Chapter Two: The Benefits Must Be Secured

“No one found him? Where is he, where did he go? Are you all useless? Find him for me, now, immediately! A bunch of good-for-nothings!” While Lin Qingyun was leaving the No. 18 Ruins Base, over a hundred miles away, enjoying the scenery and waiting for nightfall before making his move, Second Aunt Zhang Xueyi had just received the news at the Lin family estate.

At this moment, Zhang Xueyi was like an enraged tigress, her usual false smile gone, replaced by furious shouting.

“What happened?” Previously composed and upright, Lin Kunshan had also risen to his feet, inquiring urgently.

“That brat didn’t go to the No. 18 Ruins Base to meet up with our people. The tracker shows he’s already back in Haicheng, but he didn’t take his things with him,” Zhang Xueyi explained, glancing worriedly at Lin Kunshan. “Do you think he’s discovered our plot to—”

“Shut up! Mind your tongue,” Lin Kunshan snapped, his face dark. “Qingyun is big brother’s child, our nephew. If he’s missing, we should do everything to find him. I’ll use my contacts; you send people to look as well.”

“Just the two of us, and you’re still pretending…” Zhang Xueyi grumbled, but caught sight of Lin Kunshan’s murderous glare and instantly dared not continue.

While Lin Kunshan and Zhang Xueyi were anxiously searching, dusk was falling, and Lin Qingyun had quietly reached a fissure in a mountain wall.

A chilly wind whispered up from the crack below. The cliff face was jagged, and Lin Qingyun could descend by carefully climbing down. He would never forget this place for the rest of his life. After descending dozens of meters, he squeezed into a narrow crevice less than half a meter wide, then crawled along it for hundreds of meters until the space suddenly opened up.

Within the cold, shadowy cave, Lin Qingyun—already at the ninth level of the Phoenix Initial Realm, able to see in the dark—continued deeper, making his way further underground.

After walking for more than an hour, he began to faintly hear the sound of an underground river.

At last, Lin Qingyun arrived by the dark river. In the gloom, he could make out a smooth rock platform in the middle of the river, dozens of meters across, polished by the current.

When the river was high, the rocks would be submerged; now, with lower water, the platform rose about half a meter above the surface.

Here, Lin Qingyun ate a little, then sat cross-legged to cultivate, waiting quietly for the appointed moment.

In recent days, an incident had occurred at the No. 18 Ruins Base. The eldest son of the Lin Pharmaceutical Group was rumored to have disappeared nearby, and many were searching. But this was only a small topic of gossip within certain circles.

Those who could come to the No. 18 Ruins Base hailed from all walks of life, and what truly concerned them was the chance for fortune and opportunity inside the ruins. Though Lin Pharmaceutical Group was one of the top ten in China, it had been in decline since the disappearance of its genius researchers, the couple Lin Kunlun and his wife.

The world pressed on as always; the turning of the earth was unaffected by any individual’s absence. What one called a great event might only touch a handful.

When the No. 18 Ruin opened, tens of thousands entered, though modern equipment was largely useless due to the special magnetic fields inside. Still, now and then, one could see people flying in, some even entering by riding swords.

A day later, the once-sealed entrance of the No. 18 Ruin exploded open with a thunderous blast. The force destroyed half the base outside.

Inside the ruins, explosions rang out, flames erupted everywhere, and the structure began to collapse. In the skies above the ruins, countless flames gathered, and a faint star map appeared.

Some of those who had entered earlier now fled for their lives, but most perished in the chaos.

This was only the beginning. The collapse of the No. 18 Ruin would take time. In a few minutes, thousands died, along with countless plants and creatures. As the ruin’s fiery power was absorbed, a fire flood dragon revived deep below.

With its revival, the collapse and destruction of the ruins accelerated, and the dragon began devouring every living thing it encountered to replenish its energy.

Yet there were few survivors left. The fire flood dragon soon broke free of the ruins.

As it emerged, fiery dragon scales began to appear on its body—a sign of its transformation. Absorbing the world’s spiritual energy was slow; devouring cultivators was much faster.

“Beast, die!” Suddenly, a blade of fire swept through the sky toward the fire flood dragon.

The hundred-meter-long dragon spewed flames at the oncoming fire blade. Its own fiery power was formidable, but no match for the tyrannical attack.

The massive explosion leveled mountain peaks for miles around.

After the fire dragon was blasted down, a tall, imposing figure arrived from dozens of miles away—wreathed in flames, wielding a long, domineering blade.

