was almost enough to suffocate him.

Ping!

At that moment, a clear and melodious sword cry resounded from the heavens, shaking up the surroundings.

Lin Xun looked over and saw a man who was dressed all in white. The man’s black hair floated in the air, and his entire aura was permeated with sword intent. The expression on his face was incredibly apathetic as he slashed down with an ancient, black sword.

The blade was as pitch-black as night and still had beads of scarlet blood on it.

Behind the man was a scene of fiery destruction.

Following that, a heavenly sword will appeared, slashing apart the sky. It was bright beyond comparison and also incredibly frightening.

Then, he saw nothing at all.

However, Lin Xun knew that this sword was what had taken his parents' lives!

After that, Lin Xun’s head became blank. All the feelings of anger, powerlessness, despair, and sadness had been washed away by water, causing his heart to be submerged.

Despite that, the state of his heart was still unprecedentedly tranquil as if it had not been influenced at all.

On the contrary, he was carefully going through his experience of having his mental state violently attacked.

Lin Xun now knew the taste of hate.

In the past, he had merely known who his parents were and who his enemy was. However, he couldn’t experience or remember what had happened.

Yun Qingbai!

    ……

“Lin Xun, Lin Xun, are you going to wake up?” He suddenly heard Yue Jianming’s voice in his ears.

Lin Xun had completely awakened now. As his vision slowly restored, he felt the fierce waves of the Sinking Sea buffeting their boat, causing snow-white sprays of water to appear.

“Are you ok?” asked Yue Jianming worriedly.

. 

“I’m fine.” Lin Xun lightly shook his head. In the corner of his eye, a tear abruptly evaporated before it could be spotted by anyone.

“You must be careful. The Sinking Sea’s power is extremely dangerous and can actually influence your heart. A moment of incaution can cause you to get eliminated.”

 

Yue Jianming’s expression suddenly became a bit strange as he continued, “Earlier, I felt as if I was dreaming. I had gone back in time to when I was child in the sect, cultivating. Because I was too stubborn and naughty, I was imprisoned in the forbidden area behind the sect’s mountain by my master.”

He paused before saying, “I was stuck there all by myself for three whole months to meditate on my mistakes…it was too hard to bear. At that time, I really hated my master and vowed to get revenge in the future…”

When he got there, Yue Jianming stopped and then said somewhat shamefully, “I let you see an embarrassing side of me. I was still a child then and didn’t understand the world. I did not truly mean my vow.”

“I understand.” Lin Xun smiled as he stared at the boundless waves of the Sinking Sea. He knew that what he had experienced earlier was the same as what Yue Jianming had experienced. His heart had been influenced by the Sinking Sea’s power. This had opened up the dusty memories of his past, letting him recall what he had forgotten.

1. Name of a set of acupuncture points, with four located on each foot ☜