Behaving Oneself

Lin Yuanshan pushed his Wind Control Art to its limit, fleeing at top speed, yet no matter what he did, he could not shake the black wind trailing behind him. It drew closer with every breath, leaving him frantic with anxiety.

The moment Wang Kongyun shattered the seal he had placed upon the soul of Lin Zhaohe, Lin Yuanshan realized his treachery had been exposed. He had immediately fled toward Zhennan Prefecture in a desperate bid for survival.

He had never expected that the one who broke his seal would possess such profound methods, let alone be capable of giving such relentless, powerful pursuit.

"Damn it! The ancestral records claimed this method was nearly impossible to break. How did it fail to hold for even a single day? Those two wastes, Lin Ruohe and his son, must have leaked it out of cowardice!"

Lin Yuanshan's heart churned with bitter resentment as he cursed them over and over.

While he was not a product of a formal sect, he was not a thoroughbred rogue cultivator either. His path to cultivation had been narrow and lopsided-he possessed deep knowledge in some niche areas while remaining utterly ignorant in others. There was a reason for this.

Though the Lin family had fractured and collapsed two hundred years ago, their collection of techniques and techniques had not been destroyed; they had been carved up among the various surviving branches.

Over the long passage of two centuries, however, most of those branches had faded into obscurity or exile, leaving many techniques scattered across the wilderness. This was precisely why the Southern Four Counties, despite their barren spiritual energy, still harbored quite a few rogue cultivators-all of them were merely heirs to the remnants of the Lin family legacy.

Some branches had managed to endure, though they held only fragments. Some, like Lin Ruohe's branch, knew only a sliver of their history. Others had preserved a few incomplete manuals. Lin Yuanshan happened to possess some aptitude, and through a stroke of fated chance-and by consuming the Green Jade Pills sold by the Huang family-he had managed to step onto the path of Qi Condensation.

Even the method he had used on Lin Zhaohe and his son was a soul-path art known as the Illusory Soul. It allowed a cultivator to weave illusions deep within another's soul; unless the art was forcibly broken, standard methods like Heart Inquiry or Soul Searching could not see through the deception.

It was only because Lin Yuanshan's mastery of the art remained shallow, and because Wang Kongyun was a demonic cultivator specializing in the soul path with a strength that far eclipsed his own, that the secret had been laid bare.

As he fled, Lin Yuanshan roared back, "Demon! Do you truly intend to hunt me to the ends of the earth?"

"I am an officer of the Immortals' Directorate. You murdered the magistrate of Qingshui County-a crime punishable by death. Surrender now, and I shall grant you a swift end!"

Although Qi Condensation cultivators could not truly cultivate their souls, their essence was still far more potent than that of a mortal. Slaying him would provide a perfect, powerful soul for his Soul Banner.

As time wore on, the gap between them closed to less than thirty zhang. Lin Yuanshan felt the biting chill of the Yin aura radiating from behind.

He knew that continuing this way would be his end. Frantically forming hand seals within his body, he suddenly spun around, unleashing a blazing pillar of fire three zhang wide toward the ghost wind.

Fire and lightning were the natural banes of ghosts and malevolent spirits, but his technique was crude, and his mastery was poor. In his desperation, the backlash even scorched his own robes. Given the vast disparity in their strength, he did not expect this to stop Wang Kongyun.

Without looking to see if his blow had landed, Lin Yuanshan continued his flight.

He even executed a Blood Escape, instantly widening the distance by several hundred zhang, though his own aura plummeted in the process.

The pillar of fire did not injure Wang Kongyun, but it did stall him for a moment.

Seeing Lin Yuanshan about to slip away, Wang Kongyun let out a sharp howl. The ghost wind surged, howling like a gale as it lunged toward his target.

The chase tore them out of Qingshui County and into the territory of Zhennan Prefecture.

