Chapter Ninety-Four: Awakening

“Ha! So you are guilty by conscience.”

Zi Ming laughed wildly, as though his plot had already succeeded.

“I am not guilty by conscience. I pity you.”

Lin Fan’s face remained expressionless. He did not even spare Zi Ming another glance. Yet he would not strike him down; the man was not worth the trouble.

“Say whatever you like. It does not matter. I am going to search this entire room now, and if there is any ancient treasure left, it will belong to me.”

Zi Ming had a hide as thick as a city wall. He paid no heed to the others’ stares and pressed on in his own way.

“I would like to see what you manage to find.”

With a cold snort, Lin Fan clasped his hands behind his back and fell silent. Zi Ming, hearing this, grew even more pleased with himself and strode toward the stone bed.

“An ancient sage? A pity. Only the living are qualified to speak of invincibility.”

Zi Ming sneered and cast his gaze around the room, a trace of mockery appearing in his eyes.

“So this is what they mean by poverty itself. Not a single thing was left behind.”

His contemptuous voice rang out as he turned over every chest and cabinet, yet in the end found nothing. Then his eyes suddenly lit up, and he walked straight to the bedside.

“This staff?”

Lin Fan frowned. At last he saw the old man’s only remaining relic.

“The divine light is restrained within, but the laws have already broken. It has no value at all.”

With the aid of his spirit-vision technique, Lin Fan had already seen the staff through and through. Zi Ming was likely to be disappointed.

At that moment, something stirred within Lin Fan’s mind, and he looked again at the dead old man.

“Just now... did I imagine it?”

Lin Fan frowned, dimly sensing that something was wrong.

“A divine weapon left from antiquity must surely possess extraordinary power.”

Zi Ming’s face was lit with wild delight. He had already seen the staff’s unusual quality and felt that fortune itself had come to him.

He reached out at once to seize it, but then an astonishing scene unfolded.

The staff, which had been perfectly intact a moment before, suddenly cracked apart and turned to dust.

“What, what is this?”

The smile on Zi Ming’s face froze. He could hardly believe what he was seeing.

“Run!”

Lin Fan’s expression changed drastically. He finally confirmed that what he had seen before was real: the old man’s fingers had moved!

“What?”

Young Master Falling Blossom looked confused and had no idea what was happening, but Yi Xiaoxian immediately followed after Lin Fan.

Suddenly, an immense and boundless pressure erupted forth, scattering the entire house to the winds. The source of that pressure was precisely the old man who had already died.

“Courting death!”

The voice sounded like metal striking stone, chilling everyone to the bone. Young Master Falling Blossom at last understood the reason. His figure flashed, and he shot away into the distance.

The old man, who had already perished, opened his eyes. His skeletal hand slowly extended and seized toward Zi Ming.

“You...”

Zi Ming trembled all over and staggered backward, but his body suddenly froze in place.

A palm pierced through Zi Ming’s body, clutching a still-beating heart in its grasp.

“Save me... save me...”

Zi Ming forced his mouth open with difficulty, as though he still wanted to say something. But it was already far too late. His aura vanished completely, and he fell dead on the spot.

Lin Fan and the others stood at a distance, looking on from afar. It was not that they did not want to flee; it was that every direction was blocked by those figures.

“What is going on?”

Cold sweat broke out on Lin Fan’s forehead. An unprecedented crisis had appeared, and life and death hung in the balance by a single instant.

Step. Step. Step.

A series of footsteps rang out, sharp and grating. Behind Zi Ming appeared a figure, the very same old man from before.

“You... you all must die.”

Perhaps because he had not spoken in a very long time, the old man spoke with great difficulty. His eyes were utterly black, with no whites at all.

“Brother Lin, what exactly is happening?”

Young Master Falling Blossom drew in a sharp breath. His once-handsome features had twisted slightly, for the scene was far too unbelievable. How could someone dead for countless years awaken again, and with killing intent no less?

“So this is the dread omen. A change has occurred in their bodies. A portion of the substance that grants longevity remains within them, and that is why they can awaken once more. But clearly, they are no longer who they once were. Their consciousness is lost; only their final will to fight remains.”

A divine light blazed in Lin Fan’s eyes. The vertical eye on his forehead had fully opened, laying bare the secrets within the old man and the others.

“You disturbed our slumber. You deserve to die ten thousand deaths.”

The old man advanced slowly, and a terrifying aura soared up into the heavens, like an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves, making hearts quake with dread.

“We had no intention of disturbing you, Senior. We merely happened to enter by chance.”

Although Lin Fan could not be certain whether the people before him, who had originally died, still possessed consciousness, he still decided to try.

“Die!”

The old man’s face, dry as a corpse’s, showed no expression. He struck out again with a palm. Black mist surged violently, condensing into a giant hand that pressed down to suppress everything.

“Run! No one needs to hide their strength any longer. Scatter and flee. If you survive this ordeal, meet again at the distant platform.”

Lin Fan pointed toward the distance, where there stood a massive round platform dozens of zhang high and several tens of li away. In ancient times, it was likely used as an altar for offering sacrifice to the heavens.

“Everyone, be careful.”

Young Master Falling Blossom left first. A ruler appeared in his hand, radiating brilliant divine light. It was his forbidden weapon, something that could not be used too many times, yet now it had become his lifeline.

Yi Xiaoxian nodded and also rose into the air. She had already awakened her bloodline. Her scarlet pupils were devilishly strange, and the phantom image of a nine-tailed heavenly fox flickered past.

“None of them are ordinary. Exactly what secret does Miss Xiaoxian’s bloodline contain? I feel that she can now at least contend with a cultivator at the eighth level of the Meridian Condensation Realm.”

Lin Fan was deep in thought, but his movements were in no way slow. The Spear of Judgment had already appeared in his hand. Choosing a direction, he charged straight ahead, avoiding the giant hand the old man had unleashed.

There was another figure there, similarly with a dried-up face, overflowing with baleful energy.

“Get lost!”

Lin Fan roared and raised the Spear of Judgment high, bringing it crashing down like a club.

The air exploded apart with a thunderous roar.

A dried hand reached toward the Spear of Judgment. The figure had made his move. He must have possessed abundant blood and vitality in life, for his face was that of a middle-aged man.

Clang!

Metal met stone. A wave of sound spread out, and dust billowed everywhere.

Lin Fan’s expression changed. He turned and fled. This figure was far too terrifying; his body was as hard as divine iron. After taking the full force of the Spear of Judgment, he showed no injury at all. His dried hand struck out again, carrying a heaven-shaking might.

“What exactly is going on? I cannot understand it.”

Lin Fan was horrified beyond measure and began to communicate with the spirit of the Spear of Judgment, hoping to find a way to break this situation.

“I cannot strike again, or I will be sensed. By then, you will have no hope of surviving.”

A voice came forth. The spirit of the Spear of Judgment spoke, but at once it extinguished Lin Fan’s hopes.

At that moment, the heavens and earth rumbled. The old man had caught up and appeared behind Lin Fan. One finger extended, piercing straight toward his skull.