Rise from a Poor Family: My Martial Arts Counterattack

Chapter 427 The man behind the scenes
Five days later.

"Junior Brother Lin, we've arrived at the sect. I'll go to the mission hall to turn in my mission first."

"Senior Brother Wen, thank you for escorting me all the way."

After bidding farewell to Wen Yunting, Lin Chen did not return to his own courtyard, but went straight to his master's residence.

"coming."

Du Xiaofeng looked at Lin Chen carefully for a while and said, "Tell your master what you gained at the Wanhuo Sect this time that enabled you to defeat the assassins from the Yama Palace."

In the Hall of Hell, once a move is made, it is a sure kill.

Very few people who are assassinated by the Yama King's Palace survive.

This is because before carrying out an assassination, the Yama Palace will conduct a detailed assessment of the target's strength and will also arrange two assassins: one who actively accepts the mission and the other who is personally selected and dispatched by the Yama Palace. They are almost always assassins at the peak of the target's realm.

Since his disciple defeated Sima Kong at Wudao Mountain, the second assassin of the Yama Palace must be at the peak of the Innate Realm.

When Lin Chen left the Canglan Sect, his strength was still somewhat lacking compared to the peak of the Innate Realm. According to the news sent back by Wen Yunting, Lin Chen defeated two assassins from the Yama Palace without sustaining any injuries.

From this news, he could be certain that his disciple had made great gains in the Myriad Fire Sect.

"I met Elder Zhuang at the Myriad Flames Sect. Elder Zhuang helped me refine the third innate flame, the Illusionary Sea Heart Flame..."

In Lin Chen's account, there was no mention that Elder Zhuang made it a condition that he could only allow him to observe the Wanhuo Sect's cultivation techniques if he could refine the third innate fire.

However, just from Lin Chen's words, one could deduce the inside story about Du Xiaofeng.

"Don't take such risks in the future. You are now a proud disciple of the Canglan Sect. The sect will provide you with sufficient cultivation resources. Sometimes, staying alive is more important than breaking through to a higher realm."

Du Xiaofeng patted Lin Chen on the shoulder. He knew about Lin Chen's martial arts experience on the island. Gao Zemin had brought Lin Chen back and investigated his situation thoroughly, reporting it to the sect leader long ago.

On the island, Lin Chen came from a poor background and had to take risks to obtain cultivation resources. He was extremely diligent in his cultivation, and his several advancements in strength were all achieved through desperate efforts.

This habit is not a good thing.

"The Yan Dynasty has many geniuses. Almost all of you who can reach the top of Martial Dao Mountain have the potential to reach the Myriad Manifestations Realm. On average, one genius will fall from the top position of Martial Dao Mountain every year. Even among the top, there are differences in strength. But among so many geniuses, very few can eventually step into the Myriad Manifestations Realm."

Du Xiaofeng looked at Lin Chen: "Do you know why?"

"Disciple doesn't know."

"That's because most of these geniuses perished before even reaching the sixth level of the Innate Realm. In order to maintain their rapid progress in martial arts, these geniuses, like you, mostly attempted many risky breakthroughs. Their smooth breakthroughs in martial arts in the past gave them confidence, and they thought that it would be the same after entering the Innate Realm. In the end, however, they lost their lives because of this."

"Once you reach the fifth level of the Innate Realm, you will understand that sometimes time is nothing. So what if you are an Innate Realm expert at twenty or an Innate Realm expert at thirty? This kind of radical and risky breakthrough path can cost you your life with just one careless move."

Hearing his master's earnest teachings, Lin Chen listened attentively. He knew that his master was saying these things for his own good, hoping that he would not be so radical on his future cultivation path.

What the master didn't know was that he now had the help of "racing against time," which allowed him to predict the probability of success in advance, so he wasn't entirely taking a risk.

"Thank you for your teachings, Master. I have taken them to heart."