Zhennan Prefecture was distinct from Nanyang Prefecture. It served as the front line of the Zhao Kingdom's campaign into the southern wilderness-a territory seized only within the last century. With demonic beasts and savage creatures constantly mounting counterattacks, the prefecture was sparsely populated but home to many hardened experts.

A cultivator with the bearing of a general was leading a troop southward when he spotted the ghost wind pursuing Lin Yuanshan across the sky. He roared in fury, "How dare a demonic cultivator be so brazen in broad daylight!"

He soared into the sky, intending to intercept Wang Kongyun.

Lin Yuanshan, seeing a lifeline, shouted, "Fellow Daoist, save me!"

Wang Kongyun merely traced a secret sign of the Immortals' Directorate with his hand. A brilliant, intricate mystical pattern manifested in the sky as he shouted, "This man is a fugitive of the imperial court! Assist me in his execution!"

Upon seeing the mark, the general's expression hardened. His longsword erupted with fierce sword Qi as he struck toward Lin Yuanshan.

Even if Wang Kongyun appeared more like a villain himself, the general trusted the mark of the Immortals' Directorate-and he trusted the Emperor's will above all else.

Lin Yuanshan's pupils dilated in shock. He had never imagined the situation would turn this way. He frantically activated his defensive arts, but the ghost wind arrived in an instant. Countless vengeful spirits gnawed at his defenses, while the sword Qi ground his protection to dust.

Lin Yuanshan was but a first-layer Qi Condensation cultivator. Facing either of his pursuers was an impossible struggle; he had no hope of survival.

In moments, he was reduced to nothingness. His soul was torn away by the ghost wind, becoming one more trapped spirit within the banner.

Wang Kongyun revealed his true form and bowed to the general. "Hehehe. I am Wang Kongyun of the Zhaoping Commandery Immortals' Directorate. My thanks, Fellow Daoist."

Suppressing his visceral disgust, the general returned the salute. "We both serve the throne. No need for thanks."

Wang Kongyun offered no further words and turned back toward Qingshui County.

The general watched the ghost wind depart. Though he felt a lingering doubt, he knew the mark of the Immortals' Directorate could not be forged. Had a demonic cultivator truly dared to impersonate them, they would have long since been executed by a true master of the Directorate.

He dismissed the thought and led his troops onward, heading for the southern wilderness battlefield a thousand li away.

Zhennan Prefecture knew no peace. Only by breaking the spirit of the beasts in the wild would this vast land become a true home for the people of Zhao.

On his return, Wang Kongyun performed a Soul Search on Lin Yuanshan's remnant spirit, successfully claiming the Illusory Soul technique.

"The Lin family? Two hundred years ago, there was actually such a clan in Qingshui County. Interesting."

Wang Kongyun muttered, though he gave it no further thought. Such matters of the past were irrelevant to him.

Before long, he rendezvoused with Cao Qianyuan south of Qingshui County. They still had one final task: to eradicate all three generations of Lin Yuanshan's kin.

They entered the Lin family's grounds. With no Qi Condensation cultivator left to command it, the so-called formation was entirely useless against them.

Following the memories he had extracted, Wang Kongyun slaughtered all twenty-seven members of the lineage. After retrieving their formation, the two flew northward.

The immortal clans of the Southern Four Counties soon learned of the purge. One by one, they were struck with terror, and for at least the next few years, they would undoubtedly learn to behave themselves.

Among them, the Huang family felt the most aggrieved. Their influence was the most widespread, and thus their losses were the greatest, leading to bitter complaints among their mortal kin.

The total destruction of the Lin family caused the Huang family genuine heartache. Over the past few years, the wealth they had squeezed from the Lin family was worth less than thirty Spirit Stones, while the Green Jade Pills they had spent were far more valuable. By any calculation, their losses were staggering.

This taught the Huang family a hard lesson. With the Southern Four Counties already crowded with clans, they ceased selling Green Jade Pills to rogue cultivators entirely, fearful of encountering another Lin Yuanshan from whom they would ultimately gain nothing.

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