Chapter 4 - Fire Elemental Profound Skill
Shockingly Lin Haoxue discovered that behind the ice wall was another cave. Unexpectedly, it was filled with skeletons which were spread all over the ground. But upon closer inspection, she noticed that there was another group of skeletons which were neatly situated in the corner as if they were readying for battle at the last moment of their lives.
It seemed like not only did someone explore this Divine Dragon Stream, they actually came with quite a few people; however, in the end, this was their final resting place.
This was a very terrifying place, so it must contain something absolutely fatal.
However, before she could do anything, the ring she held tightly in her right hand let out a blinding white light. As the while light pulsed intensely, Lin Haoxue"s body began floating, because of the ring, and she flew toward the place where those disheveled skeletons were.
It was now impossible for Lin Haoxue to go back since she had lost control of her body.
Boom!
The skeletons which were touched by Lin Haoxue as she flew past collapsed one after another. The sound of them constantly falling to the ground rang out in the icy cave. In this tranquil, silent place, this unnatural sound made one"s scalp turn numb.
She waited for the ring to stop moving her, and shortly after, she landed back on the ground. But the white light shining from the ring didn"t decrease at all. Gradually, the intensity of the white light enveloped Lin Haoxue entirely.
Lin Haoxue looked forward and saw that there was a stone ledge which wasn"t high nor big. There was a bluestone box resting on this outcropping of stone and it was emitting a black light. This black light seemed abnormal and evil, making one scared.
Seeing this sight, Lin Haoxue turned absent-minded for a short moment.
Lin Haoxue understood that were if not for the white light from the ring that lit up the area around her, she wouldn"t be alive now. She definitely would have been killed. But even though she had the white light covering her for protection, Lin Haoxue was still scared of the black light that was coming from the bluestone box.
The white light from the ring made one feel relaxed and relieved but the black light from the bluestone box made one feel cold and terrified.
The ring"s radiance became stronger while the radiance of the bluestone box weakened. It seemed like when the radiance of the ring weakened some then the bluestone box would get somewhat stronger. They were just like a pair of old enemies, one got stronger causing the other to weaken.
Lin Haoxue lifted her hand and looked at the simple, ancient ring in her palm. A bizarre thought flashed through her mind, and she had the feeling that this ring wanted her to take that bluestone box.
Could it be that this ring had a soul?
She was just thinking about it then when the ring lit up and this caused Lin Haoxue to lean forward and slowly stretch out her hand to take the box.
When her fingers just touched the box, it automatically opened. Inside laid a finger-sized black pearl which was emitting spirit light. Seeing this, Lin Haoxue couldn"t help but take a step back.
This pearl gave off a ma.s.sive pressure and even with the white light covering her, her Baihui Point was badly aching. This black pearl seemed to have the ability to attack one"s willforce.
Fortunately, just when her Baihui Point started hurting, the ring emitted its power and pulled the black pearl inside itself. At the same moment the pearl disappeared, the white and black light also vanished.
In a flash, the ring reverted back to its former, ancient-looking self without any signs that it had just been active. As the light disappeared, the pressure inside the ice cave vanished as well. Were it not for those messy skeletons, this cave would actually look quite normal.
Ling Haoxue left this frightening ice cave and successfully pa.s.sed through the icy creva.s.se where she came in. She swam out of it and back up to the surface.
"Second Miss, are you here?"
Coming back ash.o.r.e, Lin Haoxue saw there were two people standing next to each other at the cliffside. They were servants of the Lin family, Lin Mu and Lin He. The one calling out was Lin He, who had always been more extroverted and talkative.
It must have been that grandpa and Cui Lan were worried about her since she had been gone for so long.
It seemed like the incident last time made them take her troubles to heart, and thus they were now always worried about her having accidents. This caused Lin Haoxue to feel a little sorry about it.
"Let"s go home," Lin Haoxue called out to both of them.
