Chapter 176 - 175: Immortal Golden Beasts
"Fu Lang," Lin Yuan said, his voice dropping. "I have little knowledge of the Golden Diting Province. Tell me everything you know about them. What are they famous for?"
Fu Lang scratched his chin, "Golden Diting? They aren’t known for great swordsmen or incredible alchemy. Honestly, they are mostly famous for their beast-taming. Specifically, rearing and breeding a very peculiar lineage of spirit beasts. Immortal Golden Beasts."
Lin Yuan’s deep purple eyes widened a fraction.
Immortal Golden Beasts.
The revelation struck him like a bolt of lightning.
Such mythical beasts did not merely possess immense physical strength. They possessed an innate ability to naturally draw upon the power of Heaven and Earth, refining it into pure Immortal Energy.
Lin Yuan knew intimately just how terrifying Immortal Energy was. After comprehending the Ten Thousand Ways Return to One Heart Sutra, he understood that Immortal Energy existed on a level far above ordinary spiritual energy. It could penetrate defenses that would stop conventional spiritual power in its tracks and, when properly refined, forcibly elevate a cultivator’s foundation to an entirely different level.
More importantly, another memory surfaced from the time he had been body forging.
He remembered the old man with the brown-fur sable.
That seemingly ordinary old man was, in truth, none other than Emperor Tianxu, the ruler of the Central Continent who now sat above them, presiding over this very tournament. Back then, the old man had casually spoken of the rarity and value of the Immortal Golden Beasts, creatures so precious that entire civilizations would worship them as sacred beings.
That’s it, Lin Yuan realized, a cold smile finally breaking across his face. Chu Kuang is hunting the Golden Diting disciples to extort the location of an Immortal Golden Beast they must have smuggled into this pocket realm. Chu Kuang intends to use the beast’s Immortal Energy to forcefully push his cultivation over the edge!
Lin Yuan stood up, the fabric of his robes snapping lightly in the ravine’s draft.
He had finally seen the exact moment he had been waiting for. The great leviathan was gorging itself on minnows, completely consumed by its own greed and blind to everything beyond its immediate prey. Lin Yuan only needed to follow the trail, remain patient, and wait for the moment when Chu Kuang’s ambition exposed a fatal opening.
When that moment came, he would strike without hesitation, shatter Chu Kuang’s plans, and seize every token the Chu Province had accumulated.
"Brother Lin?" Fu Lang asked, looking up nervously at the terrifying smile on his face. "You look like you just figured out how to murder an immortal."
"Something very close," Lin Yuan replied, his intent leaking just enough to chill the air.
Lin Yuan looked down at the fatty. For all his cowardice, Fu Lang possessed a sharp mind and had inadvertently handed Lin Yuan the key to the entire preliminary round.
Lin Yuan sat back down on the edge of the overhang.
"You did well, Fu Lang," Lin Yuan said, his tone shifting into something significantly quieter and more sincere.
Fu Lang blinked, visibly taken aback. He was accustomed to being the punchline of every joke about his size, that hearing someone praising him sounded strange.
"It’s just running away, Brother Lin," Fu Lang muttered, lowering his gaze. "My sect never even expected me to qualify. They just needed a warm body to fill the quota so they wouldn’t lose face. I’m only here because I don’t want to die."
"There is no shame in wanting to live," Lin Yuan said evenly. "The fools who charged into this canyon shouting about their honor are probably lying unconscious somewhere with broken ribs and zero tokens. You are sitting here with six. You understand the value of your own life. That makes you far more dangerous than you realize."
He paused for a moment before continuing, his voice carrying a trace of profound wisdom.
"There’s a saying... a wise man knows when to advance, but a true survivor knows when to retreat. Preserving your life today is not cowardice. It is simply leaving yourself alive for the battles you are meant to fight tomorrow."
As the hours passed, the atmosphere beneath the rocky overhang changed. Their conversation slowly drifted away from the terrifying movements of the Chu Province and the impending tournament, settling instead into the quiet camaraderie of two men simply trying to survive.
Fu Lang eventually dropped his comic, jittery facade entirely. He spoke about his struggles in Fu Province, about being constantly overlooked because his physique did not fit the traditional image of a cultivator. Lin Yuan listened without interruption, occasionally offering pragmatic advice drawn from his own difficult experiences while cultivating his mortal heart. He did not speak to Fu Lang as a Spirit Severing expert addressing a Nascent Soul junior. He spoke to him simply as one man speaking to another.
Fu Lang eventually met Lin Yuan’s gaze.
In a battlefield where brothers could turn their swords on each other over a single Dao Token, this cultivator from Zhao Province had sat beside him for hours. Lin Yuan knew Fu Lang possessed six tokens. He could have incapacitated him with a single breath and taken them without the slightest difficulty.
Yet he had never even asked for them.
"You know, Brother Lin," Fu Lang said, his voice thick with genuine emotion, the usual humor completely stripped away. "When you stepped into this overhang, I thought I was a dead man. I thought you were going to force me to hand over my tokens, just like everyone else seems determined to do."
"If I wanted your tokens, Fu Lang, we wouldn’t be having this conversation," Lin Yuan replied simply.
Fu Lang let out a soft, breathless laugh and wiped his nose with the back of his sleeve. He sat a little straighter, looking at Lin Yuan with absolute and unshakeable respect.
"In this hellhole, a man who doesn’t stab you in the back is already a saint. But a man who watches your back when he has absolutely nothing to gain from it..." Fu Lang reached into his robes and pulled out a small jade flask filled with premium spirit wine. He popped the cork and held it out toward Lin Yuan.
"The Fu Province might be a joke to the Central Continent," Fu Lang declared, his voice trembling with newfound and fierce loyalty. "And I might be a coward. But I swear upon my Dao Heart, from this night forward, I am your sworn brother, Lin Yuan. Wherever this takes us, my might is yours to command."
Lin Yuan looked at the offered flask. He saw the profound need for genuine connection in the Fu Lang’s eyes. This was not a bond forged through political convenience or forced allegiance. It was something earned, through trust freely given when there was nothing to gain.
Lin Yuan reached out and accepted the jade flask.
"Then let us survive this together, Brother Fu," Lin Yuan said, raising the flask in a silent toast before taking a drink.