Du Xiaofeng nodded, then smiled and said, "The reason you're curious about why Zhuang Lie wants you to go to the Myriad Fire Sect two years later is because two years later is when the Myriad Fire Sect's Sacred Fire Realm opens. The Myriad Fire Sect's Sacred Fire Realm and our Canglan Sect's Canglan Secret Realm are both famous in the Yan Emperor Dynasty. The difference is that our Canglan Sect's Canglan Secret Realm uses quotas to trade with other sects, while only disciples of the Myriad Fire Sect can enter the Myriad Fire Sect's Sacred Fire Realm. Judging from Zhuang Lie's intentions, he must have managed to get you a quota to enter, which is indeed an exception."

"I see. So, Master, what's inside this Sacred Flame Realm?"

"With the martial arts legacy left by the founder of the Wanhuo Sect, many of the Wanhuo Sect's techniques were discovered by disciples of past generations in the Sacred Flame Realm. Entering the Sacred Flame Realm is indeed equivalent to opening up all of the Wanhuo Sect's techniques to you. If you have enough luck, you may even encounter techniques that have not yet been discovered by the Wanhuo Sect."

Hearing this, Lin Chen felt even more grateful to Elder Zhuang. The Sacred Flame Realm was like a sacred pilgrimage site for the disciples of the Myriad Flames Sect, and he, an outsider, was able to have a spot. Elder Zhuang must have gone to great lengths to persuade the higher-ups of the Myriad Flames Sect.

Seeing the expression on his disciple's face, Du Xiaofeng knew that his disciple must be filled with gratitude towards Zhuang Lie.

There were some things he didn't say aloud.

It's impossible for Zhuang Lie to get the Myriad Fire Sect to give a Saint Fire Realm spot to an outer sect disciple; this matter must have been agreed to by the Myriad Fire Sect Master.

There's probably something hidden inside.

Regardless, this is a good thing for Lin Chen. Moreover, since he can't give Lin Chen too much guidance on the Wujin Divine Appearance Technique that Lin Chen cultivates, he wants Lin Chen to be grateful to Zhuang Lie so that he can get more good things from this old guy.

"Putting the Wanhuo Sect's affairs aside, have you considered who was behind this assassination attempt on you by the Yama Palace?"

Du Xiaofeng's expression turned serious. Lin Chen shook his head and said, "Master, during my time in the Yan Dynasty, I have not made any enemies with anyone. If I have any grudges, it is only because I challenged the disciples of various sects on Martial Dao Mountain."

Lin Chen had pondered the question of who had hired the Underworld to assassinate him on his way back.

He could still say he had some enemies in the Nine Kingdoms, such as the remnants of the Spratly Islands, and the warriors of South Korea...

Neither the remnants of the three islands in the Spratly Islands nor the royal family of South Korea could offer enough incentive for the Yama Palace to assassinate a prodigy from a super sect.

"The battles at Martial Arts Mountain are fair fights. If someone were to seek assassination from the Underworld just because they lost, Martial Arts Mountain would have been in chaos long ago. This is something that no sect would allow." Du Xiaofeng shook his head. Those geniuses who were defeated by their own disciples, even if they harbored resentment, would not dare to seek assassination from the Underworld for this reason. If the news were leaked, they would face the wrath of all the super sects.

After all, every sect has disciples on Martial Arts Mountain, and no sect dares to violate this bottom line.

"Besides that, this disciple can't think of anything else."

Du Xiaofeng narrowed his old eyes slightly and said, "In the few days since you returned, the sect leader has arranged for three elders to lead a team of three hundred deacons from my Canglan Sect to search for clues about the Yama Palace. So far, they have destroyed nine contact points of the Yama Palace and killed sixty assassins of the Yama Palace, including ten assassins at the fourth level of the Innate Realm."

"But this is far from over. If the Yama Palace does not give an explanation, my Canglan Sect will never let this matter rest."

Lin Chen did not expect the sect to act so quickly and retaliate against the Yama Palace so soon.