"How about, Lin Mu, you go notify the others in the mountain, and I"ll send miss home," Lin He said hesitantly while talking to Lin Mu. The whole family had been worried for her, but now since she had been found they couldn"t let others keep searching for her.
"Thank you for your hard work," Lin Haoxue sincerely thanked them. Even though now the Lin"s were somewhat down on their luck, and were looked upon as a joke used to being humiliated by others, the people who worked for her family were all very sincere and kind. For this, she felt very grateful.
"Miss, what are you saying?" Lin Mu, who was always shy, was a little embarra.s.sed.
He spoke sincerely, "Grandmaster always treats us well. This is just what we should do."
Lin Haoxue smiled but didn"t say anything in response.
Inwardly, she wanted to treat everyone in the Lin family well so that they could have a real sense of belonging.
It was two hours after lunchtime by the time she returned home. She saw her grandpa waiting in front of the dining table and Cui Lan was standing next to him. Seeing them, a sense of guilt arose in Lin Haoxue heart.
"You still know where your home is, huh?" Lin Geng had a very strict and cold tone.
"Grandpa, don"t be mad! See? Didn"t I come back safely?" Lin Haoxue took a big step toward him and pulled his arm while speaking.
Even though Lin Geng seemed quite serious and mad, he still loved this granddaughter very much. Seeing her acting like a spoiled child, his tone softened, "You can"t go out like this anymore. I don"t want what happened last time to happen again."
"Un, I promise." Lin Haoxue nodded her head as if she were pounding garlic.
She turned her head aside and saw Cui Lan looked worried and serious.
"Grandpa, my elemental profound veins have awoken!" she had considered the issue for a while. For the sake of her future freedom, she decided to reveal a little of her secrets. Of course, she definitely couldn"t tell him about the ring she found. If anyone knew about her finding such an artifact, the Lin family might find themselves in big trouble.
"Profound veins awoke? Which element?" Although Lin Geng was shocked, he wasn"t very happy. After all, Lin Haoxue"s elemental profound veins had awoken too late. Even if she started to seriously cultivate now, who knew when will she would become a Profound Pract.i.tioner, a real cultivator. People who couldn"t reach the threshold to become a Profound Pract.i.tioner weren"t much different from those who hadn"t even activated their profound veins.
"Fire elemental." Lin Haoxue thought about it and said.
"Fire elemental? Not bad. This profound power has great attacking strength. Practice well and try to perfect your elemental power and reach the Profound Pract.i.tioner realm." Lin Geng thought that since the fire elemental leaned more towards attacking power, once Lin Haoxue reached the Profound Pract.i.tioner realm, it wouldn"t be a problem for her to protect herself.
"My profound power has already reached perfection, and I"ve broken through into the Profound Pract.i.tioner realm." Lin Haoxue said in a soft voice throwing out this explosive news.
"What?" This time, Lin Geng wasn"t able to keep his calm. He had never seen anyone whose profound veins which had just been awoken and were perfected so quickly. He had not even heard of such a thing! Those so-called geniuses would have to at least kind of cultivate before they reach perfection? Right?
"I"m already a Profound Pract.i.tioner," Lin Haoxue said while holding a piece of bamboo with her chopsticks and calmly repeating what she had just said.
"Good! Good! Good! That"s awesome!" After Lin Geng got a certain answer from her, he stood up happily and said good three times. He spoke to Lin Haoxue as if he still didn"t believe her, "Once you reach the Profound Pract.i.tioner realm then you can then practice profound skills. Let"s go to the ancestral hall and try it quickly. If this is true, then you can practice the fire elemental profound skills from our Lin family"s collection."
"Now?" Lin Haoxue looked at her grandpa full of excitement. She pointed at the lunch they had just started eating and said, "Then what about our food…?"
"We"ll eat it after we come back!" Lin Geng said without any hesitation, his att.i.tude firm.
"Alright!" Actually, she was really looking forward to this as well. This wasn"t the first time that she had heard of this specific fire elemental profound skill. She knew that it was the type of skill that could bring out one"s maximum amount of profound power.