“Damn it! Daring to slaughter on my turf, if I don’t skin you alive today, my name isn’t Burning Heaven Tyrant Blade!” With that, Burning Heaven Tyrant Blade charged forward.

Even a hundred miles away, deep in the underground river, Lin Qingyun could sense the tremors caused by the ruin’s explosion and the battle between Burning Heaven Tyrant Blade and the fire flood dragon.

He sat with eyes closed, scenes from thirty years ago playing in his mind.

Back then, he had no way to escape the ruins but survived by falling into a cave. As Burning Heaven Tyrant Blade gravely wounded the fire flood dragon, it fled into the ruins, triggering a drastic transformation in a certain cavern.

That was how Lin Qingyun came to be swallowed by the Furnace of Creation. When he first entered, he lost consciousness, awakening only after the furnace plunged into the underground river.

Later, Lin Qingyun rose to prominence and became friends with Burning Heaven Tyrant Blade, helping him through many tribulations, and finally learning the truth of that day.

The region the fire flood dragon detonated was protected by an ancient formation. The dragon had guarded it for years, never activating it. As Burning Heaven Tyrant Blade nearly killed it, the dragon tried to die together with him. Fortunately, the formation only severely injured both.

Burning Heaven Tyrant Blade, being stronger, skinned the fire flood dragon and consumed its core. As their powers were closely related, and because the revived dragon had once reached a higher realm, its core brought him immense, overwhelming benefit.

This immediately triggered his tribulation, setting the stage for Lin Qingyun to discover his own physique and use the lightning to refine the Furnace of Creation.

Wait. Wait in silence.

Suddenly, a spatial ripple tore through the darkness above the underground river, and a massive cauldron appeared over the stone platform.

The immense cauldron, several meters tall, crashed down, gouging a deep pit in the smooth stone, most of its bulk buried.

“So this is how it came!” In his previous life, Lin Qingyun had been inside the Furnace of Creation and never knew how it had arrived.

Though it was a treasure he had refined himself and spent decades with, seeing it anew after rebirth, Lin Qingyun was still overwhelmed with emotion.

He leapt onto the stone platform at the river’s center, his breath quickening.

“I wonder how long it will take to refine you in this life…” He reached out to touch the Furnace of Creation, reflecting on the time required to refine it. In his past life, he’d only learned at the highest levels that even those at the Formless Realm would need decades.

But to his astonishment, the moment his hand touched the Furnace, a familiar, blood-deep connection surged within him.

Though he could not control it as easily as after full refinement, there was no sense of unfamiliarity.

Lin Qingyun felt dazed, as if the Furnace, too, had been reborn with him, their connection missing only the final step of fusion.

Could it be that his rebirth was truly due to the Furnace of Creation, or that the Furnace had been reborn with him…?

Suddenly, the earth shook even more violently than before. Even deep within the underground river, Lin Qingyun felt the pressure of impending destruction.

He knew Burning Heaven Tyrant Blade was about to face the Divine Sky Lightning Tribulation. This was his chance, the time to help his old friend. Though he did not wish to repeat his old path, if he could remain hidden, gain benefit, and help Burning Heaven Tyrant Blade, he must.

He had planned to hide beneath the Furnace and absorb the tribulation lightning to refine it. Now, feeling that subtle bond with the Furnace, Lin Qingyun immediately condensed his vital blood.

Drawing on his past knowledge, he forced the Furnace to open.

Once it opened, he leaped inside. Though it looked only several meters high from outside, within it contained entire worlds—multiple layers of space he had unlocked over thirty years, yet still not fully mastering the Furnace.

The misty space stretched on infinitely, like Sun Wukong leaping into the Buddha’s palm-world.

Without mastery of the Furnace, only those capable of flight in the Cloud Soaring Realm could escape.

The ground trembled. Above, the first blast of Divine Sky Lightning struck Burning Heaven Tyrant Blade, and some of the scattered lightning seeped underground.

The Furnace of Creation shook faintly, absorbing the power of the lightning.

“Come!” Lin Qingyun prepared himself, silently gathering his strength.

But the result stunned him. There was no surge of tribulation power into his body as in his previous, muddled awakening.

“What’s going on?” He was alarmed. If he couldn’t use the lightning to awaken his constitution and refine the Furnace, then he had just leaped in to die.

What was he missing?

Lin Qingyun quickly retraced his steps, remembering his thirty years of mastery.

He had to think fast; if Burning Heaven Tyrant Blade could not survive the next round of tribulation, and if Lin Qingyun’s physique could not be awakened and the Furnace used to absorb the lightning, then both their lives were forfeit.

Back then, his body had been shattered, blood nearly drained…

“Blood…”