"Master, the Yama Palace is an assassination organization. Can the sect track them down?"

“There is no absolutely secretive force in this world. As an assassin organization, the Yama Palace needs contact points to allow its clients to contact them. These contact points may be considered secretive by ordinary forces, but they are anything but secretive in the eyes of my Canglan Sect.”

"After eliminating these overt contact points of the Yama Palace, the only way to find the Yama Palace again is through bounties. In short, the Yama Palace is in a very difficult situation now. Many martial artists, in order to obtain the bounties offered by our Canglan Sect, will pretend to need to hire assassins to kill their targets. Once they get the Yama Palace's contact information, they will immediately report it to our Canglan Sect."

"Can you still play like this?"

Lin Chen was quite surprised. After pondering for a while, he said, "Will the Yama Palace stop accepting assassination missions for a while?"

"If the Yama Palace stops accepting assassination missions, then it won't be long before it's disbanded."

Du Xiaofeng sneered, and seeing the puzzled look on Lin Chen's face, he explained, "The Yama Palace itself doesn't train many assassins. Most of the Yama Palace's assassins joined the Yama Palace midway through their careers. The reason these assassins joined the Yama Palace is to earn money from their employers by accepting assassination missions."

"Most of these assassins who joined midway were not disciples of super sects, but came from second- or third-rate sects. They had limited cultivation resources, and accepting assassination missions was a quick way for them to earn resources."

Hearing his master's explanation, Lin Chen understood.

"The Canglan Secret Realm is about to open. You should stay in the sect and cultivate diligently for the next few days, waiting for the secret realm to open. As for the Yama Palace, don't worry about it."

"Yes."

Lin Chen agreed and stayed in his master's courtyard for half an hour, asking about the Azure Finger and the Azure Eye before leaving.

……

……

In a dark palace of the Yan Dynasty.

"Third brother, look at the mess you've made! Why didn't you discuss the assassination of Lin Chen from the Canglan Sect with us? Do you know how much damage your actions have caused us? Hundreds of members of the sect have been killed by the Canglan Sect, and more than a dozen communication points have been destroyed."

Inside the main hall, several figures dressed in black robes were engaged in a heated verbal exchange.

"These useless people who died weren't trained by my Yama Palace, so it's not a big deal. But now my Yama Palace's assassin business has been affected. No one below dares to contact their employers anymore, for fear of being sold to the Canglan Sect by their employers."

Faced with the questions from the two men in black robes, the man on the right simply gave a cold laugh.

"Have you said enough?"

"Third brother, what do you mean? Do you really think you can do whatever you want just because the Palace Master is in seclusion? If you don't give a reasonable explanation for this, the two of us will send a message to the Palace Master."

"If things really escalate to that point, don't blame us for not showing you any mercy."

Hearing this, the man in black robes laughed again, and after a long while said, "I have already reported this matter to the Palace Master, and the Palace Master has already agreed."

"The Palace Master has agreed?"

The other two men in black robes exchanged a glance, both seeing the shock in each other's eyes.

How could the temple master agree?
"What I can tell you is that the Canglan Sect's arrogance won't last long."

Those two fools, how could he have ordered the assassination of Lin Chen without the Palace Master's permission?

Zhou Cang cursed inwardly. The moment the other party came to his door, he reported the matter to the sect leader, who agreed to cooperate with them and send assassins.

Unexpectedly, Lin Chen was so lucky to escape this calamity.

Having only entered the Innate Realm for less than half a year, it's no wonder he's so restless over there, having managed to survive among peak Innate Realm assassins.

Although the Canglan Sect claimed that Lin Chen had single-handedly killed two assassins from their Yama Palace, he believed this was merely an attempt by the Canglan Sect to embellish their image. The most likely explanation was that a powerful member of the Canglan Sect arrived in time to rescue Lin Chen.

Given Lin Chen's talent, it's normal that the Canglan Sect would leave him a way to protect himself.

(End of this chapter)